Music

Senior School

This has been a year of unparalleled activity and ambition in the Music department and we have greatly enjoyed the opportunities made available to us by our new facilities and the ending of Covid restrictions. The year has seen us perform in exciting new venues, formulate our most diverse and dynamic programme of events yet, and our talented young musicians have raised their standards to new heights. The beginning of the year saw us open the new Ben Chudleigh Recital Room, where our senior scholars presented a concert of advanced solo repertoire to our new purpose-built chamber concert space. We were grateful to dedicate the room in memory of a former pupil and the concert finished with a moving flute duet by Desirée in Year 12 and Ben’s former flute teacher, Mr Kipling. The Michaelmas Concert at St-Martinin-the-Fields was the focal point for all co-curricular activity in the first term. The Concert band under Mr Rawley’s expert direction began proceedings with great clarity and enthusiasm and other highlights included SDC Voices’ performance ‘This is Me’, the Prep Choir’s beautiful rendition of ‘Riversong’ and the College Orchestra, comprised of students only, finishing the concert with a performance of the lively ‘William Tell’ overture. With more than 200 performers from across the College community, the concert was our biggest yet and a testament to all the commitment of our young musicians after a challenging two years! The Chapel Choir have had a fantastic year and, after years of development, are now a fully balanced SATB group. They have risen to the demands of challenging repertoire throughout, in particular their performances of Harris’ ‘Bring us, O Lord God’ at the Remembrance Service and Byrd’s ‘Sing Joyfully’ at Commemoration Day. The group have enjoyed a more regular schedule of evensongs in the London area, highlights being our evensong at Southwark Cathedral in May and All-Hallows Church. After the disappointment of our Christmas service being cancelled due to the rise of the omicron variant, the choir were able to resurrect Christmas in their virtual carol service, recorded in the Great Hall. The emerging standard of the group was demonstrated by the extremely memorable Easter Concert at Cadogan Hall in May. Their performance of Bach’s ‘Magnificat’ will live long in the memory, with this fiendish work being accompanied by a professional orchestra and all soloists being members of the choir. Our Symphony Orchestra was on fine form in a suite of music from Wagner’s ‘Tannhauser’, before we heard the world premiere of Year 13 Ben’s ‘Battle of the Hidden Temple’, which was an atmospheric video game composition of great ambition. The concert culminated in a magisterial performance of Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’ from

a choir of more than 150 students, including SDC Voices and Prep Choir. Jazz music in the department has reached new standards and vibrancy throughout the year. Under Mr Harrison’s dedicated guidance, the Jazz Ensemble have continued their odyssey into this improvisational music and are now entrusted with providing the sonic wallpaper at many events. Their efforts culminated in the Festival’s Jazz soirée in which they combined with renowned saxophonist Camilla George and the College witnessed some of the most astonishing playing from our students yet heard. Likewise, the Big Band have covered more authentic repertoire, playing charts by the likes of Count Basie and Duke Ellington, leading to some outstanding results. We have welcomed several new members to the group and all have risen to the challenge of playing this amazing music. Any written account of the achievements of the year will always be deficient in conveying the sheer frenzied activity of the Music department, but additional highlights have included the development of Rock and Pop performance in our co-curricular calendar. Benefitting from the support of Mrs Money and their own motivation, our inaugural Battle of the Bands in February debuted several new student bands and this was sustained in the many performances in the outdoor concert in the Festival. The premier of our teacher band, ‘Do It Now’, was greeted with absolute bedlam in their rendition of Dolly Parton’s ‘9 to 5’. There is a fast-developing tradition of composing among our students and we have been rewarded with some excellent song writing and creations at GCSE and A Level. Many of these have been premiered at our Friday lunchtime ‘Tiny Desk’ concert series, a new initiative to develop informal performance in a supportive environment. We are lucky to have students who radiate an absolute passion and commitment to the subject, with record numbers continuing to study the subject at GCSE and A Level, against a national trend of decline. Likewise, there continues to be unprecedented demand for instrumental lessons, with more than 400 of these now taking place weekly in our new practice rooms. We look forward to another year of excitement and artistic variety in the Music Department. We are thankful for the commitment of our students, the support of their parents and particular thanks must go to the dedicated support provided by the teaching staff and our community of Visiting Music Teachers.

Mr D Oldfield