Music

Music is the heartbeat of life at St Peter’s and has played an important role in recent years, helping to keep spirits high during challenging times. It has been wonderful to enjoy live music once again this year!

St Peter’s 2-8

Ethan has the Keys to Success

Ethan from St Peter’s 2-8 competed in the Wharfedale Music Festival in October and won two prestigious awards – the Piano Solo award for nine years and under, and the Piano Solo award for 10 years and under, a phenomenal achievement!

Live Music Returns

In November, Year 2 and 3 held two very special music concerts with a live audience for the first time in over 18 months. The choir sang beautifully. The 75+-member choir of Year 2 and 3 entertained the audience at the start of the concerts performing beautiful songs, several of them in five parts. Then the children gave individual performances. Well done to all of the talented children who played a range of instruments including the recorder, guitar and piano.

In May, there were concerts for Years 1, 2 and 3 with over 116 solo performances on recorders, violins, guitar, drums, cello, cornet, piano and flute. All children were amazing, having the confidence to play their instrument to their peers and a room full of parents. The school choir performed at the start of each concert, singing three multi-part songs. Everyone enjoyed their enthusiastic singing and rapping too!

St Peter’s 2-8 Sing at Young Voices 2022

Years 2 and 3 represented the school at Young Voices at the Sheffield Arena. They joined 5000 children singing a selection of songs from Orff’s Carmina Burana to medleys of favourite classics from The Lion King and The Muppets. Our pupils were so excited to finally get to sing at the arena. The children were a real credit to the school; they knew all the words and had some amazing dance moves. They especially enjoyed hearing their parents attempt beatboxing with the Beatbox Collective, and all loved the audience moves dancing along to Fat Boy Slim with Andy Instone and the Urban Strides! Freya (Year 2) said: “It was definitely worth the wait!”

Trash Bang!

In July, Year 1 enjoyed an afternoon with Billy Hickling from Trash Bang who taught them how to recycle household rubbish into musical instruments. It was a fabulous orchestral delight for the eyes and ears.

Pupils Sing for Ebor Court Care Home

At the end of June Year 2 visited Ebor Court care home to sing with the residents. With the support of Mrs Hayden, Mrs Hall and Mrs Franey, they have been taking part in Musical Connections workshops for the first time in three years. Musical Connections run participatory music sessions and projects for older, isolated and vulnerable people in care and community settings across York plus intergenerational events and activities, which bring together our beneficiaries with local school children. The children were a delight and spread much joy to the residents at Ebor Care Home in York.

Mr Hardy, Head of St Peter’s 2-8, said: “It’s such a valuable experience for our children and really does make such a positive difference to the older generation living in our community.”

Ebor Court Carers said: “The children were amazing. It was truly heart-warming to see them approach the residents with such enthusiasm and openness, and there were some really obvious individual connections made between old and young. They breathed life and love into the room and lifted the spirits of everyone in it.”

St Peter’s 8-13

First Concert Back in School!

In mid-October, our Informal Concert series finally returned with the first concert in school since March 2020! Parents and staff gathered in the Music Studio at St Peter’s 8-13, which featured string, woodwind and brass instruments as well as a piano solo. Mrs Holly Craven, Director of Music at St Peter’s 8-13, said: “It is absolutely wonderful to have a live audience. Last year, the studio was re-jigged in order to make it a performance space, and it is great to finally be able to host here at last. The Informal Concert is a really important part of our performance structure; the second rung of the ladder after online Virtualosity. It is also a brilliant stepping stone to larger, more formal concert performances. This is where we hone performance technique, and continue to build a love of playing to an audience! Congratulations to everyone who performed.”

Arthur reaches Young Chorister of the Year Semi-Finals

Arthur, a pupil at St Peter’s 8-13 and a York Minster chorister, reached the semi-finals of the prestigious BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition in the autumn. Arthur joined York Minster Choir in 2017 and has been singing with the choir for four years. He has been a pupil at St Peter’s 8-13 since September 2020, when the school became the Choir School for York Minster. Arthur recorded his entry at home and submitted it to the BBC online. Ten young singers (five girls and five boys) were chosen to sing at the televised semi-finals in front of a panel of judges. Arthur and four other boys performed in the boys’ semi-final at the end of November on BBC One, broadcast from Salisbury Cathedral. Arthur said: “I really enjoyed taking part, although I was quite nervous, singing in front of lots of TV cameras! Salisbury Cathedral was beautiful and it was fun to meet all the other choristers and share the experience with them. I also enjoyed meeting presenter, and former chorister, Aled Jones; having seen him on TV before, it was very surreal talking to him.”

The Snowman

During the autumn break, St Peter’s 8-13 pupils received a casting call for auditions for children to take part in the live screening of The Snowman at York Minster with only three days to prepare. Massive congratulations to Sam, Arthur and Noah, who followed in the footsteps of many a well-known treble, as they took to the stage in York Minster on December 11, where they each performed to a sold-out audience. The pupils sang Walking in the Air, accompanied by a magnificent live orchestra, as The Snowman film played on a big screen.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

St Peter’s 8-13 began their calendar of Christmas events with a phenomenal Christmas concert on 29 November, featuring children from all year groups, and the musical celebrations continued into the last week of term. Pupils busked in the foyer for charity every day from 13-16 December, the whole school community joined together on 15 December for Carols by Candlelight, and the staff sang carols outside on 17 December to welcome pupils to school for the final day of term.

Let’s Baroque and Roll

The Music Department at St Peter’s 8-13 organised a wonderful day of music-making inspired by the theme Baroque and Roll on Monday 21 March. The aim of the day was to introduce the children to two very different musical genres, from the grandiose spirit of Baroque to the energetic and rhythmic style of rock and roll. The children participated in a range of exciting workshops on early wind instruments, baroque strings, baroque voice, rock guitar, songwriting, harpsichord masterclass and jazz improvisation. The day concluded with a Baroque and Roll concert in the Shepherd Hall at 6pm, featuring a number of school ensembles and some soloists. Nearly 170 pupils were involved in the concert to an audience of nearly 200 people, with more tuning in to watch online.

National Children’s Orchestra

Five children from St Peter’s secured places in the prestigious National Children’s Orchestra (NCO). Ethan and Tristan from St Peter’s 8-13 joined Fred, Danny and Ethan from St Peter’s 13-18 in the NCO, the only orchestral learning programme for younger children across the UK. NCO comprises over 700 children aged 7-14, and places are highly sought after. The boys were selected following a highly competitive audition process, where they each submitted a video recording to be reviewed by a panel of judges.

J3 go back in time through music

St Peter’s J3s enjoyed Tudor music workshops in the last week of June, building on the work they were doing on the Tudor court and English connections with the rest of the world at this time. Pupils were fortunate to enjoy beautiful music and expert knowledge from three early music specialists led by Mr Bayley. There was an impressive range of instruments to observe including the hurdy-gurdy, crumhorn, sackbut, curtal, wooden flute, Renaissance fiddle and several different bagpipes (which did not originate in Scotland!) From hunting tunes to dancing jigs and a piece composed by Henry VIII, it was an amazing auditory and visual experience that brought the Tudor world alive.

York Minster

In April We held one of our Chapel services in York Minster. Tristan in J5 played a beautiful solo piece on his clarinet prior to the service before Precentor, Canon Vicky, also one of our Governors, spoke to us about the transformative importance of music in worship and in life generally.

Virtualosity Concerts

Launched in March 2020, our Virtualosity (virtual lockdown concerts) were so popular they soon became a permanent fixture even when we were all back in school to allow our whole school community to share in 8-13’s many and varied musical talents. Mrs Holly Craven, Director of Music at St Peter’s 8-13, said: “Our pupils continue to rise to the Virtualosity challenge admirably, and my thanks go to all the peripatetic music teachers for such incredible work with our children. Whether new to music or higher up in grades, I am hugely proud of all pupils who have the courage to take part.”

Jack McCartney Workshop

Old Peterite and ex-Minster chorister Jack McCartney came back to school to do some workshops and talk about his work as a film and video game composer. It was so good for the pupils to see how a passion for music can lead to unexpected careers. More details in our Old Peterites section.

York Minster Chorister news

Choristers kept up their busy schedule. As always Christmas was special with Advent services and concerts. They did so well to learn so much new choral repertoire on top of their normal rota of evensongs. Every year Choristers continue to rehearse and sing at services which delight, including Christmas Day itself before a well-deserved break!

In June the York Minster choristers were singing in a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast of Evensong which was a beautiful treat for listeners.

At the end of the school year, the J1 probationer choristers had their first experience of singing at York Minster Evensong with the rest of the Minster choir. A very proud moment for them and their families. The choristers also took part in the Duke Ellington Jazz Eucharist at York Minster along with the senior school choirs and choral society, a professional jazz band, soloists and tap dancer – all in front of a congregation of over 1,000 and the Archbishop of York. Quite the experience!