Gazette January 2020
58
I am always amazed how much passion our boys develop for their instruments and music. Trevor Addison
P R E PA R AT O RY
Music at the Preparatory School
Music at the Preparatory School is bursting at the seams and our Music Centre is over-flowing with hard working young musicians. The Prep music program currently provides opportunities to all Prep students within the Music Centre, accommodating on a weekly basis, 23 instrumental tutors, 19 ensembles, with numerous stage opportunities, as well as providing a range of concerts from small soirees to whole Year groups.
The current Music Centre was opened in May 2002 as a welcomed addition to the musical landscape of the School. With such vast musical excellence now circulating our lower level School, the Prep Music Department looks to the future towards plans to reconstruct the Music Centre, creating additional classroom space, instrumental practice rooms and performance space. The King’s music program is one of the best in the country and we are proud of our achievements. The classroom curriculum program provides boys with comprehensive learning opportunities that allow them to develop music literacy and performance skills through the study of music from all periods of music history and also from all corners of the world. Within any week, the Music Centre could be resounding with Javanese Gamelan from Year 6 boys, Fanfare compositions from Year 5, tone and semitone exercises in Year 4, the Year 3 Band and Strings program warming up,
Year 2 preparing for Grandparents’ Day, Year 1 dancing to discover the structure of a piece of music, Kindergarten working on developing their vocal skills and Pre-K exploring pentatonic melodic improvisation. Alongside our compulsory music curriculum, many boys learn instruments at School. The string and band program headed by Mr Trevor Addison and Mr Ben Crocker and taught by experienced instrumental tutors, are areas of the School of which we are very proud. “I work them incredibly hard, using good teaching techniques delivered through a great relationship built between myself, the boys and the parents,” said Mr Addison. Within any given week over 220 boys receive lessons in our Music Centre and all boys are placed in one of the many ensembles that rehearse each week. In addition to the main ensemble placement, we also run chamber groups for further musical development. These groups include string quartets, flute, clarinet, percussion and guitar ensembles.
