BST Music News Term 1A - 18th October 2019 This is certainly an exciting time to welcome the return of the now half-termly Music newsletter to share and celebrate the musical events and achievements at BST. The start of the new academic year has ushered in a period of incredible musical opportunities for our students that we hope will create lifelong lasting memories.
Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony
Around 180 students from BST were given the once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup 2019. As someone who loves rugby, when I found out that I was going to be a part of this I was extremely excited. When we got back to school after a long summer it was all hands on deck to get the harmonies, lyrics and choreography learnt as we only had two rehearsals before practicing in the stadium. The first rehearsal was dedicated to learning the harmonies, you could tell that everybody was so thrilled to be a part of something so amazing! There was a bit of a bump in the road after our second rehearsal was cancelled due to a typhoon but we quickly bounced back after an impromptu rehearsal where we learnt the rest of the song. Before our first rehearsal in the stadium we learnt the choreography, which ended up being changed about 3 times before we got to the final set of choreography. Then we hopped on the buses and we were off. When we arrived at the stadium we got to meet the person who invited us to perform, he got a very big applause. After this we went outside to rehearse in our countries, ran through it a couple of times and then moved to the stadium where we rehearsed on the field. We were back to rehearse again the following day, and with five days to go we got to see our costumes for the first time. We rehearsed again on Tuesday and for the last time on Wednesday, it was pouring down with rain so not everyone got to rehearse outside but the flag bearers needed to know where to stand so a lucky ten of us were chosen to go out on the field by ourselves for the broadcasting run! I must say it was one of the coolest things I have ever done. We had a break on Thursday but when Friday came it was performance time. We got into the stadium and got ready to perform, we moved to the tunnels with fifteen minutes to go and the atmosphere was insane. When the sixty second countdown started we all got very excited but we had to wait another five minutes before we went on. When it was our turn we ran onto the field and sang our hearts out. It was an incredible experience that I will probably never get again in my life, it is so mind-blowing that we were going to be a part of the Rugby World Cup 2019 legacy.
Bella - Year 11 (T4)
Royal Opera House Ensemble Masterclass
In September, BST welcomed a string quartet from the orchestra of the Royal Opera House. They played for us Dvorak's Quintet but also offered to provide for our advanced string players a masterclass focusing on chamber music performance. Therefore, we put together various ensembles to take part in the masterclass. We had six ensembles in total from year 4 to year 13. They gave us a lot of useful advice such as how we express emotions through music and musical interpretation. As a string player, I was very touched and amazed by their beautiful performance. It was as if I was swallowed into their world of music. Their professionalism definitely increased my passion towards music and made me want to improve on playing the violin even more. I am sure it was a very valuable experience for all of us.
Konomi - Year 12 (B4)
Welcome
This term we welcome two new additions to the Music peripatetic teaching team: Ms Jun Kubo (flute) and Ms Misa Saka (piano). For any enquiries regarding instrumental lessons, please refer to our Instrumental Teaching page on the school website and contact peripatetic teachers directly.
Introducing BST Music Ambassadors 2019
Music Ambassadors play an important role within the BST Music department. Our Ambassadors are role models who have a passion for Music and are involved in the musical life of the school. Music Ambassadors promote Music in the school and volunteer their time to support and take on leadership roles in BST musical events throughout the academic year. Our Music Ambassadors will contribute to a section of the newsletter each half term and will provide an important 'student voice'. They will use this platform to share their musical passions and experiences.
Student Voice Masashi - Year 9 (B6) Music Ambassador I am 13 years old and in Year 9. I play the piano, violin and used to play the trumpet. I am a massive fan of Classical music and enjoy listening in particular to old German songs from the 17th and 18th century. I am excited to be Music Ambassador at BST and hope to help the Music department as much as I can.
Congratulations!
The 2019 edition of the annual BST Concerto Competition took place on Thursday 10th October with conductor, Ms Saeko Kishimoto, as our guest judge. The winner of the competition is Takumi (Year 13, T3) with the runner up prize shared jointly between Mia (6B) and Shannon (Year 7, B3). All students who participated in the competition will perform again in the Advanced Musicians Recital on Wednesday 30th October at L'Atelier by APC.
Upcoming Events
Wednesday 30th October - Advanced Musicians Recital - Concerto Competition Performers
'Music brings a warm glow to my vision, thawing mind and muscle from their endless wintering.' ― Haruki Murakamiry The BST Music Department
Hannah Casey, Primary Music Coordinator (Showa) Lauren Pressdee-Rudd, Primary Music Teacher (Shibuya) |