Informal Concert

A key requisite for a successful musician is resilience and, particularly if you are a string player, stamina.  The performers in this last Informal Concert of term certainly demonstrated that in abundance.  One player in the opening string quartet’s performance of “Pirates of the Caribbean” had in the space of under 24 hours, taken a music exam, played a leading role in the Year 5 and 6 play until late the night before and then held his own part in this impressively challenging piece. It is no mean feat for four string players of this age to keep together in an arrangement  of this complexity with no teacher conducting and the boys are to be commended for their listening skills and wonderful tone quality.

 We were delighted that a fair quantity of Year 8 boys had found time to share their music with us, and a couple of debuts were heard:  Charlie produced his guitar which he had been given five days ago and it was  lovely to hear him strumming along as he sang.  Likewise Archie accompanied himself in the evocative “Jealous” song and Fraser demonstrated again that his instrument will be a force to be reckoned with as it develops and he will be a real asset to his Senior School with his lovely low register.

 This concert, coming at the end of a successful series of year group concerts over the term, included boys who had been unable to play for whatever reason earlier in the season, so we were treated to some polished performances from other year groups including some of the exam pieces played the previous day.  We ended with a bit of light relief as Charlie and Peter revisited the Chariots of Fire performance made famous by Mr Bean, making us go away with a smile on our faces.

MPW