When Bedřich Smetana wrote his symphonic tribute to Czech history and culture, he created a hymn to a great nation and stretched the very limits of what orchestral music could express. Hear it live tomorrow at the @southbankcentre ✨ pic.twitter.com/YShRW0e3df
Sir Thomas Jones Woodward OBE (born 7 June 1940) is a Welsh singer. His career began with a string of top 10 hits in the 1960s and he has since toured regularly. He has sold over 100 million records, with 36 Top 40 hits in the UK and 19 in the US, including “It’s Not Unusual”, “What’s New Pussycat?”, the theme song for the James Bond film Thunderball (1965), “Green, Green Grass of Home”, “She’s a Lady”, “Sex Bomb”, and a cover of Prince’s “Kiss”. (Wikipedia)
MusicFest practice. Don’t forget to sign up here. The last day for entries will be Monday 20th February.
Practise your parts for Concert Band/Choir/HUB/Musical Theatre/Strings/Jazz Band/Brass Ensemble/Hayes Harmonies and so on!
Please click here to be taken to the Concert Band page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can play along at home when practising.
Please click here to be taken to the Musical Theatre page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can sing along at home when practising.
**Please note – Joseph dates are now 10th – 12th March**
Are you ready for Thursday’s MusicFest?
If you are performing…
You will be emailed in the week with a draft programme
You do NOT need to wear school uniform – you can wear whatever you like as long as it’s suitable for a performance at school.
Be in the audience being a lovely supportive audience member for other performers
At the end, take a bow and SMILE to acknowledge your applause
If you are a Music Leader…
Please speak to Miss Werry to find out when you need to arrive and what you will need to do.
We need people to be on the door and run the refreshments
If you have volunteered to be on the Tech Team…
Please speak to Miss Werry to find out more.
During MusicFest itself you need to be proactive at the front of the hall as well as at the back, helping people with mics and mic stands – whatever each performer needs
If you are coming to be in the audience…
Remember good audience etiquette, and be aware that you need to respond in different ways to different types of music – you may be clapping or joining in if a performer invites you to, but for some pieces (especially classical ones, or very soft ones) you might need to be completely silent and completely still.
Here’s the design that will be on our tour t shirts:
There’ll be lots more tour info after half term so …
Sad news
Burt Bacharach died yesterday. He was one of the world’s greatest songwriters.
One of his most popular songs was (They Long to Be) Close to You. The best-known version of the song was recorded in 1970 by the American duo, The Carpenters.
Calling all young songwriters…and singers, musicians, producers & creative writers aged 8-18!
Calling all young songwriters…and singers, musicians, producers & creative writers aged 8-18! The Young Songwriter 2023 competition is open for entries! Incredible judges + prizes. Goto https://t.co/WYn6PyjgUS for how to enter, songwriting tips & guidance. #SAYS23pic.twitter.com/G4NBwA11ss
BYMT EASTER SOUNDS returns Mon 3–Wed 5 April 2023. Whether you are at the start or are continuing your musical journey, we have courses in Strings, Brass, Woodwind, Percussion, Keyboards Ukulele & Songwriting. For more information please visit https://t.co/aMVqFpW0Inpic.twitter.com/tiWJq3tSyk
Enjoy a minute listening to this lovely Cor Anglais melody by Dvořák:
Antonín Leopold Dvořák (1841 – 1904) was a Czech composer. The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World”, Op. 95, B. 178, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It premiered in New York City on 16 December 1893. It is one of the most popular of all symphonies. Astronaut Neil Armstrong took a tape recording of the New World Symphony along during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969.
The cor anglais (or English horn in North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family.
We have had to change the date of MusicFest so it will now be held on Thursday 23rd February at 6pm. Please sign up here. The last day for entries will be Monday 20th February.
Please click here to be taken to the Concert Band page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can play along at home when practising.
Please click here to be taken to the Musical Theatre page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can sing along at home when practising.
Musical Theatre Club – exciting news
Those of you who attend Musical Theatre club will shortly be receiving an email with information about a trip to see Matilda The Musical in July.
In the meantime, have a look at this video by Tim Minchin. He wrote the music and lyrics for Matilda The Musical.
Fab local opportunity
BYMT news
There are only 10 spaces left to be part of this musical.
Seussical weaves together many of the much-loved characters and stories from Dr. Seuss including the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, the Whos, Getrude McFuzz, Amayzing Mayzie and many more. Seussical is a musical for all ages that has been performed on Broadway and the West End and is written fantastically well, with fun and exciting music covering a multitude of styles. It will be a brilliant experience to be part of featuring a live band, props, costumes, professional sound and lights and you will also get to work with a West End creative team.
No audition is needed and no prior experience either.
The show will be performed four times: on March 30th , March 31st and two shows on April 1st . You would also have to be available for most days after school from the 27th of March (this is negotiable).
If you are signing up for an 8 – 11-year-old, please use this link:
If you have any further questions about the show or how much it costs to take part, please email Max Reynolds, our director, via: max.reynolds@live.co.uk
The movie music maestro received his 53rd Oscar nomination for his score to Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Fabelmans’, which is also nominated for Best Picture.
At 90 years old, John Williams has once again made Oscars history, becoming the oldest person to be nominated for a competitive Academy Award.
The movie music legend’s score for Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans is nominated for the Best Original Score award in 2023, alongside Babylon, All Quiet on the Western Front, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and The Banshees of Inisherin.
Currently decorated with five Oscar wins, Williams’ last Best Original Score win was in 1993 for Schindler’s List. Previous winning scores were Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
The Fabelmans marks 50 years of friendship and collaboration between Williams and Spielberg, who thanked the composer for writing the film’s score “as his most personal gift to me… [and] my parents”.
“Wiegenlied” (“Lullaby“; “Cradle Song“), Op. 49, No. 4, is a lied (song) for voice and piano by Johannes Brahms which was first published in 1868. It is one of the composer’s most popular pieces.
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period.
We have had to change the date of MusicFest so it will now be held on Thursday 23rd February at 6pm. Please sign up here. The last day for entries will be Monday 20th February.
Music department events this term:
Please click here to be taken to the Concert Band page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can play along at home when practising.
Please click here to be taken to the Musical Theatre page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can sing along at home when practising.
The trip consists of a tour of the Royal Albert Hall in the morning, time for lunch in Kensington Gardens and a concert in the afternoon. The deadline for signing up and paying is Friday 27th January.
Packed lunch and rounders in Kensington Gardens. Let’s hope the weather is like it is in this photo 🙂
Music department events this term:
Please click here to be taken to the Concert Band page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can play along at home when practising.
Please click here to be taken to the Musical Theatre page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can sing along at home when practising.
BYMT news
We are absolutely delighted to confirm that the BYMT MUSICAL THEATRE SUMMER SCHOOL will return! Monday 21-Friday 25 August 2023. More details to be announced soon, but in the meantime, Save The Date! pic.twitter.com/VAOCwIuZxb
The next MusicFest is just under 4 weeks away so you need to get planning, collaborating and practising!
MusicFests are informal concerts where students from any year group can perform pieces of their own choice to a friendly and supportive audience. We always have a huge range of music, from students’ very first public performance to students who are already hugely experienced musicians. We have all styles of music from classical to rock to musical theatre and students’ own compositions. There are solos, duets and groups. One of the loveliest thngs about these events is when students from different year groups work on something together. MusicFests are always a much loved event on the Hayes Music calendar.
Here is the video from last term’s MusicFest so you can get a flavour of what it’s like:
Keep an eye on the blog for details of how to sign up.
Congratulations to Brooke for being part of the NYO’s four city Odyssey tour. The tour was a huge success and received rave reviews.
Here’s a clip from our last full rehearsal at @WarwickArtsCentre with @Alexandre_Bloch before we take flight tomorrow night! 🎶
— National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (@NYO_GB) January 3, 2023
If you would like to find out more about joining the NYO and NYO Inspire, speak to Brooke in year 12 and Emma and Erin in year 10. More information can be found here.
I’d really like to start up the Guest Contributor feature again. Anyone involved in the music department at Hayes can write something for the blog. It could be a write-up of a musical experience you’ve been on, a review, a recommendation … anything to do with music really. In the past we’ve had students write about concerts they’ve performed in, workshops/courses they’ve attended, shows/concerts they’ve been to, songs/pieces they’ve discovered and so on.
If you would like to contribute something for the blog, either come and see me in CGG, or send me an email. Thank you.
Have you visited the music section in the school library?
These are just a few of the books available to borrow in the library. There are MANY more so go and see for yourself. Let me know if you discover one you’d like to recommend and review.
Watch Anna Lapwood deconstruct a Bach fugue
You can watch Anna play the organ at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls in April. She’ll be performing Saint-SaënsSymphony No.3.
In this concert, BBC Radio Presenter and Associate Artist of the Royal Albert Hall, Anna Lapwood, turns pipe dreams into reality by, quite literally, taking us inside the pipes with her camera, revealing the hidden side of the instrument we never get to see. Performing on Fairfield Hall’s organ for its grand re-opening, Anna plays Saint-Saëns’ colossal Symphony No.3, nicknamed the ‘organ symphony for its fiery showcase of the organ as it depicts the end of the world.
All music clubs will start up in the week beginning the 9th January.
See you there 🙂
Have you visited the music section in the school library?
These are just a few of the books available to borrow in the library. There are MANY more so go and see for yourself. Let me know if you discover one you’d like to recommend and review.
There are lots more Christmas playlists to try out. Click here to see them all.
Watch Violinist Randall Goosby gliding effortlessly over Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 under the baton of Alpesh Chauhan
Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, is one of the most popular violin concertos in solo violin repertoire and, along with the Scottish Fantasy, the composer’s most famous work. Max Bruch (1838 – 1920) was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works.
Here’s the rehearsal schedule for the day of the concert (Thursday 15th December). Please make a note of when you are needed and make sure you have your instrument/music in school with you on that day. The rehearsals will take place in the hall unless stated otherwise.
Your teachers will know why you are absent from lessons that day, but it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and catch up.
Usual lunch rehearsals will take place up until the concert.
Here are some things you need to know about the concert itself:
The concert is at 6.30pm in the Hall. It will be finished by 9pm.
You need to wear all black. Not blue, not brown, not patterned, and no big logos. If you want to wear a bit of tinsel etc. on yourself or on your instrument, go for it.
Tickets are £5 on the door for adults or pay via ParentPay. Under 18s and senior citizens are free.
The music classrooms will be available for coats, instrument cases etc. Please arrive in enough time to warm up and get organised.
When the concert is in progress, you must not hang out in the classrooms or corridors. You need to be in the Hall being a supportive, considerate, appreciative member of the audience who shows awareness of performance etiquette which includes not moving around or making a noise during the music.
Any questions, please ask.
All music clubs will start up again after the Christmas holiday.
Please click here to be taken to the Musical Theatre page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can sing along at home when practising.
Please click here to be taken to the Concert Band page. Here you’ll find links to this term’s pieces so you can play along at home when practising.
Hayes Music blog 