Hayes Music blog

 

It’s great to hear some fantastic rehearsals going on for MusicFest items. If you haven’t already signed up, do it here. MusicFest is on Wednesday 7th February. 

If you are in any of the choirs, the choirs page (hover your mouse over ‘about’ at the top of your screen and you’ll see it) has been updated with this term’s songs.

Keep thinking about designs for the tour t-shirt. Send us your ideas!

What a difference a semitone makes

Just changing it from minor to major makes it a totally different song! Try changing your own pieces from major to minor (or minor to major) and see how it sounds!

Everything starts back this week, in the same time slots that they were in last term. See you there!

MusicFest is coming up fast!

This is on Wednesday 7th February. We want you to perform! Don’t worry if it’s your first time – take the plunge! Remember, you can perform anything you like (provided it’s not the sort of thing that will offend anyone) – pop, rock, classical, jazz, your own composition – grade 8+, beginner – it doesn’t matter. You can sign up now by filling in this form.

Tour t-shirt competition

Tour is getting close! Final payments are now due – parents have been emailed to let them know. If you are coming on tour, it would be a good idea to check your passport and EHIC card to make sure they have not expired!

We will be having orange t-shirts this year so that our 7-tour veterans in Year 13 complete their rainbow! But we do not yet have a design. This is down to you! We could all be wearing t-shirts with YOUR design on – competition now open (closing date 31st January). Here are the requirements for your design:

• Must contain the text Hayes School Music Tour 2018 and either Saxony or Germany (or, if you’d prefer, Sachsen or Deutschland)
• Design must be bold and one colour (it will be printed in black ink on the t-shirts)
• No boring treble clefs
• Have a think about giving it a German theme (but definitely no swastikas!)
• Can be computer-generated or drawn by hand

If you would like to submit a design, either bring it in on paper, or email it to MissW.

….and rest!

Have a great Christmas and New Year!

Rehearsals will start again on January 8th.

Please could Music Leaders come to a meeting on the first day back (Wed 3rd) at lunch, to make plans for the term.

Here are the videos from the Year 7 concert and the Christmas concert – huge thanks to Ben for shooting and editing these!

This lot are very clever… maybe a number for Boyvox for next Christmas?!??

Here are when your rehearsals are on Concert Day on Thursday 14th December. There will be all the normal rehearsals on Mon-Wed. 

On Thursday, you may not miss any lessons other than those indicated by what is on the rehearsal schedule.

The concert is at 6.30pm in the Hall. You can use CGD to put coats, cases etc. in.

You need to wear all black. 

When you are not performing, you need to be part of the audience – do not hang around in CGD or in the corridor (unless you are in the very next item).

The concert will finish at approximately 8.45pm. Tickets are £5 for adults (under-18s and over-60s FREE) and are available on the door. Members of Choir, Boyvox, and Showsongs need to learn all their words!  We will not be using copies in any rehearsals this week. Please see the Choir page (you can access this via the drop-down on the ‘Home’ tab at the top of this page).

If you are in Concert Band, remember we have the Hayes Free Church gig on Sunday! You have had a letter about this – see you there at 5.30pm for the service at 6.30pm. Friends and family are all welcome. Black outfits for this too please. Remember to bring everything you will need!

 

The next thing on our list of Christmas events is the Christmas Tree Festival at Hayes Free Church on Sunday 10th December. This involves Concert Band only but everyone is welcome to come along to the service, which is at 6.30pm. Concert Band members have had a letter with all the details on it, so you should know where to go, when to be there, what to bring and what to wear! As always, if you have any quality questions please ask!

The Christmas concert is coming up very fast! the rehearsal schedule for the day of the concert will be on NEXT WEEK’S BLOG. There will be a full day of rehearsals in the Hall on the day. On the evening itself, you need to wear all black and make sure you leave instrument cases etc. in CGD. You need to be at the back of the Hall being part of the audience for anything you’re not actually in, but be ready to come on when it’s your turn.

We still have two places left on our tour to Germany in April. Dates are 2-8th April. If you want to fill one of these spaces, you will need to come up with the money pretty much all in one go, so you’ll have to check that this is OK with your parents! The total cost is £540. Please see MissW for more details. 

Two things for those who have a place on tour already:

1. Check that your passport will not expire before the tour! Also check your EHIC card – although we have full health insurance for the trip, having a valid EHIC card makes getting hospital treatment much easier.
2. Be aware that the final payment is due in January (Jan 6th). This will be £340 if you have already made two payments of £100.

…really hoping that we might have a creative Boomwhacker item in MusicFest one day…!

This is another fab opportunity for woodwind, brass and percussion players, grades 2-5. Free trial of Pops Band next Wednesday, 6pm till 7.15pm. The pieces they are currently rehearsing include Can’t Stop the Feeling, Shut Up and Dance, The Sound of Music, The Pink Panther and I’ll be There.

Year 7 Concert

Congratulations to all Year 7s who performed on Tuesday, but especially to our winners:

1st place: Brooke Simpson (double bass)

2nd place: Ben Foster (trumpet)

3rd place: Olivia Wahl (saxophone)

Class 7WXA and Mr Bello with their performance of Four Five Seconds. 

And special thanks to our wonderful volunteers who performed while the judge made her deliberations: Harry Aldridge, Ben Frost, Hannah Martin, Alana Murtagh, Laura Mascarenhas and Ben Martin.

Hayes Christmas Lights

Thank you to everyone in Jamsesh who turned out on a chilly afternoon to play at the Christmas Lights! Special thanks to Emily for her solo in All I Want for Christmas Is You. 

The next few weeks….

…are going to be busy!

We have the Christmas Tree Festival on Sunday 10th December for Concert Band, and then the Christmas Concert on Thursday 14th December for EVERYONE who is in anything!

Make sure you are at all relevant rehearsals. Members of all choirs need to get learning their words! Hop on over to the Choirs page (accessible via the dropdown tab on the ‘Home’ button at the top of this page) for videos of all relevant songs.

Make sure that if you’ve got choir copies at home, you bring them to rehearsals!

It’s time for the Year 7 concert already! Year 7 classes have been working really hard in their lessons, and it’s sure to be another corker… thanks in advance to the Music Leaders and other students who have volunteered to help on the evening.

If you are in Year 7, here’s what to do when you arrive at the church. Students in UV classes go straight to the front of the church, while WX classes sit in the audience with their parents for the first half. 

Starts: 7pm

Finishes: about 9pm

Tickets: £3 via ParentPay or on the door.

Wear: school uniform

Jamsesh will be appearing at the Hayes Christmas Lights festivities – all supporters welcome!

Interesting clef info

There’s a lot more to it than just treble and bass clefs! Here is how to read the other clefs:

But there are actually more clefs than these! Here is an insight into all the other weird and wacky clefs that there are…

Friday funny…

(…for this to be funny you need to work out what kind of cadence this is!)

Huge thanks to Corinna for editing all the footage! And to all the performers for a fab MusicFest!

The next 6 weeks are one of our busiest times of year! We have got the following things coming up:

• Tuesday 21st November: Year 7 Concert, 7pm, St Mark’s (Year 7, plus helpers)
• Saturday 25th November: Hayes Christmas Lights, 3.55pm, New Inn (Jamsesh)
• Thursday 30th November: 6th Form Open Evening, 6pm, Hall (Jazz Band)
• Sunday 10th December: Hayes Christmas Tree Festival, 6.30pm, Hayes Free Church, (Concert Band)
• Thursday 14th December: Christmas Concert, 6.30pm, Hall (EVERYONE)

Get organised, and know what you’re doing when – and make sure you’re at rehearsals!

We love a bit of cross-curricular… here’s a maths problem for you!

Ermmmmmm…….

Play timps with the LPO!

Some weekend musical fun playing along with the timps!

We had a brilliant mixture of different styles, lots of students’ first performances, and loads of top-quality singing and playing – well done all! A video will be coming out in due course.

Now we are looking forward to a well-earned rest at half term, and gearing up for our busy weeks in the run up to Christmas! Make sure you have these dates in your diary:

• Tuesday 21st November – Year 7 Concert, 7pm @ St Mark’s
• Saturday 25th November – Hayes Christmas Lights, afternoon outside New Inn: this will involve Jamsesh (both groups)
• Sunday 10th December – Christmas Tree Festival, 6.30pm @ Hayes Free Church: this will involve Concert Band
• Thursday 14th December – Christmas Concert, 6.30pm in the Hall: this will involve EVERYONE!

Remember that all choir songs (Choir, Boyvox, Showsongs, Chamber Choir) can be found over on the Choirs page (hover over the ‘Home’ button at the top).

Some entertainment for you..

Thank you for all your MusicFest entries – we are in for a fabulous evening of performances! Huge thanks to Hannah for compiling the programme.

Arrangements for the day:

• MusicFest starts at 6pm. 
• Tickets are £2 on the door. 
• Performers can wear whatever they like as long as they look nice!
• Should finish around 8.30pm

On the day, we will be able to set things up in the Hall from 4.30pm: Music Leaders plus any other willing helpers/roadies please! During the concert we will need people to do the following:

1. Take money on the door and give out programmes
2. Move microphones/music stands etc. for each performer
3. Sell drinks and doughnuts etc in the interval (and beforehand)
4. Get some decent video footage

If you are up for any of these jobs, please let MissW know, and then be around in the right place at the right time!

 

Open Day – thank you!

A MASSIVE thank you to Jazz Band and the Music Leaders for their help at Open Day. People ALWAYS comment about how great Jazz Band sound, and it creates exactly the right impression – that music is important to Hayes School, and that we’re pretty good at it! Help in CGD and upstairs in the studio was just as appreciated – it’s so fantastic to see students interacting with our visitors, and being so confident about demonstrating their music and answering questions (it’s better, really, if visitors have questions answered by students than teachers).

Also, we could not have done without all the hours that you have spent helping with the displays – we have had more displays to do in the last few months than EVER before, and they look the best they ever have done.

We honestly could not do as much as we do without all the help we get from students. You are amazing!

Another opportunity at BYMT

See above for details of a fab jazz opportunity at BYMT – please note that the Birdland Band has no age limit, so parents could get involved too!

You know all this, but…

We all know that musicians are special, right? But here’s scientific proof…