On Saturday 12th October, Mia Nguyen (Year 11) was invited to perform with the Greenwich Concert Band in their concert entitled 'Stage and Screen' as their guest soloist. Mia performed the famous violin theme from the film 'Schindler's List' and did a fantastic performance, with so many compliments from the audience.
Well done Mia on a fantastic performance. It was a pleasure to watch.
Mrs Casling, Head of Music
Congratulations to all the cast and crew on an amazing 4 nights. The quality of the performances was simply amazing, and we are still receiving compliments from audience members about just how amazing it was.
All the hard work paid off! The Mayor of Bexley who attended the Gala Night performance had nothing but high praise for all involved and the final night was full of heartfelt messages to and from our Year 13 leavers.
Now... what shall we do next year?!
Click on the link here to view the Legally Blonde Photo Gallery.
Mrs Casling, Head of Music
Congratulations to all the students (52 in total!) who took their ABRSM or Trinity exams at BGS this week (10th-12th July). As I write, the exam results from the Trinity exams are in and are FANTASTIC!
A particular mention to Ben and Nuno from Year 7, who both achieved their Grade 1 clarinet exams having come through our clarinet taster programme in the Autumn Term at the start of Year 7 with Mr Cooper.
To make such progress in less than one year is excellent.
We had 4 students taking either Grade 7 or Grade 8 on their instruments, which is such a fantastic achievement, the youngest being Giulia M-B and Emily H, both in Year 9.
It was also lovely to welcome in 17 external students who took their exams with us at BGS, and we look forward to hopefully seeing them at BGS when they choose their secondary school choices! Lovely to make those connections with our surrounding primary schools.
Mrs Casling, Head of Music
Wow, what a night! We were so privileged as a music department to be able to invite back so many alumni students, past staff members, previous heads - as well as our current students and staff - to give Mr Laing the fitting send off his 27 years at Bexley Grammar School deserved. After weeks of planning between Mrs Casling and Mr Laing, the concert was opened up by Mrs Eacott with a few numbers from Tour Choir and one specially written song that encompassed as many music department-related anecdotes about Jez as we could squeeze in! The tour band followed shortly after under the baton of Miss Todd, with hits from the movies and audience-based participation in ‘Tequila’.
Then the jazz began. An epic three hours of repertoire, rehearsed and performed separately by Junior Jazz, Big Band and Improv Group. The talent displayed on stage was astounding and the joy that the students felt was evident in their playing; they were exuding musicality! And it didn’t stop there, with the final numbers being performed by a hybrid of past and present students all performing at once (at one point, we didn’t know whether we would have enough amps or music stands to go around!) The sound was incredible and fully appreciated by the pizza-eating audience that had gathered to support this event. It was hugely memorable and both highly enjoyable and sad in equal measure for those who have worked closely with Jez. His presence will be missed dearly but his legacy and all that he has done in the music department - and the school as a whole - will live on! Thank you for everything.
Mrs Eacott, Head of Music
On Saturday 20th April, the Chamber Choir performed at the inaugural Spring Song Choir Festival at Christchurch Bexleyheath, organised by ZigZag Performing Arts and Greenwich Academy for Music and Dance. Comprised of Year 12 and 13 students and led expertly by Mrs Casling, the Choir performed Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell, Glow by Eric Whitacre and Grace Kelly by Mika. Their performance was wonderful to watch, with smiles of enjoyment clearly visible throughout their performance. The audience were treated to a high quality performance, and the choir enjoyed performing alongside other local community choirs. Well done to members of the Chamber Choir - and good luck to our Year 13 members as you embark on study leave and exams!
Mrs Goddard, Music Department
On Monday 18 March, the music department students came together for our annual Spring concert. Many of you will remember last year’s epic ‘Out of this World’, and this year our theme was ‘BGS in Technicolour’. The whole concert was themed around pieces linked to colour, and along with a fantastic lighting design provided by Rob Humphreys and Mr Asker, we were thrilled to present our programme to the audience.
The Samba Band started with a drumline composition, ‘Cadence 24’, and showed even more excitement and development of their skills as an ensemble. They worked hard with Mr Pack, our drum teacher, and it was a rousing start to the programme. KS3 Orchestra followed, with a collaboration with St Stephen’s Catholic Primary School with ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’, followed by Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’. Rob Humphreys, Year 12 music prefect, conducted the collaboration and was excellent in his debut. Clarinet Choir, led by Mr Cooper, performed ‘Rhapsody in Blue’, with Max Jansen performing the iconic opening solo. Chamber Choir followed, with Mrs Casling directing ‘Grace Kelly’ and ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. Chamber Choir will soon be performing at Bexleyheath Christchurch with Grace Kelly in April. We will confirm all the details soon - please catch them then! Junior Jazz performed Green Onions and Blue Train with Mr Laing, followed by Flute Choir and Mrs Casling performing ‘Colours of the Wind’ and ‘Ecstasy of Gold’. The final performance of the first half was with Junior Choir, where they performed ‘True Colours’ and ‘Firework’ enthusiastically to see us out.
The second half was introduced with the Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Mrs Casling, with performances of ‘Mr Blue Sky’ and highlights from ‘Wicked’. Having just returned from a trip to Wicked as well, you couldn’t stop some of our students from joining in singing. The String Group with Miss Todd performed ‘Greensleeves’ and ‘Seven Nation Army’, with Rock Band under Mr Ross following up with Led Zeppelin’s ‘Black Dog’ and Rainbow’s ‘Since You Been Gone’. Senior Choir allowed a moment for reflection with ‘Fields of Gold’ before ramping up the temp again with Pink’s ‘So What?’, featuring soloists Emily Chan, Teondra Imurni and Holly Kinsella. Improv performed Happy Purple and Blue Sky’s, followed by Big Band’s ‘Afro Blue’ and ‘Tangerine’, featuring Zara Warren singing. The evening concluded with a massed ABBA Gold medley performance, with all the audience invited to participate.
Every Spring Concert is a chance for us to thank our Y13 students for all their hard work and contributions over the years. We wish you all success in the future and keep in touch. We also announced our fundraising drive for a new acoustic piano. Details of the fundraising drive have been shared with you all on ParentPay, and we hope that you can help us in improving our piano stock across the department over the next year.
It was a privilege to see all of our performers on stage and enjoying what they do best - making music. We still have many more events to come, including the KS3 Showcase, Legally Blonde and Jazz Evening - keep an eye on the newsletter for further information!
Click on the link here to view the Spring Concert 2024 Photo Gallery.
Mrs Goddard, Head of Music
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Congratulations to all our students (some who were blocked by instruments, so I couldn't get a good photo!) who performed as part of the Bexley Music Festival on Monday 25th March at Fairfield Halls in Croydon. Daniel, Aaron, Eve, Krish, Yannis, Zara, James and Max. Max Jansen performed an outstanding solo and our students were in ensembles including the concert orchestra, little big band and many others including the house band for the evening. For Max and Eve, this marked the end of their time with Bexley Music before they leave for university. Well done all; a thoroughly enjoyable concert.
Click on the link here to view the Bexley Music Festival 2024 Photo Gallery.
The Music Department
Following the advertisement placed in one of the school newsletters, I saw an opportunity to apply for the overture day with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. About 70 young musicians came together (including me on trumpet!) to rehearse in St Luke's, Old Street, London, and perform a range of challenging musical pieces. Overall, I really enjoyed this opportunity and I would recommend it to anyone who gets the chance.
James Boyd, Year 10
Congratulations to Ella Tyler for her participation in the Bromley Music Festival with the following results:
An amazing achievement for Ella. Congratulations from the BGS music department. Having the opportunity to perform and receive advice from industry professionals is always an amazing experience!
Mrs Casling, Music Department
On Tuesday 12th March, 12 students from our KS3 Orchestra visited St Stephen’s Primary School to rehearse in advance of our upcoming concert on Monday 18th March. We rehearsed ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ with around 20 students from the Primary School, with our musicians shadowing on each of the parts.
Aysu, Year 7, said that it was lots of fun to play with another group of instrumentalists and to work under the leadership of Rob Humphreys, Year 12, who has been conducting the orchestra there as part of his CAS IB portfolio.
We looked at little parts of the piece to rehearse these more as well as how to demonstrate a professional performance. We are looking forward to hosting St Stephen’s at our concert on Monday 18th March and to performing our piece together.
Mrs Goddard, Head of Music
On the 27th January 2024, the Music department hosted a ‘Jazz and Curry’ evening for the first time in 2 decades. We started the night off with Big Band, one of the three BGS Jazz Groups, as they played 5 pieces by a vast array of composers, like Charles Mingus and Fats Waller, with improvisational solos being seen throughout each piece by all the different instruments within the band. After Big Band’s first set finished, Junior Jazz went on stage to play their repertoire of many pieces as they impressed the crowd with their immense talent and superb improvisation abilities. Following the Junior Jazz group, we took a break as the guests and players sat down to eat their curry from the local curry house, The Jasmine, who were kind enough to provide a full buffet of Indian-based food. Whilst everyone was eating, a few players decided to play a set of more Jazz pieces to accompany the delicious assortment of food. After the break finished, it was time for the last of the three BGS Jazz Groups to play their pieces. The Improv Group played three pieces, showing not only their talent but their tremendous efforts as they played their pieces flawlessly, impressing not only the guests but everyone watching. To finish the night, Big Band played another set as they played the pieces masterfully, concluding a magnificent night of jazz with finesse.
Ethan Abbate, Year 12
Well done to all of our performers on this evening, and a huge thank you to Mr Laing for preparing the items with the bands. What a treat and I hope that we can make this a biannual thing!
Mrs Goddard, Head of Music
