Music
YEAR 7
Module 6 for year 7 consisted of pupils putting together all of their elements of music they had learnt throughout the year and transferring these elements using various drumming techniques on a djembe. On the djembe pupils were able to create complex and catchy rhythms. Students enthusiastically participated in this activity and it was a real pleasure being able to see students' creativity come to life musically.
YEAR 8
Year 8 students enjoyed a module exploring the acoustic guitar, understanding the science and theory behind how the strings produce a sound and learning chords C, F and G. Many of our year 8 students are continuing their journey in music in Year 9 when they will learn and participate in the following;
Create a piece of music for a scene from their favourite film (Making sure it is age appropriate) consisting of around 2-3 minutes. Students will be taught how to really capture the emotion and how we can create tension and a story with the use of instruments and sound
Learn how to run and operate a professional recording studio. Students will be taught skills such as using analogue mixing and mastering equipment, scheduling class mates recording sessions and being their engineer, how to wrap a cable correctly so it does not break the internal wires and how to mic up different instruments like the drums for example
Create a mini album consisting of 3 songs, all of different genres. Produce the artwork for their album and create their own promotion materials such as posters with a performance at the end of the academic year for their album
Learn the business side of the music industry
YEAR 9
Year 9 students have been finalising their compositions using their artistic plans. It has been such a great pleasure being able to witness students' excitement when they were able to download their songs at the end of an academic year. They have all worked so hard and should be congratulated on the final songs that they can now play for their friends and families.
Students celebrated each others successes and compositions, with a massive shout out to Orhan who produced his own Turkish pop song and even sung the lyrics to his song in Turkish!
MUSIC CO-CURRICULAR CLUBS
Our music tech/DJ and choir club all celebrated a fantastic year this year.
We re-established our choir. Students from all the different year groups were able to come together and perform at events such as the Christmas lunch and also the Chinese New Year assembly this academic year, a massive achievement for all students involved, with all of them showing great resilience and courage. This was also the first time many of them sang to a crowd. Next year we aim to build on this progress by strengthening the numbers of students in the choir and by performing in many many more events.
Our newly established DJ club was a hit with many. Our young DJs came back after school every Monday to practise their mixing and scratching skills on our Pioneer decks. The young DJs even came up with their DJ names and genre speciality in preparation for the next academic year when they will be DJing for many of our academy events such as open evenings, reward evenings, Year 7 disco and much more.
INSTRUMENT LESSONS
Looking ahead to the next academic year I am pleased to say that we have instrument tutors now coming into the academy to offer their expertise on the piano, guitar and also drums to students who have signed up for lessons using this form below: