Celebrating Our Learners

We enjoyed an incredible evening of musical talent on Monday as the Secondary music department hosted the first ever NEXUS Young Musician of the Year competition. After round 1 with the musicians simply submitting a video of them playing we had an incredible response from our community with over 60 entries. The Secondary music team found it really tough to narrow it down to just 16 finalists in 4 categories.

To judge the competition we welcomed Damien Williams IBDP Music Teacher and TOK teacher. He is passionate about supporting young musicians to find their own path through creativity and introspection. Damien started his journey as a classical musician performing in many Leicestershire orchestras as a youth musician before studying at the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College. He spent many years freelancing as a trombonist across the UK and Europe before continuing his education with some of the luminaries of the late 1980s and 90s British Jazz scene. Since 2000, when he started his journey as a teacher, he has devoted his energies towards working with young performers and composers in a range of international contexts and mentoring emerging musicians.

Our NEXUS Musicians set the bar high and the competition was competitive. We are pleased to announce that Bill Y11 won YMOTY Instrumental, Nazneen Y11 won YMOTY Vocals, Remy Y8 YMOTY Guitar and Maya YMOTY Piano.

In addition our overall NEXUS Young Musician of the Year for 2023 is Maya!

Nexus learners have had many performance opportunities this term to showcase their talents within the classroom, in the auditorium and at our popular eco-cafe 'Musical Maestros.' 

In primary we have over 300 learners involved in our music CCA programme, and over 100 involved in the instrumental programme. Well done Nexus learners for your commitment and involvement in the music programme.

We had our MADDD week programme running which comprises of our Year 5 'Space MADD' concert on 13 June at 6pm, and our secondary learners taking part in multiple music, art, dance, drama and design workshops, performances and more. Young Musician of the Year took place this week as well as the annual House MADDD competition for Y7-9.

Inside the classroom Secondary learners have been utilising our new Music Technology Site which comprises of 25 top of the range MAC computers with midi keyboards. Learners have been learning to use Sibelius and Logic Pro music composition programmes to assist with coursework and assignments. The highlights have included Y9 creating theme music to accompany Super Mario and Year 8 creating remixes of well known popular songs.

20 brave members of our community stepped up to have their head shaved as part of Hair For Hope 2023.  Those making a bald statement have raised $22,434.40 so far for children with cancer.  It was an emotional event on Friday 9th June as feelings of nervousness, excitement and joy took over. It was nothing short of inspirational to watch our incredible learners make a sacrifice to raise money and awareness for this charity. As one of only two international schools in Singapore to be involved in the event, we are so proud of our learners and staff; and hope to enjoy the event for many more years to come.