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Heathlands

C of E Primary School

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Music

Music at Heathlands

Heathlands has a thriving music department. We have 4 peripatetic teachers so our dedicated music room is in constant use.  Pupils can learn clarinet, flute, guitar, oboe, piano, singing, and violin. Many of our pupils do the ABRSM music exams and some go on to take secondary school places on a music scholarship. If your child wishes to have lessons, full details, and the waiting list, are in the school office, or contact our music co-ordinator, Mrs White, at sarahwhite@heathlands.essex.sch.uk

We are a singing school and have been awarded the Sing-up bronze award. All children are taught the mechanics of singing, both in the classroom and during hymn practice. In the last few years we have participated in the Roman Rivers Finale. This involves a specialist teacher coming in and helping the children compose their own song as well as learning an existing work. Both songs are sung as part of a Music Festival and give the children experience of performing with a live orchestra.

Individual Music Lessons

At Heathlands we are lucky enough to have four visiting peripatetic music teachers:

 

Sarah White BA (hons), PGCE Music Lead

Teaches Piano, Woodwind, and Singing

Sarah attended at York and Leeds universities where she was choral scholar and studied singing with Margaret Duckworth. She has performed in venues from The Crucible to York Theatre Royal, sung in various cathedral and secular choirs, and toured abroad before settling in Colchester where she is currently Music Director of the Colchester Schools’ Music Festival. Sarah spent 18 years teaching in the secondary sector before finding her way to Heathlands primary school.

 

Geoff Clark BA (Hons)

Teaches Guitar and Ukelele

Geoff Graduated from The Colchester Institute in 2005 where he is now a lecturer and course leader for Level 2 Music Production and Performance. In addition to his teaching Geoff also composes for a variety of events. You may well hear some of his compositions when you are watching TV as he provides much of the incidental music for a variety of programmes.

 

Rhianwen Gold BMus (Hons)

"Since graduating from Royal Holloway College, London, Rhianwen Gold has gained more than 20 years experience as a violin teacher and orchestral tutor.

 

Rhianwen divides her time between private teaching and professional violin playing. She has a busy schedule organising and playing concerts with chamber ensembles including the Althena Ensemble, the Keld Ensemble, the Boxford String Quartet and Piano Trio and performs with several orchestras in Suffolk and Essex, many of which she has been guest leader, and currently co-leads the Lavenham Sinfonia.

 

Above all she is passionate that learning a musical instrument should be fun!"

 

Anne Ruddock

Teaches piano, brass and woodwind

 

Anne works for Essex Music Services and first came to Heathlands in order to teach class recorders. She has been a great addition to our peri team and she has the added value of being a brass teacher. You may well see posters advertising concerts in which Anne is a performer.

 

General

We have a number of instruments which can be loaned for a very reasonable price so you can be sure that it is the right instrument for your child before you buy. All teachers will give taster lessons free of charge so we can advise whether you have chosen a suitable instrument, and the ideal time to begin.

Our Choir

There is a school choir which is open to all. The choir leads the village carols at Christmas and in recent years has done concerts with outside groups such as Colchester Choral Society in the Moot Hall, The Rotary Club at St Botolph’s and Colchester World Music Quire at St Mary’s, West Bergholt.  We also sing at the Colchester Schools’ Music Festival held at the Charter Hall and take part in the Rotary Choir Competition each year.

The orchestra

Our school orchestra encourages great team work and the player of the week has the chance to conduct a piece of their choosing. The orchestra has performed at the Rotary Concert at St. Botolph’s and accompanies the school Christmas Assembly every year. The music is arranged specifically for a whole range of abilities (from beginner up to grade 5) so every child can participate no matter where they are on their musical journey. The West Bergholt Concert Band rehearses at the school one evening a week and we encourage our more able players to join their training band where appropriate.

All children are taught to play a musical instrument in Y4 by a teacher from Essex Music services. Lessons encourage performance, experimentation and composition as well as basic music reading.

We love to celebrate our musicians so twice a year we have musical assemblies where our children have the chance to perform a piece of their choosing. Children often perform music as part of their class assemblies too, ensuring every child has the chance to perform.

School productions

These are a rite of passage for our pupils. Every year Year 6 do a big production in the Summer Term. EYFS and Year 2 perform nativity plays at Christmas.

Visiting Musicians

It has been the music department’s policy to have at least one live performance by visiting musicians every year and to have a music workshop for as many children as possible. Past visitors have been Quire in Education, Rock Steady, Samba Drumming, and The Abbeygate Concert Band as well as small groups from Essex Music Services.

Music across the Curriculum

Music is used in all sorts of imaginative ways by our staff, be it background music for writing or art, comparing past music with more modern music, singing times tables, exploring sound waves, dancing in different styles, learning about music from a particular time to go with theme work, composing, learning subject related songs, or simply for fun. In short, Music and the Arts are alive and well at Heathlands.

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