Music Blog 2021-2022

November 2021 – Film crew
This week we had a film crew visit us from Artsmark. They were filming all of our Arts provision across the school including some of our instrumental lessons with Mr T.

October 2021 – Are you panto ready?
Do you remember last year’s Lockdown Panto? Well, preparations for this year’s panto are already underway.  Oh no they’re not! Oh yes they are!

Get ready to climb a beanstalk to adventure, laughs, songs and family entertainment. It’s time to return to Pantomime…as Sheringham Little Theatre welcomes you back for a giant Christmas extravaganza! Join lazy Jack as he gets used to life beyond lockdown, his trendy but embarrassing Mum (Dame TikTok), his love interest from the local council (Jill Weaver) and his pet Cow who has learned how to talk (Colin). Will they be able to get to the top of the Beanstalk and defeat the evil Giant? From the team who brought you “Rapunzel: The Lockdown Pantomime” which last year performed not only in theatres but streamed to over 200,000 school pupils around the UK.    
Here comes the Fee, Fi, Fo, FUN!
#AreYouPantoReady?

Take a look at the trailer for Jack in the Beanstalk:

October 2021 – Celebrating Black History Month
To celebrate Black History Month, we have been learning about the work and legacy of inspirational British Black people across our curriculum.
Errolyn Wallen, who our music room is named after, is one such person.

At Drake, we are all composers of music. From Reception, where we arrange sounds and actions through to Year 6 where we are writing and notating rhythms and melodies.
Errolyn is an award-winning composer who has written music for many important occasions including the opening ceremony of London 2012 Paralympic Games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8W0PyUMzf0
You can find out more about Errolyn and listen to more of her music here:
https://www.drake.norfolk.sch.uk/errollyn-wallen/
Here is a letter she wrote to us when she heard about our Black History Month celebrations:

October 2021 – Composition in Y2
Year 2’s theme this term is EXPLORE. To accompany their work on exploring the sea, they have been composing their own sea soundscapes and creating their own symbols to notate them.

October 2021 – Singing for Dippy
Year 3 took part in a concert in Norwich Cathedral where Dippy the Dinosaur has been visiting. In partnership with the Norfolk Music Hub, Norwich Cathedral commissioned a new piece of music – ‘Creation Song’ – to celebrate Dippy’s visit to Norwich. Composed by leading British choral composer Bob Chilcott, the piece was written for a choir of Primary School children to perform alongside Norwich Cathedral Choir, accompanied by the mighty Cathedral organ.

This was such an exciting event for our pupil’s to be part of, creating memories that will last forever.
You can hear all about it on the Dippy Podcast:

September 2021 – Music in Year 1
This half term, Year 1 are enjoying marking the steady beat in songs and music that they listen to. They are also composing their own body percussion patterns and performing them.

September 2021 – clubs
Three of our music clubs are up and going already. Mrs Levy is running a string ensemble for some her pupils, Mrs Carruthers has now a KS2 choir after school on a Wednesday, and Mr T has started a lunchtime ukulele club. We have plans for even more clubs, so watch this space!

September 2021 – lessons with Mr T
This week our Musicians in Residences were back in KS2. 
This year we have two Musicians in Residence working with every Key Stage 2 class - Mr Taylor and Mrs Carruthers. This means that every KS2 pupil will have an hour of high quality music teaching a week and everyone will be learning to play a musical instrument.

Mr Taylor started his day by breaking the exciting news to Year 5 that they will be going to the Royal Albert Hall this term to play in the Music for Youth Prom. We are so thrilled and proud that our school has been selected to attend this prestigious and inspirational event. They are going to be all learning to play the Ukulele with Mr T so that they can join a mass ukulele ensemble.

Take a listen to the podcast about the lesson that featured on our radio station:

In Year 3, the children are continuing to learn the recorder, building on the excellent start they made with Mr Draycott last year.

Year 4, are continuing to learn the trumpet this year and started the term with learning the important task of cleaning and maintaining their instruments.

Year 6 are going to be learning to play the glockenspiels with Mrs Carruthers and with Mr Taylor, they are learning to use Garage Band to recreate and compose music.

September 2021 - and we’re back!
We are really looking forward to another musical year at Drake. We have so many exciting and inspirational projects lined up for our pupils this year – its going to be our most musical year yet!
We kicked off the year with a series of live concerts for pupils performed by the Music Hub's Jazz Band ‘C Flat’ and featuring one of our Musician's in Residences, Mr Taylor.
The children absolutely loved the concerts with one Year 3 pupil commenting afterwards ‘My mind is so blown that my brains are in space and they aren’t coming back down!’