Jul 2015 – Musique et Aventure

20th-25th July 2015

 

The academy’s ever-popular summer music course  was enjoyed by thirty-five students this year, led by a team of  nine teachers.  The course is open island-wide, and this year it included children ranging from 9yrs to 17yrs of age, playing violin, viola, cello, piano, flute, saxophone, trumpet, tuba, cornet, and percussion.

 

The mornings were committed to music tuition, with a variety of one-to-one lessons, chamber music coaching, theory and aural coaching, individual practice, and large ensemble rehearsals using every nook and cranny of the property!  All the childrens’ time was fully timetabled, and in the break-times and lunchtimes we all had the opportunity to stretch our legs and let off some steam on the lawns.

 

 

The afternoons were dedicated to activites, and the first was an action-packed three-hour session at Creepy Valley, including the Aerial Trek, Powerfan Jump, King Swing, and Zip-Wire.  Exhilarating and challenging in equal measure!

 

The second afternoon was a chance to relax at the Aquasplash leisure pool, and on the third day we had great fun with Lawn Games (including rounders, football, racing, wink-murder, and sleeping lions!).  The Thursday evening presented the first concert of the course, and this took place at Georgetown Methodist Church in front of a packed audience.  The concert featured a mixture of student and teacher performances.

 

 

On the Friday afternoon we were based at St. Brelade’s Bay with Jersey Seafaris, and everyone had the chance to experience the high-speed thrills of the speedboat, and despite the sun not shining at its brightest we were still able to hold the obligatory sand-castle building competition:

 

 

The Saturday of the course was dedicated to the final concert, with preparations and final rehearsals all morning before parents, family and friends arrived for the afternoon concert.  All the course participants performed the pieces they had worked on all week, and congratulations to all the performers for giving us such a wonderful concert to complete the course!