Launch of the Infant Department
January 2011
The Spring term saw the launch of the academy’s new Infant Department, with morning classes for toddlers aged two and upwards, and after-school classes for children in Reception and Key Stage One. The toddlers classes are led by Mim Poingdestre, who is vastly experienced in this style of tuition, bringing boundless energy to the classes. These sessions are for toddlers with their parents/carers, and mix up singing, dancing, clapping, and playing on a huge range of different mini instruments. Caroline Finch leads the Reception and Key Stage One groups, where more focus is given to notation and aural training, and the children will get the opportunity to try different musical instruments. We hope that the youngest children can grow up through the academy system, and have the fundamental musical foundations in place before choosing their own instrument.
Rococo String Sextet Residency
January 26th-30th 2011
The Rococo String Quartet were resident at the academy in the Winter term, but they returned this term with friends! The Rococo String Sextet gave an after-school concert with just one work in the programme; Brahms’s beautiful String Sextet. This provided an excellent opportunity for students to experience one of the large-scale musical forms of the Romantic period, and an interesting question and answer session followed about the work itself and also the musician’s backgrounds. The Jersey Chamber Orchestra concert that week at the Opera House in which the sextet performed was the orchestra’s first complete sell-out, so congratulations to Music In Action on this acheivement!
London Concert Day-Trip
December 12th 2010
The term was brought to a close with a wonderful short tour to London to attend an afternoon orchestral concert at the Royal Festival Hall given by the Philharmonia Orchestra. Nine students and three adult supervisors took part in this event, which was sponsored by the Jersey Arts Trust.
Following a bleary-eyed 6am meet at Jersey Airport, the flight and train to London was over in no time at all, and by 9.30am we were in central London making our way to the Southbank Centre. The route walking from Victoria Station also presented the opportunity to visit a few key landmarks, firstly Westminster Cathedral:
The sunny walk also continued onwards past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben:
The short walk along the Thames led through the large Christmas Market on the south bank, and finally to the destination of the Southbank Centre. Free time followed for a chance to explore this vast facility, housing three concert halls and numerous musical and artistic shops. After a picnic lunch, and with a couple of hours to spare before the start of the concert, we walked further along the river to visit the Tate Modern, a chance to experience some highly unusual modern works of art:
Upon returning to the Southbank Centre it was time to take our seats for the concert, and the programme of music performed was truly wonderful. Following Prokofiev’s Suite from Lieutenant Kije, Benjamin Schmid took to the stage to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, which was a performance characterised by a huge depth of tone and some moments of staggering virtuosity. The second half presented excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and the opportunity for the orchestra to display a wonderful variety of colours and textures, with some particularly impressive moments of sheer power from the brass and percussion sections, in which the entire hall seemed to vibrate from its foundations!
Following a short journey back to Gatwick Aiport and the flight home, we arrived back in the island feeling as if we had crammed a whole weekend’s worth of visits and activities into one fantastic day! Our thanks go to the Jersey Arts Trust for sponsoring this event to ensure that many of the costs were covered. We are looking forward to running similar ‘day-trip’ events in the future, as it is simply incredible just how much can be fitted into one day if you really try!