W e l c o m eW e l c o m e

Newsletter Date Performing Arts

Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

May 2013May 2013

Issue 2Issue 2Issue 2

ContributorsContributors Mrs Petersen

Ms Harmer

Ms Bloom

Mr Hughes

Mr Wells

Mackenzie

Griffey &

Emma Arthur

Abigail Dockree

Emma Scholey

& Kelly Scholey

Burnmill Road

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7JG

T: 01858 440770

F: 01858 440771

E: office@rsacademy.co.uk

W: www.rsacademy.co.uk

ROBERT SMYTH ROBERT SMYTH

ACADEMYACADEMY

MHAPMHAP Market Harborough Market Harborough

Academies Academies

Partnership 11Partnership 11--1919

On Thursday 14th March the Leicestershire Schools’ Music Service held one of their annual Gala Concerts at De Montfort Hall in Leicester, which also featured Robert Smyth Jazz Band and Soul Patrol. At one of the Leicestershire Music Hub meetings in November last year, LSMS invited Robert Smyth Music Department to organise a massed schools’ performance for this Gala Concert. We decided to create a massed Jazz Band and Soul Band and contacted all the local feeder primary and high schools to see who wanted to take part in the project. Five feeder schools agreed to take part: St Cuthbert’s Primary in Great Glen, Lubenham C of E Primary, St Joseph’s Catholic Primary Academy, Market Harborough C of E Primary and Ridgeway Primary Academy. Over 80 students from these primaries joined the Robert Smyth Jazz Band and Soul Patrol in the performance of four pieces: Tequila, Boogie Lou, Blame it on the Boogie and We Are Family, learning the music as well as cho-reographed dance moves for the songs. The schools rehearsed separately from November till March and joined together for one rehearsal and a performance in the Robert Smyth Spring Concert on 12th March, two nights before the big performance at De Montfort Hall.

The collaberation project between RSA and the primaries follows the recommendations of the recent National Music Plan: clear progression routes; progression from an early stage; and access to large scale events. The concert at De Montfort Hall was almost a sell-out and it was a fantastic experience to play, sing and dance on such a large stage for more than 1000 people in the audience. One of the highlights of the night was when the two lead male singers from Soul Patrol,

Elliot Buchanan and Robert Williams, managed to get the whole of De Montfort Hall singing the chorus to ‘We Are Family’, with sides of the hall competing against each other! Videos and further photos from the event can be found on our website.

RSA Bands & Primaries at De Montfort Hall

Page 2 Performing Arts Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

Platinum Award again for the RSA Big Band

On Saturday 13th April the RSA Big Band competed in the National Concert Band Festival for Wind Bands and Big Bands at Birmingham Conservatoire. The festival is open to wind bands and big bands from junior schools, senior schools, county music services and universities. Each band has to play a 15-20 minute programme and include at least one piece from a set list. Bands do not compete against each other but instead each band is judged on its own merit and awarded either Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. There are 5 regional festivals held around the country in November each year from which all the Platinum winners and the best Gold winners go through to the National Festival. The RSA Big Band had achieved a Platinum at the Midlands regional round in November. There were 10 senior school big bands who had made it through from the regional rounds to this National Festival. Only 3 of the 10 school big bands achieved Platinum in this National Festival, and the RSA Big Band was the only state school big band to achieve the top award. This is the second consecutive year that the RSA Big Band, which is only in its second year of existence, achieve a Platinum in the National Festival. In addition flautist Natasha Davies

achieved an Outstanding Soloist Award. The adjudication report, videos and audio recordings from the event can be viewed on our website. Many congratulations to all the band members for this fantastic result:

Year 10: Tom Wilson (trumpet III) Year 11: Bryony Wong (trumpet I), Joe Rose (trumpet II), Rebekah Weatherby (piano), Niamh West (alto sax II),

Toska Wonfor (baritone sax), Greg Burns (vibes) Year 12: Chris Packwood (trombone I), Nick Roberts (trombone III), Alice Burleigh (alto sax I), Tilly Boa (tenor sax II)

Year 13: Natasha Davies (flute), Dan Iliffe (tenor sax I), Will Mansell (trumpet IV), Sam Jenkins (trombone II), Jonathan Roberts (bass trombone), Dan Mailer (drum kit), Tom Barwick (bass guitar)

Music for Youth Regional and National Festivals On Sunday 17th March four RSA ensembles totalling more than 60 students from Years 10-13 took part in the Music for Youth Regional Festival at Fairfield Preparatory School in Loughborough. The groups involved were Versatile Voices, Soul Patrol, Jazz Band and Big Band. The RSA folk group known as ‘Reel Deal’ also took part in a regional festival on Saturday, 23 rd March in Oxford. Music for Youth is the largest music festival in the UK with over 60 regional festivals, which are held throughout the country during February and March each year featuring about 1600 groups and over 20,000 young people from primary school age up to the age of 21. Both instrumental and vocal ensembles of all sizes and musical styles can enter the festival. There are no ‘winners’ but each group receives written and oral feedback on the day from two music mentors who are themselves professional musicians. Although it is not a competition as such, there is the chance to progress from the regional festival through to the next stage. From the 1600 groups that have performed in the regional festivals across the country about 300 have been chosen for the National Festival to be held in Birmingham the first week in July. At the National Festival some groups will receive awards for outstanding performance and for original student compositions. From the National Festival about 30 groups will then be chosen for the annual Schools’ Proms which takes places over 3 nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Soul Patrol from RSA has reached the National Festival for the last 4 consecutive years, has won awards the last 3 years, and managed to get through to the Schools’ Proms in 2011. The Jazz Band also reached the National Festival back in 2007 and 2008. We have just been informed that Soul Patrol have been selected yet again for the National Festival and will be performing on Friday 5th July at the Town Hall in Birmingham in the ’Rock, Pop and Urban’ category, which starts at 4.30 pm and finishes at 9.30 pm. As the event clashes with the Year 11 Prom we have requested an early performance time and are currently awaiting confirmation of the exact performance time. Tickets for the day are £8 adults and £5 concessions and are now available from the Town Hall & Symphony Hall box office on 0121 3450603 or www.thsh.co.uk.

Page 3 Performing Arts Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

‘Let Us Entertain You’ We launched our new faculty with a joint evening of performing arts on Thursday 31st January in The Max where students from both the drama, dance and music departments showcased their work. The evening featured the RSA Dance Company, the RSA Youth Theatre, the RSA Big Band and Soul Patrol, as well as individual RSA dance and drama students and a dance group from Kibworth High School. The sell-out event proved a great success with some stunning individual and group performances from students from all year groups in each of the performing arts disciplines. Videos from the event can be seen on our website.

Community Concert with the Lions Club The RSA Jazz Band, Big Band and Soul Patrol staged a joint Community Concert on Friday 22nd February in collaboration with the Lions Club of Market Harborough. As well as music, there was a licensed bar, food platters, candle-lit tables and a dance floor. This concert was a joint fund-raiser for the future refurbishment of the hall and the Lions Club who had kindly sponsored the banners for the music stands. The evening was a great success and raised over £1300. At the event Graham Sharp, the President of the Market Harborough Lions Club, presented Helle Petersen, Head of Performing Arts, with the Melvyn Jones Fellowship Award for inspiring young people to achieve.

Congratulations! Amazing news for Alex Foulds in Year 11 who has been offered a place at Laine Theatre Arts after auditioning in February. He begins his three year professional training in September. Congratulations Alex!

Emma Scholey and Kelly Scholey have managed to gain University offers from all of their auditions. The talented pair have decided to accept offers at Lincoln University and Suffolk University respectively.

Wishing you all the best of luck in your chosen dance careers!!!

Mass Movement –Youth England We worked with Ms Bloom, students from Kibworth High School and Special Schools across the county to perform as part of Mass Movement–Youth England on Saturday 23rd February. We were the only group to include students from both mainstream and special schools. Not only did we get the chance to perform but we got the opportunity to help those who find it difficult to access performance opportunities. We rehearsed every Sunday morning from before Christmas. We have never worked with people our age with additional needs before and this project was an amazing opportunity. Watching the young people with learning difficulties develop their skills and enjoy working together with us created magic atmosphere in the theatre. The audience were clapping and cheering!

It was an amazing experience for RSA students: Mackenzie Griffey, Emma Arthur, Amy Glover, Abigail Dockree and Iquan Silcott. We would do love do it all over again. We really enjoyed working together with our special friends.

- Mackenzie Griffey W3 and Emma Arthur P11

Page 4 Performing Arts Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

HALLRAISER In order to raise some much needed money for our incredibly well used Main Hall we decided to create a massive event unlike any other: the Hallraiser which took place on Friday 26th April. With the help of Comedy Club (Wednesday lunchtimes, Hammond Studio) and some great musical acts we had a line up of some the best talent this fair academy had to offer. Using all the wisdom from the great Mrs P we made sure the event would be as spectacular as it should be.

As it was a new kind of event, we initiated one of the most ridiculously intense promotional campaigns to spread its awareness to everyone the world over. Interactive posters were created, silly videos were made (available on our website) and we even went around with a micro band to spread news of the planned

evening of joy. We enlisted the best crew with mixing mastermind Nick Hughes on the desk, lighting wizards David Hadland & student Conor Robb on the bulb blasters, wonder students Adam Marshall & Tilly Boa on the essential stage management duties. As well photo king Mr Althorpe taking pictures with Felix Wilson and Calum Facer taking moving pictures. There was a fully licensed bar and a fully stocked sweet stall very kindly run by members of CAIRS guaranteeing many kinds of tasty treat for people to bring to their tables laid out in a ‘comedy club’ style. Following a powerful intro from the all talented choir the night went into full swing with Who’s Line is it Anyway games, gangsta rap battles, some rockingly awesome music sets from Red Orange, and staff/teacher band Parental Guidance. It was the first time for Kieran Mullen and Anthony Pollard doing solo stand up comedy. The wonderful crowd adored their efforts along with some beautifully

creative tunes from fantastic folk group Reel Deal. This went on until 11 pm, ending with the grandest of all finales with everybody coming together to sing the totally original not adapted from a Michael Jackson song, ‘Save The Hall’ which even the audience joined in with. Over £500 was raised that evening as a kick-start to make the Hall the place it deserves to be. Photos and videos from the event can be found on our website. COMING SOON: HALLRAISER: The Special Edition DVD

Students who wish to purchase a new musical instrument for use with their musical studies in the academy (GCSE Music, A level Music, instrumental lessons or extra-curricular ensembles) can take advantage of the scheme offered where the cost of purchasing the instrument will not include VAT.Students have to purchase the instrument through the academy and a form must be completed and signed by authorised academy staff before purchasing the instrument. No VAT refunds can be given retrospectively. Further details and an application form can be downloaded from our website or contact Mrs Petersen for more details.

VAT-Off Instruments

The RSA dance department presented their annual dance show on 19th March to a full house!

The evening was a resounding success

with performances from Year 10, Year 11

and A Level dancers. The RSA Dance

company premiered their new piece

“Fusion“, a ballet/contemporary mix, and

the Year 11 students performed their

exam pieces to a fantastic audience.

A huge well done to all the students who

participated!

Can’t Stop Dancing

Page 5 Performing Arts Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

As part of our A level course we were lucky enough to visit Stratford-upon-Avon

and the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was there we watched an excellent

performance of ‘As You Like It’. The director Maria Aberg brought the play into

the 20th Century and produced a stunning and visceral piece of theatre. Though

the performance lasted a good four hours, it never lacked excitement and kept us

enthralled with its unwaivery wit and originality.

- Abigail Dockree P6

Drama Trip – Stratford-upon-Avon

DMU Gifted and Talented Dance Course Two Year 10 students attended a three-day dance course at De Montfort University during the Easter holidays giving them

the opportunity to try out different dance styles. Alexis Garner and Georgia Vallins had this to say about their experience:

“We experienced the styles of Bollywood, Contemporary and Street Jazz over three days and then performed what we had

done in front of our parents. Dancing with “Movin 2 Gether” was really fun and helped us with our choreography and

performance skills. Overall the course was useful for our GCSE dance course and we would love to go again”

GCSE Concert April saw the return of the GCSE music concert to The Max. Fourteen acts in total took to the stage and entertained the crowd on a warm spring evening. The first GCSE concert last term went well and this one was even better with all acts producing excellent performances. The concert included a percussion piece written for two timpani being performed on toms by Greg Burns and Sam Howes. Greg and Sam met at Birmingham Conservatoire where they both attend weekly Saturday sessions for talented young musicians. Other highlights of the concert were Tom Wilson playing a fun trumpet piece, Chanel Welton’s rendition of Clown, Chloe Williams singing Skyfall,

Peter Wisher rocking out on guitar to a U2 song and a Year 10 band playing a Black Keys song. ‘Tuesday Night Band’ once again rounded off festivities with a great finale to the show. Next year’s GCSE concerts will be a little earlier in the year, around October, so watch this space for updates!

Dance Company Performs in Leicester The RSA Dance Company performed their latest piece “In Limbo” at the Peepul Centre in Leicester on Saturday 23rd February for a public audience at Mass Movement 2013. The event was attended by over 250 people and the dancers gained a certificate for their efforts. The piece was well received and the dancers had a great experience. Well done to all dancers involved, they are Iquan Silcott, Alex Foulds, Leanne Edwards, Kelly Scholey, Emma Scholey, Grace Bonner, Alicia O’Neill and Naomi Spencer.

Page 6 Performing Arts Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

As part of the Enrichment programme in Years 10 and 11, the music department is now offering two separate theory classes: Grade 1 and Grade 5. Whether students are taking part in these classes or not it is now possible for all students at RSA to be entered for the ABRSM theory exams from Grade 1 to 8. There are three theory exam dates each year, in February, June and November. The next exam date is Wednesday 6th November 2013 at 5 pm. Students can sit the exam at RSA or at a local centre such as Leicester or Kettering. The cost of entering varies depending on the grade but the current cost is £23 for Grade 1 and £31 for Grade 5. Students wishing to enter for the November exam should collect an entry form from Mrs Petersen and return the form with payment by Friday 13th September. More information about the theory exams can be found at www.abrsm.org.

We have a large team of peripatetic music teachers who visit Robert Smyth on a weekly basis giving lessons on a range of instruments. Tuition is available on piano, keyboard, organ, violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, bassoon, trumpet, French horn, euphonium, trombone, tuba, drum kit, orchestral percussion, guitar, bass guitar and voice. In addition students can sign up for individual theory or aural lessons as well as jazz saxophone improvisation lessons. The cost of tuition varies depending on the instrument and the length of the lesson. It is possible to have a shared lesson on some instruments which helps reduce the cost. Tuition takes place during the school day. Sixth formers have their lessons during their study periods where possible whilst Years 10 and 11 students are on a weekly rotation system in order to avoid missing the same academic lesson each week. Lessons can sometimes also be arranged during break and lunchtimes or before or after school, depending on the peripatetic teacher’s availability and timetable. For more information please contact Mrs Petersen.

Instrumental and Singing Lessons

ABRSM Music Theory Exams

Musical Production - November 2013 The RSA Performing Arts Faculty are staging the schools’ version of the Queen musical ‘We Will Rock You’ on 21st-23rd November 2013. Auditions for the main roles and principal dancers will be taking place on 10th, 11th and 12th June after school and rehearsals will commence shortly after this. Current Year 9 high school students joining RSA in Year 10 students in September will be able to join the Chorus or audition to join the Principal Dance group within the show. Details of tickets will be made available in September.

On Tuesday 14th March we held our annual Spring Concert in the Main Hall which

involved over 100 students from all year groups. The concert featured a number of sixth

form soloists as well as all the RSA ensembles: Orchestra, Advanced Brass Ensemble,

String Ensemble, Saxophone Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Folk Group ‘Reel Deal’,

Soul Patrol, Jazz Band, Big Band, Flute Ensemble, and Versatile Voices. In addition the

Parent and Staff Band ‘Parental Guidance’ gave their debut performance with a cover of

‘Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey.

Spring Concert

Page 7 Performing Arts Newsletter ISSUE 2 2013

Congratulations to the following students who passed their grade exams last term. This information has been provided by the peripatetic teachers working within the academy. Details of exam passes by students having lessons outside the academy can be emailed to hpetersen@rsacademy.co.uk for inclusion in future newsletters.

Theory

Rebecca Appleton ABRSM Grade 5 Merit

Thomas Barwick ABRSM Grade 5 Pass

Beth Cawthrow ABRSM Grade 5 Pass

Louisa Smith ABRSM Grade 5 Pass

Jake Cartwright ABRSM Grade 1 Merit

Wendy Hynes ABRSM Grade 1 Merit

Dominic Baker ABRSM Grade 1 Merit

Piano

Natasha Davies ABRSM Grade 6 Merit

Liam Hughes ABRSM Grade 5 Merit

Matthew Bruce ABRSM Grade 5 Merit

Mahdi Assan ABRSM Grade 5 Merit

Bryony Wong ABRSM Grade 4 Merit

Violin

Ellie Randon Trinity Grade 7 Pass

Emily Newlyn Trinity Grade 6 Merit

Alto Sax

Emma Dove ABRSM Grade 6 Pass

Clarinet

Liam Hughes ABRSM Grade 4 Merit

Bass Guitar

Jake Bentley Rock School Grade 5

Distinction

Instrumental & theory grade exams

On Sunday 10th March over 40 students from Years 10-13 competed in the Rotary Young Musician Final for the East Midlands at Melton Mowbray Theatre. Despite having slightly depleted performance groups, owing to Mother’s Day and residential trips, RSA had a very successful afternoon winning 3 out of 4 possible trophies. The Jazz Band won the senior instrumental group class as well as the overall instrumental group class for the fifth time, having previously won it in 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2012. The Choir, also known as Versatile Voices, won the senior choir class for the fourth consecutive year and won the overall choir trophy for the third time. The Brass Trio played well and scored 95/100 but ended up a close second. Robert Williams in Year 12 won the best vocal solo performance and went through to the National Semifinal for vocal and instrumental soloists held in York on 6th April. The National Semi-finals and Finals are only for soloists so unfortunately the Jazz Band and Choir could not proceed any further in the competition. This was the first year an RSA soloist had made it through to the National Semi-final; the standard was incredibly high and Robert achieved a brilliant second place . Many congratulations to all the students involved.

Triple success in Rotary Young Musician Final

Euphonium

Chris Packwood Trinity Grade 8 Distinction

Xylophone

Greg Burns Trinity Grade 8 Distinction

Burnmill Road

Market Harborough

Leicestershire

LE16 7JG T: 01858 440770

F: 01858 440771

E: office@rsacademy.co.uk

W: www.rsacademy.co.uk

ROBERT SMYTH ROBERT SMYTH

ACADEMYACADEMY

Visit us online: Visit us online: http://www.rsacademy.co.ukhttp://www.rsacademy.co.uk

Monday STRING ENSEMBLE 1.00 – 1.30 Mike Shaw

Tuesday SAX ENSEMBLE 10.30 – 11.00 Francine Warner

RSA DANCE COMPANY 1.00 – 1.30 Ms Harmer

ADVANCED BRASS 1.00 – 1.30 John Gornall

FOLK GROUP 1.00 – 1.30 6th form student led

LIGHT CLUB 3.20 – 4.15 Dave Hadland

YOUTH THEATRE 3.30 – 5.00 Ms Bloom

Wednes-day

PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE 10.30 – 11.00 Darron McHarg

FLUTE GROUP (yrs 12 & 13) 10.30 – 11.00 Kate Cartwright

COMEDY CLUB 12.50 – 1.30 Chris Wells

VERSATILE VOICES (choir) 1.00 – 1.30 Debbie Smith

Thursday FLUTE GROUP (yrs 10 & 11) 10.30 – 11.00 Kate Cartwright

BIG BAND 1.00 – 1.30 Mrs Petersen

JAZZ BAND 3.15 – 4.15 Mrs Petersen

Friday RSA DANCE COMPANY 1.00 – 1.30 Ms Harmer

ORCHESTRA 1.00 – 1.30 Mrs Petersen

SOUL PATROL 3.15 – 5.00 Mrs Petersen

Audition/selection is only for Soul Patrol, Big Band, Advanced Brass, and

the RSA Dance Company. To join any of the other groups simply turn up at

the next rehearsal.

Performing Arts Clubs - Summer Term 2013

Calendar 2013Calendar 2013

Sunday 16th June

Afternoon Soul Patrol gig at Dingley ‘Music in the Park’ event Venue: Dingley

Monday 24th June to

Monday 1st July Soul Patrol, RSA Jazz Band and RSA Big Band on tour to Denmark to give five concerts: 25th June Ribe - Main Square 26th June: Odense - Jam Days Music Festival 27th June: Silkeborg - Riverboat Jazz Festival 28th June: Copenhagen - Town Hall Square 29th June: Copenhagen-Bakken Theme Park

Friday 5th July

Soul Patrol at Music for Youth National Festival, Town Hall, Birmingham. Tickets: www.thsh.co.uk or 0121 3450603.

21st, 22nd & 23rd November

RSA are staging the schools’ version of the musical ‘We Will Rock You’. Tickets will go on sale in the autumn term.

“The last two years in sixth form have been fantastic! We have been

taught by Bloom and Ms Harmer, who have really challenged us in

our dance work. Our success is down to their hard work and

dedication to teaching.

The A level dance course has allowed us to explore and widen our

dance skills in preparation for university, whilst the RSA Dance

Company has given us excellent performance opportunities as well

as the chance to work with students from Kibworth High School. We

would like to thank everyone, especially Ms Harmer, for all their

help and guidance and wish the RSA Dance Company luck in all

their future performances”.

- Emma Scholey and Kelly Scholey