Issue 9. November Contributors Mrs Petersen Mrs Routledge Mr Hughes Jake Bentley Jess O Brien Tom Devlin Georgia Whittle.

Transcription

1 Issue 9 November 2015 Performing Arts Newsletter NINTH Newsletter Date Contributors Mrs Petersen Mrs Routledge Mr Hughes Jake Bentley Jess O Brien Tom Devlin Georgia Whittle Layout Mr Wells Editor Mr Atkins ROBERT SMYTH ACADEMY Burnmill Road Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7JG T: F: E: office@rsacademy.co.uk W: Welcome to the ninth edition of the Performing Arts Newsletter, and welcome to Year 10 students and their parents who are joining us in the faculty this year. The summer term saw great emotional upheaval within the faculty as we said goodbye to our dear friend, colleague and Head of Drama, Bloom. Losing Bloom was extremely sad and upsetting for everybody linked to the Academy and the surrounding area. Her passion for performance, character, personality, love and devotion to her students will always be remembered and felt by all who knew her. David Hadland, our previous Performing Arts technician has moved down to Brighton to open up a recording and rehearsal studio with some friends. We wish him well and good luck in his new venture. We therefore welcome our new Performing Arts technician, Ed Hull. Ed is a graduate in Music Technology from Coventry University and has settled in well within the faculty. We have also welcomed our new part-time Drama teachers, Claire Parsons and Kyle Eastwood. Both bring with them years of acting and theatre experience, as well as teaching and examining experience at both GCSE and A level. Mrs Petersen decided at the end of last term to relinquish her role as Head of Performing Arts so she could focus more time on the Music department here at Robert Smyth. Mr Hughes has taken up the Head of Faculty role for this year. Our GCSE and A level results improved again with Music achieving 94% A*-C with 30% A*/A grades at GCSE. AS and A2 grades in Music were well above the national average and we continue to lead the way for schools in Leicestershire in these subjects. A2 Music had a 100% A*-B pass rate and A2 Music Technology had an 80% A*/A pass rate. Drama had an impressive run at A2, with the written papers being well above the national average. Dance made excellent progress with 80% A*-C at GCSE. We also now have our very own website courtesy of our kind sponsors, The Ideal Marketing Company. Many thanks to Alastair Campbell and Jess Shailes for all their time and help in creating the site. For all information of past and upcoming events please go to There is lots going on in the faculty this term including our annual Arts Week, which has happened and will feature a full write-up in next term s edition. We have the CAIRS concert in memory of Bloom on Thursday, 19th November, the annual Christmas Concert on Tuesday, 1st December and Soul Patrol and the Jazz Band are performing again at Harborough s Christmas Lights Switch On event on The Square in Harborough on Friday, 27th November. This newsletter is intended to be informative both with details of past as well as future events, as well as a celebration of the achievements of RSA students within the performing arts disciplines. If you have any comments or suggestions, or any items you would like to be considered for inclusion, we would like to hear from you; please nhughes@rsacademy.co.uk

2 Page 2 Year 5 Days On Thursday 18th and Friday 19th June, Robert Smyth Academy welcomed over 400 Year 5 children from 11 local primary schools to an unforgettable experience day. The children participated in five exciting sessions across the subject range in the academy. The atmosphere was wonderful and the day was thoroughly enjoyed by the children, the Year 12 RSA students who helped out and the staff at the academy. The Performing Arts Faculty had teamed up with the English Faculty to put on a session in The Max relating to Oliver Twist. The Year 5 children were first introduced to the concept of character by members of the English Faculty and discussed in groups the different kind of characters which props can suggest. Following this the children took part in a singing and dance workshop focusing on the song Consider Yourself from the musical version of Oliver. Mr Hughes led the singing workshops with Mrs Petersen on the piano accompanied by a sixth form band, whilst Mrs Routledge and Mr Monk led the dance workshops. Jess The Filmmaker Year 10 drama student Jess O Brien has been heavily involved in film making recently. In this edition of the newsletter she tells us about what she has been doing. I have been acting since 2012, however in early 2014 I was cast in a short film called Flawless with production company, Badshoes Films. The film is five minutes long and focuses on the relationship between a father and daughter. Since then Flawless has been accepted into 22 film festivals all over the world. This includes the Cannes film festival, the Lanzarote film festival (which we attended) and Aesthetica festival in York which is BAFTA affiliated and, recently, the film was BAFTA approved. In the summer of 2014, after doing my second film, where I played twins, I began writing my own short film called Coping. Coping is a 9-minute film about a young girl who loses her two friends in a car accident and the film follows her as she copes with the loss. From July 2014 to July 2015, I wrote, cast, directed, acted and helped edit Coping, which was premiered at the Phoenix cinema in Leicester on July 10th to an audience of over 200. Recently, it has been accepted into four festivals including Adelaide in Australia. Jess O Brien, Year 10 Christmas Concert The annual RSA Christmas Concert, which is always a sell-out event, will take place on Tuesday 1st December at 7 pm in the Main Hall. The concert will feature students from across years performing in a range of styles: popular, jazz and classical. The featured acts will be a number of A level Music soloists as well as the AS Music class and all the academy s extra-curricular music ensembles: string ensemble, flute choir, flute quartet, saxophone ensemble, brass ensemble, Versatile Voices choir, folk group, jazz band, big band and Soul Patrol. Tickets will be priced at 5 adults and 3 Under 19s and will go on sale from Monday 2nd November from Student Services. We advise purchasing tickets early to avoid disappointment. VAT off Instruments Students who wish to purchase a new musical instrument for use with their musical studies in the academy 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 the academy website under Parents -> Letters home.

3 Want to come to a Family Concert with LSO? Page 3 Every term the music department offers students and their parents the opportunity to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra in concert at De Montfort Hall for just 5. The first trip this year is on Saturday, 7th November and the concert, entitled Music Takes Flight, will feature orchestral pieces by Dvorak, Vaughan Williams, Saint-Saens, Respighi and Stravinsky representing different birds. The second concert is on Sunday 21st February at 3 pm (last Sunday of February half term). This concert is a real family concert entitled Boats, Planes and Trains. This is a great opportunity to introduce younger family members to some real classics as we take you on a tour through film music, opera and other favourites all with a train, plane or boat theme. The programme will include lots of short, exciting pieces: Wagner: Overture, The Flying Dutchman Villa-Lobos: Little Train of the Caipara Adams: Short Ride in a fast machine Mendelssohn: Calm Sea & Prosperous Voyage Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble Bee (solo) Badelt: Pirates of the Caribbean Sargent: Valsette Gershwin: Walking the Dog (clarinet solo) Rachmaninov: Vocalise (clarinet solo) Coates: Dambusters March Monti: Czardas (clarinet solo) Williams: Harry Potter Grainer: Dr Who Music It's full steam ahead with this exhilarating family concert! The speed, the noise and the excitement of all things air, sea and rail make for a perfect platform to entertain and wow an audience. With music that so encapsulates the thrill of travel, the Leicester Symphony Orchestra invites you to climb aboard and strap yourself in! The concert, in aid of CLIC Sargent, will feature the famous clarinettist and former BBC Young Musician of the Year winner, Emma Johnson. Emma is a patron of CLIC Sargent and acts as an ambassador for the charity. All RSA students and their parents are invited to attend. See Mrs Petersen for a trip letter. Tom s Hour Opener My goal of the Year 12 enrichment week in June was to create hour opener jingles for the local radio station HFM. I had no idea they would become a success and be used commercially and frequently on the radio station, however I am still extremely pleased about the results. I spent the first day doing lots of research on hour openers and how they are constructed. After doing my research I then moved on to composing my jingle. I sat down at a piano for the following day and composed a jingle. I decided to do two different versions that varied in genre. I spent the rest of the week in the studio recording my Microkorg (synthesiser) and my performers (a big thank you to Jake Cartwright and Georgia Whittle for their time and performance in my project). After these extra parts had been recorded I mixed and mastered it before sending it off to HFM. They were very happy with my openers and have been using them every day since. Overall I feel that this was a great opportunity and has helped me decide if audio, music and sound production is something I would want to do as a career. This has made me more determined to follow my ambitions in my dream career. Tom Devlin, Year 13 Dance Congratulations Congratulations to Charlie Tatman who entered the All England Finals dance competition in the summer. The finals were held at the Hackney Empire in London and Charlie was awarded third position. This makes him the third best dancer in the country! What an achievement! Congratulations to Abigail Taylor who has just begun her training at Central School of Ballet in London. I know she was very excited to begin her professional dance journey and to gain a place at such a prestigious school is an amazing achievement. We wish her all the very best of luck!! GCSE students are attending Curve Theatre at the end of the month to see Matthew Bourne s acclaimed Sleeping Beauty production. This is a gothic romance and is sure to be an enjoyable show!! CONGRATULATIONS to all GCSE dance students who took their Year 11 exams in the summer. The results were outstanding with 80% achieving A*- C. All of the hard work was rewarded! A special mention to Helen Spacie and Abigail Taylor for achieving A* grades. A big Welcome to the new members of RSA Dance Company, Alice Benstead, Lottie Edwards, Lydia Smith and Harriet Emery. Welcome back to Charle Tatman, Beth Lucyszyn, Anna Cadwallader, Izzy Blount, Abi Ruder and Helen Spacie. We are working hard on our new dance piece for Mass Movement 2016 performing at Curve Theatre. Drama Congratulations Well done to Ashley Cook who was offered places at LCPA (Leicester College of Performing Arts and also at Melton and Northampton to study a BTec in Musical Theatre. Ashley has taken up her place at Melton from this September and is thoroughly enjoying her course.

4 Page 4 Four Countries Music Tour students from the RSA Jazz Band, Big Band and Soul Patrol went on a 5-day tour to Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany from 29th June to 3rd July where they performed three concerts at Drielandenpunt, OLV Plein in Maastrict, and Place D Armes in Luxembourg City. Year 13 student and bass player Jake Bentley has written his account of the tour: Alas, once more it has reached that point in the year when the nights have drawn in, work is upon us, and summer s excesses yearn to be reflected upon. Certainly the Music Tour was one such excess. With Mrs Petersen at the helm, the students of Robert Smyth found themselves guided eastward across the rugged Flemish plain to the charming little city of Hasselt. This was to be the focal point for the tour. After settling in on the Monday, Tuesday was a day of crossing borders. Our first stop, the German city of Aachen, intrigued with its cobbled streets and medieval cathedral complete with mosaics of rich blues and golds. A concert at the Drielandenpunt (three countries point) marked the afternoon. Despite playing to only a small crowd, the gig was to provide invaluable practice for later dates in the tour. Plus the park s maze, complete with impressive water features, ensured everyone returned home soggy but content. With the weather rising to a sticky 37 degrees, a Wednesday spent in the quaint university town of Maastricht was to be the most challenging day of the week. Despite the elements, valiant sets were delivered by all to a good size audience in one of the town s many leafy squares. A much welcome afternoon s rest followed, during which we explored further the mazy narrow side streets and became well acquainted with the town s main export - the composer Andre Rieu. Bowling brought the hazy hours to a close but with competitive spirits running high, the less said about it the better. By the final day we were well accustomed to country hopping, so stepping off the coach onto the tarmac of Luxembourg City came as no surprise. A morning visit to the Casemates - an intricate labyrinth of caves and tunnels embedded into the side of the city s lush, green valley - was an interesting experience to say the least. But what we were really searching for in this land quite alien would wait until late afternoon when we were granted the privilege of playing in the Place d Armes, a notable and bustling square within the city. The concert lingers on my mind in particular; carrying emotional weight due to the poignant knowledge of the upper sixth students imminent departure whilst also manifesting humour in the form of Andy Blackwell s impressive solo tambourine wizardry. Before long we were back on the coach, which took us out of the city, weaving its way through the surrounding coniferous-carpeted expanse as a fine mist descended upon the land. Many were down, understandably upset and resentful that tomorrow spelt departure from the continent. Yet in that one ethereal moment, it became clear that the tour - its memories and occurrences - was an internal force; one that would prevail through the people who lived through it. No, we can never relive the past but we can treasure such a significant trip through the potency of our memories; collectively or individually. Jake Bentley, Year 13

5 Page 5 GCSE Music Concert VII Thursday 15th October saw the return of our GCSE Music Concert series. Featured as part of the Academy s Arts week, the concert saw a packed Max enjoy an eclectic mix of styles and performances. This concert saw a first for the GCSE Music Concerts; we began with a class performance from a Year 10 class. This is the first time this has happened at the first concert of the year! The class was our Edexcel class performing one of the set works they study, All Blues by Miles Davis. This is a complex piece featuring heavily extended chords and containing improvisation at its core. Our improvised soloists in the performance were Taran Mann and Charlie Hilton on piano, who also both performed piano solos later in the concert. Elsewhere in the programme Abi Wright performed a solo on the French horn whilst Hope Haynes-Coote, Emily Moore and Sejal Assan all performed flute solos. We had a rock band featuring Matt Moir, Kieran King, James Dixon-Boarder and Adam Pugh, perform Seven Nation Army. Holly Barnett performed a saxophone solo and Rebecca Alder played a piano solo. We had a variety of excellent solo singers on stage including Mae Dudley, Lola Pap, Bronwen Herdman, Ella Soysa, Adam Pugh, Ben Maclean and Amirah Bobat. The crowd was a great mix of students, parents, and family members who responded with great encouragement and applause for our performers throughout the evening. Practical & Theory Grade Exam Passes Congratulations to the following students who passed their grade exams last term. This information has been provided by peripatetic teachers, parents and students. For inclusion in future newsletters details of exam passes can be ed to hpetersen@rsacademy.co.uk. Voice Electric Guitar Chloe Williams Grade 8 Merit Matt Moir Grade 4 Pass Saxophone Modern Dance Toska Wonfor Grade 8 Distinction Lydia Smith Grade 4 Elli Randon Grade 8 Distinction Theory Jazz Piano Rebecca Iliffe Grade 5 Distinction Taran Mann Grade 4 Distinction Molly Sykes Grade 5 Merit Tom Jenkins Andrew Martin Grade 5 Merit Grade 5 Merit

6 Page 6 Georgia at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Georgia Whittle, who is studying both A level Theatre Studies and Music, writes about her performance experience with Youth Music Theatre UK at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In the summer of 2015 I experienced a great opportunity by participating in a three-week course with Youth Music Theatre (YMT). This included two weeks intense training followed by eight days of performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The new musical was called Not the End of the World written by Geraldine McCaughrean. It is based on Noah s Ark and how he and his family face difficult circumstances whilst on the ark, however, it is from the daughter's perspective - Timna. Before going to Edinburgh we all had a brief five-day introduction to the course in Birmingham during May half term. This included meeting and getting to know everyone on the course, starting to stage the musical and to audition for our roles in the production - I received the role of Timna 9 (a demon inside Timna s head) and the understudy of Sarah. After these five days, we were all eager about going to Edinburgh and to see each other once again. On the 25th July, I made my way up to Edinburgh, on a very long and tedious train journey. As I arrived at the station with two other members on the course (and waiting to meet the others) I remember feeling excited yet nervous to see everyone again and to start rehearsing. For the first eight days we were staying at Fettes College, a building that inspired J.K. Rowling to create Hogwarts. When we arrived we started rehearsing straight away. Everyday consisted of 12 hours of rehearsals (from 9 am till 9 pm), and as exhausting as this was, I thoroughly enjoyed it as it gave me a taste of what I will hopefully be doing in the future. One evening the team decided to do a cabaret night which enabled us to showcase our talents - from singing, to dancing, to playing instruments. I decided to participate by doing a dance solo. As nerve racking and scary as this was, I had such fun showing the team what else I could do. We had two days off and had the freedom to do whatever we wanted - you ll be disappointed to know that I didn t do anything interesting, except from a bit of shopping! Although I didn t do much cultural exploring, I must tell you that Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Once we d moved out of Fettes, we then moved to Warrender Park Crescent, where we stayed in Uni halls. This gave us the experience of university life - living independently, cooking and buying dinner for ourselves. In my flat there were three girls, including me, and throughout the rest of our time there I was basically the mother of the household, as I was the eldest (I did not mind having this role). Even though we had moved we still went back to Fettes every day to rehearse as we used their auditorium. It was the 7th August and it was finally opening night (well, day). Nobody could contain their excitement as all of our hard work and dedication was about to pay off. As there are so many productions going on in the Fringe, every performance wasn t going to have a big audience but as more and more people heard about our musical - from people tweeting, handing out flyers and performing in the streets of the Royal Mile, the audiences grew and our performances improved daily. The musical achieved five star reviews from the British Theatre Guide and Edinburgh Guide. The author of the book also came to see our performance and was thrilled with the production. As our performances finished around 4.30pm every day, we then had the freedom to go and watch other performances of our choice. This was also an experience in itself as there is anything and everything to see in the Fringe. Overall, I had a great time, meeting new friends, gaining new skills and boosting my confidence. YMT audition around the country every January and I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in any kind of performing to audition. Georgia Whittle, Year 13 Grants for musical instrument purchase The EMI Music Sound Foundation offers grants to students in full time education to fund musical instrument and/or equipment purchase. In the past several RSA students have been successful in applying for funding. The foundation accepts applications twice a year and the deadline for the next round is in early February For full details of the scheme and to download an application form please visit

7 Performing Arts Clubs - Autumn Term 2015 Monday Page 7 GCSE DANCE DROP-IN The Max Mrs Routledge ARTS COUNCIL Music Block Mrs Petersen ADVANCED FLUTES (Year13) Music Block Kate Cartwright STRING ENSEMBLE Music Block Mike Shaw RSA DANCE COMPANY The Max Mrs Routledge Tuesday SAX ENSEMBLE Music Block Francine Warner FOLK GROUP Music Block 6 th form student led COMEDY CLUB Hammond Studio Chris Wells JAZZ BAND Music Block Mrs Petersen Wednesday Thursday VERSATILE VOICES (choir) Music Block Debbie Smith FLUTE CHOIR (Years 10-12) Music Block Kate Cartwright GCSE MUSIC DROP-IN Music Block Mr Hughes BIG BAND Music Block Mrs Petersen Friday PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE Music Block Darron McHarg ADVANCED BRASS Music Block John Gornall GRADE 5 MUSIC THEORY Music Block Mrs Petersen SOUL PATROL Music Block Mrs Petersen COMEDY CLUB Hammond Studio Chris Wells Audition/selection is only for Soul Patrol, Big Band, and The Dance Company. To join any of the other groups simply turn up at the next rehearsal.

8 Performing Arts Events Calendar 2015 AUTUMN TERM Saturday, 7th November 7.30 pm Trip to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra Venue: De Montfort Hall, Leicester Sunday, 15th November Big Band in NCBF Regional Round Venue: Nottingham High School Thursday, 19th November 7.00 pm CAIRS Concert Main Hall Friday, 27th November 5.45 pm until 7.00 pm Jazz Band & Soul Patrol at Christmas Light Switch-On event Venue: Market Harborough, Main Square Tuesday, 1st December 7.00 pm Christmas Concert Main Hall SPRING TERM Wednesday, 10th February 7.00 pm GCSE Music Concert The Max Sunday, 21st February 3.00 pm Trip to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra Venue: De Montfort Hall, Leicester ROBERT SMYTH ACADEMY Burnmill Road Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7JG T: F: E: W: Wednesday, 23rd March 7.00 pm Spring Concert Main Hall Tuesday 12th April 7.00 pm (time tbc) Dance Show The Max SUMMER TERM Friday, 20th May 7.00 pm (time tbc) Upper Sixth Leavers Concert The Max Saturday, 21st May 7.30 pm Trip to see Leicester Symphony Orchestra Venue: De Montfort Hall, Leicester Our Proud Sponsors Visit us online: