Music
Page 7
Newsletter 6 - May 2024
Drama
New Cello Teacher - Gavin Kibble
Gavin Kibble is a cellist and cello teacher based
in St Leonards-on-Sea, who is delighted to have
recently taken over from Sally-Ann Thorkildsen as
the visiting teacher for Create Music at St Richard’s.
He studied at the University of Oxford and the
Royal Academy of Music, and now performs with a
wide range of orchestras and ensembles including
the London Handel Players and the Academy of
Ancient Music, with whom he has performed at
venues including the Wigmore Hall and the BBC
Proms. Gavin is an enthusiastic and experienced
teacher; he has previously worked for several years
at Hall Grove Prep School in Ascot, as well as
teaching privately and for the Oxford Cello School.
As well as visiting St Richard’s on Wednesdays,
Gavin is active as a tutor for HAYSO (the Hastings
and Rother Advanced Youth String Orchestra)
for Create Music on Saturday mornings. Please
email Mrs Byrne at mrsbyrne@strichardscc.com
if you require any more information regarding any
instrumental lessons. We have a fantastic team of
teachers who are ready and waiting to teach your
children!
Spotted! One of our talented performers in Year 7, Julia, was spotted
performing at the White Rock Theatre as part of the opera ‘The Elixir of
Love’ on 26th and 27th April. What a fantastic performance opportunity
alongside talented musicians and the cast of the opera; we are all so
proud of you Julia!
Exam Results
Queenie, Year 10 - Grade 5 Piano
Joshua, Year 10 - Grade 5 Piano
Thomas, Year 11 - Grade 5 Alto Saxophone - Distinction
Lottie, Year 7 - Grade 3 Violin - Distinction
Opportunities
Create Music Summer School - Create Music’s Summer School sees
the return of popular courses for young musicians who already learn
to play an instrument alongside increased opportunities for children
who enjoy making music to come and try something new at one of our
many ‘open access’ courses such as Samba Band, Let’s Play Ukulele,
GarageBand, Let’s Sing and the Debut Music Production course. New for
this year is Samba Band at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts,
Summer Sinfonia at St Andrew’s Prep and Composing for Music and Film
at East Sussex College, Eastbourne.
Youth Second Line Band We need wind players and percussionists
age 10-25 to join our second line band. The next round of sessions take
place from May to July on Saturday mornings, in partnership with Create
Music. Plus the band have the chance to perform at various local festivals
this summer! No need to read music. All levels welcome. Register your
interest here.
Year 10 workshop and trip to ‘My Neighbour Totoro’
Year 10 pupils went on a trip to the Barbican Centre in London in March to see the enchanting and mesmerising ‘My
Neighbour Totoro’ by the Royal Shakespeare Company in collaboration with Studio Ghibli. There was beautiful scenery,
funny and heartwarming performances and also…huge puppets! In addition, Year 10 pupils attended a whole day workshop
with Greg Fossard, a professional actor. He gave pupils lots of ideas including techniques and styles they can use when
they start their GCSE Devising coursework very soon. Pupils will work hard on this for the next two terms, filming their work
at the end of next term.
In March, 29 Year 9 and 10 pupils performed their lively and
engaging version of ‘Sad Club’ by Luke Barnes as part of
National Theatre Connections in school. With live singing,
a brilliant live band, dance moves and lovely performances
by all the actors; it was incredibly well received. We then
developed the show even further, after getting positive
and very useful feedback from a professional director, and
took it to the Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells in April.
We were there for a long, exciting and exhausting day,
including a stage lighting workshop, a three hour Tech
Run (that seemed to take about 5 minutes!) followed by
a performance in the evening. The cast, tech crew and
musicians were all amazing, especially those who stepped
up to take on extra parts at the last minute when two cast
members were unfortunately unavailable on the day.
‘Sad Club’ performance and trip to Trinity Theatre in
Tunbridge Wells
Drama Performance Evening
Back in February, pupils performed fantastically at the
Drama Performance Evening. It was a lovely evening
including performances from Year 10 and 11 Drama GCSE
pupils, scenes prepared by Drama Club, LAMDA pieces
and a sneak preview of ‘Sad Club’ scenes. The evening,
ably compered by Sholto and Jack, was lovely and I was
extremely proud of everyone involved!
GCSE Drama Scripted Exams / Exam this week
It’s that time of year where I have to say a very fond farewell
to another awesome GCSE Drama class. They aced their
scripted exam in February and are ready to sit their final
exam on Thursday, 9th May, after which the course will be
finished! Good luck Year 11, you will be missed hugely, and
with such talented actors in the class, I look forward to seeing
what you do in the future!