The Music Department

THE MUSIC DEPARTMENT

The Music Department is extremely highly regarded within the county and within the school. It has a very high level of achievements in both curricular and extra-curricular activities. There is a Head of Department and two full-time members of staff plus a part-time teaching assistant.

There are also seven peripatetic music teachers visiting on a weekly basis to provide tuition in woodwind (single and double reed), brass, strings (upper and lower), piano, guitar and drums. Over 100 pupils have opted to receive instrumental lessons which happen throughout the school day. The school subsidises the cost of these lessons by just over one-third, the rest of the cost being met by parents. Pupils studying GCSE and A-Level receive their lessons for free.

The department is sited within its own purpose-built music suite, with two classrooms and three practice rooms. Each classroom is equipped with Casio keyboards, and in one room there are 11 PCs linked to the school network. The school has a network licence to run Sibelius 7 not only in the department but also in other ICT rooms. There is also a mac mini in one classroom which has Garage Band and Pro Tools installed on it. Both classrooms have a piano and a variety of mixed percussion, ukuleles and acoustic guitars. Each also has a digital projector, screen and laptop connection point. Two of the practice rooms are equipped with pianos, the other is a specialist drum room.

Pupils at KS3 receive one hour of music per week and are taught in mixed ability groups within an ‘x’ and ‘y’ half of the year group. Pupils follow a different unit of work in each term or half term covering a variety of practical, composing and listening tasks. Group sizes vary from 20-22. At KS4 there is one group in the current Year 10 (in total 17 students) and two groups in the current Year 11 (24 students). In Year 10 pupils receive two hours of music per week which increases to three hours per week in Year 11. Music is also offered at ‘AS’ and ‘A2’. Many of our students go on to study music at university, including top conservatoires all over the country including: Royal College of Music; The Royal Academy of Music; Birmingham Conservatoire; Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Drama; The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama; Leeds College of Music and The Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts (LIPA). All KS4 and 5 students are studying the AQA music syllabus.

A wide variety of extra-curricular activities are currently offered to pupils taking place during lunchtimes and after school. This year we are running:  NTS Singers (staff & pupil choir)  String group  Wind Band  Big Band  Samba Band  Flute Group  Clarinet Group  Theory Club

There are also over 20 rock bands in the school.

The department, working with the drama department, also puts on one production a year. Recently we have produced ‘Grease’ (2002), ‘Oliver’ (2003), ‘Bugsy Malone’ (20O4), ‘In the Midnight Hour’ (2005), ‘Disco Inferno’ (2007), ‘Our Day Out’ (2009), Sweeney Todd (2012),‘Les Miserables’ (2014) and Oliver! (2016). Our next show is due to take place in 2018

Pupils are encouraged to take part in performances regularly. Throughout the school year there are a number of formal events such as Prize Day, Founders Day and two traditional Carol Services featuring the choir and GCSE and A-Level pupils. There are also department concerts, and less formal events such as Rock Nights, Talent Shows, Department Concerts, a Chamber Concert and new for this year (2017) House competitions. The department have also taken groups of children away on residential weekends to develop their musicianship. The Samba band receives regular bookings for local events including Christmas Light Ceremonies, Summer Carvivals, Solfest, and other performance opportunities.

A number of pupils are involved in music activities in the wider community such as Cumbria Youth Orchestra, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior School, Cumbria Youth Choir, The Border Concert Band, Carlisle Cathedral, City of Carlisle Orchestra and various Amateur Musical Societies.

Thank you for your interest.