School Activities

Third year pupil Josef Bokedal, accompanied by Ms Cromar, then performed what is possibly the most famous piece for cello, ‘The Swan’ by Saint-Saens. The Jazz Band then got feet tapping with their rendition of Hawaii Five-O. The Percussion Group, directed by Miss Graham, performed an arrangement of the upbeat ‘Get Lucky’ by Daft Punk before the senior choir sang ‘Human’ arranged by Mac Huff.

The second half opened with the String Orchestra, conducted by Ms Cromar performing ‘Ashokan Farewell’ and ‘Viola Hero’. The latter piece offered the Orchestra’s two advanced Year 6 viola players, Annabel Lunney and Oisin Lyons the chance to take centre stage. This was followed by the Show Choir singing Bacharach’s ‘I Say a Little Prayer’. The Brass Ensemble performed the well-known ‘Colonel Bogey’ followed by Grieg’s menacing ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’. Oisin Lyons then performed ‘La Chapelle de Guillaume Tell’ by Liszt on the School’s impressive Bosendorf piano to great effect.

The concert closed with the cast and band of the Face the Music group performing ‘Under Pressure’ which gave the audience a flavour of the upcoming School show ‘We Will Rock You’.

As the audience dispersed much favourable comment was heard about the astonishing range of musical talent in the School.

School Concert Band

The Concert Band has had a busy and productive 2019 to date. In addition to the Band’s regular performance in the Performing Arts Faculty Concert in March, a Wind Ensemble of band members participated in the Final of the Scottish Concert Band Festival in Perth Concert Hall and were successful in gaining a Gold Award.

In the summer term the full band participated in the Aberdeen & N.E Scotland Music Festival, gaining an Outstanding Performance Award and winning the 18 & Under Concert Band class. From within the group two brass quintets and a trumpet trio also participated in the Festival. The Byron Brass Quintet and Trumpet Trio gained Outstanding Performance Awards winning both the 18 & Under Brass Ensemble and 15 & Under Duets & Trios Classes.

Individual band members have been busy sitting Grade Exams in the Summer term. A total of 23 brass and woodwind players from within the Band sat performance exams ranging from Grade 3 to Grade 8. All passed successfully with many achieving Distinction and Merit.

Following their participation in both School Prize-givings the Band completed the term by giving a concert with the aim of raising funds towards the purchase of new percussion equipment. Also taking part were the Brass Ensembles from Ashley Road & Mile End Primary Schools, both of whom had recently gained Outstanding Performance Awards at the Music Festival. A sum of £880 was raised on what was a thoroughly enjoyable and successful evening.

As we move into the new school year the band continues to go from strength to strength with no fewer than 53 band members in place to begin rehearsing next term.

The Band’s next major festival performance will be the Scottish Concert Band Regional Festival. This year this performance will be at the RSNO Centre in Glasgow on the weekend of 30th November - 1st December. The opportunity to perform at this venue

is one to which everyone is looking forward and which will surely inspire a performance to match!

Face the Music Those Were the Days of Our Lives

With the school show “We Will Rock You” having been performed on 13th to 15th November, there was a distinct buzz around School. People whistling Queen songs down the corridors or listening to them on their phones on the way home was certainly not uncommon at Aberdeen Grammar School. Since revealing the choice of show in January, the staff in the music and drama departments had been working hard to produce a high standard and a thoroughly enjoyable show.

After the audition process, the Face the Music team got to work immediately. Cast had two 2-hour rehearsals every week from May through to November, which covered singing, dancing and movement. Despite being a huge commitment of time and effort, anyone involved would agree that this paid off not only in the show week itself but also in the opportunities it gave us to meet new friends and improve our performance skills as well as learning new ones. As we progressed, the cast became a closer family and there was certainly no distinction between principals and chorus members as we worked together to achieve our highest potential.

With our two incredible principals, Angus Hogg as Galileo and Zuzanna Prusik as Scaramouche, the cast were easily able to bounce off their enthusiasm and talent and provide support in chorus numbers and scenes. Our two antagonists in the show were the talented Holly Stuart as evil Killer Queen, and Oscar Thorpe as Khashoggi who provided much of the comedy as well as smashing renditions of Play the Game, Seven Seas of Rhye and of course Holly’s very own version of Killer Queen. Eilidh Crofton also garnered many laughs from the audience, portraying her mad hippie character, Yoko, with a wonderful cockney lilt. Britney and Meatloaf, played by Samuel Anderson and Annabel Lunney respectively, supported Angus and Zuzanna as their bohemian mentors and together sang some Queen favourites from I Want It All to Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

The technical aspects of the show were a cause of great excitement for the cast as much as for the audience. Our talented technical crew ensured that the massive video screens which we rented for the show made the biggest impact and created the atmosphere of a live concert, whilst our backstage crew helped with costume and props, perhaps the most exciting costume piece being our colourful wigs! Our version of Radio Ga Ga for our opening number was just that little bit different, with each cast member kitted out in a wonderfully bright wig as they sang and danced their hearts out.

The cast were certainly not the only ones who contributed to ensuring the amazing visual and audio impact our show had on the audience. All the music was produced by our impressive live school band who played on-stage led by Miss Johnstone. They had rehearsed together for months before getting to play with the vocalists, which they said really brought each song together. For us cast members, to finally sing alongside a live band rather than a backing track at our first band call brought great satisfaction and really