Sherborne Boys’ Music Magazine
Welcome
Welcome, this time, to the 5 Edition of The Blue Notes. Though a short term bodes us I have tried my best to make two quite short but hopefully enjoyable editions for you all. As always the Music School has been extremely busy with the usual concerts in Cheap Street Church along with many joint school musical events and band that take place weekly.
Some highlights include the annual Choral Society Concert which took place in Sherborne Abbey and under the direction of Mr Cracknell delivered a wonderful event for all. Along with this, we have also had many other events including the Joint Schools’ Unplugged, our Joint Schools’ Musical showcase and more.
While writing this it still amazes me that the magazine has come this far and we are already on the 5 edition. I would like to thank all the members of staff and pupils who spend their time writing articles and being interviewed for The Blue Notes and to all of the readers for their continued support. th
I do hope you enjoy reading as there is certainly something in here for everyone!
Happy reading!
Sirtaaj G (4a) Editor-in-Chief
Interview by Sirtaaj G (4a)
An interview with
Head of Keyboard Studies and Accompaniments
Mr Davey
What do you most enjoy about teaching music at Sherborne, and what do you think is different about the department here than other schools you’ve worked at before?
Is there a particular performance which has stuck with you during your time at Sherborne or that you distinctly remember and won't forget?
How do you think the department has evolved since teaching here?
What is your favourite thing about the Music Department at Sherborne?
If you could meet or play with any composer of your choice, who would it be? – and why?
Interview by Sirtaaj G (4a)
An interview with
Head of Keyboard Studies and Accompaniments
Mr Davey
Is there any piece of advice which you would give to someone who has just started learning the piano?
Have you always loved music since you were younger, and was there anyone who inspired you to pursue music of whom you looked up to when you were young?
What type of music do you enjoy listening to and watching?
Throughout your time at Sherborne, what have you most enjoyed about music here?
Desert Island Discs
with Mr Costin, Head of Academic Music, School Organist & Brass Co-ordinator
Disc No 3 - Piano Sonata No 30 in E major, Op 109: II Andante molto cantabile ed espressivo – Gesangvoll, mit innigster Empfindung – Ludwig van Beethoven
The Blue Notes
Disc No. 1 - Motet: Trahe me post te, for six voices – Tomás Luis de Victoria
Disc No.2 - Mass in B minor, BWV 232 – Sanctus – Johann Sebastian Bach
Desert Island Discs
with Mr Costin, Head of Academic Music, School Organist & Brass Co-ordinator
The Blue Notes
Disc No.4 - Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60 – Frédéric Chopin
Disc No.5 - String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36: I. Allegro non troppo – Johannes Brahms
Disc No 6 - Piano Quintet in B minor: I Très modéré – Adolphe Biarent
Desert Island Discs
Disc No.8 - My Funny Valentine: Miles Davis in Concert 1964
Disc No.7 - Rhapsodic Quintet – Herbert Howells
The Blue Notes
with Mr Costin, Head of Academic Music, School Organist & Brass Co-ordinator
Friday Lunchtime Recitals
Cheap Street Church, Friday, 1.45pm
Woodwind - 16 January
The Blue Notes
Friday Lunchtime Recitals
Cheap Street Church, Friday, 1.45pm
Instrumental & Vocal Soloists I - 23 January
The next Friday Lunchtime Recital came back again to Cheap Street Church before heading into the Exeat weekend, where we now heard from our Instrumental and Vocal Soloists. To begin the concert, we first heard Sam B (U6f) as he sang us Ivor Gurney’s Sleep Sam delivered a wellrounded and refined performance as we then swiftly followed by our next performer. Nathaniel B (4e) now took to the stage as he performed Schubert’s Waltz in B Minor, D 145 No 6 Nathaniel delivered a strong performance and created a wonderful atmosphere for the audience
The Blue Notes
Friday Lunchtime Recitals
Cheap Street Church, Friday, 1.45pm
Strings - 30 January
The Blue Notes
Friday Lunchtime Recitals
Cheap Street Church, Friday, 1.45pm
Singers - 06 February
The Blue Notes Pg. 13
The next of our Friday Lunchtime Recitals was presented by Sherborne Boys’ marvellous singers. With quite a vast number of boys performing, the audience was delighted by the wonderful voices of fourteen boys. To begin the concert, we first heard from Arthur H (5b). Arthur was accompanied by Mr Walker and sang Peter Warlock’s Captain Stratton’s Fancy Arthur’s performance included great character, charming the audience as a great way to start the concert. Closely followed by this, we heard Hector S (5m), who performed on Nat “King” Cole’s L-O-V-E. Hector accompanied himself on the guitar and really amazed the audience with his performance bring a smile to many faces. We next heard from James H (L6a) James sang Schubert’s An die Musik. James provided the audience with a smooth and rich tone as he was expertly accompanied by Mr Walker.
Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase
Wednesday 21 January, 7.30 pm, Sherborne Girls
Article input from Mr Eadon, Mr Marks, Mrs Jackson and Mr Costin
This year, Sherborne Boys and Girls, along with The Gryphon, delivered the annual Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase. An evening of music consisting of various bands and ensembles from Sherborne Girls and Sherborne Boys, including ‘the best of the best’. Performances included the Sherborne Schools’ Symphony Orchestra, The Joint Schools’ Choir, the Brass Trio, Joint Schools’ Wind Quintet, Jazz Ensemble and Swing Band.
The Sherborne Schools’ Symphony Orchestra – article contribution from Mr Eadon and Mr Costin
Director of Music: Mr Eadon
The SSSO performed the first movement of Eric Coates’ London Suite as the curtain-raiser at the Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase. The orchestra were on fine form and really seemed to relish in the colours and textures that make the piece so satisfying to play. Coates’ skill as a composer is seen in his ability to write idiomatically for every instrument of the orchestra. The section of the piece the orchestra played on this occasion depicts the hustle-bustle of London’s famed Covent Garden – but from a time when it was still an active market (and not the tourist mayhem of the present day). To this end, Coates makes use of the Middlesex folk song Cherry Ripe which pervades through the second half of the movement. It will be fantastic to hear the SSSO perform the whole Suite when we play it at The Cadogan Hall.
Head of Academic Music, School Organist and Brass Co-Ordinator: Mr Costin
The Sherborne Schools’ Symphony Orchestra delivered a confident and characterful performance of William Mathias’ Serenade, with every department shining particularly the woodwind. This intensely pastoral work, cast in three contrasting movements, was shaped with poise and clarity throughout. The opening Allegretto sparkled, as the cheeky oboe theme passed gracefully through woodwind and strings over a flowing piano accompaniment, warmly supported by brass. The second movement unfolded with calm beauty, its English pastoral voice gently recalling Vaughan Williams and Holst, forming the emotional heart of the work. Fiery trumpets launched the finale, with festive tambourine colour driving the music to an exhilarating close.
The Blue Notes Pg. 14
Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase
The Blue Notes
Wednesday 21 January, 7.30 pm, Sherborne Girls
Article input from Mr Eadon, Mr Marks, Mrs Jackson and Mr Costin
15
This year, Sherborne Boys and Girls, along with The Gryphon, delivered the annual Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase. An evening of music consisting of various bands and ensembles from Sherborne Girls and Sherborne Boys, including ‘the best of the best’. Performances included the Sherborne Schools’ Symphony Orchestra, The Joint Schools’ Choir, the Brass Trio, Joint Schools’ Wind Quintet, Jazz Ensemble and Swing Band.
Joint Schools’ Choir and Wind Quintet - article contribution from Mr Eadon and Mrs Jackson Director of Music: Mr Eadon - Joint Schools’ Choir
The Joint Schools’ Choir previewed two movements from their forthcoming Choral Society concert programme singing the Kyrie from Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man and the dramatic first movement of Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. The Jenkins saw the choir creating a warm atmosphere through its melismatic, sweeping phrases and relatively soft dynamics. The Bernstein was rather different – it is boisterous and lively in the extreme and is one of the few pieces in Hebrew regularly performed by Anglican choirs. In spite of the challenge this brings, it is always a huge pleasure to sing a psalm-setting in its original language. The Joint Choir was on great form and were really able to convey the two pieces’ moods well
Head of Music School Timetables and Instrumental Studies: Mrs Jackson - Joint Schools’ Wind Quintet
Our Joint Schools Quintet is made up of music scholars from Sherborne Girls and Boys. These talented musicians delighted us in last year’s Showcase with a Charleston by Norman Hallam and this year they tackled Reicha’s E flat Quintet. This work was published in 1818 and is perhaps the most famous of all his twenty-four Wind Quintets. All the performers in this ensemble delivered an exciting and polished performance of a technically demanding work. Well done! The Quintet it made up of:
Coco: Flute
Manu M (4g): Oboe
Louis R (L6e): Horn
Lizzie: Bassoon
Benjamin H (L6b): Clarinet
Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase
The Blue Notes Pg. 16
Wednesday 21 January, 7.30 pm, Sherborne Girls
Article input from Mr Eadon, Mr Marks, Mrs Jackson and Mr Costin
Brass Trio and Swing Band - article contribution from Mrs Jackson and Mr Marks Head of Music School Timetables and Instrumental Studies: Mrs Jackson - Brass Trio
This trio was formed from the principal brass players in our Joint Schools Symphony orchestra in order to learn the Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone by Poulenc. The piece dates from 1922, but Poulenc later revised the Sonata in 1945. The ‘Rondeau’ is the third and final movement of the Sonata and the style of the piece is light-hearted, bright and dance like.
The ensemble was expertly led by Archie (trumpet) and all three boys delivered an exciting and polished performance.
Deputy Director of Music: Mr Marks - Swing Band and Jazz Ensemble
The Swing Band and Jazz Ensemble performed as part of the Joint Schools’ Musical Showcase on 21 January, in their first joint appearance at this event. I take enormous pride in the jazz musicians at Sherborne Boys. It is already a feat to perform on an instrument live in concert, but especially so given the levels of live improvisation involved. An explainer for any new readers: improvisation is the art form of making things up on the spot! Imagine a scenario where you have to stand up and perform, without an exact understanding of what you would play. Truly remarkable and a skill we have been developing with the boys in detail over the last few years. This event kicks off a busy term ahead for our jazz musicians, including a Lunchtime Recital for the Jazz Ensemble, a Prep Schools’ Jazz Day for the Swing Band, before culminating in the highlight of the academic year Dinner and Jazz.
Choral Society Concert
This year’s Joint Schools’ Choral Society concert saw SG’s Mr Cracknell conduct the massed forces in music by Leonard Bernstein and Karl Jenkins. Following on from last year’s Britten St Nicolas, the ensemble were excited to learn the Chichester Psalms which asks the chorus to sing in Hebrew – although this gives a certain challenge to the performer, the music is so strong (and, indeed, infectiously fun) that those challenges quickly vanish. The first movement is a setting of the Jubilate and, although composed slightly precariously in 10/4 time, is striking, lively and loud. The second movement is scored for a treble solo, in addition to the chorus and orchestra. Henry C (3b) enthrallingly sang this solo of the text of Psalm 23 – Bernstein asks for a boy solo to emulate King David, the alleged author of the Book of Psalms and accompanies the soloist primarily on harps to perhaps give a parallel to an ancient lyre. This beautiful setting is interrupted by the tenors and basses singing text from Psalm 2 (“Why do the nations so furiously rage”) – the JSCS chaps did an admirable job portraying this menace. The final movement is a lovely uneven-metred set of sweeping melodies. It is telling that Bernstein wrote this piece using off-cuts from his early drafts to West Side Story – he had originally intended to set that piece using rather different quarrelling factions (including a Jewish community), which is why he had the material spare when Chichester Cathedral’s commission came through.
The second half of the programme was Karl Jenkins’ Mass of the Armed Man This is a striking piece, drawing together many texts to create a manifesto for peace. Many movements focus on the horrors of war, whilst others on reconciliation. Particularly moving is the second movement which is a Call to Prayer from the Orthodox tradition. Many other movements are based on the medieval song L’Homme Armé from which the name of the piece is derived. Even The Last Post makes an appearance. In addition to the Choral Society, this is accompanied by a large orchestra and four soloists. These four soloists were given to singers in the pupil body – two girls (Sophie S and Betsy C) as well as Frazer F on Tenor and Archie SB on Bass were able to command the Abbey with powerful performances.
The performances were of really high quality – the choir sang magnificently, the soloists were super, the orchestra were a glorious bedrock for everything else to sit on. Especial thanks must go to Mr Cracknell and our rehearsal accompanist Mr Arkell. Although not fully confirmed, next year is likely to see a return to something a little older having had two years of twentieth century representation.
The Blue Notes Pg. 17
Harmonies, Stories and Tunes
Eurovision Dreams and Wishful Thinking
Article written by Mr Byrne
The Blue Notes
Gary Clark Jr.’s
When My Train Pulls In
Article written by Mr Winter
The Blue Notes
The Life and Works Series:
Article written by Nathaniel B (4e, Sch Mus)
Josef Haydn
The Blue Notes
The Life and Works Series:
Josef Haydn
The Blue Notes
Article written by Nathaniel B (4e, Sch Mus)
The Life of Luigi Boccherini:
A quiet genius of the Music World
Article written by Sebastian N-M (4g, Exh. Mus)
The Blue Notes
Save the Dates:
Come and enjoy the:
Halliday Cup Competition
On Sunday 1 March 2026, Tindal Recital Hall, Sherborne Boys
Come and enjoy a selection of Sherborne Boys’ pianists compete for the coveted award dedicated to the memory of Charles Graham Rivers Halliday (Lyon House 1911-1914) who loved music. Adjudicator: Alex Aitken West End Musical Director, pianist and organist.
Come and hear a:
Diploma Recital
On Saturday 7 March 2026, Grandsen Hall, Sherborne Girls
Come and enjoy one of Sherborne Boys’ top musicians as they get ready to sit their Diploma exam in their chosen instrument. This performance allows them to get a feel for their performance and helps them to learn what they need to improve on before the exam.
Sherborne Schools’ Symphony Orchestra Come and hear the:
On Tuesday 10 March 2026, 6.30 pm, Cadogan Hall, London
Hear the SSSO as they perform music by Eric Coates, Edvard Grieg and more at one of the capital’s premier concert halls.
The Blue Notes Pg. 24
Come and hear the:
Save the Dates: Joint
Schools’ Wind Band and Sinfonia Orchestra
On Tuesday 17 March 2026, Gransden Hall, Sherborne Girls
Come and enjoy and evening listening to the Sherborne Schools’ Sinfonia Orchestra compromising pupils from Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls, Sherborne Prep and Hanford Prep and the Joint Schools’ Wind Band as they performed music by Bizet arr. Smith, Haydn arr. Glyn and Smith, Phillip Sparke and Harry James arr. Sammy Nestico
Come and hear an:
Evensong at Wells Cathedral
On Wednesday 18 March 2026, Wells Cathedral
Come and listen to the Sherborne Boys’ Chamber Choir and Sherborne Girls’ Madrigal Society as they join forces to sing Choral Evensong in the spectacular Wells Cathedral. Includes Music by Radcliffe, Dyson and Wesley.
Come and celebrate at the:
Sherborne Abbey Festival
On Friday 1 May 2026, Sherborne Abbey
Come and listen to various Chamber Groups and Ensembles at the Sherborne Abbey Festival as part of our Friday Lunchtime Recitals. Don’t miss out as the Sherborne Boys’ Swing Band perform later that day at 5.00 pm in the BSR under the director of Mr Marks.
The Blue Notes Pg. 25
With thanks to...
Mr Eadon
Mr Marks
Miss McCormick
Mr Davey
Mrs Jackson
Mr Costin
Miss Tucker
Ms McKay
Mrs Jarrett
Mr Winter
Mr Byrne
Nathaniel B (4e) (Sch.Mus)
Photograph Credit: Miss McCormick, Mr O’Neill (Sch.Org)
Katharine Davies, Len Copland and Josie Sturgess Mills
