Lines & Spaces Notes from St Mary’s Music School
HIGH NOTES Saturday Music Classes under the spotlight Seven Hills workshops for young composers Announcing the new National Centre for Music The impact of ‘one kind word’ … and more!
Issue 4
Winter 2021
Contents Celebrating special relationships 2 Spotlight on Saturday Music Classes 3 Two minutes with two musicians
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Seven Hills composition workshops 4 What’s the score? 5 Beyond the blue door… 6 A joyous occasion 7
STOP PRESS! In October 2021, the City of Edinburgh Council formally accepted the Royal High School Preservation Trust’s proposals for the restoration of the Thomas Hamilton building on Calton Hill as a world-class centre for music education and public performance, for the benefit of the whole of Scotland. St Mary’s Music School is at the heart of this plan, with the proposals bringing together a network of partner organisations with a shared vision of creating a new platform for musical collaborations both within the building, online and out in the wider community.
©TBC
©️ Royal High School Preservation Trust, unless otherwise stated.
Please visit www.rhspt.org for further information and updates and to download the full proposal.
Sign up for our e-newsletter! Keep up to date with everything that’s happening at St Mary’s Music School, including concerts, masterclasses, open days, auditions and advisory auditions, by signing up to receive our regular e-newsletter at https://stmaryscommunity.ptly.uk/signup
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Celebrating special relationships As our choristers rehearsed for Nine Lessons and Carols and the Cathedral prepared to welcome its Christmas congregations once more (albeit more limited than usual, owing to ongoing restrictions), we asked Duncan Ferguson, Organist and Master of the Music about the special relationship between Cathedral and School.
Organist and Master of the Music is a wonderful title! What does your role involve? My role is director of music – chiefly auditioning, training and rehearsing the choristers and lay clerks (the altos, tenors and basses), conducting the choir for our services and concerts, and planning the choir’s programme of music and events (such as recordings). I also have responsibility for music in the Cathedral more generally, including for our wonderful (and recently restored) Cathedral organ. How do you foster the vital connection between School and Cathedral? Despite being distinct institutions, the School and the Cathedral are very closely linked and we support and encourage each other’s work. We have weekly meetings to discuss what’s been going on and to look ahead to what’s coming up; there are often opportunities for longer-term planning too. By working together, we ensure that the choristers are able to enjoy all the great opportunities that being a chorister brings. How important is the chorister experience to these young people now and in their futures? Being a chorister is a significant commitment, but the rewards of musical education are unparalleled. Choristers learn new music every day, from the 15th right up to the 21st centuries and often in different languages so it’s no surprise that they develop strong sight-reading and musicianship skills. Being in the choir fosters teamwork, responsibility, confidence - all important qualities they can transfer to other aspects of their lives.
“The services at Christmas attract many hundreds of people but it is perhaps those moments when the choir is singing very quietly and the whole Cathedral feels so still that are among the most moving. However, hearing the congregation singing along with the last verse of Hark the Herald Angels Sing while the choristers sing a soaring descant line is fantastic too!”
How do you choose the music and prepare for Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas? There are certainly some ‘must haves’ for this iconic service Once in Royal David’s City, for instance - but there’s also a great opportunity to balance well-known pieces with contemporary works that might challenge people to rethink a familiar text or an aspect of the Christmas story. Musically, the sequence of keys from one piece to another is important, and we select music which asks enough - but not too much of our singers. It often takes several re-thinks before we print the orders of service. And although we spend a lot of time learning the music beforehand, we don’t start quite as early as people might think, as we’re often busy with other music right up until the end of November.
“Midnight Mass is my favourite. We all wear a watch and check when it gets to midnight so we can wish each other Happy Christmas. I really missed it last year. I love all the Christmas songs. You get to sing really nice descants and I like singing with the lay clerks too. Processing while holding a candle and our folders is tricky, but the atmosphere is so good – we all laugh and sing and are really happy.” Diya, Senior Chorister
“Yes, it’s a very happy atmosphere. At Midnight Mass the Cathedral is so quiet and calm, it’s lovely. It’s very busy but lots of fun in the build up, we have very long rehearsals and it’s very tiring but it’s great in the end and when you get a solo it’s very rewarding. I get nervous though and my legs shake and my stomach drops! We’re all friends too, so it’s just really special.” Jake, Senior Chorister
In JANUARY 2022 we are inviting children in P5 who love to sing to audition to become a chorister and start in this academic year. To find out more, contact Becky Verdon, Admissions Officer admissions@st-marys-music-school.co.uk
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Spotlight on… Saturday Music Classes
Two minutes with two musicians
Kathy Hartley’s association with Saturday Music Classes (SMC) goes back to the 1990s when her own children attended. She began taking recorder groups in 2003 and explains why the recorder is such a versatile and rewarding instrument and why her time with SMC continues to be ‘a joy’.
Two pupils take two minutes to talk about what they play, what they love most about being a musician, their favourite music and composers, and their musical highlights (so far!).
“I was a first study viola and I studied recorder alongside that. After music college, I went into orchestras for about 15 years and then began to get more involved in teaching. I think SMC is a special place – it has a lovely atmosphere and is very warm and welcoming. You see friendships developing between the children and also between families when parents meet downstairs for coffee while the classes are running. For four or five year olds, a descant recorder is small and easy to hold, and it doesn’t need a huge amount of puff. Children just need to learn to control the outflow of air and they find the recorder satisfying because they can learn to play tunes quite quickly. We usually start a group, or sometimes two groups, of six or seven children who might be a mix of five, six or seven years old. Instrumental teaching at SMC is usually for three years, but the recorder extends beyond that because of our ensemble groups. The children just keep coming back because they love it and quite a high percentage of them will carry on right through primary school. The recorder is often, but not always, a springboard to other instruments, but you can also take it as far as you want, moving up from descant to treble and developing technique. When you get into Handel or Telemann, it can become quite virtuosic and, as with any instrument, you’re controlling and varying your sound, learning vibrato and other musical skills. In both Baroque and avant-garde music, there is a substantial repertoire for recorder. It’s an amazing instrument, so versatile and beautiful, and I really love it.”
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NEW BEGINNERS’ RECORDER CLASSES are starting in January for pre and primary schoolers. Email smc@st-marys-music-school.co.uk for details!
Pavlina (S6 Ext) from Sophia, Bulgaria
Piano is the most powerful tool for me. It portrays endless worlds of nuanced characters - from grotesque to ethereal, humorous to tragic - which our spirit and soul recognise but wouldn’t be able to express fully via any spoken language. I believe a classical piece has the power to move anyone, and there’s a piece for everyone out there which they can relate to. Russian repertoire sits closest to my heart. Rachmaninoff is my number one, alongside Prokofiev, Medtner and Bach. I also love choral music, particularly pieces in minor keys and I’ve always gravitated towards more tragic and sorrowful music. I often hear parallels between modern, jazz and classical, so try and find works from every genre, as it fuels my overall musicianship. I’ve developed a friendship with one of my favourite pianists, Alexander Malofeev. He’s the main reason I’ve fallen in love with performing, which used to be a fear for me. I have found myself through his playing.
William (S2) from Balfron, Scotland
I play violin as my first study and piano as my second. This is my second year at St Mary’s Music School and I am thoroughly enjoying my time here. I was introduced to the violin when I was still in nursery, I found it a very curious instrument and knew I would love to learn it and potentially master it. I find music to be very expressive, it has the ability to display a variety of emotions. It makes life very colourful. I love the composers of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras. They all have their own unique styles. One that stands out for me is Mahler – his symphonies are delicately beautiful and he describes life and nature in his own way through music. My musical highlight is the opportunity to come here and meet so many people who are also passionate about music. It has definitely enhanced my perspective on the vast variety of the musical world.
Seven Hills Composition Workshops Following the successful launch of The Seven Hills Project earlier this year, we’re delighted to have been working with two secondary schools for the next stage of the project Culloden Academy in Highland and Paisley Grammar School in Renfrewshire. Both schools have taken part in a unique peer-to-peer, school-to-school, musical project orchestrated by St Mary’s Music School in partnership with Jay Capperauld, the composer of the project’s first piece, Theory of the Earth, based on Arthur’s Seat. During the autumn term, pupils from both schools attended a series of online and live compositional workshops with Jay and also with Dr Valerie Pearson, Head of Strings at St Mary’s Music School and director of The Seven Hills Project, and a team of our senior pupils. The young composers from Culloden Academy and Paisley Grammar were asked to compose a one to two-minute work for one of, or a combination of, the piano, clarinet and cello. Live classroom sessions are planned for January 2022, where three of our own pupils will perform the early drafts of the new works created by their peers and provide feedback, alongside Jay himself. In March 2022, pupils from both schools will attend a day-long workshop hosted by St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, followed by a concert of everyone’s work.
A composer’s perspective
A pupil’s perspective
“It’s a privilege to be involved in this project with its huge range of benefits for young people and wider communities. Through Seven Hills workshops, we’ll go on to introduce the young musicians of St Mary’s Music School to Higher and Advanced Higher Music pupils in schools right across Scotland, creating greater access to high quality music making and high quality composition experience.” Jay Capperauld, Composer
“Amelia, Alexander and I helped out with the workshops by doing a variety of different composition activities over Zoom/Teams. Activities included ways of starting a composition by adding ‘random’ notes together and organising them in an ostinato and writing music to a story or landscape. We also created demonstration videos about our instruments for the school students to compose for and we performed an extract of a Beethoven Piano Trio to highlight how the piano, clarinet and cello intertwine beautifully together. Jay Capperauld led the workshop and added his own nuggets of information and advice, to help with the compositions. The students from Culloden Academy and Paisley Grammar are writing short pieces for the three of us to play and record next spring, when we will all meet in person in Edinburgh. We all thoroughly enjoyed working with Jay and starting off the workshop element of The Seven Hills Project with a bang.” Alex (S6 Ext)
A teacher’s perspective “As a department, we are always looking for new ways to engage our young people in composition. Many of the pupils come from different musical backgrounds which, in itself, provides a diverse array of ideas and stimuli. However, this will be the first time that many of them have had the opportunity to compose and hear their ideas performed live by like-minded peers.” Gerard Hennan, Teacher of Music and Music Technology, Paisley Grammar School
Please help us to take new music and opportunities for music making to as many young people in Scotland as possible through The Seven Hills Project. To make an online donation, please visit https://stmaryscommunity.ptly.uk/supportus Thank you!
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What’s the score? Over 85% of SQA grades awarded in 2021 were at A with a percentage pass rate of 100% across all grades. Leavers’ Destinations 2020/21
SCO Academy update
We were delighted to progress our partnership with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and launch new academies for string players and percussionists in November 2021. Initially, we held three sessions online followed by a live session at George Watson’s College in November. Lydia (S6), Anias (S6), Ellie (S6), Daisy (S5), Beau (S5) and Alex (S6 Ext) all acted as peer mentors, supporting pupils from other schools, from all over Scotland. Watch this space for more academies in the spring.
Why one kind word can make a difference… Scotland University of Edinburgh (English Literature) University of Edinburgh (English and Philosophy) England Royal College of Music, London (Cello) University of Bristol (English, deferred place) Somerville College, University of Oxford (Music) Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge (Music) Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (Jazz/Piano)
The School took part in the UK-wide campaign ‘One Kind Word’, part of Anti-Bullying week (15th – 19th November). Yvonne Jarron, Head of Primary said, “As a school guidance team, we really felt that this year’s message of One Kind Word was an important one. The simplicity and power of saying something kind to one another must never be taken for granted. We encouraged the whole school community to say something kind to a younger pupil or staff member, and we purchased postcards with positive messages so that pupils and staff could keep the kind thoughts that were sent to them.”
Overseas Amsterdam Conservatory, Netherlands (Piano)
In October, we ran our inaugural Instrumental Taster Day for string players and pianists aged from 11 to 16 years. No ‘grade level’ was required, just a passion for music, and 18 young musicians from across the UK enjoyed a taste of the specialist music teaching that goes on at St Mary’s Music School every single day. “An awesome day, I loved it!” was the response of one participant while a parent told us, “Thank you to all the staff and pupils for giving my son such a positive experience. He came away inspired and motivated.” Our next Instrumental Taster Day will be open to all instruments and will take place on 27th February.
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©️BBC/Yourkevich
A taste of specialist music teaching
Congratulations Jake! Jake (S1) reached the final of BBC Songs of Praise Young Chorister of the Year 2021. Orchestrated by Songs of Praise and Radio 2, this annual event is both a celebration of the contribution made by young people to choirs and music groups across the UK and a competition to find the BBC Young Chorister of the Year. Jake was one of 10 young singers (5 boys and 5 girls) selected to be a semi-finalist by a panel of esteemed music directors from the world of choral and church music, and music producers from TV and radio. He enjoyed a mentoring session with soprano Laura White, a Songs of Praise presenter and former Chorister of the Year herself. Each young person sang a sacred song in Salisbury Cathedral and Jake impressed judges Lesley Garrett, Howard Goodall and David Grant with his performance of Bob Chilcott’s Be Thou My Vision, which earned him a place in the final, broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday 5th December.
Primary news round-up Our primary classes spent the first term learning about a variety of ancient civilisations, including the Greeks and Romans, the Aztecs, Incas and Mesopotamians, and the Chinese and Egyptians. Working in groups, the pupils chose an ancient civilisation to research, creating project fact files which they presented to each other. They also learnt about Ancient Greece as a whole class, covering several curriculum areas including numeracy, literacy, art, geography and history.
Happy Birthday to Edinburgh World Heritage Pupils Alex (S6 Ext), Lydia (S6), Ellie (S6) and Daisy (S5) were delighted to play at celebrations of Edinburgh World Heritage’s 50th birthday when the organisation hosted a fundraising gala dinner at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, in honour of 50 years of conservation work.
Cliodhna wins the Coombs Scholarship Cliodhna (S6 Ext) is supported this academic year by Future Talent, as part of their Young Musicians Development Programme. Not only has this given her the opportunity to play alongside cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in a concert at Charterhouse in London, but also to apply for their highly prestigious Coombs Scholarship, which she was awarded in November. Having taken part in a preliminary online round, Cliodhna was invited to the final round at Holland Park School in Kensington with six other competitors from the UK. She performed the Quantz Flute Sonata in E-flat Major and also the Frank Martin Ballade, her personal favourite from the flute repertoire. Cliodhna told us, “The atmosphere was wonderful. All of the competitors were really friendly and supportive so being announced as the winner just felt like an extra!”
Beyond the blue door… news from our alumni The School has over 700 alumni around the world. With our 50th anniversary approaching in the 2022/23 academic year, we’re keen to connect and reconnect with as many former pupils as possible. Alumni Connect is our new online website and portal – a place where alumni can keep in touch and share news, events and photographs. If you are a former instrumentalist or chorister or both, or if you know anyone who is, please head over to stmarysmusic.ptly.uk and register your details. • Scottish smallpiper Brìghde Chaimbeul was invited to open the World Leaders’ Summit of COP 26, held in Glasgow in November. Brìghde played her own arrangements of two traditional melodies An Léimras and Harris Dance, both of which feature on her highly acclaimed album The Reeling. Brìghde said it was “a huge honour” and that she was “very moved by the powerful words spoken by activists at the ceremony”. • Steven Osborne performed with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with new Principal Guest Conductor, Mark Wigglesworth in November, attracting a 5* review from the Daily Telegraph, who reported that “The music-making last night was electrifying...”. Steven played the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2. • Connaught Brass, featuring alumni Aaron Akugbo and Robyn Blair, have been chosen as one of eleven City Music Foundations Artists for 2021, a two-year professional and artistic programme for young artists. The five members of the quintet will enjoy artistic and business mentoring and will participate in their own CMF Artists recital series, with performances on radio as well as various venues throughout the UK. The CMF Artists will also appear at free lunchtime concerts held at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London throughout 2022.
• The Castalian String Quartet, which includes alumnus Daniel Roberts, made their Seattle debut in November playing Mozart’s K590 String Quartet and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor. You can access the livestream at www.emeraldcitymusic.org • We’re delighted that Alex Laing has been appointed Director of Music at Wells Cathedral School. Alex is well known as a conductor and coach for national level ensembles, including the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, and for the Benedetti Foundation. He studied Music at Cambridge University (where he held a prestigious instrumental award as well as being a choral scholar) and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. • Accordionist Ryan Corbett has been awarded the Gold Medal in the 69th Royal Overseas League Annual Music Competition, along with the first prize of £20,000. He’s the first accordionist to win this top award since 1993.
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A joyous occasion Our Christmas Concert on 13th December at St Cuthbert’s Parish Church saw the whole school perform live to an audience – albeit a socially distanced and reduced capacity audience – for the first time since December 2019. We were delighted by the warm and positive feedback received. Every instrumental pupil from our youngest (aged nine) to our most senior pupils, who are currently preparing for the next stages of their careers, performed. This not only made the concert an extremely joyous and inclusive occasion, but reflected the importance we place on performance as a critical element of the specialist music education we provide at St Mary’s Music School. Along with contributions from the Senior Orchestra, the Senior and Junior String Ensembles and the School Choirs, our Christmas Concert had, at its heart, the second of The Seven Hills Project commissions. Imagined Conversation on Blackford Hill was composed by Tom David Wilson and performed by alumna Sally Day (clarinet) and a string trio made up of current pupils. We look forward to performing the commissions inspired by Calton Hill and Braid Hills in our Spring and Summer Concerts next year and hope you will be able to join us for our Spring Concert in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral on 30th March 2022. Dr Kenneth Taylor, Headteacher
Open Days Digital Open Days 7pm Wednesday 19th January & Wednesday 30th April, 9.30am Sunday 6th March Instrumental Taster Day 11.30am Sunday 27th February (in person)
50th Anniversary Concert 7.30pm Monday June 26th 2023, Usher Hall Our gala concert celebrates our 50th birthday and will feature a new commission for orchestra and choir by Sir James MacMillan CBE, performed by alumni and current pupils. Join us for what promises to be a spectacular evening.
Be A Chorister Afternoon 2.30pm Friday 25th February (in person)
Summer Schools
Concerts
Woodwind Summer School Sunday 31st July to Friday 5th August 2022
Rush Hour Concert of Chamber Music 6pm Friday 14th January, St Andrew’s and St George’s West Spring Concert 7.30pm Wednesday 30th March, St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral Directors’ Recital Prize 7pm Tuesday 14th June, St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral Summer Concert 7.30pm Monday 27th June, Queen’s Hall
Piano Summer School Sunday 7th to Friday 12th August 2022 Strings Summer School Sunday 7th to Friday 12th August 2022
To book tickets or places, or to find out more, go to
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Sign up for our e-newsletter! Keep up to date with everything that’s happening at St Mary’s Music School, including concerts, masterclasses, open days, auditions and advisory auditions, by signing up to receive our regular e-newsletter at https://stmaryscommunity.ptly.uk/signup
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St Mary’s Music School Trust Ltd is a charity, number SC014611. Registered in Scotland 54504. Registered office: Coates Hall, 25 Grosvenor Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 5EL All images and text © St Mary’s Music School 2021 unless otherwise stated Design by IL Design | Words by Fiona Duncan & Allison Traynor Photos: Royal High School Preservation Trust, BBC/Yourkevich, Fiona Duncan and Moira Bennett
