Year 7 take part in exciting WSF Orchestra of the Swan collaboration day
On Tuesday, 6 February, the whole of Year 7 was treated to a special musical event as part of their Music Scheme journeys. In collaboration with King's High School and The Kingsley School, all pupils received an orchestral workshop from The Orchestra of the Swan, the Foundation's resident professional orchestra. The day consisted of learning and performing a bespoke arrangement of ‘Trepak’, one of the character dances from Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet, The Nutcracker.
Watch the original here, performed by the Cologne New Philharmonic Orchestra.
Each period throughout the school day consisted of various opportunities to workshop and study this piece of music in finer detail. Firstly, pupils branched off into sectionals (Strings, Woodwind, Brass and Percussion), whereby they worked alongside professional musicians to further enhance their musical knowledge and ability on their instruments. Afterwards, each instrumental family combined to form one large orchestra which was conducted by maestro Enyi Okpara.
It was absolutely fantastic to witness every single Year 7 pupils within the Warwick Schools Foundation involved in this exciting project throughout the day and hear the superb results of just one period’s worth of rehearsals. It's also worth noting that the majority of pupils have only been learning their orchestral instruments since the start of the academic year. The overall final performance really did showcase some strong musical outcomes, enabling all the pupils to depart with smiles on their faces feeling proud of everything they’d achieved.
With thanks to Mr Tibbitts, Mr Albrighton, Mr Chambers and all the Orchestra of the Swan musicians for orchestrating and delivering an inspirational and enjoyable music-making day.
