The sounds of spring: a look at our upcoming music performances

Big things are in the works for Wellington's music department in the coming weeks. We are currently rehearsing for five concerts featuring a significant percentage of our pupils. On 28 March, our Lower Prep and Upper Prep/Senior School orchestras and choirs will be performing their annual springtime Classical Concert. Early next term, children across all year groups will be singing The Beatles in our Lent concert series. Also, this year, we are not limiting the joy of performance to just our pupils. Even our community of parents and teachers are getting involved with a choir performance of Beatles hits at Shanghai’s iconic cabaret theatre venue, The Pearl on 25 March.

I am often asked how we get such large numbers involved. My first thought is that, as music teachers, we can just ‘do’ music; the children will like it and, naturally, will want to join in. It would seem a much more challenging task for a maths teacher to just ‘do’ maths and inspire children (although I do see my colleagues doing just that here every day too!). In this regard, I feel we have a relatively easy job.
 

The second thing is not having auditions for our ensembles. We only ask for a willingness to join in and learn the material. If a child has not reached a high enough level to take part in the group, we work with them and support them in reaching that goal. If they need individual lessons to help them improve, we can provide these in school. We currently run around 265 of these each week with a team of specialist teachers. The lessons are extremely popular and signup for the lessons is very much driven by pupils. We do have instances in which an audition is necessary, such as for our advanced combined orchestra with our sister school, Hiba Shanghai, but, wherever possible, we aim to make our ensembles as accessible to all as possible.

Thirdly, music making is an inherently social activity. Children love to play music with their friends (and to make new friends). We teach 50 piano lessons a week at Wellington, and whilst keyboard skills are an excellent foundation for all musicians, learning to play the piano can sometimes be a solitary activity. I often recommend that parents consider encouraging their child to learn an ensemble instrument. Children who learn to play the less common instruments, such as the double bass, really enjoy the special and valuable role that they play in the group. University application forms stand out more with less common instruments. A lower ABRSM grade in double bass, viola or bassoon is more appealing to a university than grade 8 piano, which has become a relative standard in applications from this part of the world.

We also have an increasing number of pupils who are looking towards music as a career. Careers in music and the wider performing arts are far more diverse than many think and can be very well compensated and rewarding. Our scholar and aspirant programme nurtures and develops pupils who are considering this path and their role in inspiring younger children is especially important.

Our goal at Wellington is to develop a lifelong love of music, and it shines through in our performances. I encourage everyone in our community — pupils, parents and teachers alike — to get involved.