Music at Taunton School

Music at Taunton School

The centre of the Music Department’s philosophy is to encourage all pupils to take an active role in music-making, whilst ensuring that all pupils and groups make strong progress and play to the best of their abilities. This is achieved through personal encouragement, frequent solo and group performing opportunities, a professional and dedicated team of Visiting Music Teachers within a positive and vibrant environment.

The Music School is a self-sufficient building which contains teaching and practice rooms, a recital room, a keyboard room housing two pianos, a percussion room and a dedicated 6^th Form teaching room. In a separate building opposite the Music School, there is a second large rehearsal space and a Music Technology Studio, which houses a choral music library. Work starts this year on a large extension to the music school which will house a new percussion studio, music technology room, extra practice rooms and a new recording studio.

There are three main performing venues - The Arts Centre; the beautiful School Chapel with an excellent acoustic, a Steinway grand piano and a new Copeman Hart organ; and the Gwyn Williams Room located in Music School which has a new Yamaha Grand piano and is a lovely recital room.

A team of 22 Visiting Music Teachers cater for the large number of musicians within the school. This currently stands at close to half of the school. Music is a compulsory subject in the third form. The pupils are taught in small groups and streamed according to their ability. For half of the year, pupils study music technology – composing and arranging in different styles; the rest of the course is based on a broad range of listening which incorporates performing and composing. A growing number of pupils continue with Music through GCSE and A Level.

All lunchtimes are reserved for music practices and Tuesday after school is also dedicated Orchestra time. Our regular groups are Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Dance Band, Senior Wind Band, Popular Music Choir, Choral Society, Chapel Choir, Allegri Brass Group, Chamber Music Group, Flute ensemble, Wind Quintet, Percussion ensemble, Sax quartet, Piano Trio and many smaller intermediate and advanced chamber music groups.

Every pupil sings in Chapel three times a week and the House Music Competition is a very important occasion within the School’s calendar. There are approximately five major School concerts a year in addition to regular Open concerts and recitals which provide a stage for solo performers.

A professional performer is invited to give a master class and recital each term, most recently the trumpeter Dan Newall, clarinettist David Campbell and trombonist Douglass Yeo.

A Musical is performed every year in the Summer Term, most recently My Fair Lady, South Pacific and Into the Woods.

Many of our groups perform regularly outside the School. The Dance Band perform regularly in the Town and at other functions, such as the BIBIC Ball. In 2005 the Dance Band and the Wind Band went on tour to New York and plans are underway to take the Advanced Vocal Ensemble and Symphonic Concert Band to Florence, Italy this coming July.