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Giving a voice to boys in the curriculum: What boys need to sing in the secondary music classroom
Introduction ‘The reason boys may not be singing is because something is wrong with the music teaching not the boys.’ (Ashley, 2015, p. 190) The inclusion of boys in singing within the secondary music curriculum is an essential yet often overlooked aspect of music education, due to both the social pressures and the male vocal…
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Purcell King Arthur Programme Notes
Preconceptions can be deceiving. The title ‘King Arthur (Or the British Worthy): An Opera in Five Acts’ might lead the listener to some assumptions. ‘King Arthur’ evokes familiar names like Guinevere, Lancelot, or Gawain. This tale is different. We depart from Camelot and the Round Table, but keep the magic, the conflict, and the timeless…
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Bach St John Passion Programme Notes
The music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) demands much from its listeners. It is not simply something to be passively enjoyed; rather, it compels the audience to engage both spiritually and musically. Nowhere in Bach’s output is this more evident than in his Passions—musical settings of the most compelling narrative of the intersection between the…
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2024 Score Excerpt Competition Answers
Each Bold Answer is 1 Mark, alternative answers in Italic– 24 in total
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2024 Score Excerpt Competition
Every year, I have a competition for all my GCSE and A level music students. This competition is designed to further their score reading abilities, and also provide them with some wider listening. The booklet contains 10 excerpts of musical scores. The score is out of 24, as each question requires 2 or 3 pieces…
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Stanford Programme Notes
2024 marks the centenary of the death of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), one of the most eminent composers in the early 20th Century with a well-deserved musical legacy. His time as a Professor of composition at the Royal College of Music saw him mentoring some of the most iconic voices of early twentieth-century British…