Music
Music is taught throughout the school by subject specialists. There are two full-time and one part-time subject teachers and fourteen peripatetic members of staff.
The aims of the department are:
- To promote an appreciation and enjoyment of music in pupils of a wide range of musical abilities;
- To develop sensitivity towards music through personal experience by the exercise of imagination and acquisition of skills and knowledge;
- To provide intellectual and aesthetic stimulation;
- To provide an appropriate body of knowledge and understanding and develop skills as a basis for further study or leisure or both.
Music is compulsory in years 7-9 and then becomes an optional subject in years 10 and 11. Music is a popular and successful subject at GCSE and A level. In the last four summers our pupils have gained 100% grade A/B at A2, with 85% of these being grade A. At GCSE level 95% of students gained a grade A* or A. Usually at least one student will go on to read music at university each year and a number of students have been successful in gaining choral scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge universities in recent years.
We believe that all pupils should have the opportunity to make music, whether in a choir or an instrumental ensemble and offer a variety of these in the extended curriculum. Our current extra-curricular music provision includes the following: Junior Choir, Senior Choir and Chamber Choir, Junior and Senior Orchestras, Junior and Senior Jazz Bands and a number of chamber ensembles including Clarinet Quintet, Saxophone Quintet, Senior Flute Ensemble Brass Ensemble, and a number of string quartets and rock bands. We also run a popular and successful Composition Club where pupils are encouraged to develop their creative skills and independent learning.
Instrumental, vocal and music theory lessons are taught by a visiting team of peripatetic music staff and the school hosts Associated Board music examinations each term.
All pupils have the opportunity to participate in a diverse range of performances from cabaret evenings to recitals and workshops to concerts within the local community. Recent diverse examples of this being a performance at Chester Cathedral to raise money for NSPCC, a GCSE students concert at a local residential home and a Chamber Choir concert at Eaton Hall Chapel for a RNLI. Last year pupils in Years 7, 11 12 and 13 took part in an African Drumming workshop, whilst those in Year 8 incorporated Baroque dancing and music in a cross-curricular event celebrating the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII accession to the throne. In recent years the music department has worked with the drama department to produce a wide range of musical theatre shows such as Joseph, Torchbearers and My Fair Lady. Rehearsals are currently underway for this year’s production of West Side Story. A large scale and diverse music competition, The Queen’s School Festival of Music, is held annually and involves approximately 100 Queen’s School pupils.
