10 / 20
10 MUSIC
Drapers’ Hall Concert
Zoe Webb, U6W
The Drapers’ Hall Concert is one of the highlights of
the musical calendar at Bancroft’s, and this year’s high
standard was no different from any other.
I remember being very impressed by the music played last year,
which was my first year taking part, especially by the wide varieties
of groups performing. This year not only did I know a bit more
about what to expect, I was lucky enough to perform the first
movement of
The Birthday Concerto
written by Peter Hope. This
requires not one but three different recorders (although not at
the same time!) and included a newly-written cadenza. I love
challenging people’s expectations that the recorder can’t be played
to a high standard and felt incredibly fortunate to be able to do so in
such a beautiful setting. Other personal highlights from the evening
include singing Sanctus from
The Armed Man
with the Bancroft’s
Singers, accompanied by Sinfonia, and playing from Sibelius’ Karelia
Suite with Sinfonia. Of course, Drapers’ isn’t complete without last-
minute panics, searching for misplaced instruments or wondering
whether you need a clarinet in A or Bb, but it all went smoothly in
the end. Many thanks to all the staff who organised the day and
made it possible.
House Music
Alex Yan, L6W
The House Music competition,
held in March, saw each house
rising to the challenge of the
new format. This year the solo
categories were replaced with a
‘set song’ chosen by the music
department, to be included in each
house’s 20-25 minute programme.
At first, the changes were met with
understandable anxiety but every
house showed initiative and put on
commendable performances.
This new format gave houses the freedom
to choose how they presented their pieces;
in particular East were commended for their
creative use of drums to link their pieces
together. It was great to see a huge range of
styles compared to previous years, including
film music, a contemporary adaptation of
classical music, a variety of approaches to
choir accompaniment and even a dance to
go with the set song!
This year I directed the West House
Ensemble and we played part of
Carnival of
the Animals
by Camille Saint-Saëns. This is
a humorous piece of chamber music which
paints distinctive caricatures of each animal.
I loved arranging the piece and exploring the
playful colours and textures in rehearsals. I
was very lucky to be able to work with such
a great ensemble, including instrumentalists
of all ages in the house, playing everything
from xylophone to slide whistle!
Amit Bhat (3W) played a wide variety of
percussion for both our ensemble and
our choir. He said after the event, “I really
enjoyed House Music because it felt really
good to be playing a song we worked so
hard on with my house, and working with all
the older musicians in my house was a great
opportunity.”
It was rewarding to find out that the judge
had given the two highest scores of the
evening to our ensemble and the School
House Ensemble, who were praised for
their ‘beautiful ensemble playing’ in their
performance of
Viva La Vida
. In the end,
we – West House – were the ones to lift the
trophy. Amit commented, “winning my first
ever House Music feels great. Hopefully I’ll
be in many House Music competitions to
come and win as many as possible!”