On Monday 30th January, 16 pupils made CLC history by performing in our inaugural Percussion Prizes, which were then followed by a masterclass session. There were separate prizes for both drum kit and orchestral percussion. It was fantastic to hear such a broad range of musical styles on display: from Jin (SFC2 / Year 13) performing a musically shaped, sensitive performance of Bach’s cello suite on marimba to UC4 (Year 10) student Angelina’s lively and energy-fuelled rendition of Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk; there was something to cater for all musical tastes.
We were extremely lucky to be able to welcome London-based professional percussionist, Beth Higham-Edwards, as our Percussion Prizes adjudicator. Not only is Beth an experienced performer (including performances for West End musicals, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and as Musical Director at Shakespeare’s Globe), she is also a passionate music educator and teaches at the junior department of Trinity Laban Conservatoire and is a trustee of the National Children’s Orchestra.
Beth is well known for her work on gender equality amongst instrumentalists: she is the co-founder of the initiative, Gender and the Large and Shiny Instruments, is a creative associate for Supporting Women and Parents in Opera and she is regularly invited to speak on panels about gender diversity and social inclusion in the music sector.
On the day, in both the prizes and masterclass sessions, Beth was charismatic, warm, and encouraging. She gave thoughtful, constructive comments for our students to take away and contemplate in their own practice.
I am so proud of all the students who took part. It takes a huge amount of courage to have a go and perform in the spotlight. Everyone rose to the challenge and allowed their individual musical personalities to shine through.
Mrs Bungard, Head of Woodwind, Brass and Percussion
Cookies
We'd like to set cookies to understand how you use this site. We use services such as YouTube, Flockler and Hireroad that may also use third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our Cookies Policy.
Essential Cookies
We use these for core functionality, such as storing this cookie consent preference. These are loaded automatically and cannot be disabled by the user.
Analytics Cookies
We use Google Analytics to track visits to our website and how users interact with our website. This helps us improve the way our website works.
Personalised Advertising Cookies
We use Google Ads Conversions & Facebook Pixel to measure how you use and interact with our website and with our advertisements.
Our Partners Cookies
These cookies may be set by third party websites and do things like measure how you view videos or other content that is embedded on our site.
