Ingenium beats the heatwave! It seems we are enjoying a proper summer here in Winchester which is wonderful but also exhausting at times. Despite the high temperature, our students have had another amazing day of music making and we have a lot to share with you.

 

 

Our day started as usual with a warm up lead by our pastoral members, Ella and Rowan and then we went straight into sessions. The Orchestra split up for sectionals, which were led by cellist Matt Sharp  (RPO, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) and oboist Joe Sanders (London Symphony Orchestra) working on Milhaud's Le Boeuf sur la Toit and Brahms Hungarian Dances. Next, they came back together for a tutti session with soloist Christian playing Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasie. We can’t wait to hear the finished result at the end of the week.

 

 

Our young pianists had sightreading classes which challenged and inspired them alongside individual piano and organ lessons. They found the new organ sessions exciting and they were amazed at how many different things they can do with their keyboard skills. 

The saxophones started the morning with team exercises to learn to play as a quartet -breathing together, feeling the pulse and learning how to lead. Similarly, the conductors were practicing pulse placement using tennis balls and apples before studying Rimsky Korsakov's Sheherezade.

 

 

Throughout the day our violists joined Sarah Malcom (London Philharmonic Orchestra) and Miranda Allen (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) was teaching our violinists. We were also delighted to welcome Claire Findlater (English National Opera, RPO, Les Miserables pit) back to Winchester, to work with our young flautists.  

 

 

The singers had a “thrilling” session centred on choreographing a dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. They seemed to have a lot of fun and the result was amazing!

For musicianship, our young musicians enjoyed an interesting lecture on Leonard Bernstein’s life and works from our orchestral conductor, Matthew Taylor who was a student of Bernstein. 

 

 

We ended the evening with an entertaining and imaginative Wheel of Fortune activity. Different exciting and fun challenges were revealed to the students on each spin. Tune in again tomorrow to read all about our Ingenium adventures.

 

Musicians of the day

 

Conductor

Kasia: for impressive motor skills, improving her conducting technique each day. 

 

Orchestral

Belen: for her thorough work on her flute solo and for a positive and professional attitude as an orchestral musician.

 

Singer

Aoife: for her services to "thrillering" choreography and being a great asset to the choir.

 

Saxophone:

Anna: for excellent and impressive progress during the lesson and for always being positive and energetic.

 

Piano

Jacqueline: for impeccable posture at the organ - which is incredibly hard to achieve on a first go, but she was a natural!