Now That's What I Call Music!

AP1’s Summer Concert 2017 was, once again, truly an event to remember.  The concert was entitled “Now That’s What I Call Music!” and it most certainly lived up to the name. The show featured fabulous performances from all of our AP1 choirs and instrumental ensembles who have been working hard throughout the year. Our fantastic young AP1 musicians had the audience clapping along and smiling throughout. Particular highlights were the MP1 Choir performing “Let’s Dance”, the School of Rock giving a rousing rendition of “I Will Survive”, the Harmony Choir making great use of their fabulous voices with a multitude of solos in “Sing” and, finally, the amazing sound we achieved with all of the children singing and playing together for our finale “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.  

Now that is what I really call music!

For more photos of this amazing evening, click here.

Juilliard visits the Junior String Orchestra

The AP1 Junior String Orchestra was delighted to welcome Mr Paul from Juilliard to our rehearsal last Thursday. Mr Paul helped us with some rehearsal and practice techniques and helped us to think of our own ways we could make practising the same piece different each time! We then had a chance to play through the piece we are learning this term with Mr Paul playing his trumpet and Ms Beth on the drum.

We would like to say a big thank you to Mr Paul for coming to see us and teach us about working together as an ensemble!

Xylophone Club - Shake it Up Zena

The wonderful Xylophone Club will soon perform in our upcoming Live Lunch series. Here's a sneak peek of our performance of 'Shake it Up Zena' for you to enjoy.

2B singing 'Starry Night'

The children in MP1 are preparing for their upcoming Christmas production, 'An Out of This World Christmas'. See our video below for a sneak preview of 2B's song and dance, 'Starry Night'

AP1 Feels The Rhythm

All of our young musicians from F1 to Year 4 were this week given the opportunity to learn more about the importance of percussion instruments throughout the world within different cultures. Firstly, the EYFS children watched an assembly in which Andy’s “Shoebox Orchestra”, featuring tiny instruments from all over the globe, took them on a journey around the world.

All classes from Year 1 – 3 were given the opportunity to spend a half-hour session with Andy, learning about how music is embedded in everyday life in Africa and using the d’jembes to create their own African drumming performances. Years 3 and 4 investigated the origins of Brazilian music and performed their own catchy carnival rhythms in a Samba band.

Finally, it was the turn of the adults to show their musical prowess during an African drumming workshop. Together the parents explored mono- and poly-rhythms and managed to perform some very complex rhythmic material based on rhythms borrowed from the Royal Drummers of Burundi.

Some very exciting drumming workshops and some extremely sore hands!

Click here to see some more photos of the workshops.

Year 2 Rhythm and Pulse October 2016

The children in Year 2 have been working on the use of pulse and rhythm within music. We have spent this last half term dancing to music to feel the pulse and using percussion instruments to make up rhythms. Last week we put the two together and performed rhythmic songs with a clear pulse. Have a look at our video's below to hear how we got on. What do you like about our performances?

Summer Concert

Our AP1 Summer Concert is only hours away! We really look forward to welcoming you all to our celebration of all things musical. One of the many highlights of the show will be the wonderful MP1 Choir. For a sneaky peek at their performance, have a look at the YouTube video below.

Enjoy :-)

Year 2 Are Feeling Happy

Here is Year 2 singing along to one of our new assembly songs, "I'm Feeling Happy".  

It's wonderful to see so many children singing with so much enthusiasm.

Here's the original version for you to sing along to at home:

Term 1 Instrumental Lessons

Instrumental lessons this term will start the week beginning Monday 14 September and run for 11 weeks. Please see the 'Instrumental Lessons at AP1' letter to view new prices for this year. If you are interested in learning one of our offered instruments please either collect or print a letter and hand back to Ms Fran. Click here to access the 'Instrumental Lessons at AP1' letter. 

If you have any further queries please contact Ms Fran

This Week in MP1 Choir

In MP1 Choir, we sing fun and interactive songs, which turn our Monday blues away!  Here are a few lovely songs that Year 1 and Year 2 children have been learning to sing with actions and two parts. Listen and sing-along! :) 

Assembly song - ROAR

Here's our video of today's assembly song, Roar. Please have a look and a listen and comment using 2 stars and a wish. 

Ms Fran says, "My 2 stars are for a loud chorus and for knowing our words. My wish is for everyone to join in." 

What are your 2 stars and a wish? House points will be given for good answers.

(My apologies for wobbly recording!)

Musician of the Month - Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart

(1930-1999)

Lionel Bart is most famous for creating the songs for our very own Production Club musical - Oliver! 

He was born in London, UK and first wanted to become a painter. He was quite naughty at school and often got into trouble with his friends for not listening to his teachers. After school, Bart decided he didn't want to paint any more but instead wanted to create music. 

Click on 'read more' to find out more about Lionel Bart.

YouTube Video of the Week - holiday special!

Thank-you to Josefin and Proud in Year 5 who shared their love for The Glow. I really like how lots of different singers share their voices to create this wonderful piece of music. 

What's your favourite Disney film? Do you have a favourite Disney princess? 

Don't forget to comment!

YouTube Video of the Week - Vivaldi Tribute by Jean Michel Jarre and Patrick Rondat

This week's YouTube Video is a Vivaldi Tribute by Jean Michel Jarre and Patrick Rondat.

Jean Michel Jarre is famous for composing electronic music and staging elaborate live performances that involve lots of lights and lasers. Patrick Rondat is a very accomplished electric guitarist and normally performs heavy metal but sometimes likes to play jazz and classical too.

Don't forget to comment. What do you think about this Vivaldi Tribute?

YouTube Video of the Week - World in Union

This week's YouTube Video of the Week is 'World in Union'. Ms Dee played this song in our opening International Week assembly. It's all about coming together in international friendship. The song uses a tune from Holst's 'The Planets' (it's in his Jupiter part) and it was used for the Rugby World Cup to celebrate all the different nations coming together.

I've chosen a video that has lots of different artists singing the song - do you recognise any of the singers?

What did you enjoy about our International Week?

Don't forget to comment!

 

YouTube Video of the Week - Tom Odell 'Real Love'

This week's YouTube Video of the Week is by Tom Odell and it's called 'Real Love'. This was used for some Christmas advertising in the UK so some of your teachers may recognise it. Tom is an expat kid, just like you. He is from the UK but spent time at school in New Zealand because of his dad's job. He is now a singer-songwriter and enjoys working with live instruments.

Can you name all of the instruments he uses in his song? What do you think about his singing? Do you like the song?

Don't forget to comment (you could earn yourself a house point!)

Christmas Concert December 2014

On Tuesday 16 December the children from MP1 Choir, MP2 Choir, MP3 Choir, Harmony Choir and Orchestra and the adults from the Staff Choir joined together to celebrate Christmas with a fantastic concert. We sang and played music to help put us in the Christmas spirit. Everyone did a great job and everyone had a smile on their face at the end of the concert.

Thank-you to all those involved (family included) - a great job!

Click on 'read more' to see some more photos (thank-you Mr Adam) from our marvellous concert.

Happy Christmas.

MP1 Production

Well done to all those involved with the MP1 Christmas Production. 

The children sang and danced beautifully :-)

Click on 'read more' to see more photos from our amazing production.

Thank-you Mr Adam for taking our pictures.

MP1 Production Rehearsals

We're all so excited! In MP1 we've been rehearsing ready for our Christmas production. Today we will perform to our friends in school and tomorrow we will perform to our families. Well-done everyone. We know that both performances will be fabulous. Good job!

YouTube Video of the Week - Happy (Pharrell Cover) by Pentatonix

We know how much you love the famous song 'Happy' by Pharrell. So this week, we are featuring this awesome cover by Pentatonix. :)

Hope you caught the 'happy' vibe after watching this video. :) 

Don't forget to leave a comment below to let us know what you think.