Promising performers invited to music workshop at Giggleswick School

Posted: 18th February 2022

Giggleswick School is hosting a ‘Promising Performers’ workshop for budding musicians on Saturday 19 March.

The event is open to all children, who are not currently at Giggleswick Senior School, with a talent for music, be it instrumental or vocal. The aim is to give interested and talented musicians the chance to develop their ensemble skills with other likeminded musicians, and it will also help the school identify possible candidates for its music and choral scholarships.

Director of Music at the school, Darren Everhart, said: “This workshop is a fantastic opportunity for talented young musicians to experience our excellent facilities and meet our music teachers.

“It will also help them develop their own individual skills and give them a chance to play with other musicians in ways they might not have been able to previously, particularly over recent months due to Covid restrictions.”

Music is a strong feature of the school, both academically and for co-curricular activities. Darren added: “It’s a big department relative to the size of the school, and that shows music plays a central role to life here.
“As well as two full time teachers, we have an organist in residence, a music coordinator and 14 visiting music teachers which really helps with individual instrument specialism, as well as providing a broad range of talent to inspire the children.

“One of the most important things is giving pupils the opportunity to play with other people, so we’re lucky to have three orchestras, a concert band, lots of choirs a brass ensemble, string quartet as well as a number of rock bands.

“Performing in front of others is one of the most rewarding experiences for a musician, so we also make sure we give our pupils plenty of opportunities with concerts, recitals, virtual events and an outdoor open mic event last year. And of course, we work closely with the drama department with a number of musical productions held in our state-of-the-art Richard Whiteley Theatre.”

The school also has a strong record of accomplishment for music as an academic subject, offering GCSEs and A Levels, including a Music Technology A Level.

Several pupils have gone on to continue their music studies after leaving Giggleswick, including Berklee College in California on a scholarship, Trinity Laban in London, Leeds Conservatoire and the Royal Northern College of Music.

Darren studied at Cambridge and completed a postgraduate course in conducting in Florence, Italy. He also spent ten years working at St George’s British International School in Rome. He currently works with Langcliffe Singers and used to conduct for Settle Orchestra.

The ‘Promising Performers – Music’ workshops will be held on Saturday, 19 March from 9.30 to 12.00pm. Any instrumentalists and vocalists who are currently in Year 5 (minimum level of ability of Grade 1) to Year 11 are welcome to join.

Categories: Giggleswick School