Day- Tuesday
Time - 3.00-4.00
Venue - 154 (Music Department)
The orchestra provides the opportunity for all pupils who receive instrumental lessons to play as part of an ensemble. The orchestra play a wide variety of music from classical, popular, Marches and film music.
Our first official event this year was to perform at our annual Remembrance Assembly. We performed two pieces, an arrangement of the well known hymn 'I Vow to Thee my Country' and 'Highland Cathedral' in which we were joined by our piper and drummer, William Currie and Oliver McIlwaine. It was a privilege to help set the poignant atmosphere for this important event and congratulations to our Sixth Form student Erin who performed the Last Post.
In December we were delighted to perform at our annual Christmas Concert. The orchestra set the scene by opening the concert with a wonderful rendition of 'Santa Claus is Comin to Town'. As usual our orchestra splits into its small ensembles which allows our senior pupils to take on a leadership and mentoring role with our younger pupils. During this concert our Brass group performed a jazzy version of 'Jingle Bells' and the Flute ensemble performed 'Carol of the Bells'. The Orchestra finished the first half with an upbeat version of the popular piece 'Jingle Bell Rock’. The second half of the concert had a more sacred theme with the orchestra providing the accompaniment to two well known Carols 'O Come all ye Faithful' and later 'Hark the Herald'. The string ensemble performed a lovely arrangement of 'Angels we have heard on high' and the clarinet group brought the concert to an end with 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'.
Ballyclare Music Festival 2024
After our Christmas Concert we were very busy preparing for both Ballyclare Music Festival and our Spring Concert. We are delighted to say that our pupils excelled at the Music Festival and the results were as follows.
1st place – Junior String Ensemble
1st place - Brass ensemble
1st place – Orchestra
1st place – Clarinet ensemble in post primary woodwind ensemble
They also won the overall best instrumental performance along with a bursary of £100
2nd place – Senior String Ensemble
2nd place – Flute ensemble in post primary woodwind ensemble
Spring Concert 2024
Our final big event of the year is our Spring Concert. The orchestra opened the evening with an old rock and roll favourite 'Happy Days'. The string ensemble spilt into two groups at this concert with the Junior Strings performing 'Canon in D' and the Seniors Strings performing 'I Want to Break Free'. The Flute ensemble played the well known favourite 'The Entertainer' while the Clarinet Ensemble play the Mexican folk song 'La Bamba' and the Brass group followed up with the theme tune from 'James Bond'. The orchestra brought the concert to a close with a lovely arrangement of the Snow Patrol song 'Run'.
