A Choirfull term!

HCA Choir Report 1^st Term
By Judith Hawthorn,
Choirmistress extraordinaire,
Curro HCA!

Mrs Hawthorn in fabulicious style!

It has been a very busy, but extremely rewarding 1^st term at choir with performances at our Picnic Proms by both choirs, the FP Choir singing very sweetly at Open Day for our guests and appearances at assemblies to help the children get over their nerves!

The highlight of the term was undoubtedly our Senior’s choir camp at Kearsney, and we continue to reap the rewards of all the hard work done on camp.

The IP Choir were invited to sing at St Agnes Community Market on Saturday 17^th March, and despite many children not being able to be there, the choir sounded fantastic!  I am SO proud of the results of a lot of hard work and commitment from the children.  Well done!  This time last year we did NOT have a 30 minute concert programme, and I have noticed such a huge improvement in the quality of sound, in the confidence of the harmonies and in keeping focused on the conductor.  Also hugely improved are everyone’s faces – singing with expression, smiling, all nervousness out the window, and just enjoyment shining out!  The children’s enthusiasm and sense of ownership of the choir is very apparent as they continue to give input as to how and what to sing, where to put choreography and in evaluating their performances.

Monday 19^th March, both choirs sang at Hillcrest Primary’s Easter Celebration to a packed audience.  We enjoyed listening to all the other participating schools as they shared their music, with special guest, Pierre van der Westhuizen, drawing appreciative and enthusiastic applause from us all.

The FP choir has seen a wonderful surge of boys joining the choir and we have a group of children who are exceptionally committed and are thoroughly enjoying their time singing in the choir.

We look forward to lots of music-making as well as exciting concerts coming up in the 2^nd term, and the highlight will definitely be our participation in the Queensburgh Festival.

My thanks to Mrs Burns, Mrs Hawyes and Ms Du Casse for their help and thank you parents for your support.

Hurtling towards our Speech & Drama Festival: Drama Dept. 2012!

The Drama Department has been very busy in the first part of this year with the Speech and Drama Festival fast approaching. Each intermediate phase class is involved in a group item, which will be performed on 22 March for an adjudicator who is coming from the Speech and Drama Association of South Africa.

Our Grade 4s and 6s are doing Choral Verses.

Grade 4C – The Land of Mites & Maybees by Arden Davidson

Grade 4G – Little Red Riding Hood and The Worlf by Roald Dahl

Grade 4T – The Fox & The Crow by Cynthia Ryder

Grade 6B – It’s Cool Jack, It’s Cool by Brenda Williams

Grade 6H – Macavity – The Mystery Cat by T.S. Eliot

Grade 6T – Sea Shoals Sea Shows on the Sea Bed by Paul Cookson

Each class has worked so hard on their poem to make sure that they sound memorable. We have had fun with different sounds effects made by the children as well as interesting actions to enhance each poem. Now we just hope for some noteworthy results.

Our Grade 5s and 7s are doing Theme Programmes, as an entire Grade. This has posed to be a mammoth task that I am not sure I would undertake again. The main reason being that the group is just too big when all together in the performance area. However, we have worked hard to make sure that the Theme Programmes are full of fun and clever Dramatic skills.

Grade 5 – Dancing with God – This Theme Programme includes a Choral Verse called Dancing with God, a Skit called Jesus Can Dance and a movement piece to the song by Matt Redman called Dancing Generation.

Grade 7 – New York – This Theme Programme includes a Choral Verse called Last Night I Saw the City Breathing, a prose excerpt from the book Cricket in Times Square and a movement piece to the song by Alicia Keys called New York.

Our Drama Team which is made up of 12 Grade 6 and 7 learners is doing a Theme Programme entitled Jack and The Bean Stalk. The group start with a rap called the Beanstalk Rap, followed by a Rhyming play called Jack & The Beans Talk, which includes a song called Cow For Sale. With very few rehearsals thus far, we are hoping to have this Theme Programme looking absolutely fabulous by the festival.

Individual learners are also going to be performing items for the Festival. These items include Poetry Speaking, Show & Tell, Story Telling and Monologues. There is so much talent within these children that I think the adjudicator is going to be in for a treat!