Students that chose Music as their option for GCSE or A-Level had an opportunity to go and attend a composition course organised by the Royal College of Music, held at St. Pauls Boys School. The course started on the 13th February and the last session was on the 17th. At the end of the great experience on the 23rd of February the chosen composition pieces were performed by professional Royal College of Music students.
On the first session of the composition course it was an introduction of what we were going to be doing, what instruments people played and what music they were interested in to compose. Everyone had a chance to get to know each other and what the course was all about. At the end of the day, the students were told to come back to the next session with an idea/plan of what music they were going to compose. The students had a choice to compose a classical piece or write a song for their final piece. This part of the course was the serious and toughest part of the course. Students would play melodies they can have as a starting idea for their piece or look out for things for inspiration so they could use and get an idea from it.
The next session, students came back with an idea and had time with the musicians to develop and write new music for their piece. After that the students went and converted there notes and music on to a music programme called Sibelius, which you can write music and put it on and add instruments, dynamics and articulation. The pieces written on Sibelius were printed and given to the director for it to be chosen for the major performance at The Royal College of Music. The composition course benefitted the students very much as they can use the piece they have composed for their GCSE/A-Level coursework.
21 pieces were chosen to be performed by professional musicians at the Royal College of Music. Parents and carers were invited to watch the spectacular event and it was full of amazing pieces and songs that blew the audiences mind. Muminah said ‘the whole experience was amazing and I loved it! I hope I do it again next year!’ It was a fascinating evening for everyone!
