On Wednesday, the 24th of April, music students at Parmiter's secondary school prepared for an evening of joy and happiness. The summer concert (known to students as the leaver's concert) was to take place that evening to give a warm goodbye to year 13 students who made a large contribution to the music department during their time at school.
Students arrived at the school at 6:30 pm to warm up and prepare for the long night. Everyone was given a schedule which showed what time each performance was taking place. After a quick brief given by Mr Bates, everyone was ready. Red roses were handed out to the year 13 leavers and were pinned to their outfits so they could be identified easily by the audience and the students.
The concert started at 7 pm with a performance from the concert band. They performed Fanfare for the Third Planet - Richard L. Saucedo followed by Themes from 007 - (arr. Lowden).
Next up was senior strings, who performed Praeludium (1st mvt.) from Holberg Suite - Edvard Grieg. They then performed along with the String Ensemble Viva La Vida - Coldplay (arr. Moore). The music radiated around the hall.
The school Orchestra then played next, they performed 1812 Overture Op.49 - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (arr. Brubaker). Unfortunately, the music department could not provide the canons required to be shot in the piece, so lovely Ms Birley volunteered to hit a large drum.
A 20-minute interval then took place. The Parents' Association provided refreshments and biscuits for guests and students to enjoy before the next set of performances took place.
Chamber Choir were up next. They performed God Be in My Head - Ronald Crop along with Lullaby of Birdland - George Shearing (arr. Carter). Then was the Senior Choir, They sang a German song called Tanzen und Springen - Hassler, followed by You Will be Found - Pasek & Paul (arr. Synder). They along with their soloist performed beautifully.
Next to perform was the wind quartet, they played Sea Shanties (no. 3) - Malcolm Arnold. It was an amazing performance that lit up the audience.
The High Elms Bass played next. They performed Beatles Medley - Lennon & McCartney (arr. Cassey). This small group is made up of year 13 leavers. They played fabulously.
The second to last performance of the night was the Big Band. They performed All The Things You Are - Hammerstein II & Kern (arr. Sweeney) as well as Blues Brothers Revue - (arr. Holmes). It was a lovely way to end the student performances.
Just when you thought the night was over, Mr Bates called out the names of the year 13 leavers while leaving little notes and hints beforehand so they could figure out who was next to come out. They then performed the song that they had been rehearsing together for the past few weeks. A speech was then given by the headmaster. He discussed how Ofsted had asked him a question 'How would you be able to identify a Parmiterian?' He replied with 'You would not be able to, as each Parmiterian is unique in their way'
I asked Dr. Jonathan Tyack (The conductor of the Chamber Choir and Senior Choir that night and music teacher at Parmiter's this question: How did he feel about tonight?' To which he swiftly replied ' I feel joyed about tonight, I'm so proud of our leavers but not only our leavers, I'm proud of everyone who has performed tonight. There's such a lot of talent, there's such a lot of enthusiasm the the joy that everyone from the moment that they step through the door the the that they go on this evening. There's just joy all around. I'm so proud of everybody.' Overall, the night ended with a cloud of happiness in the air and wonderful memories made.
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