Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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Brass and Woodwind MUSIC REPORT Saltus Junior School 1976-77 This year the children have been very busy with the many musical activities the school provides. At Christmas the School choir combined forces with Mr. Stones and his drama group in a very successful performance of the pop opera Smike . We were very grateful for the valuable assistance of Mr. Meredith (guitar) and Michale Bishop (percussion). Their playing added greatly to the musical accompaniment. Towards the end of the Eastern term, the choir, which was on this occasion accompanied by Jean Motyer, and various instrumental- ists gave a concert to raise money for The Committee of Twenty Five for Handicapped Children. Mr. Stones provided some excellent choral speaking. We were very pleased with the result — over six hundred dollars! We used St. John ' s Church for this concert, and, once more, I feel that I must extend my thanks to the clergy and especially to Canon Wheatley for all the wonderful support they give us through- out the year. St. John ' s has become a musical focal point on the island. It has a very fine organ and the acoustics are excellent. The children enjoy singing there and the boys who sat The Royal Schools of Music exams there must have felt more comfortable in familiar surroundings. Exam results have been good and I ' m very pleased with the efforts of the vast majority of the boys who learn a musical instru- ment. However, I will say again, as I say every year, that, if a child cannot practice half an hour each night on a regular basis then it ' s a complete waste of time and money. I do all I can to encourage the worker but there is nothing I can do for the child who does not have the self discipline or the powers of organisation to work on his own for thirty minutes each evening. There is no way to ' sweeten the pill ' . It is simply a matter of hard work and, as one progresses, even harder work. We are very fortunate to have had the specialist skills of many fine teachers to help in our instrumental programme and this year have enjoyed the new experience of a complete string quartet wandering around two lunch-times each week — usually munching hot dogs! I refer of course to The Heller String Quartet. They have been a great help in so many ways and we do hope they stay as long as possible. Finally I would like to thank my long-suffering colleagues in the junior school who show a great deal of patience and tolerance as their rooms are invaded daily by dozens of instrumentalists with un- wieldy cases of different shapes and sizes. I ' m sure Mrs. Organ Morgan in Dylan Thomas ' s Under Milk Wood would have s m- pathised with them as she expressed the sentiment I am a martyr to music! .... marjorie Pettit

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Eric Marchais J5W ponders over a pawn Ancient Chinese puzzle PatrickWang J6B Is that my shirt or not? Annual clothes clear out Lisa Mello — one of the two remaining Is in tus ' Topping up the radiator Junior School Activities Chris SpurlingJSW overlooks his table top model Not as angelic as they look— M .. Nicholas Nickleby ' production Another one down the drain Marble hunting w -11 — - V Cavendish audience at the junior school enjoying Steeplejacks of the future Nicholas NickJeby (Beasley photo)

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strings THE VIOLA I play the viola. I like to play it very much. When I came to school in September I didn ' t know much about music. I heard about the viola and decided I would like to learn how to play it. I hado nly played for one month when I played for the first time in assembly. Mrs. Pettit helped me a lot by playing the piano. Later on I played in a string quartet for the concert in aid of The Committee of Twenty Five for Handicapped Children and after Christmas I played in a concert for the governor. I felt proud after all this and now I hope to play for prize-giving day. I am really glad that I play the viola. Jose Prado J5W THE CLARINET In Military bands the clarinet is usually the leading instrument. It can play in three and a half octaves starting at low E. The clarinet has five parts. These are the mouthpiece, the tuning barrel, the upper and lower joints and the bell. There are usually four clarinets in an orchestra. The highest note played by a clarinet is high C sharp. There are five practical exams, grades III, IV, V, VI and VIII. To pass you have to get 100, with merit 120 and with dis- tinction 130. The exams are out of 150. The clarinet is hard to play over the break. Kenneth Dolan J6W MY FIRST EXAM As I entered the church my examiner looked over his glasses at me sternly. Jay I presume? I answered his question and put my music on the stand. I played an A and began to play. My trumpet did not betray me and I was very pleased with it. After I had finished my pieces there came the dreaded ear tests. The teacher played a note on the piano and asked me to string it. I sang the wrong note and a disappointed frown came over his face. I walked out of the room after it was all over wearing an unsure smile. Jay Jay Soares J6W MUSIC I play the piano and the violin. On May 26th I had my Grade Two piano exam. The first things I had to do were my scales and broken chords, which I felt I did reasonably well. After that came my pieces. My first piece I played with only a few mistakes, but in Recorder Group my second piece I got muddled up in my left hand. My third piece was the best out of the three I thought. The dreaded sight reading came next and I didn ' t play very well at all. I did quite well in the ear tests and that was the end of the exam. Later I found out that my mark- was one hundred and twenty three, out of one hundred and fifty. That was a merit, and I was pleased that I had two marks more than the last exam. I have only just started the violin and I should be taking grade one next year. John Paul Skinner — J5W SALTUS JUNIOR The Associated Board Theory Grade I Marc Bacon Jai Bun Nicholas Campbell Patrick Caton Phillip Clift Simon Croft Stiiart Dolan St. John Dyson Mark Essncr Nicholas Glynn Daniel Haygarth Graeme Hunter Stephen Johnson Mark Mansi Eric Marchais James Mason Ross Morbey David Mulholland James Munro Jose Prado Phillipe Rouja David Smith Richard Tollis Richard Wang John Phillipe Wolf Marco Zanol SCHOOL (Music Results) of the Royal Schools of Music Theory Grade II J.ihn Blucit Mark Cave Stephen Cullimtire Stephen Davidson lai Delaney Kenneth Dolan David Fitch Steven Henderson Scott Kitson Christian Luthi Gautier de Marcy Michael Moniz Thaddeus Murdoch Adam Payne Jean-Pierre Rouja John Paul Skinner Jay Jay Soares David Stubbs David So ill PRACTICAL Pianoforte Grade I Grade 2 Flule . . . Grade 3 ClariiKt Grade 3 Trumpet Grade 3 French Horn Grade 3 Violin Grade 1 Grade 2 EXAMS Peter Barrett (Merill Daniel Haygarth (Merit) Guarticr de Marcy (Merill John Paul Skinner (Merit) Brian Finncrty David Fitch Christian Luthi Kenneth Dolan Marc Bacon (Merit) John Hayward Stephen McMaster Ross Morbey Jay Jay Scares Sean Pedro Merit) David Slubbs (Merit) Ian Dclany Adam Payne Raynard Smith (Merit)