Silver Arts Award Pupils Impress Moderator

Two of our Third year pupils have been working on their Silver Arts Award this term. Sathvika Krishnan and Miles Scott-Burt have pursued very different paths for their Award, but both have run long-term projects to do with their art form in Bablake Junior School. Our moderator for the Arts Award was most impressed with their exemplar documentation too.

Sathvika is an accomplished Carnatic vocalist, and is member of SAMYO, the Youth Orchestra and choir for South Indian music. She attends many courses and has developed her Carnatic piano playing skills for the ‘challenge’ section of this award; she has also researched future careers in Indian classical music and taken part in an amazing week-long workshop in Liverpool, organised by Milapfest in conjunction with Liverpool Hope University. Her project at the Junior School involved running a small Carnatic vocal group over the Autumn term, and the children performed in assembly at the end of the course to the whole school! It took the younger children outside their usual comfort zone with both singing and language, but they rose to the challenge excellently and the performance was something really different and special.

Miles has expanded his percussion playing for his Silver Award, moving away from his usual orchestral duties to developing work on smaller instruments and with new ensembles. He attended the Orchestra da Camera workshop day to develop his playing skills, as well as researching future careers in music and interviewing a professional percussionist, Sarah Chatt, who has played with many professional bands and orchestras but whom Miles has seen most notably setting off the cannons for the annual Battle Proms Concerts! His project was to run a percussion group at the Junior School; starting in September, this group performed a very good multi-percussion piece, that Miles had composed, in the half term concert, but they were all enjoying it so much that Miles carried on after half term (and the official project end). The group then worked on and performed an arrangement of 'Jingle Bells' for tuned percussion in the Junior School Christmas concert.

Sathvika is hoping to begin her Gold Arts Award immediately , a very substantial piece of work, using a concert she is giving in early September ’16 as her main project.

Photography by Mrs Cathy Scott-Burt.

Before then, please do come to the wonderful 50s Music Night that another pupil Enya Bowe is currently preparing for her Gold Award. The concert takes place on Friday 5th February and will present music and dance from the 1950s, featuring groups from the music department as well as solos and much of Enya’s own choreography. The concert will raise money for charity as well as being a great music and dance feature in the school calendar next term.