Beaumont School Music Department

Thank you to those of you who turned up at breaktime today or have sorted out your rooms in advance. I have done my best to accommodate your wishes if you have made them known to me. If you have not, then I have placed you in a suitable room. As I said at the meeting, you won't have much time in these rooms so please don't stress about it. Click here for a link to the rooming document.

I would like you to produce a comparison (similarities and differences) between 'Don't Look Back In Anger' by Oasis, (not available on Spotify, try Grooveshark/iTunes) and 'End Of A Century' by Blur, available here . I don't mind how you do it, and what aspects of music you focus on, but please try and cover as much as possible, and look into the artists/songs themselves. Please bring to the lesson on Thursday. Any questions email me, and don't forget to send your Rock Steady work if you have not already done so. Thanks, Mr. Guinane

Please answer the questions about the Bach Sarabande which I gave out in the lesson. This is due on Tuesday 1st February by hand or by email.

Just in case you lose anything, you can get replacement letters and itineraries by downloading from the links below. Click here for the itinerary. Click here for a hoody letter. Don't forget, your deadline is 4pm on Friday 28 th January. Roomings Girls: 8 x triple rooms, 2 x twin room Boys: 6 x triple rooms Please do your best to sort yourselves out this week. Please come on Monday 31st January at breaktime to give me the names of people in your room (a representative from each room is fine). If you haven't been able to sort it, please come and then and I will allocate you a room.

Please make sure you check your time and TURN UP, otherwise I will be cross. Monday 24 th January 1.00pm Hannah Perryman & Anna Fordham 1.15pm Emily Almond (composition) 1.30pm Belle Haswell Tuesday 25 th January 1.00pm Chloe Haynes (composition) 1.15pm Ben Harris 1.30pm Robyn Moore Wednesday 26 th January 1.00pm Will Turner 1.15pm Sarah Organ 1.30pm Luke Bainbridge Tuesday 1st Feb 1pm Ishana &Gabi

As well as the usual harmony exercise and focussed practice for your recitals. You need to complete the comparison table in the Viva Voce handout. You may do this by hand or electronically (scope for colour-coding here!). The file can be downloaded from here . Please email me if you are unsure about different artists etc and interpretations. You are due to perform again next week. Find a different passage to present to the class. Please make sure you bring all your music so I can photocopy for the examiner as well. Keep up the good work with all of it and stay on top of all your work. You are doing really well!

Burgundy, only £16 each. Come and get an order form this week. Deadline is Fri 28 th Jan. NO EXCEPTIONS. Please retweet this or share on Facebook etc etc.

Take part one of BBC Lab UK's experiments on musicality. You don't have to be able to read music but you get tested on musical memory, sense of pulse and questioned about how much music is part of your life. It will be really interesting to see how you all do and it's also a bit of fun! Click here to sign up and take the test!

Click here for this term's orchestral repertoire on Spotify . Enjoy!

The Swingle Singers have just released a new single and video! Those of you who came to the Cadogan Hall will have heard their arrangement of the Libertango by Piazzolla live, but now we can all enjoy their first video!

Homework this week, a piece of work based around the context of 'You Can Get it if You Really Want'. We are looking at 1960s Jamaica - rock steady . I would like to see: The origins of the style Classic features of the style Examples of this style in the set work How this style differs from reggae and ska As discussed, something of around a page that fully addresses these points will be fine. You have two weeks, so no excuses. Keep listening, see you in a fortnight. Mr. Guinane

Click here for the Spring Term repertoire on Spotify.

Here is the Powerpoint from today's lesson. Click on the hyperlinks to take you to the tracks on Spotify. Key features of the classical period View more presentations from hanhdoan .

First of all you need to listen to both the Sarabande and Gigue and familiarise yourself with the work in general. The playlist for all of your instrumental set works is here but you can find the all of Partita no. 4 for piano and also harpsichord (in the same playlist) here . As well as listening you need to do some basic research into the context in which the Partita was written as well as basic information on the key characteristics of the Sarabande and the Gigue. There is a lot of information online, but they best place to start is to click here and use BBC Radio 3's Discovering Music notes. Please do not cut and paste chunks of text, you need to summarise and draw out the information which you feel is most important. Due: Tuesday 11th January 2011 PS. Don't forget that controlled composing begins on Tuesday - please be prompt to your lesson!

You need to complete the Brief for your Composition 2. It does not need to be too long but must include the following: The Area of Study of your composition and the instruments for which you will write. Any features of the Area of Study which you will include in your composition and any pieces which might have influenced you. If it is Area of Study 2, consider what you have performed for similar forces (instruments/voices) and how it might have influenced you. A basic structure and keys of the piece you will compose. It doesn't matter if some things change during your creative process, you can write things up in the evaluation. Due: Tuesday 11th January 2011 (without this you cannot start your Composition and you will lose time)

Here are the dates for the final leg of the controlled assessment, Composition 2. We will sort out use of computers during the lesson and I will blog this separately. Don't forget about the additional catch-up sessions for the B351 write-ups in the blog post below as well. Tuesday 11 th January Thursday 13 th January Tuesday 18 th January Wednesday 19 th January (due to CED the following day) Tuesday 25 th January Thursday 27 th January Tuesday 1 st February Thursday 3 rd February Tuesday 8 th February Thursday 10 th February Tuesday 15 th February Wednesday 16 th February (same day as St Peter's, but due to House Day the following day) HALF TERM Tuesday 1 st March Thursday 3 rd March Wednesday 9 th March (Room 10) Thursday 10 th March (Room 10) Tuesday 15 th March (Room 10) Wednesday 16 th March (Room 10) Extra hours if you need will be available after school on: Tuesday 22 nd March until 5pm Thursday 24 th March until 5pm

You should have finished your compositions (unless you were ill) but some of you may not have finished your written B351 appraisals. You will have two opportunities to complete these and then that will be it, so you need to come to one of the following after school sessions: Thursday 6 th January 2011 3.30-5.00pm Thursday 13 th January 2011 3.30-5.00pm If you cannot remember whether you have finished or not, you need to check your folder tomorrow as I will have indicated this on the feedback sheet.

For various reasons we were unable to adhere to last term's Ensemble performance timetable, mainly due to the mock fortnight so here we go again. You are responsible for ensuring the members of your ensemble turn up at the right time. Please turn up in good time to get prepare and tune up. This time slot can also be used for recording Composition 1 if you would like. If you are unable to make it, please come and see me and I will do my best to change your time slot. Performances will be marked by February Half Term, giving you an opportunity to re-record before Easter, if you wish. Monday 10 th January 1pm Harriet Clifford 1.15pm Vicky King 1.30pm Hannah Perryman Tuesday 11 th January 1pm Ishana Holness & Gabi Robertson 1.15pm Claire Nicholson 1.30pm Ellie Hall Wednesday 12 th January 1pm Georgia Tendall 1.15pm 1.30pm Luke Bainbridge Monday 17 th January 1pm Ben Harris 1.15pm Robyn Moore 1.30pm Callum Murfet Tuesday 18 th January 1pm Paul Schell 1.15pm Becky...