All music clubs are performing at this event so please make sure you are practising your part(s) at home.
The rehearsal schedule for the day of the concert (Wednesday 17th December) is below. Please make a note of when you are needed and make sure you have your instrument/music in school with you on that day.
Your teachers will know why you are absent from lessons that day, but it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and catch up.
Usual lunch rehearsals will take place up until the concert.
Here are some things you need to know about the concert itself:
The concert is at 6.30pm in the Hall. It will be finished by 9pm.
You need to wear all black. Not blue, not brown, not patterned, and no big logos. If you want to wear a bit of tinsel etc. on yourself or on your instrument, go for it.
Tickets are £5 on the door for adults or pay via ParentPay. Under 18s and senior citizens are free.
The music classrooms will be available for coats, instrument cases etc. Please arrive in enough time to warm up and get organised.
Any questions, please ask.
When the concert is in progress, you must not hang out in the classrooms or corridors. You need to be at the back of the Hall being a supportive, considerate, appreciative member of the audience who shows awareness of performance etiquette which includes not moving around or talking.
All music clubs will start up again after the Christmas holiday.
Listen to this lovely arrangement of a Christmas classic
Another Christmas (Nut)Cracker! 🩰🎄
Enjoy our performance of 'Waltz of the Flowers' from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, arranged by Richard Birchall and filmed at Asylum Chapel in London.
Feeling festive? Join us this December for our Christmas concerts in London, Canterbury,… pic.twitter.com/2V9Sxn4fKk
“Sleigh Ride” is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. He formed the idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and finished it in February 1948. Its first performance was by the Boston Pops Orchestra, with Arthur Fiedler conducting, on May 4, 1948.
The piece is noted for the sounds of a horse clip-clopping, and a whip used to get the horse moving. In most performances, a percussionist provides these sounds on temple blocks and a slapstick, respectively. Toward the end of the piece, a trumpet imitates the sound of a horse whinnying.
The Winter Concert is now under two weeks away. All music clubs are performing at this event so please make sure you are practising your part(s) at home.
The rehearsal schedule for the day of the concert (Wednesday 17th December) is below. Please make a note of when you are needed and make sure you have your instrument/music in school with you on that day.
Your teachers will know why you are absent from lessons that day, but it is your responsibility to find out what you missed and catch up.
Usual lunch rehearsals will take place up until the concert.
Here are some things you need to know about the concert itself:
The concert is at 6.30pm in the Hall. It will be finished by 9pm.
You need to wear all black. Not blue, not brown, not patterned, and no big logos. If you want to wear a bit of tinsel etc. on yourself or on your instrument, go for it.
Tickets are £5 on the door for adults or pay via ParentPay. Under 18s and senior citizens are free.
The music classrooms will be available for coats, instrument cases etc. Please arrive in enough time to warm up and get organised.
Any questions, please ask.
When the concert is in progress, you must not hang out in the classrooms or corridors. You need to be at the back of the Hall being a supportive, considerate, appreciative member of the audience who shows awareness of performance etiquette which includes not moving around or talking.
All music clubs will start up again after the Christmas holiday.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang trip – Thursday 21st May 2026, 7:30pm
The trip email will hopefully be sent out to parents/carers before the end of term. Please let me know if you are a committed member of at least one of our music clubs but your parents/carers do not receive the email.
Thank you to JamSesh and some members of HUB who will be performing at this event.
Saturday November 22nd outside the New Inn in Hayes.
Arrive and set up at 3:15pm. Play 3:30-3:50pm
You will need to wrap up warm (own clothes but festive themed e.g. Santa hat), bring your instrument, music and a music stand plus pegs to keep your music on the stand if windy.
Hayes Christmas Lights – Saturday November 22nd outside the New Inn in Hayes = JamSesh (and any members of HUB if keen). Arrive and set up at 3:15pm. Play 3:30-3:50pm. You will need to wrap up warm (own clothes but festive themed e.g. Santa hat), bring your instrument, music and a music stand plus pegs to keep your music on the stand if windy.
Winter Concert – Wednesday 17th December, 6.30pm in the School Hall =all music clubs
4′33″ is a modernist composition by American experimental composer John Cage. It was composed in 1952 for any instrument or combination of instruments; the score instructs performers not to play their instruments throughout the three movements. It is divided into three movements, lasting 30 seconds, 2 minutes and 23 seconds, and 1 minute and 40 seconds, respectively, although Cage later stated that the movements’ durations can be determined by the musician. As suggested by the title, the composition lasts 4 minutes and 33 seconds. It is marked by silence except for ambient sound, which is intended to contribute to the performance. Click here to find out more.
Well done to all the year 7s who took part in the Song Concert last week. Congratulations to the winning classes and soloists:
7AC2 singing Don’t Stop
Alex singing Where is Love
7BC2 singing If I Didn’t Have You
Callum singing Symphony
NYO update
Well done to Will in year 12 who has found out that he now has a full place in the National Youth Orchestra for 2025-2026. Well done!
Sweeney Todd trip – Thursday 13th November
Those of you who are going on this trip will need to attend the trip meeting. Please check Satchel One for information about when and where the meeting is. Any questions, please email me.
BYMT news
BYMT MUSICAL THEATRE COMPANY (Senior & Advanced) are welcoming new members to audition for their next production HADESTOWN Teen Edition.
We’re looking for talented performers (in school years 10-13) with strong voices, individuality, and the passion to tell a powerful story through music and movement. Work alongside a West End team to create a truly unforgettable production.
Join BYMT this season for Hadestown, the Tony Award-winning hit musical that blends ancient myth with modern music in a spellbinding tale of love, hope, and defiance. Featuring a soul-stirring folk, blues, and jazz-inspired score, this is your chance to journey to the underworld and bring this epic story to life on stage.
Auditions for NEW members begin on Tuesday 11 November
(Auditions for existing BYMT Musical Theatre Company, Senior & Advanced, begin on Tuesday 18 November)
Sign up for auditions now and don’t miss your chance to be part of this Broadway and West End sensation!
For more information and to register, please visit:
Do any of you fancy organising this at school? Perhaps we could make it a charity fundraising event to raise funds for the department? Please let me know if you are keen to organise this.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (1963 – 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as “the Voice”, she is one of the most awarded performers of all time. As a cultural icon, her chart achievements and music videos influenced the breaking down of gender and racial barriers. Known for her vocal delivery and live performances, Houston was ranked second on Rolling Stone‘s list of the greatest singers of all time in 2023.
“I Will Always Love You” is a song by American singer Whitney Houston, which was originally written and sung in 1973 by Dolly Parton and inspired by a version recorded by Linda Ronstadt. It was released on November 2, 1992, by Arista Records as the leading single for Houston’s first soundtrack to The Bodyguard, her film debut. Considered one of the most famous and iconic singles of all time, it sold over 24 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling single by a female artist of all time as well as one of the best-selling singles of all time. It was also the best-selling single of 1992 in the UK.
MusicFests are informal concerts where students from any year group can perform pieces of their own choice to a friendly and supportive audience. We always have a huge range of music, from students’ very first public performance to students who are already hugely experienced musicians. We have all styles of music from classical to rock to musical theatre and students’ own compositions. There are solos, duets and groups. One of the loveliest thngs about these events is when students from different year groups work on something together. MusicFests are always a much loved event on the Hayes Music calendar.
Here is the video from a recent MusicFest so you can get a flavour of what it’s like:
Thank you very much to Hayes Harmonies who did a fab job despite the wind and cold on Open Morning. We heard lots of lovely comments about your performances.
Thank you also to the following music leaders who helped out in CGD:
Alice
Natalie
Callum
Isabella
Hayes Christmas Lights – Saturday 22nd November
We’d really appreciate it if JamSesh (plus any members of HUB if keen) would perform at this event as we have done in previous years.
Please save the date and get practising. The Christmas Song packs are all in CGG.
Congratulations to Emma (year 13) who has been awarded the position of principal horn in this year’s NYO, and to Will (year 12) who will be an NYO Associate member this year.
You can get involved in NYO too:
Play at Grade 3+? 🎻💥
Join us for a free day of creative music-making this autumn!
🎶 Connect with other young musicians ✨ Play your part in creating a brand-new piece 🎺 Learn from NYO’s creative team
Thank you to those of you who are coming along tomorrow to help out in the Music Department.
BYMT news
Bromley Youth Chamber Orchestra will be performing as part of the Rotary Gala Concert on Friday 10 October at Langley. Please do join them for a fabulous evening of music. Children are FREE with an adult ticket: https://t.co/gVsLGcwApUpic.twitter.com/vvfdTMF0qC
Rise in Gloryremembers kings and queens, mentors and friends—people whose lives inspired some of the most moving music from the 16th to the 21st century.
First half
We open with music written for royalty and state occasion: Alonso Lobo’s luminous Versa est in luctum for Philip II of Spain; Henry Purcell’s grave and tender Thou knowest, Lord, from his funeral sentences; and Judith Weir’s serene Like as the Hart, heard at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. We then hear composers saluting their own: Josquin’s Nymphes des bois, mourning Ockeghem; William Byrd’s Ye Sacred Muses, in memory of Tallis; and Schütz’s Das ist je gewisslich wahr, honouring his friend Schein. The half closes with Herbert Howells’ great elegy, Take him, earth, for cherishing, written in the wake of President Kennedy’s assassination.
Second half
John Tavener’s Funeral Ikos sets ancient Orthodox words of consolation—plain yet piercing. Parry’s At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners, blazes with 19th-century splendour on John Donne’s apocalyptic poetry. Bach’s motet, Komm, Jesu, komm, is a plea for rest that blossoms into radiant trust. We end in quiet triumph with William Harris’s Bring us, O Lord God, a vision of heaven crowned by one of English church music’s most glowing “Amens.” Between these works, Susannah Wells offers brief solo meditations for cello that thread the programme together.
Entry is by donation at the door (suggested £15; £5 for students and job-seekers).
Hayes Music blog 