D-Day Gospel Performance

On 6th June, over 100 children from across five of the Wessex MAT schools took part in a Gospel choir performance as part of the town's D-Day Commemorations.  They performed three songs:  This Little Light of Mine, Shackles and We Shall Overcome.  It was a joy to behold!  youtu.be/MovROlPMtH8

Gospel Workshop

On 21st May, 150 students from Thomas Hardye School, St Osmund's Middle School, Dorchester Middle School, St Mary's Middle School and Dorset Studio School joined together for a Gospel workshop with the Soul Sanctuary Gospel Workshop.  The workshop was a joint venture with Dorchester Town Council and Dorchester Arts and will feed into the town's D-Day commemorations on 6th June.  It was wonderful to hear such brilliant harmony singing!

Wessex Arts Fest 2024

On 18th May, musicians from across the area came together to perform and create music, drama and dance at the Wessex Arts Fest. People young and old got involved in a whole host of activities.  The day included performances from eight student ensembles by children from age 6-18, two drama performances, Drumming workshops, Big Sing workshop, SEND music session, Come and Try instrument sessions, Music Tech drop-in sessions, Pre-school music sessions, Massed Scratch Orchestra (that we put together in 20 mins!), String Folk Band workshop, Massed flute choir, Solo performances, Rock Bands, Barn Dance. It was a joyous day.  To see a summary video, click here: ​https://youtu.be/G43-mBMOPAU

Instrumental Roadshow tours First Schools

During the Summer term 2024, four musicians from Wessex Schools Music are touring all 14 first/primary schools with the Wessex Instrumental Roadshow.  The roadshow provides a quick introduction to a variety of instruments, playing in a range of styles.  Over the term, we will have performed to around 2500 chlidren and hopefully inspired a few new budding musicians!

Fundraising Concert for Julia's House Hospice

​On 17th March, 40 students took part in a concert in United Church to raise funds for Julia’s House Hospice.  The Stringalings and Bandemonium both performed brilliantly.  In addition, ten talented soloists from the middle schools and the Thomas Hardye School performed.  This was a great opportunity for the younger students to hear some of our more advanced students playing solos and I hope it was inspiring for them.  Well done to everyone who took part!

Nightingales and Hardyes join with Dorchester Choral Society

On 16th March, around 20 students from the middle schools and Thomas Hardye joined forces with the Dorchester Choral Society for a concert in St Mary’s Church.  The students performed two pieces on their own (with wonderful harp accompaniment) and also took part in the large choral work, Pieta by Richard Blackford.  For many of the younger students, this was the first time they had experienced
 singing with an adult choir and performing with an orchestra – a fantastic experience for them!

Wessex Singing Schools Festival

Over the last term, Mrs Trevorrow has worked with all 14 first schools to prepare pupils in year 4 (and some year 3s) for the Singing Schools festival which took place on 11th-13th March.  The children learnt five songs, which they performed in harmony altogether, and in addition, each school chose one song to sing on their own. The children performed brilliantly and we hope that they all enjoyed the experience.  Some quotes from our audience: “It was lovely to see how engaged and committed they were, and above all, the joy they exuded.” “everyone did such a great job!” “An amazing performance thank you.” “Tuesday's concert was magnificent and full of joy.”

​Well done to all the children who took part!

Concert for Youth

​On 9th March, 22 students from Thomas Hardye School joined forces with the semi-professional Dorset Chamber Orchestra for their 'Concert for Youth' in St Mary's church.  The students joined with a selected of pieces from the Nutcracker and 'Mambo' from West Side Story.  It was a wonderful opportunity to be part of such a large and high-level orchestra.  We hope we will be able to work with the orchestra again in the future.

Idomeneo

On 2nd March, the Thomas Hardye Singers and selected instrumentalists from Hardyes were lucky enough to take part in a wonderful performance of Mozart's Idomeneo in Sherborne Abbey, alongside students from a couple of local private schools. 

The performance included a professional orchestra and soloists and was conducted by Andrew Griffiths who works with the Royal Opera House. 

​The concert was organised by one of our singing teachers, Mr Valender, who has launched an education charity with the aim of bringing the experience of opera to more young people (https://www.destinationopera.co.uk/)  It was a fabulous experience for all of our students and we are so grateful to Mr Valender for giving our students such a wonderful opportunity.

Wind and Brass Day at Sunninghill 

​On 8th February, 30 of our students  from the middle schools joined students from Sunninghill Prep
School for a Wind and Brass day, led by Dave Andrews from Music Makers.  This was a wonderful day and our students got to play both
 
as a massed ensemble and in smaller groups, and received coaching from a variety of experience instrumental teachers.  At the end of the day, the students performed a quick concert for parents, which was very well received.  A huge thank you to Sunninghill for organising the day so brilliantly.

Christmas Concerts 2023

On 6th December, around 200 students took part in the Wessex Schools Music and Thomas Hardye School Christmas Concerts.  There were some wonderful performances from all of the groups including the Thomas Hardye Orchestra playing 'Sleigh Ride' and the Dorchester Children's Orchestra playing 'Hedwig's Theme' from Harry Potter.
You can see a summary video of most of the performances here: ​https://youtu.be/_V4N2Ozjm8c

In addition to the Christmas Concerts, several of our ensembles supported other local events during the festive period, including the Thomas Hardye Pop Choir performing at the Dorchester Christmas Cracker, the Skylarks choir performing at the Poundbury Christmas Market and the Skylarks and Nightingales Choirs performing in a concert with local community choir, Cloud 9.  Well done to all who performed this Christmas!

Benedetti Foundation in Dorset

In October, Wessex Schools Music hosted the Benedetti Foundation’s Dorset residency, organised by the Dorset Music Hub. Musicians from the foundation ran KS2 workshops with children from Manor Park, St Mary’s Catholic, Damers, Prince of Wales, Puddletown First and St Mary’s Middle throughout the day. They also spent a whole day at Thomas Hardye working with around 90 beginner string players and 20 more advanced string players, as part of their String Day. This saw professional string players and music college students working with our children to produce two brilliant performances for parents to watch after school. We were also lucky enough to offer our A level students a Q&A session with the college students. The two days were a great success and inspiring for all involved! 

Steel Pans come to Hardyes

In September, we kicked off the musical year at Hardyes with a music workshop day, which included a fabulous Steel Pans workshop by a visiting professional organisation called Inspire Works. Students took part in three workshops throughout the day, samba, singing and steel pans. It was a fantastic way to welcome interested year 9s to the department and to welcome the new year 10s and 12s to their GCSE and A level music courses. Here is a summary of the day: https://youtu.be/16n4gOyaaQU