NORWICH HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS GDST
MUSIC DEPARTMENT
The Music Department prides itself on being an enthusiastic and active department determined to
give musical opportunities to every pupil. The objective is that every pupil leaves Norwich High
School as a musically literate member of society.
In order to achieve the aims, every girl has two lessons of class music a week until the end of Year
8. These lessons are practically based; in Years 7 and 8 one of these lessons is usually Form Band
whilst the remaining time is spent in composing, listening, singing and studying a variety of topics
within a clear curriculum framework. In Year 9 the programme of study is based on the theme of
opera; listening, performing and composing is all linked to a baroque, classical, romantic, 20th
century opera and a musical. An average of 10 girls a year take GCSE music, and we nearly always
have a group taking AS and A level music. We use the OCR syllabus. We regularly have students
continuing to study music at University.
The Music Department is housed in its own separate building, a former Victorian home; the two
largest rooms are used for class teaching and another eight rooms each with its own piano and
mirror are used for individual tuition. We have our own separate IT studio with six computers
with Sibelius software and a further five laptops also with Sibelius. We also have access to Ableton
software for music production, creation and performance.
The department is not only academic in its approach. We have at least four choirs, three
orchestras, Wind Band, Brass Group and a great deal of chamber music including String Quartets,
Wind Quintet, Percussion Ensemble and numerous other ensembles as appropriate to the musical
make-up of the girls in any given year. The large ensembles rehearse in Eaton Grove Hall or the
Dorothy Bartholomew Studio. Our team of 20 highly qualified instrumental staff teach piano, voice
and all the orchestral instruments including percussion, harp (we have three), guitar etc. Each
term we act as our own centre for Associated Board of Music Examinations.
Regular concerts take place and annual trips abroad. This year 52 students are going on the music
tour to Prague and Moravia. Last year we went to Salzburg where we sang Mass in a packed out
Salzburg Cathedral.
Four major concerts take place in school, many concerts in local venues, a carol service in Norwich
Cathedral, an annual Choral Concert in Norwich Cathedral. At present we are preparing for
Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’, Schubert’s ‘Mass in G’ and Elgar’s ‘For the Fallen’. For the Choral Concert we use
our own augmented Senior Orchestra and the tenor and bass section is made up of staff, fathers,
brothers and friends! Festivals are used to try and ensure a constant striving for standards – The
National Festival of Music for Youth, Sainsbury BBC Choir of the Year, the Norfolk and Norwich
Music Festival. In 20… the Chamber Choir won Barnardo’s Senior Choir of the Year which led to
performances in London at The Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and St
John’s Smith Square.
Every other year the senior school runs its own Company (House) Music Competition, which
encourages the girls’ skills of organisation and initiative. Music assemblies take place in school
once a month.
Music in the Junior School
In Key Stage 2 all girls learn the recorder as an end in itself and as a means to learning to read
music and gain ensemble experience. Some pass grade 1 and 2 examinations (taken internally).
Their other music lesson each week is taken up with musicianship activities, with considerable
emphasis on singing, but also involving creative work, class percussion activities and listening
activities. There is a junior choir and orchestra to extend the more able. The Junior School has its
own lively programme of musicals, concerts and a Carol Service.