AN INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGE
The debut of Warminster School’s Choral Festival was a spectacular day of choral workshops across both the Senior and Prep Schools.
We were extremely lucky to have Dominic Ellis-Peckham, a renowned conductor and choral master, visit the school to coach the various choirs and musical theatre groups. Dominic introduced the festival with a whole School choir rehearsal during assembly. Through imitative sounds and gestures, the excitement in the room became electric with the resounding unified sounds of clapping and stomping resonating through the Minster Church. Encouraging the pupils to work together, he took the opportunity to reinforce the valuable life lesson of collaboration and team work, whether it be on the sports field or in the choir stalls!
Dominic continued on to coach the Lion King cast, ready for their performance of ‘The Circle of Life’ for Speech Day. Lily Aldridge, playing Rafiki, really grasped all of Dominic’s advice and she really came into her own by the end of the workshop, moving around the space and developing more persuasive facial expressions and gestures that reflected the bold, vibrant personality of her character. The chorus came to life with Dominic’s clear directions and begun to pronounce the lyrics with more enthusiasm and emphasis.
The Warminster Singer’s improved dramatically within their session with Dominic, who seemed extremely impressed and elated by the level of potential which the choir had shown over the duration of the workshop. Afterwards, he indicated that he wished that he had a whole weekend to coach the senior choir to see what they could achieve!
In the afternoon, we moved across to the Minster Church, where St Margaret’s Prep school, Hall Grove Prep School and Chafyn Grove Prep School joined our prep choirs in a session with Dominic, who taught them a piece, originated from Central Africa and Freedom by George Michael. The Choral Festival ended with a fantastic concert showcasing what the children had been working on that afternoon with Dominic and what they had prepared, with their own music teachers especially for the Choral Festival.
The pupils were so enthused by the lively, fast-paced workshops and appeared to be so captivated by Dominic and the interactiveness of each session. We do hope that this will be the start of many more Choral Festivals here at Warminster School after receiving such amazing reviews from the staff, pupils and parents throughout the day.
Take a look at the fantastic images captured.
Caroline Robinson, Director of Music