MUSIC

Dover Grammar School for Boys has a fine musical tradition and offers a wide range of musical activities and opportunities for students both inside and beyond the classroom.

The school has excellent accommodation and resources for music. The main Music Room is large and spacious and here all the class music lessons and major rehearsals take place. Just next door are the Instrumental Teaching Rooms, the venues for individual instrumental tuition and small ensemble work. The Great Hall is close by, equipped with the magnificent Walker pipe organ and Steinway concert grand piano.

All boys in Years 7, 8 and 9 are taught music as a compulsory subject within the National Curriculum. Pupils have the benefit of extensive, modern resources including a class set of electronic keyboards. In Years 10 and 11 Music may be chosen as a GCSE subject, whilst the AS/A level course offers a preparation for further study at university or conservatoire. A range of sophisticated equipment is at the disposal of students who wish to experiment in electronic music.

The opportunity exists for all those who so wish to learn to play a musical instrument. The school has its own well-established team of visiting instrumental teachers and tuition is available in Violin, Cello, Guitar, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Saxophone, Trumpet, French Horn, Trombone, Tuba and other Brass, Drum Kit, Orchestral Percussion, Piano, Organ and Electronic Keyboard. The average cost of tuition is £100 per term for a course of ten lessons and in many cases instruments are available on loan from the school.

There is a full programme of instrumental and choral activities which enables students to develop their interests and talents. After making sufficient progress, instrumentalists are able to join a number of ensembles including the Training Band, Brass Group, Woodwind Group, String Group, Jazz Group and Big Band. These groups rehearse regularly each week and a variety of musical events and concerts presented each term offer the opportunity for public performance. Membership of the school choir is open to all interested students and recent concerts have included such works as Vivaldi's Gloria, Haydn's Nelson Mass and Fauré's Requiem. The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols by Candlelight takes place each December and is one of the highlights of the school calendar. At Christmas in 1996 the School Choir appeared on Meridian Television.