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The SCC Music blog is under construction at the moment but don't worry we'll be back online soon with lots more news and samples of pupils' works.

Coleman Irish Music Centre

Last year music pupils from form IV, V and VI took a trip out west to the Coleman Irish Music Centre in Gurteen, county Sligo. The trip will take place again this year for pupils in forms IV and V. Irish music is an integral part of the Irish Leaving Certificate Music syllabus and for many German pupils who join the school in form V and study Music it can be confusing! The Coleman centre runs courses which help introduce Irish music in a hands on manner.

Below is a summary of the trip by pupils from last year's form VI, Catherine Crossey and Justine Heffernan. Also after the link is an account by Clara Staeler and Philippa Peters, German pupils from last year's form V.

Today after a long, but pleasant journey (on bus, train and bus again) we arrived at the Coleman Traditional Irish Music Centre in Gurteen, Co. Sligo. The centre is named after a famous fiddle player, Michael Coleman who travelled to the USA and was one of the first traditional Irish music players to record their music.

We were greeted with a fantastic Irish welcome and were quickly whisked into the lecture hall. We began our first lecture learning about Michael Coleman himself and about Irish regional styles of music. We then split into three groups for workshops.

Ben Russell

Old Columban, Benjamin Russell, continues his rise to fame, this time in the Netherlands. Ben, again the youngest performer, reached and performed in the semi-finals of the International Vocal Competition and was invited to have a masterclass with Russian Baritone Sergei Lieferkus. A clip of the masterclass can be seen by following this link.

Ben is also looking forward to being one of five invitees to Elly Amiling's Lieder course on Tuesday and Wednesday, a real treat for the young performer.

We wish Ben the very best of luck for the remainder of the competition and look forward to hearing him sing again soon.

The Orchestra

Form I pupils are currently studying the orchestra beginning with the String Section. Below is an example of some research carried out by pupils Tessa Harley, Darcy Maule and Eleanor Moffitt.

The Violin

by Hollie Canning

The Violin is a string instrument. It has four strings. The Head of the Orchestra is a Violinist and they sit beside the conductor. You use a bow to play the Violin, but you can also pluck the strings. The bow is made of horse hair and wood. The Violin is informally called the fiddle. Mozart played Violin.

The Viola

by Tessa Harley

The Viola is made of wood. You play the Viola with a bow, arco, or by plucking, pizzicato. The Viola is played on the shoulder, like the Violin. Bach was a famous Violist. The Viola is a key element of a string quartet and the orchestra. The Senior Prefect, Carl Ibe, plays Viola.

The Cello

by Darcy Maule

The Cello is made of wood. It has four strings made of gut and steel. It is usually played with a bow which is made of horse hair. It is bigger than the Violin and the Viola and instead of playing on the shoulder, it is played sitting down and between the knees. Yo-Yo Ma is a famous cellist. Some Celli in the 1600-1800s had five strings.

The Double-Bass

by Eleanor Moffitt

The Double Bass is the largest and lowest instrument in the String Section. It is huge and gives a very deep sound. Pizzicato is often played on the Double Bass because of its longer lasting sound. It can also be played with a bow. This is called arco. You can often find Double Bass used in Jazz music. A famous player of Double Bass is Domenico Dragonetti. Camille Saint-Saens also composed a piece called the Elephant for the Double Bass. 

Music Concert

Saturday evening was the first of many concerts in St. Columba's College. It was a joint performance by Pat Coldrick, brother of Noel Coldrick, maths teacher in the college, on guitar and a Harp Trio from the DIT Conservatory of Music.

It was a whole school concert which began with Pat on guitar. He played a variety of pieces by various composers including himself. He showed outstanding technique throughout his performance and the audience were very impressed.

The harp trio were fresh from a victory at the Dublin Féis earlier on in the year. They were Claire, from Dublin, Clarie, from Monaghan, and Giovanna, from Milan. Again their mastery of their instruments was truly impressive and they, hopefully, encouraged several pupils to consider the harp as an instrument to study here in the school.

Below is a short review of the concert by George Reade (form V).

I had no idea what to expect of the concert but as soon as the guitarist started playing I was hugely impressed. His masterful playing was beautiful and relaxing and, in the best possible way, I could easily have been lulled to sleep by it! The harpists were following a very tough act but they showed amazing skills. I enjoyed them but the guitarist was my favourite.

Beat obesity... with drums!

In an article in today's Irish Times Marcus Smith and Steve Draper, sports scientists, along with Clem Burke, the drummer from the band Blondie, exposed drum practice for the physical work out that it is!

Dr Smith explains 'when performing a full-length gig, 'the drummer is playing for 90 minutes, the equivalent to a football match'. Drumming for an hour can burn up to 600 calories. The exercise is intermittent so the heart rate goes up and down regularly.'

By gradually increasing the tempo of a click track played into a drummer's headphones the performer has to slowly increase effort which in turn pushes the heart into cardiovascular workout mode.

The study was undertaken as part of the Biorhythm Live event at the Science Gallery in Dublin. Rhythm is the first of three events at Biorhythm Live. The other two are Emotion and Voice.

Click here for the full article.

Choir Sine Nomine

Choir Sine Nomine is a chamber choir consisting of senior pupils (forms IV-VI). We sing at various events throughout the school year including concerts and Sunday services. We are primarily an a capella (unaccompanied) group and we sing various genres of music.

Each group meets for rehearsals twice a week:

Monday  1:20-1:50 – Tenors and Basses

Thursday 1:20-1:50 – Sopranos and Altos

Monday  6:00-6:45 – Full group

There will be a short meeting for all those interested in joining the choir on Monday evening, 6th of September, at 6:00 in the chapel gallery. Members from last year are also asked to come.

Rehearsals will begin on Thursday 9th of September at 1:20 with the Sopranos and Altos.

Instrument Tuition

Sign up for Instrument Tuition will take place today, Friday 3rd September, at 11:00 in the Cadogan building. There is a huge number of instruments on offer including Piano, Voice, Guitar, Cello, Violin, Flute, Saxophone, Clarinet, Drums, Organ among others!

So if you've ever fancied yourself as a virtuoso come along and sign up!

New School Year

It's that time of year again. New school year, with lots of new opportunities and lots of new pupils! We look forward to a new year in the Music Department with lots of new talent, so check back for updates on concerts and pupils' works.

Newpark Feis

Columbans have had an extremely successful week at the Newpark Music Feis. Winners from various levels throughout the school will be taking part in the Winners' Concert in the John Field's room of the National Concert Hall this Sunday the 16th May.

The performers will include Lingfan Gao (IV) who won first place in the U16 Piano competition with an astounding 92%! Siobhán Brady (II) came first in the U16 Classical Singing, and was also very highly commended for her Cello in the U18 Concerto Cup. Molly Buckingham (II) won first place in the U14 Singing competition. Last, but certainly not least, Antonia Esses (I) also won first place in the U14 Piano solo with a mark in the 90s.

Very well done to all who took part and especially the winners. The concert on Sunday promises to be an excellent affair.

In the National Concert Hall

Last year's winner of the Dublin International Piano Competition, Alexj Gorlatch, will be playing at the National Concert Hall this Wednesday at 8pm. Following the disruptions to flight schedules Gorlatch admitted he was ready to take a boat to Ireland, so determined was he to play in the city that helped launch his career as an International Pianist!

'Since the competition, I have played quite a lot of concerts across the world from New York to Japan' stated Gorlatch. His tour locations include Carnegie Hall in New York and Wigmore Hall in London. He also has plans to perform with the Berliner Philharmonie.

For more information see this article in Monday's Irish Independent.

Elisabeth Smalt premieres new work by Garrett Sholdice

Friday, 23 April, 2010. 8pm
Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2

Volcano permitting, the Dutch viola player Elisabeth Smalt, will be premiering Garrett Sholdice's The only thing to do is simply continue as part of Dublin's i-and-e festival. The title is from a poem by the New York poet Frank O'Hara. The i-and-e festival runs across 23–25 April. Please see this linked website or watch the Ergodos Twitter feed for updates regarding any possible volcanic interference.

Film Music

Film: Toy Story

Composer: Randy Newman

I chose to research Toy Story because it had a great soundtrack with brilliant songs, all of which I love. The Toy Story soundtrack was produced by Walt Disney records and was released on November 22, 1995. The soundtrack received praise for its sprightly, stirring score. The album was scored and written by Randy Newman and had great success but only scored 94 in the billboard 200 album chart. Toy Story’s signature song ‘You’ve got a friend in me’ by Randy Newman was very popular, and a CD single was released of it on April 12 1996. The single was to promote the soundtrack’s release. Randy Newman produced the song in one day. Toy Story’s soundtrack also included the songs: ‘Strange things’ and ‘I will go sailing no more’.

by Fleur Pay

Film: The Simpsons' Movie

Composer: Danny Elfman

Elfman’s brother is a director called Richard Elfman and he gave his brother the opportunity to compose the music for the film ‘The Forbidden Zone’. This film then brought Danny to the attention of Tim Burton who has asked him to work on many of his films such as Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Many people don’t know but Elfman also wrote the music for the Simpsons.

The movie I liked the best which Elfman wrote the score for was the Simpson’s movie. Elfman rewrote the theme for the movie along with the music for the rest of the film. He also wrote the lyrics for the choral version of ‘Spider Pig’.

by Max Caminow

Film: Avatar

Composer: James Horner

James Horner is a famous music composer. He was born on August 14th 1953 in Los Angeles, California. He composed music for lots of Hollywood’s famous films like: Braveheart, Apollo 13, The Legend of Zorro, Star Trek, The Missing and more. He is, probably, best known for composing the soundtrack of the film Titanic.

One of the most recent movie soundtracks which he composed was for Avatar which is one of my favourite movies and was also voted the best movie of the year 2009. Horner won the Golden Globe award and the Grammy Award for this soundtrack; he also won the Academy Award twice and has received ten Oscars nominations and a number of other awards for other soundtracks. Horner spent his early life in London and started playing piano and the age of five. In London he attended The Royal College of Music, and studied a famous Hungarian composer called Györgi Ligeti. James Horner has worked with many famous people such as Charlotte Church, Leona Lewis and more.

by Muqtadir Shah

The Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition 2010

Congratulations to Old Columban Benjamin Russell who took part in the final concert of the 6th Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, 2010, last Tuesday evening. The evening was a very prestigious occasion boasting performers from all over the world and audience members such as her Excellency, President Mary McAleese. Benjamin gave a great performance and was very popular with the audience. Benjamin, despite being the youngest competitor by a large gap, came 5th and was also awarded the Dame Joan Sutherland Prize for the most promising young singer.

The Finals will be broadcast on LyricFM at 11am on the 10th and 11th February. On the assumption that they will broadcast the 6 finalists in the order in which they performed on the night, and as Benjamin sang first, we expect to hear his singing at 11am on the 10th.

There is a chance for all of us to hear Benjamin sing live, along with Ms. Anna Brady, at A Valentine’s Evening of Song on Friday the 12th of February at 8pm in the Grand Hotel, Wicklow Town. This is a great opportunity to support these extremely talented performers and have a very entertaining evening too.

Film Music

This term's main theme in form I and Primary is Musicals and Music in Film. Two projects on a composer who wrote music for a film are found below. Check back soon for more of these projects.

Film: Up Music

Composer: Michael Giacchino
Up is a 2009 Disney Pixar film, and the music director is Michael Giacchino. Giacchino also wrote the music for Pixar’s The Incredibles and Ratatouille. I like the music in this film because it emphasizes everything that the characters do. Giacchio has compared the film to an opera because each character has their own theme that changes during a particular moment in the story. Giacchino himself is an American soundtrack composer, who has composed many other video game and film soundtracks other than Pixar films.

by Ally Boyd-Crotty

Film: Slumdog Millionaire

Composer: A.R. Rahman
This composer has composed music for more than 130 Indian films, incorporating jazz, rock, Indian pop and western classical music into their soundtracks. He was born on the 6th of Janurary 1966 in Chennai, India. Rahman lost his father, a famous composer in India, when he was at a very young age. He was then raised by his mother, Kareema. He studied many different styles of music. He uses all these styles in the film Slumdog Millionaire. The most famous is Jai Ho.

by Molly Maire

Alexandra Traditional Irish Group Visit: An International Concert

Sophie von Brauchitsch one of our form V pupil's from Germany writes about the Alexandra Trad Band visit to the school.

On Tuesday, the 8th December, nine girls and their teacher from Alexandra College, Dublin visited our school to hold a concert of traditional Irish music in the BSR.

This concert was a great opportunity for the music students in forms V and VI to hear traditionalal Irish music, an important part of the Leaving Certificate Music course, live. However, not only music pupils attended this concert. Many others curious about Irish music style came too.

The group consisted of four harps, three fiddles, a flue, a tin whistle and a bodhrán, which is a traditional Irish drum. They played twenty-two pieces in blocks of three and four, dances like Reels, Jigs, Slip jigs and Slides along with traditional Irish songs, like The South Wind, Drowsy Maggie, Trip to Sligo and Sally Gardens. In some pieces, players performed solo accompanied by the harp, presenting their instruments and how they sound on their own.

In the breaks between the blocks, Justine Heffernan, a form VI pupil from our school, preformed three traditional Irish dances, first a Reel, then a Jig and finally a Slip jig.

After the concert, everyone went up to the Cadagon main room, where the performers and the audience talked about their experiences with traditional Irish music.

This concert brought Irish music, which can sometimes seem a little dry, nearer to the us all and gave the pupils who haven’t dealt with this topic before an idea about traditional Irish music.

Alexandra Traditional Irish Group Visit

by Chris Doherty, form III

On Tuesday evening we were visited by a traditional Irish music group from Alexandra College. As one of the topics covered by the Junior Certificate course, I found it interesting to hear Irish music played live. It was a first for me and many others who attended but I think it was enjoyed by all.

They played a variety of different Irish songs like reels, hornpipes, jigs, slip-jigs and others, in sets of threes. Their band consisted of four harps, three fiddles, flutes and a bodhrán, all traditional Irish instruments. All the songs were performed to a high standard and I think the audience appreciated the quality of performance.

Along with the music performance there was also an Irish dance performance given by Juntine Heffernan, form VI. I personally have never seen Irish dancing performed live but even I could see that she executed the steps excellently and I’m sure the others would agree. She showed us three dances, a reel, a jig and a slip-jig.

Overall I think it was a very enjoyable evening giving some people, myself included, their first live performance of traditional Irish music and dance. The night was enjoyed by everyone and a big thank you on behalf of all of us who attended to those who performed, both the girls from Alexandra and Justine, and Mrs. Malone-Brady for organising the event.

Christmas Gigs

Between correcting exams and writing reports, another member of staff has found the time to prepare for two concerts. Following the success of their most recent concert, which you can read about here, The Keynotes will perform twice over the Christmas Holidays. The concerts will take place on Saturday the 20th and Monday the 21st of December in the Freemasons Hall, Molesworth street, Dublin 2.

The Keynotes are a Barbershop Quartet, consisting of five members (don't worry Mr. Finn teaches History not Maths!) with a huge repertoire of pieces and a reasonably large repertoire of jokes. Mr. Finn's performances in the school are always met with tremendous applause and these concerts promise to be of equal entertainment.

Christmas Gigs

'Ronan Swift and his trusty band' will make a popular return to the stage in Bewley's Café Theatre on Grafton Street on Thursday December 10th. Doors open at 8:30 with the sonorous musings of Mr Swift. Admission will be a recession busting €10 and the night will boast a host of new material from the man himself!

The Keynotes Concert

by Michael McBurney

Last Friday a group of students accompanied by Mr Clarke attended a fund-raising concert in Rathgar Church of the Three Patrons in which the legendary singer Rebecca Storm performed. This event was very attractive but what made it so much more unique is that Mr. Finn and his barbershop group The Keynotes were special quest performers of Ms. Storm. Made up of five people, The Keynotes are a very unique act and have performed for the President and on a number of Irish tours. They are an a capella group specialising in male harmony with Mr. Finn often singing the soprano line himself, an expert in falsetto singing.

The night was truly outstanding with hits like O Sole Mio and In the Jungle on the set list. The act was made even more fun by the friendly vibe given by the group as they made fun of each other on stage in front of hundreds. The time and music seemed to fly and in no time the set was finished but they did of course produce an encore which replicated the amazing performance moments before.

Rebecca Storm then made her way onto the stage and performed some sensational numbers such as Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from the musical Evita as well as many other very famous and popular songs from Broadway and West End Musicals.

All in the all the night was very good, all the music being very well received by the audience and also by the students.