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