King’s College Cambridge visit and performance
14th July 2015
The last trip of the school year saw Lister students teaming up with students from Plashet School to put on a concert in the chapel at the world famous King’s College Cambridge. The two schools rehearsed separately before coming together for a joint rehearsal at Lister the week before the trip. The group travelled to Cambridge and were able to rehearse in the very impressive chapel before putting on a concert for around 100 visitors and tourists. Highlights included the combined orchestra performance of Klaus Badelt’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ suite and a fantastic snare drum solo from Max in Year 9. Violinist Tahia said ‘it was amazing performing in such a well-known and beautiful place, and sharing the concert with another school’.
After the concert, the group got to explore Cambridge and were treated to a tour of the college, a punting trip on the River Cam and dinner at another college before returning to London. Trumpeter Ashraful said ‘I’ve had a brilliant day and really want to do it all again!’
Music Day
9th July 2015
Music Day returned during Induction Fortnight here at Lister school. 270 new Lister students took part in a whole day of music making before putting on a concert for Year 5 students and their families. Music Day also saw the launch of the new House choirs, with each member of the Music team and singing teacher Miss Bowers adopting one House each to work with. Each choir learned part of a song before joining together, creating wonderful harmony! We were also joined by performers from Selwyn school, who collaborated with our hearing impaired students and the fantastic Drumworks to put on the noisiest item of the concert! It was a wonderful end to a brilliant induction fortnight and a great introduction to Music at Lister for our new Year 7s.
MiSST residency at Radley College
1st – 4th July 2015
Students from 5 different schools participating in the MiSST programme came together for a very special residential trip to Radley College, Oxfordshire. As well as taking part in orchestra and sectional rehearsals, students had time to explore the college grounds and enjoy the swimming pool! The residential ended with a concert for parents and invited guests.
West Cork Music Festival trip
June 2015
Music Specialist School students in Years 7 and 8 took part in our second trip to the West Cork Music Festival. The twist this time was that students took their instruments too, and spent part of their long weekend in intensive rehearsals working on their own chamber music performances. This meant a long coach trip and a ferry crossing, but the students agreed it was worth it! Once in Ireland, students had the chance to explore Bantry and enjoyed some glorious weather. They attended four concerts given by world-class musicians, including the Benyounes Quartet who were in residence at Lister during 2014-15. Players from the quartet gave the students one last masterclass before they put on a concert for Mr Wilson and hotel guests. Violinist Gabija said ‘I had an amazing time in Ireland…I loved the views and going to the concerts. It was so inspiring and made me want to get better at the violin!’.
Urban Vani, Alchemy Festival @ Southbank Centre
22nd May 2015
In the first half of the summer term, Year 8 students from Lister had the opportunity to work with some incredible musicians to put together the cross-arts performance ‘Urban Vani’ and feature in the Southbank Centre’s annual Alchemy Festival. Students worked with composer Omar Shahryar, kathak dance artist Gauri Sharma Tripathi and beat boxer Hobbit as well as students from Bethnal Green Academy to fuse singing, kathak and beat boxing to create a thoroughly modern and cross-arts performance.
You can watch the performance in the videos below:
Part three courtesy of YouTube user Revi Pillai
MiSST Celebration Concert @ Barbican
Monday 11th May 2015
Lister students performed at the Barbican for the very first time in May. They were part of orchestras and groups put together especially for an event to celebrate the success of the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, and were delighted to be joined on stage by violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti MBE. Lister students were extremely committed in the time leading up to the concert, attending extra rehearsals in the Easter holidays, at weekends and after school. Congratulations to all involved in what was a very special event!
National Youth Orchestra residency
Monday 13th April 2015
The first day of the summer term was a very special one at Lister . Wee welcomed the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for a one-day residency and they took over the school with wonderful music making, concerts and workshops. The day began with a exploration of the different sounds of an orchestra, and NYO players led groups of Lister students in a workshop to create night-time soundscapes.
In the afternoon, the orchestra gave a full performance of Barktok’s Concert for Orchestra to a packed-out audience in the Agora. Lister students gave the orchestra a wonderful reception and were enthusiastic in their applause. After a tea and cake break, the NYO took their places again but this time with Lister and St Angela’s students and staff sitting next to them. We rehearsed a performance of Clean Bandit’s ‘Rather Be’ as well as improvising to Herbie Hancock’s ‘Chameleon’, before putting on a mini-concert to parents and staff. All in all, we had a fantastic day and hope the NYO will come back again next year!
Spring Concert 11th March 2015
A wonderful evening of music
The Spring Concert kick-started the trio of big events in Music this term, and what a start it was! We moved to a new venue for this concert, placing the performers on a brightly lit professional stage on which they shone – Mr Ismail, Principal of NCS, agreed:
From the Lister Orchestra to the Jazz Band, the debuts from Year 7 String, Brass and Wind players and self-penned songs, every item was polished and enjoyable. But don’t take out word for it – see the tweet below. You can also watch videos of the performances online! Take a look at the photographs and the teaser video – enjoy!
Winter Concert 10th December 2014
Bigger and better than ever before!
The final Music event of 2014 was our annual Winter Concert featuring performances from established groups such at the Lister Orchestra and One BIG band!, as well as debuts from the newly formed String Trio, the Shelley House Quartet, and Jazz Band.
The E13 Choir and our Newham Collegiate Sixth Form enrichment group made debut public performances, meaning students aged 8 – 17 from eight different schools and institutions took part in the event. The concert culminated in a massed performance of ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ by our Year 7 students, accompanied by the NCS band and Year 9 and 10 Lister students.
The next Lister concert takes place on Wednesday 11th March and we are looking forward to hearing all the groups perform again!
E13 Play Day 3rd December 2014
260 children + 7 schools + lots of music = E13 Play Day!
Children from Curwen, Plaistow, Portway, Selwyn, Southern Road and Upton Cross primary schools descended on Lister to perform some musical highlights of their term and seasonal songs, as well as joining together to perform in the E13 Ensembles. The Assembly Hall was packed with students eager to share their performances and the atmosphere was fantastic. The quality of the performances was extremely high and the behaviour of the students was impeccable, with everybody supporting their peers with enthusiasm.
Highlights of the event included debut performances by Selwyn’s ukulele group The FGs, a group of hearing impaired students who are learning together through the Feeling Music Project; a wonderful first performance by the E13 Choir under the inspirational Oscar Wood; and a superb beat boxing performance by Curwen entitled ‘If I were a cow…’ that was made up on the spot! In fact, all of the performances were excellent and it was the best E13 Play Day so far. Congratulations to everybody involved – videos and photos will appear here soon!
Lister Community Orchestra
30th November 2014
The Lister Community Orchestra met for the very first time to rehearse and perform one of the most challenging pieces in classical repertoire – in just one day!
Musicians from Newham were joined by colleagues and friends from across London and beyond to rehearse and perform Mahler’s 9th Symphony. The players had never met as an ensemble before, and in some cases had never met anyone else taking part in the event. The day started with tea and coffee as the players arrived and then each family of instruments – strings, woodwind, brass and percussion – went to different parts of the school to rehearse in sections. After a lunch break where everybody chatted about how difficult their parts were, it was time for the orchestra to play together for the first time in the Agora. A few notes in, once everybody got used to the unfamiliar acoustics, the orchestra began producing a beautiful sound.
In all, the orchestra had just 4 and a half hours of rehearsals before the free public concert that took place in the early evening. It was a wonderful achievement and many thanks go to Amanda Valentine and Richard Brightwell for joining with the Lister Music team to organise the day, as well as conductor Jonny Timms, who guided the orchestra through the music with enthusiasm. You can read more about the piece the orchestra performed and the conductor by clicking here.
There will be a video available soon of some of the highlights, but for now enjoy the photographs above. Parents and students of Lister might recognise lots of faces in this orchestra; as well as all the Lister Music and instrumental teachers, colleagues from SSC and MFL took part, as well as teachers from Newham Music Trust, ECaM, Selwyn Primary School, Curwen Primary School and Plashet School.
Players and audience members alike were enthusiastic in their comments about the day, as you can see from some of the tweets below #Mahlerinaday. We will be organising another LCO event next year – get in touch if you are interested in taking part!
Music Day – 20th October 2014
Our second ever Music Day took place just before half term. All 270 Year 7 students took part in a wonderful day of making music and performing together.
The day started with all Year 7 students taking part in a vocal workshop with Mr Oscar Wood, the vocal lead from Newham Music Trust and the conductor of our very own E13 Choir. He led the students through warm-ups and songs they had already learned in their Music lessons, before teaching them a new mash-up of doo-wop songs; ‘Goodnight Sweetheart’, ‘Blue Moon’ and ‘Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man’ all featured, and it was fantastic to hear the year group all singing together. They made a beautiful sound and even Lister staff joined in – Mr Rew and Miss Heinrich (English Department) were particularly enthusiastic singers, and Ms Hegan (Assistant Head) was an excellent conductor!
After a short break, the students divided into their instrumental families for rehearsals. The strings were led by Miss Hendy, Mr Hudescu and Miss Chapmen; the woodwind by Mr Morgan, Mr Moroney and Ms Buckley (from Frederick Bremer, one of our MiSST partner schools); the brass were led by Mr Clegg and Mr Webster; and the guitar were led by Mr Bland and Mr Lewis. Each group rehearsed two pieces of music written just for their instrument; one the students had started in their Music lessons with their instrumental tutor, and one brand new piece. We were also joined by some excellent string players from Gallions Primary School. They joined in with the string workshop and orchestra rehearsal, adding even more volume and depth to our ever-growing orchestra.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes Year 8 and 9 member of the Lister Orchestra took part in a workshop with musicians from the Roma Orchestra. Our orchestra players are used to playing from sheet music, but the musicians taught them a traditional Romany piece by ear. This was a new challenge for many of the students and they very much enjoyed learning about a new style of music.
In the afternoon, everybody came together to put on a very special concert for parents and students from the E13 primary schools. We were also joined by very special guests; Ms Truda White, CEO of MiSST and Mr Pierce Brown, Director of Music at MiSST, as well as local councillors Mr Ken Clarke and Mr Forhad Hussain, who all expressed their enjoyment of the event.
All the Lister Music Department teachers were very impressed by the way the students worked together and the professional manner in which they put on their performances. We are all looking forward to the Winter Concert when Year 7 will be performing again.
West Cork Music Festival
In June 2014, Lister students made the trip across the Irish Sea to visit the West Cork Music Festival.
Students enjoyed 5 concerts in 4 days, taking in performances by world-renowned professional musicians and the beautiful local scenery. You can read more about the visit by clicking here, and some photos from the trip are on the slideshow below:
Music events 2013 -2014
2013 – 2014 was a very busy year for everyone in the Music Department.
We went on lots of trips and visited places for the first time, held big events with whole year groups performing, and started new ensembles for our students and those in our E13 communities. Below is a selection of photographs for you to enjoy, and for information on our upcoming events you can click here and here.
Lister Community School Music Department 
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