Summer Orchestral Weeks: Spellbound

Kicking off our summer blogs with Spellbound!

Our 11–12-year-old musicians gathered at Sherborne School for a week of rehearsals, creative work and activities before heading to Wiltshire Music Centre for their summer concert, Spellbound.

Conducted by Caroline Hobbs Smith, the orchestra spent the week working with their tutors to bring the programme together. Alongside rehearsals and sectionals, there were plenty of opportunities to try something a little different.

Wellbeing Lead Claire Bennett, a former GB fencer, introduced the musicians to fencing through a series of workshops without the equipment. The sessions focused on quick reactions, listening to each other and responding to what was happening around them, with the musicians also learning some of the basics of fencing stance.

Creative Lead Ed Babar led the week’s creative work, inspired by the theme of Spellbound. In small groups, the musicians created their own pieces, each sitting within one of four Acts and built around a different cluster of notes. Drawing inspiration from the orchestral repertoire, the groups developed their own music, with all 14 pieces eventually coming together as one continuous performance.

The Z test took place a couple of days before the concert, with the orchestra challenged to keep playing while tutors and members of the Support Team did their best to distract them. There were paper aeroplanes, music being thrown from stands, swimming gear, ghosts and plenty of costumes, with Caroline even finding herself covered by a harp cover as tutors attempted to “kidnap” her! Percussion tutor Claire added to the chaos with some drum kit beats. The orchestra had to keep playing through it all, making for an impressive test of concentration and resilience, with plenty of laughs and fun along the way!

There were plenty of lighter moments during the week too, some of which made their way onto social media. The trumpets took on How to Train Your Dragon with some choreography, the French horns found an eco-friendly way to water the grass using their horns, and the harps took the opportunity for a well-earned nap inside their harp covers!

The week culminated in Spellbound at Wiltshire Music Centre, with a programme taking the musicians through a world of dramatic and cinematic music. From Mussorgsky’s Night on the Bare Mountain and Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre to Beauty and the Beast, Princess Mononoke, Captain Marvel and How to Train Your Dragon, there was plenty to capture the imagination.

There was even a little extra theatre during Pirates of the Caribbean, when percussionist Georgia popped on a pirate hat during her young presenting.

From fencing workshops and creative projects to harp-cover hideouts and the chaos of the Z test, there was plenty going on at Sherborne School! The week came together on stage, where our young musicians brought Spellbound to life.