Zimbe!

OCC students with Alexander seen centre in orange
OCC students with Alexander seen centre in orange

A group of OCC students took part in a special workshop at Ardingly College yesterday, Sunday 2 March, with renowned composer Alexander L’Estrange.

Alexander’s Zimbe score is a fantastic fusion of traditional African songs and jazz music.

Our musical students will be joining hundreds of others from West Sussex on stage to perform it as part of the Big Sing showcase at the Ardingly ArtsFest in Haywards Heath.

The festival runs from Sunday 22 – Thursday 26 June 2014 and our performance of Zimbe will take place on Wednesday 25 June, find out more here.

 

 

Our bright sparks light up the stage

The Bright Sparks concert on Monday 27 January
The Bright Sparks concert on Monday 27 January

Two Year 10 students from Oathall Community College recently performed on stage with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) at the Royal Festival Hall.

Nathanael Thomas-Atkin and Dominic Clark both play with the West Sussex County Orchestra and they were invited to join the world-renowned LPO for the latest in their series of ‘Bright Sparks’ concerts.

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A Christmas Carol

Scrooge wakes up to a bright new day!
Scrooge wakes up to a bright new day!

If you missed the performance of A Christmas Carol last week or just want a reminder of this marvelous show you can see a selection of pictures taken on our Flickr pages or by clicking on this picture below.

Many thanks to everyone who bought raffle tickets, refreshments or entered the chocolate tombola.

We raised a fantastic sum of £2000!

 

Hark! Oathall sings!

Magenta preparing for some Carols in the Barn!
Magenta preparing for some Carols in the Barn!

Oathall Community College has held its annual Carols in the Barn event on Thursday 12 December.

In the days running up to it farm staff and student volunteers decorated the barn with lights and other festive trimmings while a large Christmas tree generously donated by Balcombe Estates provided a spectacular centrepiece.

Past and present students, parents, staff and members of the local community packed into the barn for a cold but magical start to Christmas.  Under the watchful eye of the animals a selection of traditional and religious readings were given and music students raised the roof with renditions of lots of festive favourites.

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London Philharmonic Workshop

Oathall music students were once again invited to participate in the fabulous orchestral day at Ardingly College. Music students joined up with other schools in the area to take part in workshops with members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This was a unique opportunity for our young musicians to learn from and play with top professional orchestral musicians. The day culminated in a public performance of the works studied during the day in the beautiful chapel at Ardingly College.

Cantabria Gallery

Well, we all made it home safely after our fun-filled, musical, Spanish experience! Sorry that we weren’t able to post much whilst we were away but here are a few photographic memories of our trip. Thanks to Emma, Gemma, Miss Driscoll and Mrs Godbolt for their photographs.

UPDATE! See more photos in our Flickr gallery here

The Big Sing 2013 at Oathall

Students from local primary schools joined students from Oathall Community College in raising the roof with their beautiful performance of Emile Sande’s “See Beneath You’re Beautiful” accompanied by members of the school orchestra and special guest, cellist Hannah Carter.

This was followed by the energetic Afro Blues rendition of “Obatala” arranged specially for the event by Martijn Van Galen. Head of Vocal Studies for West Sussex, Emily Barden, led the two hundred and fifty voice choir including an inspirational performance “Oh My Day”, which was beautifully sung in three parts. We admired the talents of all the young performers and especially those who stood up on stage with the senior students to lead the performances and the young man who played the keyboard.
You can listen to the performances via the link below. We hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it!

Oathall’s Big Sing 2013 – See Beneath Your Beautiful 1

Oathall’s Big Sing 2013 – Obatala 1

Oathall’s Big SIng – Day is a breaking

Carols in the community and on the BBC

On Friday 7 December, Oathall students in years 7  to 10 entertained residents at Balcombe Place Care Home with a set of Carols and Christmas songs. The elderly residents also took part and sang along with the students. Students were rewarded with a Christmas tea and an invite to return and sing at anytime.

Listen here to Oathall students singing ‘O Holy Night’ 

Oathall students can be also heard on BBC radio Sussex singing ‘O Holy Night’ on Tuesday 11 December at around 15:40. Mrs Mac Taggart submitted this recording of ‘O Holy Night’ to the BBC after they put out a request for schools and community choirs  to submit recordings of Christmas music to be played every day in the run up to Christmas. Oathall was one of the schools to have been selected.