Music
Matters
New
Concert Choir
This term the school will be forming a new adult concert choir. Practices will
be held at the school once a week on Thursdays from 7.00-8.30p.m. commencing
28th September 2006. Singers interested in learning more about this group should
call the school at 452 2473.
26
Students Gain Honda Music Scholarships
Following a series of auditions held at the School, twenty six students have
now been awarded Honda Scholarships for the school year 2006-2007. The value
of individual awards varies in amount from $1,140.00 full tuition fees for
the year to $180 for the payment of registration fees for students in the Primary
and Secondary Strings and Wind Programme. In all the total value of the awards
is $17,655.00. The Honda Music Scholarship awards, which are specifically for
musically gifted children from needy homes, were made possible by the proceeds
of the School’s last Honda Jazz Raffle held in 2003 when Honda Caribbean
Ltd and Honda Motor Company through their local dealer Beachcomber Ltd donated
in full a fully-loaded Honda RAV Sports Utility Vehicle.
Music
in the Womb?
The School of Music Staff recently discussed the possibility of offering music
classes to expectant mothers. It was decided that the School’s resources,
already stretched, might not be able to handle the large numbers who might
register – but the suggestion of pre-natal music classes was a serious
one. There are many research projects that are examining the extent to which
the unborn child especially in the last trimester is influenced by the music
its mother listens to. The results of one UK research project conducted at
the University of Leicester by Dr Alexandra Lamont suggest that babies recognize
and prefer music they were exposed to in the womb for at least a year after
they are born. In this project the mothers listened repeatedly to the same
pieces of music which included Mozart and Vivaldi, reggae, pop and world music.
Twelve months after their birth, during which time they did not hear this music
again, the babies showed a significant preference for these specific pieces
of music regardless of style, compared to very similar pieces they had not
heard before. No claims are made in this research for a connection between
listening to classical music and the brain’s development, but new evidence
of the brains ability to retain and recognize music - even from the womb- may
have something to say about how a child relates to musical activities later
in life.
Making Music TogetherThe Music School believes that students benefit not only
from individual music lessons but also, and perhaps even more so from taking
part in music making with others. For this reason the School now has a large
number of ensembles which students and non-students are welcome to register
for. These groups include:
| • The
SLSM Folk Band: |
Tutor:
Frank Norville
Thursdays 4.00-5.30pm |
| • The
SLSM Recorder Ensemble |
Tutor:
Mr Kieran James
Wednesdays 5.00-6.00pm |
| • The
SLSM Steel Band |
Tutor:
Mr Jason ‘Bachelor’ Joseph
Saturdays 4.00-5.30pm |
| • The
SLSM Community Choir |
Tutor:
Mr Jason Joseph
Tuesdays at the Ave Maria Primary School
5.00-6.30pm |
| • The
SLSM Concert Choir |
Tutor:
John Bailey
Thursday 7.00-8.30pm |
For more
information on these and other SLSM activities, please call
452 2473.
‘Sont
Sent Lisi’ – Not Just Another Festival
The announcement that the Music Festival ‘Son Sent Lisi’ has been
postponed till next year may have disappointed some, but it will at least give
the committee (on which SLSM is a member) more time to get across the message
that the Son Sent Lisi Music Festival is not just another Jazz Festival, or
Rum and Food Festival or World Music Festival writ smaller, but a different
kind of activitiy altogether. Most of the above Festivals have at their heart
musical entertainment as an economic activity, enjoyable to the ticket-paying
listeners and financially rewarding to performers, agents, promoters, site
owners and managers, vendors, taxi drivers and so on. ‘Son Sent Lisi’,
however, consistent with CDF’s mandate for cultural DEVELOPMENT, aims
to raise musical standards by asking performers to compete not against others,
but against themselves; it does so by setting gold, silver and bronze standards
and asking a panel of judges to determine where on a scale of excellence a
soloist’s or group’s standard for a particular performance lies.
Whilst promising to recognize top scorers as outstanding achievers, it downplays
the notion of ranking and rewards asking musicians who are interested in self-improvement
more than prize money to come back to the Festival next year and challenge
themselves to place higher against the standards set. It also offers a series
of training workshops to help make this possible. ‘Son Sent Lisi’ needs
to be fully supported because its goal is not a one-off show but the long-term
development of a cadre of serious musicians interested in raising standards;
should this be possible we all stand to gain, culturally and financially, in
the end.
Does Listening To Music Help You Study?
One simple answer to this question is that there is no simple answer: it may
just depend on whether you like the music or not. Obviously, music you strongly
dislike is, for most people – and especially if played very loudly by
your neighbour – a major and emotionally disturbing distraction. Music
you like may have a calming effect and aid concentration. No one disputes that
music has the ability to influence moods, and feeling happy may not only help
one’s physical well-being, but also influence how efficiently the brain
performs. Many research studies tend to reinforce the finding that loud, fast,
stimulating instrumental music may hinder the recall of information more than
slower quieter music, but this may depend on the environment to which you are
accustomed.
Students growing up surrounded by loud music and a lot of neighbourhood noise
often develop the ability to shut out these distractions, just as people living
in the flight paths of major airports learn to shut out the noise of jet engines,
and students who study in all-age classrooms manage to shut out the sounds
of many lessons going on at the same time. Vocal music, on the other hand,
may be much more distracting than instrumental music because of the brain’s
natural tendency to try to make sense of words, even if only heard in the background.
Musicians too, can be very distracted by background music, because the musical
ear has a tendency to automatically analyse melodies, chords, progressions,
key changes, instrumentation, even whilst holding a conversation or reading
a book. But to give research the last word on this matter, it is interesting
to note the results of one experiment that found students listening to classical
music did worst of all on a comprehension test, those listening to rock music
did a little better, but those who did best of all – they studied in
silence! Ah well, such is life!
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