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A topping-out ceremony was held for QE’s new Music School on the last day of term, marking an important milestone in the delivery of this key building.

Representatives of Queen Elizabeth’s School met with senior staff from contractors TJ Evers, architects Hollins and project manager Barkers Associates for the ceremony, which served to confirm the swift progress of the £3.5m project.

The climax of the event came when two Year 11 Music students – Theo Mama-Kahn and Jao-Yong Tsai – climbed to the roof and drilled in place a piece of ridge timber that had previously been signed by everyone present.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “The Music School will represent a major addition to the School’s facilities, enabling us to meet the growing demands of our Music department and of the boys involved in our many extra-curricular musical ensembles.

“It has been exciting to watch it take shape and to know that, with the project running on time, our pupils and staff will be able to move in during the autumn. Our attention is now turning to funding the musical instruments and other equipment necessary to furnish it to the highest standards.”

The ceremony was led by John Blundell, Site Manager for TJ Evers, who explained a little of the history of topping out ceremonies, which have been held for hundreds of years, usually marking the point at which a new building attains its maximum height. As on this occasion, topping out ceremonies often include an opportunity for those present to sign the uppermost beam, or its equivalent, thus providing a record of the occasion for posterity.

After a welcome in what will become an atrium area, all present signed the final piece of roof timber. Mr Blundell pointed out different areas of the building and what they would be. From the atrium, guests could see through to where the new recital hall will be, as well as to two ground-floor classrooms.

When the party moved into the roof area, the ridge decking was lifted up on to the roof and put in position. The two boys, Jao-Yong and Theo, then went up the scaffolding and fixed it in place with a drill. Everyone then returned downstairs to the atrium for a toast with non-alcoholic bucks fizz.

The go-ahead for the project was confirmed in 2019, following a successful £2.2m bid to the Department for Education. The DfE package includes a £1.2m grant and £1m loan.

Director of Music Ruth Partington, who was among the guests at the ceremony, recently led a research process to choose the grand piano that will take pride of place in the recital hall. The School’s Foundation Trustees have agreed to pay for the selected Yamaha piano, valued at just under £75,000. A new Piano Fund aims to raise another £30,000 over the coming months to meet the associated costs of pianos and further equipment.”

Among those attending the ceremony with Mr Blundell were: Mervyn Denney, Managing Director (TJ Evers); Martin Croot, Contracts Manager (TJ Evers); Joe Richmond, Assistant Site Manager (TJ Evers); Rob Marsh-Feiley, Architect (Hollins), and the project manager for QE, David Mugliston, (Barkers Associates). The School’s other representatives, besides the Headmaster, Miss Partington and the boys, were: Tara O’Reilly, Deputy Head (Operations); James McEvoy-Stevenson, Assistant Director of Music; Hannah Morgan, Music teacher; Caroline Grint, Music teacher; Silvia Shann, Facilities Manager, and Matthew Rose, Head of Project Support Services.

• For an overview of the progress of the Music School. go to our dedicated page about the project.

Renowned saxophonist, composer and educator Mike Hall kept QE’s senior musicians on their toes with a masterclass on jazz improvisation.

His hour-long, richly illustrated, online talk focused on examples of improvisation by two of the jazz greats, Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis.

The boys now have a couple of weeks to submit recordings of their own improvisations before Mike runs another two masterclasses in which he will offer them direct feedback on their work.

Director of Music Ruth Partington said: “This was a great event and we are very lucky to be able to welcome a player of Mike’s stature ‘to’ QE. At this time of year, we would normally be holding our annual Jazz Evening, so the timing of this first masterclass was particularly appropriate.

“Mike’s talk combined the perfect mix of approachability with some challenging concepts for our advanced students. He talked about how to improvise over chords using the notes of the chord, about guide tones and about specific scales such as minor pentatonics.

“And he included some live demonstrations on Zoom: it was wonderful to hear him play.

“The audience clearly enjoyed his presentation, and there were some interesting questions at the end.”

The class briefly covered the history of jazz, with Mike stressing that it is an “aural music…[that] should be learned initially by listening to and emulating great players”. He moved on to the specifics of improvisation, including the need to acquire the requisite skills, such as “strengthening the connection between your ears and fingers”.

Mike was Head of Jazz Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music for 20 years, during which time he directed well over 100 concerts with the RNCM Big Band.  He still teaches at the RNCM and has also taught at many jazz summer schools and been a consultant and composer for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM – a Music examinations board).

He began with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and then spent 20 years with Michael Garrick, the late English jazz pianist and composer – a period which saw them tour Malaysia as well as make several CD recordings and national radio broadcasts.

Today, Mike is a regular member of the Echoes of Ellington Orchestra and runs his own jazz duo, quartet and octet, for which he also writes.

A video of the masterclass can be seen on the QE Music department’s YouTube channel.

Two QE boys have won prestigious places in national youth choirs after being nominated by the School.

Year 9’s Joel Swedensky has been offered a place with the National Youth Boys’ Choir, while Eeshan Banerjee, of Year 13, secured the opportunity to sing in the National Youth Training Choir.

Congratulating the pair formally with Headmaster Neil Enright last term, Director of Music Ruth Partington paid tribute to colleagues who had helped them and expressed the hope that their achievement would be a foretaste of even more singing successes to come.

“It is wonderful that these two boys have been offered places in national ensembles – both had to audition for these places, and it is very competitive, so they have done extremely well to get in.”

Joel and Eeshan were put forward for their auditions by QE singing teacher Rhys Bowden, an Old Elizabethan (1995–2003) and a professional operatic tenor.

“With such an excellent singing teacher and with the appointment of our new Assistant Director of Music, Mr James McEvoy-Stevenson, himself an ex-Oxbridge Choral Scholar, I hope that more boys will start to have voice lessons, and that our singing will go from strength to strength in the future,” Miss Partington said.

Both choirs are part of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain organisation. The auditions took place online through Zoom.

The National Youth Training Choir is for boys and girls aged 15-18. Members receive the highest level of choral training, singing alongside some of the most gifted singers in the UK. They are introduced to repertoire from all periods, genres and cultures. The choir often collaborate with guest artists and, in non-Covid times, perform at leading venues.

Eeshan explained how his audition had gone. “There were two senior members of the choir, including the conductor, who listened to me perform and then got me to complete a few exercises to test my ability. I performed an Italian song called Dolente immagine di Fille mia and got special commendation for singing in Italian.

“I’m really excited to join the choir as the next step in my musical journey. I’m both looking forward to improving my singing and also having access to a massive range of opportunities.

“If it weren’t for Mr Bowden, who told me about the audition and pushed me to take part, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity, so I would like to especially thank him. I’ve been having singing lessons at QE for probably around five years, but he has been teaching for the past two years and really helped me to understand my voice and help me improve.”

Joel, who has been having singing lessons since the beginning of Year 8, also acknowledged Mr Bowden’s help. In his audition, he performed Where the Bee Sucks by the 18th-century British composer, Thomas Arne. “I feel like my singing has developed massively as a result of these lessons.”

Although a little nervous about the likely impact of Covid on the choir’s activities in the coming months, Joel said he has happy to be joining and hoped it would be fun.

In normal times, the choir, which is for boys with unbroken voices (trebles), offers opportunities to perform at venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and to train to the highest standards, with a wide range of music studied on residential courses.

Pupils of all ages served up a Christmas musical feast, ending the year with a virtual concert of festive favourites. 

Building on the success of the November concert, the 2020 Christmas concert again featured high-quality audio recordings of socially distanced ensembles, and this time there was video, too. 

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I am delighted that even amid the current restrictions, we were able to give our musicians the opportunity to play together in ensembles and to perform for a concert. I pay tribute to them for the high standards they achieved, and I trust that the recordings will lift the spirits of the entire Elizabethan community at this difficult time. 

“I congratulate our Music department staff, who have worked hard to master both the extensive logistical considerations of bringing ensembles together in a Covid-safe manner and the technology that has made all this possible.”  

During the last week of term, singers and instrumentalists were recorded performing carols and other traditional and contemporary Christmas music in an empty Chipping Barnet Parish Church and in the School’s Shearly Hall.  

Both venues were chosen because they were large enough to allow full social distancing. To make the experience as close to a live concert as possible, boys were asked to turn out in ‘concert dress’, where available – white shirts, instead of the normal light blue, and Music ties.  

Some of the recordings by the senior musicians in the church were played to Year 7 at the School in an end-of-term Carol Service which also included readings and some live carol-singing. Later, these recordings, together with those from the Shearly Hall, were uploaded to YouTube as separate videos, each with its own opening and closing titles and credits. These eight Christmas Concert videos are now available on the QE Music Department YouTube Channel.  

The programme is:  

School Choir Trebles and Altos: Once in Royal David’s City – Gauntlett arr. Willcocks 

School Choir Tenors and Basses: O Come All Ye Faithful – J F Wade arr. Willcocks 

Junior Wind: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Martin and Blane arr. Edmondson  

Junior Strings: Silent Night – traditional arr. Morgan 

Senior Orchestra: Trepak – Tchaikovsky arr. Story; Tidings of Comfort and Joy – traditional arr. Story; Jingle Bells Forever – Pierpont and Sousa 

Barbershop Quartet: We wish you a Merry Christmas – arr. Julien Neel 

Year 13 Choir I: The First Nowell – W Sandy’s Christmas Carols 1933 arr. Dan Forrest 

Year 13 Choir II: Personent Hodie – arr. Holst. 

Coronavirus restrictions may have forced major changes to QE’s normal Christmas arrangements, but there was festive spirit aplenty in the final week of the Autumn Term.

Boys and staff enjoyed tucking into a Christmas lunch with all the trimmings. Year 7 boys enjoyed an adapted version of the carol service, held this year at the School, instead of at the parish church.

And QE’s commitment to service and the community was not forgotten: the normal Christmas collections for charity went ahead, with parents, boys and staff giving generously to support local people in need.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “My congratulations and thanks go to everyone who has worked hard to ensure that, Covid-19 notwithstanding, the final week of term was as festive as ever. I wish everyone in our Elizabethan community a restful Christmas holiday at the end of this difficult year, and a healthy and happy 2021.”

In normal years, QE’s Service of Lessons and Carols takes place in St John the Baptist Church in Barnet, with a congregation including staff and all the Year 7 boys, as well as musicians and readers drawn from other year groups.

That was not possible this year, so QE brought the church to the School instead! Last week, a small group of senior musicians went to St John’s to pre-record two anthems.

These were then played between the carols, readings and antiphon performed live in this week’s Carol Service for the Year 7 year-group bubble.

“This gave our Year 13 boys a chance to sing at St John’s, and our Year 7s got to see what the church is like – on video at least,” the Headmaster said. “Hearing the carols ringing out from the Main School Hall lent a wonderfully festive atmosphere to the School, and our Year 7s savoured the opportunity to become part of this well-loved QE tradition.”

Readers included senior staff and 2020 School Captain Ivin Jose, with the Headmaster as usual giving the final Scripture reading, the famous prologue to John’s gospel.

The video segments featured the Year 13 Choir singing The First Nowell and Holst’s arrangement of the carol, Personent Hodie, from the Piae Cantiones collection of mediaeval songs.

The service also included performances of the popular traditional carols: Once in Royal David’s City; O Little Town of Bethlehem; O Come all ye Faithful, and Hark the Herald Angels Sing!

The Year 7 boys were mostly seated in the main floor area.

Social distancing was carefully observed: readings were given from the stage, while the musicians from other year groups – the choir, trumpeters and Year 12 Strings – were well spread.

Earlier in the week, pupils relished their Christmas lunch, with the catering team pulling out all the stops to serve up a festive feast of roast turkey or wild mushroom filo pastry crown, with pigs-in-blankets, stuffing, carrots, Brussel sprouts, parsnips, cranberry jelly and gravy, followed by Christmas pudding or yule log.

QE also continued with its annual collection for local charitable organisations, choosing this year to support Homeless Action in Barnet and Hornsey Parish Church, which is acting as a foodbank hub.

Parents, pupils and staff have been donating non-perishable food items, clothing and blankets over recent weeks, and yesterday a group of Year 9 volunteers helped to load a record number of bags into a QE minibus, ready for delivery.

Head of Extra-Curricular Enrichment Rebecca Grundy said: “We are very grateful to everyone who donated, and to our prefects and Year 9 helpers.

“This support will make a huge difference to vulnerable people this Christmas.”

Covid-19 caused the cancellation of the normal November Concert in front of a large audience in the Shearly Hall – but the Music department were determined not to be defeated by the pandemic. 

Director of Music Ruth Partington decided to use technology to showcase the boys’ musicianship and devised a creative way to recreate the experience of performing together.

Staff made special sound recordings over three days, featuring boys who had been rehearsing in their year group bubbles since September.  

Pupils from across the year groups were brought together in socially-distanced ensembles in two large venues, the Shearly Hall and Main School Hall.   

To recreate, so far as was possible, an authentic concert experience for the boys, they were asked to wear ‘concert dress’  – with white shirts, where available, instead of the normal light blue – and Music ties. 

The recordings were then put together as a high-quality soundtrack illustrated by photographs and broadcast as a YouTube Premiere in early December. The recording remains available on the Music Department’s YouTube channel. 

“We were determined to do our best to give all our musicians a collective ensemble experience and an opportunity to perform,” said Miss Partington. 

The virtual concert opened with a Best of Queen medley from the Junior Wind Band. 

It then featured contributions from the School Choir, Year 13 Choir, Junior Strings, Advanced Strings, Senior Orchestra and from the Gaubert Trio, who played Soir d’automne from Trois Aquarelles by the French composer, Philiippe Gaubert. 

Other works performed were by Grieg, Beethoven and Richard Rodgers (the Junior Strings’ performance of tunes from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!). 

The QE Blues Band brought the 51-minute performance to an end in upbeat style with the 1958 Mexican-style hit, The Champs.  

After the success of those sessions, the Music department adopted a similar format for the end-of-term Christmas Concert.