Skip to main content

The Arts at Saint David's: Morning Concert by Our Orchestra and Ensembles

Yesterday, Lower School boys were treated to a morning concert by the First Orchestra (Grades 1-3), Lower School Percussion Ensemble (Grades 1-3), and Philharmonic Ensemble (Grades 3-8).

Directed by Carla Francis, our budding musicians in First Orchestra played D String Song, Fuzzy Wuzzy (with the Pre-K boys accompanying in song), and The Gingerbread Man.
The new Lower School Percussion's first-ever performance featured French Folk Song (traditional), under the direction of John Francis.
They were followed by the "big boys" of Saint David's School Ensemble, conducted by Philip Hough, who provided the audience with a sampling of what the Ensemble will perform later this month at Carnegie Hall: works by Haydn, Mancini, Bizet and Mussorgksy.
All of the groups were so impressive, their performances reflecting the hard work and dedication of the boys, their directors, and coaches.

Saint David's values "balance in all things" and the arts is one of the four pillars of a Saint David's education. It manifests in strong art, music, and drama programs, and an appreciation for aesthetics.

The creative exploration in these areas inspires discovery of passions and instills confidence in our boys. It also cultivates a culture of respect and empathy. In music, as the players in an orchestra or ensemble take cues from and cooperate with one another, they are able to deliver a piece of integrity, beauty, and harmony.




Popular posts from this blog

"The Wisdom Within" - Building Student Motivation Through Choice

In the third entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative quarterly blog series, Master Teacher Jim Barbieri explores how providing boys with agency to choose builds motivation and enhances learning. BUILDING STUDENT MOTIVATION THROUGH CHOICE By the time I was eight years old, I had become completely absorbed in all things baseball. Living in New York was perfect for a baseball fan; although I was a Mets fan thanks to my idol, Tom Seaver, I was also interested in learning about all the amazing Yankees stars of yore. How could I call myself a baseball fan if I didn’t know the history and records of stars like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Yogi Berra? I loved collecting baseball cards and reading the career statistics of each player on the back. Looking through my collection one day, I discovered that I shared a birthday with the legendary Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente. At eight years old, I was crushed to hear the news that he had died tragically in a plane crash while trying to ...
Read more

"The Wisdom Within" - Bringing Sound to Space

In the second entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative's quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," Saint David's reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Cathy O'Neill explores the pedagogical power of play in the education of young boys. BRINGING SOUND TO SPACE It began with a mound of mangled metal and the vapor of a vision gleaned from recent comments and random fact-dropping by the Pre-K boys. Unsure of what exactly I was looking for, but fueled by the idea of a makeshift rocket to dovetail with our upcoming space unit, I gingerly picked through the scrap pile until my hands grazed an old VW control panel devoid of its dashboard. Eureka! An array of knobs, dials, and buttons - while in reality, dead as doornails - in the right small hands, would become the epicenter of our NASA-inspired dramatic play corner. With a couple of lawn chairs and some old CB radio microphones to round out the set, engines would be ignited by the power of imagination. All systems go...
Read more

"The Wisdom Within" - The Superpower of Performance

In the following entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative blog series, Saint David's Director of Music and Master Teacher Jeffrey Moore explores how participating in performances and productions build transformative competencies, transmit values, and inspire boys to excel. Jose Antonio Abreu, one of the leading educators in classical music and the founder of El Sistema said this: “Music has to be recognized as an agent of social development in the highest sense, because it transmits the highest values  — solidarity, harmony, mutual compassion. And it can unite an entire community and express sublime feelings.”¹ At Saint David’s School, performance begins in the very first years. Each class, from Pre-K through Eighth Grade, presents their work to an audience of peers and parents, whether it is a story, a skit, a play, a lecture, or a musical presentation. But the increasing complexity and demands on our boys to push themselves to another level is the key to their development and succes...
Read more