Solo Festival October 2023

This past weekend, 160 students performed at school as part of the Solo Festival. There were also 14 Student Adjudicators alongside our adult adjudicators.

Each performing student had prepared a piece beforehand and had potentially practiced with an accompanist or with a backing track. The festival sessions had approximately 6-10 students who took turns to play in front of the small audience in their session. Adjudicators in each session gave feedback after each performance and also written feedback which was shared online. Here are some samples:

“Tenacious performance – well done for your commitment”

“Lots of interesting articulation in this performance that really helped to shape the music.”

“This was super singing; I could hear all the words really clearly and you have a beautiful voice. It was so lovely to see you enjoying performing because that makes the audience enjoy your singing so much too; well done!”

“Wow. Great job. Your playing is very stylistic and precise. This is a tough combination to achieve and you did it very well. My advice is to play with same intensity throughout a song… even if it is an easy bit. Congrats and well done.”

“The next step is to do a bit of research into what a Vocalise is. Match that with your existing skills and you will be able to take this piece to the next level!”

Each adjudicating student had the opportunity to use their listening and analysis skills and feedback to the performing students on phrasing, deportment, articulation, dynamics etc. This is a great insight into the role of adjudicator who will soon be assessing their own exam performances for IGCSE and IB.

Many thanks to all the staff and students who helped to make this a huge success!