Music
Christopher Trevor-Roberts was a trained opera singer and believed strongly in the value of music as part of a child’s education.
A key belief of the Music Department is that music is central to a child’s intellectual, social and emotional development. The skills to perform, compose, analyse and listen to music are accessible to all students, and music remains an important part of the school day.
A number of children move on to senior schools with music scholarships, and recent leavers have gained awards at Eton, Westminster, City of London School for Boys, UCS, Highgate and Frances Holland.
Trevor-Roberts choir tour of Tuscany, May 2023
The Chamber Choir sang a three-part arrangement of Over the Rainbow for Her Majesty The Queen on 5th December 2018.
Music lessons
Children at Trevor-Roberts have music lessons two or three times a week and study theory, composition, music history and musical analysis. However, the core of the curriculum is practical and performance-based. All children possess the ability to sing, and students become confident singing alone and as part of a group in music lessons and extra-curricular activities.
We have three choirs at Trevor-Roberts: a Junior Choir (open to children in Sextus and Quintus), a Senior Choir (open to all children in the Senior Department) and a Chamber Choir (a small group of hand-picked singers who embrace more advanced choral repertoire).
Everyone is encouraged to be part of a choir, and students participate with enthusiasm. The Senior Choir and Chamber Choir perform regularly both in and outside of school. Every Christmas we sing for the Coram Christmas Celebration at St Andrew’s Holborn, and in March 2023 some of the older students embarked upon a five-day tour of Tuscany, performing in Florence, Lucca and Pistoia. The school has also developed a partnership with Aurora Nova, an all-female, professional choir who sing at St Paul’s Cathedral, and perform in concerts with them and other renowned musicians.
Performance
Regular performance is crucial for developing a child’s confidence from an early age and this confidence supports all aspects of a child’s development.
All children sing in front of their peers regularly in class, in assembly and in end of term productions. Each class puts on a musical twice a year and the vast majority of children have a solo singing role.
Ensembles
Playing in an ensemble is one of the chief pleasures of being an instrumentalist. We have a number of instrumental ensembles at TR, most of which are open to children of all abilities. These include a jazz band, rock band, brass ensemble and cello group, as well as the three choirs.
Instrumental
We have a team of eight peripatetic teachers who offer private tuition on a range of orchestral instruments, piano, voice and guitar. These lessons take place throughout the school day.
Approximately three quarters of children learn an instrument, either within school or externally, and are encouraged to perform regularly in front of their peers.
Choir Concert with the Basin Street Brawlers
On Thursday 23rd May the Trevor-Roberts Senior Choir put on a concert of hymns and spirituals with the Basin Street Brawlers at St Mary’s Church, Primrose Hill. There was also a performance from the Junior Choir.
The full concert is below.
