The Music Department is very active at Burford School, with concerts and performances happening several times in a term.
We have two main orchestras, Senior and Training, which also sometimes perform as Concert Band and String Ensemble. We play a range of repertoire including film and show music as well as classical standards. The orchestras provide music for school events such as Open Evening and the Charter Day and prizegiving evenings as well as giving concerts every term.
Membership of these ensembles leads to a place on the annual Music Residential, held at the end of the summer term. This is a unique opportunity for students to spend a week learning music that goes beyond the standard of what would normally be expected from a school orchestra. We have spent time in the countryside near Banbury and also in Colwyn Bay in North Wales. “Music Res” is a very popular trip including about 120 students and staff and many friendships are formed on these trips. The week culminates in a Prom-style leavers’ concert back at school.
We also have a dance band called “All That Jazz”, who have played on school nights and also in the local community at the Burford Beer Festival and Shipton Cricket Club. There is a variety of small ensembles such as two vocal groups and a brass group, which have performed in Witney, Chipping Norton and Uffington amongst other places.
Once every two years at Easter, Years 9-13 put on a musical production. We use professional musicians, sound and lighting to make the production first-class. Previous productions have included Jesus Christ Superstar, Oklahoma, Les Miserables and We Will Rock You. Easter 2011 saw the very successful production of Hairspray.
Other special events include the biannual singing competition “Star for a Night” where students battle it out in front of a live band, a Battle of the Bands (run in conjunction with our own Rock School) and many trips out to see concerts and West End productions.