First Year Music Masterclass

As part of the First Year co-curricular music programme, a masterclass was given by Ellen Blair, Musical Director, composer and violin/viola player from Soul II Soul, EchoStrings and the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra. Ellen presented a timeline of the evolution of strings in pop music from the Beatles, Disco era and through to Indie songs by the likes of Oasis. Pupils were inspired by Ellen’s first-hand experience of playing internationally at some of the world’s biggest music events such as the WOMD and Glastonbury Festivals. She discussed specific techniques for both live performance and music videos with interesting stories such as the filming of Soul II Soul’s hits in Epping Forest at night time. Costume, choreography, improvisation and recording studio experiences were all shared. Ellen was able to hear the 1K ensemble perform their version of Clean Bandit’s ‘Rather Be’ that they are working on for their own project. Ellen is a great example of a classically trained musician who has branched out to embrace many genres of music including chart music. It was a wonderful reminder to all musicians that being versatile and dynamic is a great thing and how the years spent achieving graded exams in music can result in something so exciting.

Mr Assen, Director of Music