Choir
The Choir is open to all boys at the school and is readily subscribed to. The age-range is 12-18 (the younger boys providing the upper voices – Treble and Alto – for the older ones – Tenor and Bass). In this way, the juniors can perform alongside the seniors at all the major events of the year -a wonderful experience for them.
The repertoire is as wide-ranging as is possible, from the great classics from Haydn, Mozart and Britten to more contemporary styles like Radiohead, U2 and Queen.
The standard is extremely high, and the Choir has made numerous television and radio appearances. They have also won many awards, including the UTV School Choir of the Year.
Rehearsals:
Monday Lunchtime: Full Choir
Tuesday Lunchtime: Alto Sectional
Wednesday Before School: Full Choir
Wednesday Lunchtime: Treble Sectional
Thursday Lunchtime: Tenor Sectional
Friday Lunchtime: Bass Sectional
Orchestra
The RBAI Orchestra is also a very large group (between 70 and 80 players) and combines junior and senior pupils. All the music is specially arranged by Mr Bolton to cater for different abilities, enabling the younger boys to perform alongside the older and more experienced ones, and to learn from them. In this way, we find that pupils develop much more quickly as musicians and as people.
The repertoire is as wide as that of the Choir, and the standard is similarly high, resulting in many trophies at Music Festivals over the years.
Rehearsals: Friday 3:30pm-5:00pm
Jazz Band
This is an elite group of jazz specialists, directed by Mrs Harshaw, and has become one of the highlights in our concert programmes. A wide range of jazz styles are explored – from swing to funk. They have also won many festival trophies and are much in demand for outside engagements.
Rehearsals:Tuesday and Thursday before school
Music and Drama
RBAI has a thriving tradition of stage musicals (often in collaboration with Victoria College). The music for these productions is directed by Mrs Harshaw. Most recently, she composed music for a highly acclaimed performance of Macbeth and was the musical director for an adaptation of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers.
Shakespeare and Strawberries has become the annual Junior School show that sees the boys of RBAI and the girls of Hunter House collaborate to produce abridged versions of some of Shakespeare’s well known plays set to contemporary music. In recent years we have seen Romeo and Juliet performed to the songs of Elvis Presley (arranged and musical direction by Mrs. D. Harshaw) and Antony and Cleopatra to the songs of Rick Steinman (arranged and musical direction by Mr. D. Saadat.)
Ensembles
There are many other smaller ensembles in our thriving Music Department, including.
String Ensemble- Friday before school
Clarinet Ensemble- Thursday before school
Saxophone Ensemble- Friday before school
