Last summer, William Davenport and Jordan Picken brought me their composition entry for the BBC Dr. Who Proms competition. I was expecting to make a few suggestions as to how to improve it, but it was perfect already and I felt that it was a potential winner. But how could it possibly win when there were hundreds of entries? Well it did win. There were two classes and William and Jordan won the junior class.
We went to the BBC studios in London to work with Ben Foster, one of the composers of the music for Dr. Who, to prepare this piece to be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. This is the orchestra that is used to record all the Dr. Who music.
The piece was performed at the Dr. Who Proms on the 13th and 14th of July, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
So I found myself at one of the greatest venues in the country, at the greatest music festival in the world, watching a performance of a composition from two of my students! Not a bad day!
So I found myself at one of the greatest venues in the country, at the greatest music festival in the world, watching a performance of a composition from two of my students! Not a bad day!
There is an important lesson here: the best that we produce in this school is often equal to, and can be even better than, the best that anyone in the country can do.
