A tuneful cornucopia
Our Director of Music, Mr Martin, reports on the latest musical activities at St Augustine’s Priory:
‘The last two weeks have seen some fantastic performances from girls in the Junior and Senior Schools. There was a splendid lunchtime concert organised by Miss Aspinall for her harp pupils. All the girls who took part played very well, and congratulations are owed especially to those who have only been learning for a few months. It was also a pleasure to hear a performance from our own Head of Preps, Miss Keane, also one of Miss Aspinall’s students! The audience included the whole of Prep III and this was a lovely opportunity for them to hear and support some of their classmates.
Music at Mass is going from strength to strength, with girls regularly offering their musical talents before, during or after the Mass. Girls have chosen a range of appropriate music to enhance the contemplative atmosphere, from Maggie Amos’s ‘Sing Hosanna’ on the oboe to Arushi Misra’s sung ‘Morning Has Broken’. Instrumental performances from Zara and Shahla helped maintain a prayerful atmosphere before and after Upper IVA’s Mass this week, and particular mention should be made of Bethany and Shahla who sang and played the worship song ‘Oceans’ at the Offertory. The Senior Chapel Singers also excelled themselves at Communion with their rendition of Tallis’s anthem ‘If Ye Love Me’.
We have been granted permission to publish the Mass setting composed last year by girls in Form III to Upper IV. The Mass setting was approved by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales Music Panel, which means it is considered to be a faithful and appropriate setting of the prescribed liturgical texts. It is great to have received this “seal of approval” of the Mass setting which the whole school has taken to heart over the last year.’
