Music
Music is a very popular subject and has an extensive extra-curricular programme, with both Senior and Junior joining together for fantastic events to show off their skills:
Junior House Orchestra
Junior House Choir
Senior House Orchestra
Senior House Choir
Music plays a major part in the daily life of Westfield.
In the orchestras, girls play a variety of instruments in arrangements specially designed for their capabilities. In the choirs, the girls experience singing in both alto and soprano ranges and sing pieces with some fantastic harmonies. We also have a regular series of Solos/Small Groups Concerts for pupils throughout the whole school to perform to friends and families.
In addition to the Music Concerts, such as our Winter Spectacular and Summer Soirée evenings each year, we also hold a Harvest Festival and Carol Service in the Autumn Term, and Prize Giving at the end of the Summer Term. In Junior House, the students in KS2 also have a singing lesson scheduled once a week during which they prepare pieces for their pantomime in the Autumn Term and a themed morning concert during the Spring Term.
Our choirs perform regularly at events outside of school, such as carol singing at a local supermarket and taking part in a Choral Day with Newcastle School for Boys, when students sing in four part harmony.
Many students throughout the school choose to have private music lessons with one of our experience peripatetic music teachers on an instrument of their choice, including violin, piano, drums, singing and woodwind. We also celebrate our students successes in Associated Board examinations of all grades both practical and theory.
In our Junior House, each year group experiences a different instrument, such as keyboard, ukulele and recorders, enabling them to try new instruments.
In Senior House, the students have a range of musical experiences, taking them through performance, composition and listening techniques, in preparation for GCSE and A Level. They gain experience using keyboards and gain an understanding of how music is important in the world around them and how it impacts on daily life. They participate in a range of topics such as graphic scores, world music, game music, film music and dance music, allowing them to compose short pieces of music, listen and use the musical elements to describe an extract and perform short pieces either as a soloist or as an ensemble.
Students can take Music at GCSE and A Level, when they develop their skills further through composing longer pieces with a set brief, analysing key pieces of music, understanding how music has developed through history and performing a chosen piece of music as a soloist and/or in an ensemble.