Friday Headlines

Year 8 host their very own Samba Carnival!

Senior School

23 March 2018

Throughout the past week, Year 8 have been taking part in samba workshops, led by our very own samba supremos, Miss Williams and Mr Southall! Our music lessons have been transformed into sensational samba ensembles fit for carnival, and on Friday 16 March, the combined band of 8K and 8W unleashed their musical skills for a very memorable lesson.

Our Sambadrómo (the Britten Room), was all set up for an hour and ten minutes of pure samba – and so were we; the room was a rainbow as we had all come equipped with our own home-made samba headdresses, plastered with feathers, jewels, flowers and in some cases, even miniature parakeets! Samba instruments ranging from maracas to bass drums were arranged in a circle and we all sat down behind an instrument. From that moment on, we were an unstoppable bateria – a samba band. Miss Williams went over the rhythms for the different instrument sections – the agogo bells and wood blocks on the syncopated rhythm: I-am-hungry-I-want-some-pizza, the smaller drums were also hungry on: I-want-some-lunch; and the bass drums held everything together along with the maracas, djembes, tambourims, cabasas and bongos playing their rhythm. Although there were forty of us, we had to work as one, following signals from Miss Williams on her apito whistle – four long notes meant a drum solo and I-am-hungry-I-want-some-pizza meant everyone played their various rhythms at the same time. Throughout our lesson, we learnt about the different parts of the samba ensemble, and we had a chance to try out different instruments, and to have a go at improvisation.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and have all found and channelled our inner samba musician. We would all like to thank the music department for such an amazing experience!

Year 8 pupil

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