BCC Music Department: Choral/ Ensemble/Music School Blurbs
Choir
Bunclody Community College chamber choir is open to every student in the school with a desire to sing. No previous choral or musical experience is necessary. There is no formal audition process and any student interested in singing in a choir is most welcome. Choir members learn good vocal technique with an emphasis on posture, diction and breathing. Students learn to listen to each other, sing harmony, support a musical phrase and discover the joy of singing together. The choir rehearses on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes as well as before school and regularly in the afternoons with extra rehearsals before a school event or performance. The choir is the heart beat of the school and it provides the students with an opportunity to sing and make friends with students from other years and to excel in a co-curricular activity. The choir gives each student confidence-building opportunities as it performs at various school events throughout the year. The choir performs at the school Open Day, the annual Carol Service, awards ceremonies, school recitals, variety show and graduation ceremonies. The choir also takes part in the Kilkenny interschool’s Music Festival. They have performed live on regional radio and at the National Opera House. They regularly sing in the local community and have performed at local events, fundraisers, afternoon tea parties, the local nursing home and they sing Christmas Carols in the local community town square each year.
The repertoire of the choir includes a vast selection of Christmas Carols and sacred music. Contemporary classical music and Popular classics are favourites of the choir aswell as Musical theatre and Jazz. The choir have recorded two albums one Christmas themed album and one popular classical and Musical theatre album. They have travelled to France and performed live at Nantes Cathedral. Every year, the choir attends a show in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and most recently they attended ‘Wicked” in the West End London. Recent popular works performed by the choir include medleys from: The Lion King, Annie, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Wicked, and Les Miserables.
Traditional Irish Music Ensemble Group
Music plays an integral part of daily school life at Bunclody Community College. It seemed a natural progression that a school Traditional Irish Music Ensemble was developed, tapping into the wealth of musical talent evident in our Students. The essence of the group is performance development. We are fortunate to have musicians who play a wide range of instruments. Our ensemble comprises of violin, harp, guitar, flute, recorders, tin whistles, keyboard, accordion, banjo, ukulele and percussion. We are interested in a broad range of Traditional Irish melodies such as jigs, reels, airs and traditional songs. Students very quickly build up a varied repertoire and are equally at home performing at school ceremonies. Through our association with other school bands, we have been in the past invited to play at “The National Opera House”. We hope to continue this association in the future. Indeed like every other school band, we perform at many school celebrations and special occasions. Each Christmas, music takes centre stage at Bunclody Vocational College and the Traditional Irish Ensemble group perform at the annual school Christmas awards day.
In the spirit of Christmas, a group of musicians also perform for the residents of the local nursing homes and conduct a live performance open air in the town square raising vital funds for Breast Cancer and bringing the Christmas spirit to all.
BCC Music School
BVC Music School offers a rich instrumental programme of private, paired and group tuition. These lessons are offered both at lunchtimes and in the afternoon and evenings. Currently lessons are available in Guitar, drums, voice, piano, bodhran, fiddle, tin whistle, flute, ukulele and banjo. Any additional instrument that a student wishes to seek tuition in we can recruit a tutor for this upon application.
Ukulele Club
The Ukulele Club was founded by the current Arts and Music Prefect two years ago. It runs weekly on a Tuesday at lunchtime for all students. We learn how to play a range of popular songs on the Ukulele. Students do not need to have their own Ukulele. The Ethos of this ensemble is that it is informal and is run by the students for the students. Transition year students act as tutors for this club as part of their Gaisce student leadership and personal skill accreditation. New members to this group are welcome at anytime!
Guitar Club
The guitar club currently has twenty-eight members and rehearses every Wednesday after school. Repertoire is varied and it is open to all ability levels. They perform at school ceremonies and the ethos of the group is active music making, wellness and promotion of performance confidence.
Orchestral Ensemble
The Orchestral Ensemble features Harp, Piano, Violin and Flute. They perform classical favourites such as Pachelbel’s Cannon and Beethoven’s Moonlight Sinatra as well as some Irish classical favourites.
The following videos will give you a flavour of our student performances over the past few years: