2008 - 2009 Annual Report - St. John's-Kilmarnock School

Music Report
This year, SJK music included vocal, choral, Orff, instrumental, and MIDI training.
The Lower School music program enjoyed a varied and exciting year. The Primary choir performed
at the Christmas carol service in December, the Kiwanis Music Festival in April, and the Canadian
celebration, “Roots and Branches”, in June.
The Junior choir sang at the Guelph Storm home opener in September, Founders’ Day in November,
the Christmas carol service, the Kiwanis Music Festival in April, as well as performing at two
Seniors’ homes in Kitchener (December and June). They also shared their music at Prize Day and
had enjoyed a fun afternoon seeing High School Musical in St. Jacob’s. The Junior choir played an
important role in our final all-Canadian “Roots and Branches” celebration at the end of the year.
The Grade Four and Five classes each received gold placements in the Guelph Kiwanis Festival in
early April, and the Grade Five class received a monetary award.
The Lower School’s final celebration week of music included an art specialist who worked with
each individual class; and two native visitors who shared their experiences and culture with all
classes and orchestrated a final full-school enormous drumming and dancing circle out on the field
by the chapel. The week was capped off by all children participating in "Roots and Branches", with
performances by both choirs, all classes, and individual singers. All the people in attendance shared
music and movement in our final song, Build a Bridge.
Middle School music students in grades six, seven and eight learned to play a band instrument,
worked on theory and composition in the MIDI lab, and trained their voices to sing as a group. As a
special event, each student in grade seven made a short instrumental recording on his or her
instrument. These recordings were heard by parents at Celebration of Our Learning. Grade eight
students focused on performing a musical for the Middle School community in May 2009. Students
of 8A performed The Best Little Theatre in Town, and students of 8B performed The Return of the
Glass Slipper.
In 2008–09, the Chalmers Singers were formed. These thirty-six Middle School students gained
entrance to the choir through invitation or by successful audition. They performed at Friday
evensongs, Remembrance Day, Founders’ Day, Middle School carol service, Celebration of Our
Learning, Prize Day, and at Kiwanis where they achieved a gold standing.
The number of students taking music in Upper School was a record in 2008–09. The four grade
nine students and ten grade ten students combined to make SJK's first band. These students
performed at the Upper School carol service, with the choir at Kiwanis, and at Prize Day. While the
focus of the class was band, these students also created compositions in the MIDI lab, which they
sang as the school’s new Disklavier played their MIDI-created accompaniment.
The Kilmarnock Singers performed at various events, including Friday evensongs, Founders’ Day,
Remembrance Day, Upper School carol service, the Conference of Independent Schools’ Music
Festival (CISMF), the Waterloo Region High School Choral Festival (WRHSCF), Eucharists, Kiwanis,
ArtsAroundsUs, and at the Upper School Prize Day. The choir achieved a gold standard at Kiwanis,
and had a weekend away in Toronto for the CISMF.