Music

List of 6 items.

• Upper School Music

  The music programs at Hamden Hall create opportunities to nurture both the most advanced and complete beginner high school musician.  Through comprehensive programming by our teaching-artist faculty, students are immersed in an environment that expects excellence while maintaining a supportive community of likeminded young artists.

• Upper School Choral Music

  Hamden Hall has a great singing tradition, which continues to evolve under the direction of Mr. Matthew Harrison (B.M. James Madison University; M.M. The New England Conservatory).  Students can sing both during the day (for credit) or outside of school hours to participate in a wide variety of ensemble offerings.  Our newest groups on campus, On A High Note and The Ransom Notes, are collegiate style a cappella groups that cover contemporary music without instruments.  Hamden Hall students highlight their talents through exposure to industry standard studio technology:  Finale, Protools, & Melodyne.  Students work to create professional level recordings of music that was specifically arranged for their voices.  

   

  Incorporating elements from college level classes (ear training, sight reading), students work hard to develop music literacy.  Studying solfeggio (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do), participants in vocal ensembles ultimately become lifelong learners and appreciators of music because they have the tools to read and interpret any composition.  Working in small classes, students have the opportunity to find their own voice.  Every voice is unique and every student is treated as an individual.  This musical empowerment often leads to a more confident, creative, well-rounded person.

• Concert Orchestra

  The concert orchestra is a performing ensemble comprised of students who play woodwind, brass, string and percussion instruments. The concert orchestra's repertoire includes arrangements of wind and orchestral compositions, popular tunes, and concert marches. The class focuses primarily on developing students’ technique on their instruments, their ability to play in an ensemble, and their overall musicianship. Proficiency in reading music and competency playing an instrument are requirements for participation in this ensemble. The concert orchestra is open to both middle school students by audition and to upper school students. Upper school students who enroll in concert orchestra meet twice a week in small groups and rehearse on Friday mornings in a larger group of approximately fifty students.

• Jazz Ensemble

  Participation in the jazz ensemble is offered to those students who have a special interest in learning to play jazz, an original American art form. The repertoire will include compositions from the classical jazz repertoire, as well as contemporary pieces. In addition, students will study jazz chord progressions and their related scales so that they can then create their own improvised solos. Auditions may be required. The jazz ensemble rehearses once a week after school.

• Middle School Ensemble

  Middle school string, woodwind, brass and percussion players may choose to participate in our middle school ensemble, which meets on Friday mornings. In addition, middle school instrumentalists meet once a week for instruction in a small class setting. Middle school students who are advanced and who take private lessons on their instruments may audition to participate in the upper school concert orchestra.

• Chamber Ensembles

  Students in the upper school may elect to participate in a chamber ensemble. Chamber ensembles may meet during or after school, depending on students’ schedules.