WELCOME TO THE EXTRA-CURRICULAR MUSIC BLOG FOR 2024-25!

Please see below information about what our excellent musicians have been doing outside of the classroom! 

This morning, the family members of the remainder of our Year 1 - 6 iRockers enjoyed a superb concert! Once again conducted by their band leader Matt, the children demonstrated excellent focus and confidence in their performances. Up first today was Cowboy with 'Eye of the Tiger', which was followed by Sausages' 'I Ain't Worried' and then We Will Rock You performing 'Allstar'. Next to take to the stage was Surfin' in the USA with their rendition of 'Green, Green Grass' and, ending our show, was Nonsense with 'We are never getting back together'. This was another excellent set of songs and Miss Kropman and Mrs Davies were very impressed with all of the bands. Congratulations to everyone who performed today. 

This afternoon, the family members of some of our Year 1 - 6 iRockers were treated to a fabulous concert. Their band leader, Matt, has tasked the children with working very hard each Thursday or Friday this term, and the children have more than risen to the challenge! Taking to the stage first today was SparkleShine with 'Beautiful Things', which was followed by I Like My Suitcase's rendition of 'Kung-Fu Fighting'. To end the show, Five Republic performed 'Counting Stars'. As always, they had chosen a super set of songs and Miss Kropman and Mrs Davies greatly enjoyed hearing them. Well done to everyone who performed today. 

This morning, the whole school (and orchestra members' families) were treated to an end of term concert by Miss Kropman and Ms Carter's orchestra. Our orchestra, who have been rehearsing before school each Thursday morning this term, performed two pieces from well-known films. First up was 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocios', which was then followed by the theme tune from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. Both pieces were played with confidence, accurate timing and impressive tuning, demonstrating just how well they listened to each other. To have reached this level is incredible, given that many of the orchestra members have been learning their instrument for only one year or less. Miss Kropman was very proud of all of them this morning and would like to thank Ms Carter for conducting them so brilliantly, too.

Orchestra members: Annabella, Ariana, Ayla, Betsy, Catherine, Darcy, Elsie, Elizabeth, Hugo and Matilda. 

If anyone has been inspired to learn an instrument, or join orchestra, please speak to Miss Kropman. We would love to have you join us! 

This evening, twenty-one of our incredible Year 5&6 children performed on the stage at the iconic Royal Albert Hall as part of the Hertfordshire Schools’ Gala. After a busy afternoon of rehearsals for the choir, the audience took to their seats. Our choir sang If I Had Words, When I Grow Up, Believer, Make Your Own Kind Of Music and You’re The Voice, supported by a talented array of secondary singers and the Hertfordshire Schools’ Symphony Orchestra. They were absolutely wonderful tonight and Miss Kropman could not be happier with their performance. I greatly enjoyed singing on stage with you today and am so proud of all of you! x

Thank you to Ms Baldwin for coming with us today and to the exceptional choir:

Year 5: Chikamji, Ellie, Florence, Joel, Mary, Matilda, Oskar 

Year 6: Amelia C, Betty, Catherine, Elina, Emma, Ferris, Hudson, Ida, Joseph, Lydia, Rayan, Rosie, Sofia, Thomas 

(and wishing Ruby better - we greatly missed you today). 

On the afternoon of World Book Day, Miss Kropman took twenty-two of our brilliant Year 5&6 singers to a massed rehearsal, which took place at The Eric Morecambe Centre theatre in Harpenden. We joined with the nineteen other primary schools who are in our Hertfordshire Schools’ Gala and, for two hours, practised the songs we will next perform at The Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 23rd March. As you can see from the sneaky snippets below, our choir were in fine voice today and can’t wait for the concert! Well done to all of them for representing Brookmans Park School so well today. 

On Monday 10th February, twenty of our most talented singers from Year 3 - 6 took part in the world's largest youth choir concert series, performing at the iconic Wembley Arena along with over 4,000 other children. After rehearsing a vast selection of amazing songs and medleys since September, the choir were in fine voice (quite literally!) as they began the afternoon rehearsals. 

Following a successful afternoon, excitement levels rose even further as the audience began to take to their seats at 6pm. By the time the concert began at 7pm, however, the Brookmans Park choir were raring to perform! They sang brilliantly, performing for two hours with enthusiasm and superb musicality. Below are just a sample of the amazing performances from the night and some pictures which hopefully demonstrate what a super time we all had! Miss Kropman is exceptionally proud of all of our singers for representing our school so incredibly throughout the day. We would all like to thank Mrs Christodoulou, Ms Karpasitis, Mrs Ray and Mrs Tompkins for coming with us for the day, and to show our appreciation to all of the family members that were in the audience last night. Bring on next year!

Brookmans Park YV Choir: Isla, Betty, Catherine, Elizabeth, Poppy, Espen, Ryan, Amelia C, Rose, Jason, Eloise, Florence, Matilda, Ella, Chikamji, Lottie, Molly, Sophie S, Sophie T, Lara 

This afternoon, Herts Music Service and Miss Kropman hosted a music fair, allowing children in Years 2 – 6 to try out some of the instruments that we offer lessons for in school. These included: violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet and saxophone. Twenty-eight children took advantage of this excellent opportunity and very much enjoyed their first experience on the instruments. Miss Kropman is now looking forward to many of them signing up for lessons and performing to us in the future!

In our final end-of-term music assembly, seven of Mr Nicola's guitar students took to the stage. They all played beautifully (despite it being such a cold day) and were both confident and assured throughout. Our KS2 audience and family members were very proud of the high standard demonstrated by: Arthur, Jessica, Liam, Max, Ruby, Ruwa and Simukai.

Thank you and well done to all of them, in addition to Mr Nicola, who has taught them brilliantly this term.

If anyone has been inspired to learn the guitar after this assembly, please ask an adult at home to contact Miss Kropman. 

Miss Kropman's KS2 choir went to Asda, Hatfield, after school today to sing carols and raise funds for our school charity, Herts Young Homeless. They performed some of their favourite songs ahead of February's Young Voices concert at Wembley Arena, including 'Marley Magic', 'Little Blue' and 'Try Everything', before turning their attention to Christmas repertoire. The watching family members and shoppers delighted in hearing classics such as 'Little Donkey' and 'Away in a Manger', and joined in with great enthusiasm with 'Jingle Bell Rock' and our grand finale ' I wish it could be Christmas'. 

Choir should be very proud of themselves for representing the school so brilliantly this afternoon. One shopper even commented on how hearing such beautiful singing had made her Christmas! A big thank you went to everyone who took part from Herts Young Homeless, who were extremely grateful for our support today. Well done, choir!

Choir members: Amelia, Betty, Catherine, Chikamji, Elizabeth, Ella, Eloise, Espen, Florence, Hugo, Isla, Jai, Jason, Lara, Lottie, Matilda, Molly, Poppy, Rose, Ryan, Sophie S and Sophie T. Guest member siblings for our final song: Jessica and Reuben! 

In yet another awesome music assembly, nine talented drummers performed to the school this afternoon. Each of them played brilliantly and were extremely confident, much to the delight of the very engaged audience! We loved hearing a range of exciting pieces that included both graded pieces and tunes by artists such as Eminem and Ed Sheeran.

Well done to Harry G, Estelle, Edward, Mary, Ryan, Thomas, Harry J, Christian and Dylan. They were all superb today. Thank you to Matt for teaching them so brilliantly. 

If anyone has been inspired to learn the drums next term, please ask an adult at home to contact Miss Kropman.

This morning, a talented array of musicians performed to the school and their families in our end of term orchestra, strings and woodwind concert. First up, our orchestra demonstrated beautiful harmonies and impressive collaborative music-making in their performances of 'Silent Night', 'Hark the Herald' and 'Jingle Bell Rock'. Following this, Ayla wowed us on the cello, then Elizabeth and Sophie were absolute superstars on the violin. Our flautists - Ariana, Elsie and Simmi - played with great confidence before Matilda and Chikamji demonstrated excellent clarinet and saxophone playing. Well done to all of them for a brilliant concert, which we all greatly enjoyed watching. Thank you to Miss Carter, Miss Gardner, Miss McGuinness and Mrs Lines for teaching them so well. 

Orchestra members: Annabella, Ariana, Ayla, Catherine, Darcy, Elsie, Elizabeth, Hugo and Thomas.

If anyone has been inspired to learn an instrument, or join orchestra, please speak to Miss Kropman. 

This afternoon saw a fabulous end of term piano assembly, featuring ten of Mrs Kropman (Miss Kropman's mum!)'s students. Each of them performed with confidence and musicality, which greatly impressed the large audience of KS2, staff and family members. We particularly enjoyed hearing a range of polished exam pieces, Fur Elise (shared between three talented pianists!) and Christmas classics. Congratulations to Alis, Ayla, Christian, Daniel, Ellie, Hugo, Isabella, Juliette, Liam and Ruby. They were all superstars today and should be very proud of themselves! Thank you to Mrs Kropman for teaching them so well this term.

If anyone has been inspired to learn the piano after this assembly, please ask an adult at home to contact Miss Kropman. 

This afternoon, the family members of our Year 1 - 6 iRockers were treated to performances by their talented children. Each band has been working hard with their band leader Matt on a Thursday or Friday throughout this term. First up we had King Birds' Radioactive, then We Will Rock You's Shotgun. DSM followed with Shut Up And Dance, followed by Guardians Of The Galaxy's Sky Full of Stars. In the second half of the concert, we heard We Are Gonna Win's Eye of the Tiger, Imagination performed Believer, The Griddy shared Heatwave and 4 Republic finished with Party in the USA. This was an enjoyable set of songs and Miss Kropman had a great time rocking out! Well done to everyone who performed today. 

UKS2 were absolute superstars this morning as they shared what we have been learning in our music lessons this term. They performed three WW2 songs - 'We're Going On A Journey', 'The White Cliffs of Dover' and 'Hey Mr Miller'. Miss Kropman was very proud of their beautiful singing and superb glockenspiel skills! 

Years 5 and 6 had their first ukulele lesson today with Kathryn McGuinness from Hertfordshire Music Service. In just thirty minutes, each class successfully learnt not one, but TWO chords! They demonstrated a very promising start and we can't wait to share our progress with you. Please enjoy the video of Topaz using the chords of C and Am.

After only three weeks of rehearsing together, Miss Kropman and Ms Carter's orchestra played Cauliflowers Fluffy in today's Harvest Festival. The school sang along brilliantly and were very impressed by orchestra's amazing musicality! Miss Kropman is so proud of the small orchestra we have this term, but would gladly welcome any additional members. Please come and speak to her if you are interested.