Y Pant Music

The summer’s here and the weather is fine – for the time being at least.  Here’s to a tiring, successful academic year.  From start to finish it was action packed.

Children in Need once again proved to be a big success and unveiled some new talents and gave some old-heads fresh opportunities.  The Christmas concert was spectacular – the best we’ve ever had.  It was truly festive and had the added bonus of Llantrisant Community band performing which made it really special.  The final number, O Holy Night arranged beautifully by Mr Breeze, finished the evening perfectly.  It included everyone who’d performed through the concert and a new star presented itself in the shape of Laura – the little girl with a big voice!

Y Pant’s Got Talent was once again a massive success.  It was a variety event that showcased some extremely talented pupils and was also a farewell tribute to Mr Evans and Mr Morgan – two highly respected teachers, colleagues and friends.  There probably won’t be  YPGT next year – we are planning to put on a musical – Peter Pan possibly.

YPF and the Enviro-Vision also proved to be huge and successful.  We have a lot to live up to next academic year.

This is only going to be a short entry.  However, there have been some big successes.  The orchestra has some exceptionally talented young people playing now and I foresee big things in the next six years for them – I am very proud of them.  Pupils are doing well in their instrumental exams and they should be pleased and looking forward to the future – it’s a bright one!  My GCSE class have finished – I hope to see them all again in September doing music or at least continuing to get involved in extra -curricular music programmes.  They were a very special bunch and it was a touching moment when they performed a tribute song and dance to the music staff in YPF 2010 – thankyou.  Of that bunch, Emily Ady is living up to the potential we saw in her way back in the day.  She recently won the V Factor and I’m sure she will go on to bigger and better things as a singer songwriter.  Amy Bridges is adopting a bigger pair of boots now!  We all knew she was a talented singer but is now strutting her stuff as a film actress.  She is involved in front of the cameras making a film with a company called Hunky Dory.  I don’t know much else at this time but she is involved in filming this summer so no rest for the wicked.  Good luck to you Amy – you’re already a star in our eyes and we’ll do what we can to support you in the future.

I’ve always believed that pupils will thrive and strive to success in their own way in their own time.  The short term and long term future looks very promising for the talented musicians in Y Pant.  We will continue to support, facilitate and provide as many meaningful opportunities for as long as we possibly can.  It’s not about us, the staff, it’s about the pupils, and one way or another they never cease to achieve and attain beyond expectation.  Well done all, and good luck next year.

Well, this was the best festival we’ve done yet.  From start to finish it was an amazing event.  Finally, after years of bad weather the sun was out and this encouraged our biggest turn out yet – more than 800 people were at the event altogether stamping this as the second biggest event in RCT – the biggest being Ponty in the Park.  Yes really!

Everyone involved performed incredibly well.  There were so many involved I just can’t mention everyone.  However, I will say a huge thankyou and well done to every single one of you – you know who you are.  The guitar Hero tent was fab – adding a bit of extra fun to the event.  The live lounge (gazeebo!), a new feature this year organised by Mr Perkins, was a huge success.  Something we hope to do more often next year.  The main stage was jam packed with talent.  I am going to mention a few because I think they were stand-out talents.  Emily Ady – a star is born.  She is our very own V-factor winner, writing and singing her own material and of course being an explosion of energy when fronting her band.  We’ve known for a long time she was a real talent but over the last year has blossomed – well done Emily.  We will miss you next year (unless you change your mind!).  Amy Bridges.  We all know Amy now.  What a voice.  She looked really comfortable fronting a band and absolutely sounded sublime singing New York State of Mind.  Well done Amy.  I could go on to mention everyone but you and I will be here for days so I’ll mention just one more. a band that really turned my head and surprised me with a performance.  A band that included Callum, Josh and a friend of theirs on bass not from Y Pant.  They really rocked – get their autographs now because they are band to keep an eye on!

There were also talents from Llanharry drop-in centre, Bryn just up the road and Hawthorn who were all fabulous.  I must mention Tom from Hawthorn because he was preparing for the X-factors boot camp.  I don’t know how he’s got on but I wish him all the luck in the world – the next Robbie Williams.

I’m going to sign off now.  What I will say is that from beginning to end the show got better and better.  It was a step up from last years’ event – the best yet – and it’s all down to the talented pupils.  Staff in the school supported, guided and facilitated but it’s all about the pupils.  Well done to everyone involved.  An extra big thankyou to Straight Lines, the headlining act.  They quite simply put a performance on that was as good as if not better that some big acts I’ve seen in the past, and I’ve seen a few.  I have a feeling I’ll be speaking to people in the future and will be mentioning Straight Lines in the same breath as the Strereophonics and Oasis.  They were brilliant.  Thankyou.

I hope there is another YPF.  A bigger, better, brighter YPF IV.

You may already know, but for the record, we won the Enviro-Vision Song Quest July 2010 – whoopeeeee!!!  I am so proud of the team for their levels of energy, commitment and ability, before they even reached the final stages of the competition they were already winners in my eyes.

For those who don’t know what the competition is all about, here goes nothing – it is a song writing competition open to schools across RCT.  Each entry has a theme to write lyrics about.  Each theme is related to an issue about the environment.  Our theme two years ago was food waste, last year it was dog fouling, this year it was graffiti and fly-posting.  The top six set of lyric entries earned the opportunity of a two-day work shop to set music to the lyrics and record the song.  This was a tremendous opportunity because the guys who came in (Gaz and Alex) to deliver the workshops are working professionals.  To give you some idea of their credentials they’ve worked with the likes of Charlotte Church, and at events such as Glastonbury.  Fab people and really, really good!  Once the song was recorded, the pupils spent three days rehearsing and sound checking for a live performance at the Muni in Pontypridd against the other five schools.

Following the workshops to write and record the song I knew we had a great song.  The way the pupils conducted themselves and performed in the workshop opened my eyes, and Gaz and Alex, to the amazing talents we had in the team.  Lucy and Becky were tremendous in their ability to create melody, harmonise it and perform it spot on time and time again – a truly sought after ability in the recording world.  Ed was amazing.  He showed real talent as a song writer and became the group leader in a way.  Morse (Ryan) – I know he’s a guitarist but he played bass and demonstrated fantastic musicality – brilliant.  Jack the rhythm Langmead – the best rhythm guitarist in town!  Ashley – a big hitter in drumming terms really rocked it.  Groovy Greavsy and cool Callum on percussion added a little spark that probably gave us the edge in the final stages of the competition.  The orchestral section, Olly on sax, Abbie on flute and Arrianne on violin all added a touch of class which again separated us from the best of the rest.  Finally, the ladies on keys, Martha and Carmen completed the ensemble with little stylistic touches that polished the song off.

When it came to the stage competition, there were only two major contenders.  Us and Tonypandy.  We had energy, drive and a chorus that slapped you in the face like a big wet fish!  Tonypandy had drama, atmosphere and two super stars in their drummer Gavlar and their lead singer Kate.  Other schools, Hawthorn, Tonyrefail, Aberdare Girls and Mountain Ash all had great songs with important messages and did amazingly over the two day rehearsal and sound check at the Muni.  Mountain Ash had a groovy song with a rap in the middle that made them stand out from the crowd.  The girls from Aberdare had a summer song that was sublime – it really did bring the sunshine into the gig.  Tonyrefail also had an energetic driving song and Hawthorn had a big sing-song chorus that could be an anthem for this event next year.  However, when it came down to it, our lyrics, breadth of instrumentation and team work (not to mention the T-shirts our art department designed) gave us the winning edge over Tonypandy – other than that there was very little in it.

I have to say, Y Pant were tremendous live.  Ed, Becky and Lucy led from the front and looked like seasoned professionals backed up by a band of old-timers who’ve done nothing but gig all their lives – they were brilliant and I’m so proud of each and every one of them.  At the time of writing the team have already performed at Ponty in the Park and will be performing at the Millenium centre in September.  What an achievement.  They’ve also won the opportunity of another workshop to write a song with a completely different educational theme of their choice.  So if you see the team (Lucy, Becky, Ed, Jack, Martha, Carmen, Ashley, Callum, Sean, Oliver, Arrianne and Abbie), congratulate them – they deserve it.

Well, we’ve finally made it to the holidays! Wrapping up our year with a performance of Visual Pollution by our Year 10 Envirovision winners in final assembly, we put our equipment away for the last time, shared our congratulations and good wishes (especially to Mr Perkins, who is leaving us to go to university), and set off for some serious rest and relaxation!

Thanks to everyone who has performed for us this year (and it is an absolutely huge number of you!) – your dedication and commitment is truly appreciated. Well done to everyone for the work you have done in lessons too, and good luck to our exam students for your results in the summer.

Next year we’ll have plenty of excitement ahead – we are already discussing the March production and the Christmas concert. But for now, it’s time to come to a halt for a few weeks and recharge the batteries.

Whatever you’re doing, have a great holiday and we’ll see you all in September.

Here’s a YouTube video of the performance at the muni last night, filmed on a mobile phone by a parent who was in the audience. Hope you enjoy it!

The Envirovision winners will be performing their song in assembly tomorrow – so come along and have a listen!

Here’s the song that won Y Pant the Envirovision Song Contest last night. Remember, our talented pupils wrote the lyrics and the music, as well as performing it on the night!

Visual Pollution

A great video here by our very own media expert, Jack Isaac. Enjoy!

I have just had news through from the muni that the Y Pant Envirovision song contest has been victorious! After several years as runners-up, our entry, Visual Pollution, which you may have heard performed at the YPF festival on Friday, has been judged the winner!

More news to follow. Congratulations to everyone who took part!

Some of the photos from Friday have appeared now, and I’ve been sorting through them today. A large number of them are up on walls around the department, so I hope you all find a good one of yourself up there somewhere! Here are one or two to whet your appetite:

I’ve just walked in and things are looking pretty messy in the music department this morning! I’m not sure how we’re going to get through today with things in such a state, but it was definitely worth it. The general opinion was that the festival was the “best ever”, and I certainly agree with that! The new acoustic tent was a brilliant innovation, and we’ll definitely be sticking with that. We may even bring it out a few times during the year because there was such a  great atmosphere there, and we were able to see plenty of new talent performing there.

Well done to everyone who took part on Friday night – there was a huge buzz amongst all the performers, and it was great to meet new talented friends – Ryan from Bryn and Tom from Tonypandy were truly excellent, and real professionals in the way they took part in the show and worked with the rest of us. I hope everyone had a great time – congratulations, and watch this space for pictures and other information as we come to the end of the year.

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