MARCH NEWSLETTER
THE RETURN OF RHIANNON
I know Rhiannon has been greatly missed by her previous students—evidenced by the excited whoop from some of the children in church! Please click here for a link to her video message from the Spring Ensemble Recital.
For the Summer term, Rhiannon will be teaching both Choirs on Monday evenings but will not yet resume 1:1 lessons.
If your child would like to join the choir—or has a friend who would love to sing alongside them—please get in touch!
The Choir will be performing Matilda the Musical at the end of June, and there’s still plenty of time to join in and be part of this fantastic performance.
February Newsletter
New Team Members | Halloween Recital 2024 | Key Dates | Accomplishments | Lesson Discontinuation/Swap
NEW TEAM MEMBERS
We are pleased to welcome Emily Rooke to our team. Emily teaches violin, singing,
musical theory and beginner’s piano.
Emily loves helping students discover and explore their love of music. She holds a
DipABRSM in Vocal Teaching and is working towards being a teacher-assessor for
the ABRSM Music Medals examinations. She has completed a Master of Performance
in Singing at the Royal College of Music.
Emily’s timetable is rapidly filling up, give Fi Hutcheson an email at admin@putneymusic.com if you’d like to organise a trial lesson!
🎃 HALLOWEEN 2024 ‘IN PROGRESS’ RECITAL
2024 brought about another absolutely fang-tastic spoooooky Halloween ‘In Progress’ recital. Well done to everyone involved (and it’s never too early to start thinking about something for this year’s video).
Please click HERE to enjoy 2024’s entry, I hope you have a terror-ific time! 👻
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Christmas 2024
The school had wonderful success over Christmas with invitations for some of our soloists to perform at the Fulham Palace Christmas Fair and for the Putney Youth Choir to perform at the Putney Light Switch-On outside St Mary’s Church. Capped off by the wondering Winter Recital and the Putney Youth Choir performance at the service of Nine Lessons & Carols at our very own St Margaret’s Church.
Our performers received a lot of positive feedback, including:
“You were all absolutely great and I received very positive comments afterwards.”
– Fulham Palace
“On behalf of us all at Positively Putney regarding the Putney Light Switch-On event last Saturday, I want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your incredible performances.
Your music and performances truly brought the community together, creating such a joyful and festive atmosphere. The hard work, talent, and enthusiasm of your performances added so much warmth to the event, and it would not have been the same without you.”
– Positively Putney, organisers of the Putney Light Switch-On
“[C]ongrats on a stunning Carol concert, Rhiannon and her choir really did knock everyone’s socks off!”
- Penny, Choir Mum
ABRSM Success
Congratulations to all our recent ABRSM exam candidates. All your hard work has clearly paid off and we hope you’re all very proud of yourselves. A big well done to you all.
👏🏻 Alec achieved a Merit for Grade 1 Piano! ⭐
⭐ Matilda achieved a Distinction for Grade 3 Singing for Musical Theatre! 👏🏻
👏🏻 Naomi achieved a Distinction for Grade 1 Violin! ⭐
National Youth Choir
One of our students, Otterley, has been accepted into the National Youth Choir.
She has been performing with the Putney Youth Choir for several years and
everyone at Putney Music School is delighted by her excellent achievement.
LESSON DISCONTINUATION OR LESSON SWAP DEADLINE
As per our terms and conditions, all classes and lessons continue from term to term unless we receive six week’s written term-time notice. The deadline for this year will be Friday 21st of February.
We have a deadline as we have to sign a contract and pay for our hire space several months in advance, and we also have to guarantee our teachers their hours. It’s also important for us to balance out our group classes. Thank you for your understanding.
January Newsletter
We are pleased to welcome the following new members to our team:
Martha Littlehales
Martha is standing in for Rhiannon during her absence to run both our Junior and Senior Youth Choirs. Martha is a choral conductor, singer and pianist, and was recently appointed as a Royal School of Church Music’s Emerging Leader, where she assistant conducted on the RSCM’s Youth Choir tour.
Phoebe Tak Man Chow
Phoebe will be accompanying Martha. Phoebe, who as well as being an experienced accompanist, is also a seasoned repetiteur and will bring a new
dimension to the choirs. Phoebe has worked with the Royal Opera House Youth Opera Company and is currently working with the Rodolfus Foundation
Lucy Carpenter
In August 2024, Lucy made her professional debut in an Actor Musician adaptation of Beauty And The Beast in which she played piano, saxophone and sang many musical numbers; “I had the most joyous time!” Having trained at Drama School, she is a huge lover of all things music and musical theatre and can’t wait to share the joys and wonders of music learning with her students.
As with all of our teachers, our 3 new team members are highly qualified in their fields and professional musicians.
Matilda
Performance planned June 2025.
September Newsletter
Half Term Musical Holiday Camps | Putney Youth Choir | Student Successes | Concert Dates | Buddy Week
Putney Youth Choir is going from strength to strength. After our wonderful sold-out production of ‘Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’, we’re working towards lots of exciting projects this term, including our first competition! You can see our gallery from our production of Joseph by clicking here: Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Gallery.
Autumn 2024 with Putney Youth Choir
📽️ Entering the Banardos Choir of the Year Competition
❄️ Our Winter Concert on 1st of December
🎄 Singing at the Putney Christmas Lights Switch On
🎅🏻Singing at St M’s service of Nine Lessons & Carols with orchestra
We’re currently accepting new members so come and join us for a choir trial:
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
📅 View our term dates here.
🎻 FREE weekly concerts - there is a free concert every at 4pm on Sunday at St Margaret's. Children are welcome. Sign up to the mailing list here.
🎹 16th September - 30th September - Booking for the autumn exam season is open. Please speak to your teachers about this if you would like to take an ABRSM exam this term.
🎃 20th October - deadline for videos for our Online Halloween ‘In Progress’ Recital. Dress up in a spoooooky costume and play or sing your piece to be included. This is our ‘in progress’ recital, so you can include a small snippet of a piece AND you can wear a mask and stay totally anonymous - this video is shared on youtube and social media so you will need permission from your parent/carer. Watch our last Halloween Recital here:
21st -26th of October -Buddy Week - bring a friend to your lessons!
🎄Saturday 30th of November - Putney Christmas Lights Switch On - Putney Youth Choir will be performing Christmas & Hannukah songs as part of the celebrations.
❄️ 1st December at 4pm- Winter Concert ‘Festival of Light’ at St Margaret’s. All students are invited to participate. Rehearsals from 12pm on the day.
🎅🏻15th December at 6pm - Putney Youth Choir sings at St M’s service of Nine Lessons & Carols
STUDENT SUCCESSES
🎊 Congratulations to Keynotes Piano student, L. 🎹 who won 1st prize in the 2024 Practice Challenge. 🎊
🏆 L. only started playing the piano in April and has been a practice champion - she has progressed from Keynotes Storytellers to Keynotes Foundations in only one term. 🎹
🏆 L. won a gold medal and a day out with a friend to Chessington World of Adventures!
👏 Incredible work, L! 👏
Student Interview… Eva
Specialist Performing Arts School
Eva has just started at Sylvia Young Theatre School, a specialist performing arts school. Eva has been a student at Putney Music School for over four years and has actually been taught by our principal, Rhiannon, since she was a toddler!
Putney Music School: Hi Eva, what made you decide to choose a vocational arts school?
EVA: I really want to perform in the West End when I’m older and I thought this would give me the best experience and opportunity to fulfil my dreams.
Putney Music School: How do you fit in your academic work around all your singing, dancing and acting?
EVA: there are 3 days of academic learning (Monday-Wednesday) and 2 days of vocational learning each week.
Putney Music School: What is different from going to a ‘normal’ school?
EVA: Along with only getting 3 days of academic learning each week, children are often away for auditions or jobs, which the school’s agency has put them forward for.
Putney Music School: Do you have a favourite subject and why?
EVA: I love singing the most because it’s what I’m most confident at doing.
Putney Music School: Any advice for someone who’d like to follow in your footsteps?
EVA: Keep believing in yourself, keep your mind open to all opportunities offered and keep trying and never give up!
Thank you, Eva, and good luck with all your studies!
BUDDY WEEK 21ST-26TH OCTOBER
Invite a friend to your music lesson. Music is more fun with a friend.
From Monday the 21st of October to Saturday the 26th of October, we are inviting all students to bring a friend to their 1:1 lesson, group class or choir rehearsal.
By the end of this week, everyone will have received an invitation to pass on to a friend. Their parent/carer will need to fill in the form (by scanning the nifty QR code) and then they can attend with their music buddy for the day.
We hope this will be an opportunity for all our students to show off their musical skills and increase the social element of their music making!
SUMMER TERM EXAM CANDIDATES
Congratulations to all our summer term ABRSM exam candidates. Well done to all of you. Your hard work has paid off and we hope you are very proud of yourselves.
Putney Music School is very proud to maintain its 100% pass rate. This year, 29 students took exams and 22 of them achieved Merit or Distinction - 75%! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Edward sings at Westminster Abbey
Here's is our student Edward at the Westminster Abbey Choir School Chorister Experience Day. He sang in evensong which was a wonderful experience. He had a tour of the Abbey, including the organ loft. Edward was one of the founding members of Putney Youth Choir and has performed some stunning solos over the past few years. Edward studies singing and piano with Meinir Wyn Roberts.
Chorister experience days are open to all who love to sing. It was a memorable day.
Do you have any musical news you’d like to share in our next newsletter. Send us an email here for it to be included: