Afternoon of musical delights to recognise superb achievers
The County Wexford School of Music (CWSM) marked the incredible achievement of their students who achieved top marks in their instrumental exams recently with a concert showcase.
The afternoon featured solo performances from the students who achieved a distinction grade in their exams last year. The school had over 35 students achieve distinctions, 19 of which performed at the concert.
The event also featured awards to those who scored highest in each instrument. There were intermediate awards for grades 1-4 and advanced for grades 5-8, these awards were presented by Deputy Chairperson, Karl Richards and all the awards were kindly sponsored by school co-founder, Eileen Herlihy.
The afternoon concluded with the presentation of the Alan Cutts Perpetual Cup. This cup is named after the co-founder Alan Cutts, who sadly passed away last year. The school had a naming ceremony last year and named the recital room, where the concert was held in his memory. The Alan Cutts Cup is awarded to the student who scores the highest overall score in the advanced category across all instruments and was awarded to violin student Aisling Gouldson who sat her grade 7 exam last year.
Principal David Creevy said: ‘To achieve a distinction takes a combination of important factors. First the teacher needs to impart the information effectively to inspire the student to reach their full potential, highlight what needs to be mastered and set clear objectives each week to move towards that goal. Teachers only see their students for 30 minutes each week so all the hard work is then on the student to practice with focus, determination and patience. The exams are a great platform to develop the ability to perform to their personal best in a room with an examiner they’ve never met. Distinctions are usually earned over doing several exams and gaining the necessary experience to test their playing under pressure. Our winner of the Alan Cutts Cup, possess all of these qualities and is a great example to our younger students. We are very proud of Aisling.’
Although exams are not compulsory at CWSM the exams can place great focus and emphasis on goal setting, something David Creevy is very passionate about. Recently the school partnered with Dragons Den pitch coach, Catherine Moonan, and gave a talk on goal setting vs goal achievement and over-coming nerves to achieve what we want.
‘We know that the majority of our students will study something else in college but that music has and will play a key role in their personal development. Our vision for the school is that students will leave with a deep understanding of a process to help them achieve what they want and understand the nature of goal setting vs achievement, they will understand why they did or didn’t achieve a goal and transfer those understandings and skills to something else the feel passionate about later in college/career.
‘Many schools talk about the personal development skills gained from studying music in a mission statement but we want to go further and develop an actual curriculum that shapes the lesson plans for staff and the daily practice habits of students. We are working on it collectively and having Dragons Den pitch coach, Catherine Moonan partner with us is a great step forward. We would like to thank all the parents for their support and choosing music education for their children.’
CWSM is now enrolling for next year offering a range of vocal and instrumental tuition to all ages.