Hitting the Right Notes at A Capella Competition

Leighton Park School proudly hosted seventeen schools from across the nation as for this year’s exhilarating ISA A Capella Competition on Tuesday 18th March. It is an honour to again host an invaluable musical event for children’s personal and educational development. Director of Music and Media, Rosemary Scales, shared the LP philosophy that stands firmly with our Sound for Soul initiative: “Music is for all, whether that is playing, singing or listening to it. It not only nourishes the soul; music provides countless opportunities to learn, perform and grow; requiring persistence and giving a great sense of achievement.”

The competition featured three distinct categories, tailored to different age groups: the Junior Category encompassing KS1-2 pupils, the Middle Category comprising KS3, and the Senior Category highlighting KS4-5. Judges Pascal Blaschta (actor and freestyle rapper) and Lisa Lynn (singer, actor and improviser) evaluated each performance, awarding scores out of sixty based on criteria including balance and blend, energy, rhythm, dynamics, and intonation.

Leighton Park students did the School exceptionally proud, lapping up a second place in the Middle Category, with a rendition of ‘Hallelujah’ by Leonard Cohen and third in the Senior Category, with ‘All Seems Beautiful to Me’ by Eric Whitacre.

Bella (Upper Sixth) enthused: ‘For me, learning and performing an A Capella piece is so musically enriching as the lack of instrumental support draws focus to the tone and blend of the voices. The experience of performing A Capella in a huge choir (such as National Youth Choir – where I was first introduced to choral A Capella) is so different to singing in such a small group, and it creates both the stylistic and technical challenge of blending to form a coherent, singular sound. The connection between individuals really has to be focused in order to achieve this and I loved rehearsing with all my friends to shape such a beautiful piece of music. When performing a harmonically dissonant piece like Whitacre’s the feeling on stage is electric; and I am lucky to be able to work alongside such skilled singers who can balance the tone and texture of our voices in this way.’