Music

At the Belvedere Academy, we aim to make Music an enjoyable learning experience.  We aim to build a musical curriculum which develops learning and results in the acquisition of knowledge and the improved well-being of all students, regardless of background or ability.  The Music Department aims to go ‘the extra mile’ to promote the personal development of students, so that they have access to a rich set of experiences, through a creative curriculum, and through spectacular Enrichment activities.  Students will experience and enjoy a wide range of musical topics throughout their time in Belvedere, and the ethos of making music (composing and or performing) lies at the heart of every lesson.  Through our broad range of exciting topics, we encourage all students to participate in a variety of musical experiences, through which we aim to build up their confidence, knowledge and passion.  Students will gain a thirst for Music and hopefully experience the many wonderful opportunities available to them, through the extensive Music Enrichment Programme.  

The Belvedere Academy has an excellent reputation for Music and the provision is set within the crucial wider educational context so that non-specialist and specialist musicians can benefit from a comprehensive range of Enrichment activities, excellent instrumental teachers and visiting artists, and access to great facilities.  Our aim is to enable students to realise their musical aspirations; students are open to extraordinary performance opportunities, which include numerous high-profile concerts each year and regular tours within the UK and overseas.  

Ultimately, we aim for students’ experience of the Music Department to positively impact both their musical development and perspective of the world.  In 2019, The Belvedere Academy Music Department won, “Outstanding Music Department UK” at the prestigious National Music Education Awards.  From September 2021, the academy will adopt Music as its principal specialism and this will ensure that the department will continue to flourish for years to come.  We live by our academy vision, “Be Brave. Be Bold. Be Belvedere”.

 

The Department

Where do I begin?  Blink and you’ll miss it!  The Music Department is 100 miles an hour, 25 hours a day, 8 days a week!  A strange and wondrous place,  where the air is filled to the brim with an eclectic cacophony of sounds - on certain days, you can even hear the printer ‘jamming’!  Sorry.   Enter if you dare?

In every nook and cranny of our department you can always hear weird and wonderful noises emanating from the various rooms; whether it's a brand new shiny Year 7 practising her favourite pop song, or an ancient Year 13 A Level musician, performing Bach studies from one of our five newly refurbished rehearsal rooms!  Delve a little deeper and you might see and hear our 60 student-strong Orchestra rehearsing for their next concert, or our prize-winning Chamber Choir rehearsing for their upcoming tour to Italy!  The department is a second home for many of our students and they really do rule the roost!   Your teachers Mr O’Keeffe and Miss McGowan will make you feel immediately at home.  That is, of course, if you can find them;  Mr O’Keeffe can often be found in a rare quiet corner of the department, ‘binge listening’ to choral music and 80s Synth-Pop, whilst Miss McGowan can often be found standing on a table, holding a brush, rehearsing for her Britain’s Got Talent audition that’s never going to happen.  Don’t upset her though; she has a ukulele and is not afraid to use it!  I (Mr O’Keeffe) might be the Head of Music but I’m definitely not in charge!  We don’t wish to sound like a broken ‘record’, and we have been known to blow our own ‘trumpet’ from time to time, but trust me; you can choose to start your musical journey from anywhere, but book your ticket with Belvedere, and watch how you travel to new musical heights!

Course organisation

Year 7
Half Terms 1 & 2	Rhythm and Pulse	Keyboard Skills
Half Terms 3 & 4	World Music	Space and the Universe
Half Terms 5 & 6	Superheroes	Internet Sensations

Year 8
Half Terms 1 & 2	Advanced Keyboard Skills	Cartoons
Half Terms 3 & 4	Video Games	Adverts
Half Terms 5 & 6	The Blues	Rap

Year 9
Half Terms 1 & 2	Musical Theatre	Christmas Number One
Half Terms 3 & 4	Film Music 1	Film Music 2
Half Terms 5 & 6	Reggae	Summer Pops

Year 10
Half Terms 1 & 2	Theory Booster	Free Composition
Half Terms 3 & 4	Defying Gravity	Star Wars
Half Terms 5 & 6	Killer Queen	Music for a While

Year 11
Half Terms 1 & 2	Brandenburg Concerto	Brief Composition
Half Terms 3 & 4	Pathetique Sonata	Performance
Half Terms 5 & 6	Release	Samba em Preludio

Year 12
Half Terms 1 & 2	Theory Booster	Free Composition
Half Terms 3 & 4	Vivaldi	Bach
Half Terms 5 & 6	Purcell	Mozart

Year 13
Half Terms 1 & 2	Brief Composition	Film Music
Half Terms 3 & 4	Musical Theatre	Performances
Half Terms 5 & 6	Exam Revision

Enrichment

Choir

Chamber Choir

Orchestra

Chamber Orchestra

The Ukuladies

The Belvlings

The Twelve

Trips

Spring Concerts - ‘Awakening’, ‘This Shining Night’, ‘Night at the Movies’, ‘Reflections’, ‘Night at the Musicals’.

Academy Productions - ‘Oliver’, ‘Matilda’, ‘Mary Poppins’.

The Belvedere Academy annual ‘Prize Giving’ and ‘Carol Concert’.

Other regular local concerts and events include - ‘Liverpool Light Night’, ‘Liverpool Echo Carol Service’, ‘The Educate Awards’.

Numerous excursions and educational trips to ‘The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall’, ‘The Empire Theatre’, ‘Liverpool University’ and much more.

Past tours include - Barcelona, Prague, Venice and Rome (performing at St.

Peter’s Basilica).

Staffing

Mr M. O’Keeffe - Subject Leader of Music

Miss M. McGowan – Music and English Teacher

Mr R. Smith - Guitar Tutor

Mrs S. Francis - Flute Tutor

Mr H. Michalas - Clarinet and Saxophone Tutor

Mrs J. Cunningham - Singing Tutor

Mrs D. Paiano - Violin Tutor

Miss H. Milne - Piano Tutor

Mrs F. Vella-Johnson - Cello Tutor

Miss H. Dawson - Brass Tutor