Published on: Monday, November 15, 2021
Music across both King’s College and King’s Hall School has grand plans with the recent appointment of Director of Music, Tom Brimelow. Music is already an important part of every day at both schools, with opportunities for everyone to get involved in numerous musical activities. King's musicians love performing and have a broad experience of every musical style, to ensure they appreciate how it's put together and what impact music can have on us all.
At King’s Hall School, music is taught to all year groups and there is a continuous provision of choral singing throughout. For those keen to learn an instrument, there are weekly individual lessons as well as musical ensembles such as a full orchestra and separate groups for brass, string and percussion instruments. As part of their weekly music lessons, full class tuition is given on violin to Year 2, brass to Year 3 and woodwind to Year 4.
Gareth Dayus-Jones, Head of Music at King’s Hall School commented: “The thriving music department provides an eclectic mix of musical opportunities and ensembles which pupils are encouraged to join, whether it is to further their musical development or simply just for fun.”
King’s College offers music at GCSE and both music and music technology at A level, and many students have progressed to read music at university. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the musical life at King’s, whether that’s in weekly sung services in the school chapel, the RocSoc, Big Fun Choir, Big Band or the newly established King’s School Symphony Orchestra and chamber music programme.
Tom Brimelow joins King’s College from Exeter School where he was Assistant Director of Music. After studying music at University of Edinburgh, he started his teaching career at Gordano School in Portishead before moving to Sherborne School where he taught music and music technology. A former lay clerk at both Truro cathedral and St. Mary’s Episcopal cathedral, Edinburgh, Tom has a passion for choral music, plays the piano and violin, and has an interest in the philosophy of music.
Tom reflects: “I am genuinely excited to be working with such talented colleagues in a school with a rich choral tradition. We recognise the benefits of music as not just an enjoyable pastime but to the all-round brain gym. Music improves emotional wellbeing, engages visual, auditory and kinaesthetic styles of learning and develops scientific, mathematical, linguistic and creative thinking.”
He joins Gareth Dayus-Jones who studied music at King’s College Cambridge, is a trained pianist and sang as both a soloist and in internationally regarded vocal ensembles such as The King's Consort, The Eric Whitacre Singers, London Voices and The Queen’s Six. Gareth was a Lay Clerk at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle for eight years which allowed him the opportunity to live within the walls of Windsor Castle and take part in many prestigious events. While highlights in his singing career include a role in the world premiere of Stockhausen’s mighty opera Mittwoch aus Licht, working with Eric Whitacre as a member of the Eric Whitacre Singers, and singing in several operas staged at the Royal Albert Hall, pupils tend to be more impressed with the fact that he sang on the soundtracks to The Hobbit, Flushed Away and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
Currently, pupils at both schools are looking forward to a busy Christmas period of concerts and carol services and then, in the New Year, King’s Hall’s orchestra will be taking part in the postponed TYCA Music Festival where they will be playing a composition written especially for them by the composer JJ Hathaway. The performance will be the culmination of a number of workshops and rehearsals which have given them access to players from the professional Southern Sinfonia orchestra and have been led by their conductor, Simon Chalk.