There are several much-anticipated music events this term that have been cancelled due to the current lockdown but the St John's Rednotes band have been determined to continue their music remotely. Rednotes teacher, Mr Lepage-Dean, encouraged the musicians to come together online and to record a well-known track from the comedy musical 'Little Shop of Horrors'.
Mr Lepage-Dean explained, "Rednotes always looks forward to performing key gigs at the West Road Summer Concert Hall and the end of term Parents' Association Garden Party, as well as the Jazz in the Piazza. As these have been cancelled, I wanted to provide a platform for the group to continue performing in a safe way so they could stay together and produce music and they were all incredibly enthusiastic to do this!"
One of the Rednotes members commented, "It was brilliant to keep our music going through the lockdown time and to get together to record the piece. It was great when we heard the final track with all of our sounds coming together."
Rednotes was created seven years ago, giving the chance for keen musicians to perform some classic popular tunes that people will know, as well as some re-arranged tunes. It started out as a jazz project but now is more of a function band and it provides the children with the chance to play something a bit different and expand their harmonic and rhythmic skills.
Rednotes currently consists of four trumpets, two alto saxes and one tenor sax, and the band always includes a tight rhythm section. Mr Lepage-Dean remarked, "We are lucky enough to have six outstanding singers who can work with harmonies and all have star quality individual voices." After the track had been recorded, synced and mixed, the final version was shared with the band with great response.
One of the band's parents comments, "Thank you so much for giving the children the opportunity to sing and play together in lock down. This is something to treasure forever! I know it must have been really hard work to put together. Thank you for your time and inspirational support."
Please click on the link to listen to the track: Little Shop of Horrors