Professional Musician Inspires Students

Before half term, the music department welcomed guest speaker, Alex Aitken. Alex most recently spent three years as Children’s Musical Director and Cover Conductor on the London Production of Mary Poppins. In addition to his work with schools, Alex is also a Music Director with the National Youth Music Theatre, the Assistant Musical Director at MK Chorale, a coach with The Oxford and Cambridge Singing School and accompanist to The National Children’s Choir of Great Britain, Oxford Pro Musica, and The Military Wives Choir. St Bart’s were therefore delighted that Alex was able to give our students a whole day of his busy schedule.

The morning kicked off with an A Level music conference, during which Alex extended his expertise as an Edexcel examiner to provide some insights and top tips on preparing for the course components. The students were able to ask lots of questions and gained an even deeper understanding of how to aim for the top marks, as well as some useful notes and materials for review in the weeks to come.

During the afternoon session, Alex then lead a conducting workshop with our young conductors. Whilst sharing his own experiences as a West End conductor, Alex inspired and tutored each of our students in developing their own skills to be able to lead and direct the ensemble, which we hope is just the beginning of their conducting journey.

Thank you to Alex for a really inspiring day and to the students for their engagement, contributions and making the most of this valuable opportunity.