By Geoffrey Stanford, Headmaster at Newcastle Royal Grammar School
At the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle we have recently celebrated the centenary of the organ which was donated to the school as a war memorial by Sir Arthur Monro Sutherland. It stands proudly in our main hall, an impressive sight with its gold painted pipes and the names of those who have fallen in conflict carved into its wooden panels.
It serves as the focus for our annual remembrance events but it has also played a key role in the various assemblies we have held to mark the jubilee, the death of Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles.
Learning the organ requires a very particular dexterity as it has three different keyboards played with hands and another played with the feet, even before one takes into account the range of different stops that allow the player to conjure a variety of different sounds from the instrument. One needs to be a reasonably competent pianist before venturing onto the instrument but, over the last four years, we have had three of our musicians reach a standard to apply for organ scholarships at Oxford with another trying in the coming year. As you may imagine, this means that they can be found practising before and after school and sometimes during break and lunchtime too.
Those schools that are fortunate enough to have such an instrument, would most likely have a Christian tradition and the organ would typically be housed in a chapel. While the RGS was originally founded in the precinct of St Nicholas’ Cathedral, these days in Jesmond we are very much a secular school with representatives of all faiths and none. The RGS is also unusual in that the design of the main hall means it serves as a thoroughfare on both ground and first floor of the building. This means that the sight and sound of the organ being played is part of the normal daily lived experience of every pupil coming through the RGS.
At the other end of the school buildings, again in a main thoroughfare just outside the new library, is a new purpose built assembly space called the Agora which serves as a performance stage for regular lunchtime performances of a variety of genres, for example allowing aspiring singer songwriters to share their talent. This shows the warmth of our school community as a growing number of pupils and staff make time in their day to come and listen. Through supporting their contemporaries who stand up to perform our pupils also learn to respect and believe in each other. Such shared experiences are what make the RGS so special, helping build the sense of belonging that is a core pillar of our ethos.
I often say that academic results should be the consequence of a good education, not the purpose of it. For the vast majority of our pupils, engaging in musical activities, whether as audience or performing in the wide variety of musical ensembles available, has nothing to do with the academic qualifications they might pursue. However, music is so much part of human culture and these regular experiences of live music develop breadth of understanding and appreciation.
As a result, our pupils will be far more rounded individuals. Most importantly, music at the RGS creates an environment to stimulate creativity that students will take with them for the rest of their lives, as well as providing social and mental health benefits for those around them too.
www.rgs.newcastle.sch.uk