If Music Is The Food Of The Soul, Kampala Music School Fed Us

May 30, 2002

EVEN birds, which boast of the best musical talent and sonorous voices could not compete with the full throttle of musical instruments played by Kampala Music School students last Sunday.

EVEN birds, which boast of the best musical talent and sonorous voices could not compete with the full throttle of musical instruments played by Kampala Music School students last Sunday.Most of the students had gone through rigorous vocal and instrumental practice and had perfected for the evening classical performance meant to prepare them for practical exams next month. The over 40 pupils and students from Grade One to diploma level, are to be examined by Timothy Barratt from the Associated Boa-rd of the Royal Schools of Music in London.At 6:30p.m., all the expectant guests were settled at the residence of the managing director of dfcu Group, John Taylor and wife Moragh. Prena Popat, a grade one pupil set off to quench our appetites with a piano recital of G.F. Handel’s Minuet. The young prodigy’s fingers flew over played the piano keys with zeal, as he took us on to a crescendo and eventually calmly brought us back to earth with a soft ending. A thunderous clap followed for a work well delivered.A grade three soloist Chiaki Yamakawa consolidated us into the music mood with Franz Schubert’s Wild Rose. Her young prickly voice seemed to go wild, hitting our eardrums before bouncing back into her tender throat like a basketball. The students also demonstrated their skill on the trumpet, clarinet, violin, flute and saxophone with various sonatas by famous classical musicians. We were widely exposed to creative juices of Joseph Haydn Beethoven, Mozart and Bach. Among the 40 students were two diploma students who had earlier given us a treat of their music prowess on Saturday. Betty Naiga, a soprano student and Fred Kiggundu, a pianist gave the audience a balanced feel of classical, romantic and contemporary piec-es by famous composers from the 17th century to the 20th century. Naiga, a former student of Gayaza High School and one of the first students of Kampala Music School, displayed rich tonal quality she has been building for the last three years. Her trainer Ulrike Wilson acknowledged her performance as “an excellent work well done.”The school director Simon Yiga and founder Fiona Carr, did a great job. The director of Shanghai Hotel, Mei Yuan Yu donated $585 for accommodation of the examiner, while Barclay’s Bank also donated sh2m towards examination expenses.If music is truly food for the soul, then our souls had their fill. Even the birds, which could not stand the stiff competition, were humbled and eventually vanished.

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