Introduction

The Emerald Music School was created by Clare Caddick in 1997 to provide a Saturday Music School for the local area. The aim was give students the benefit of excellent instrumental tuition, choirs, ensembles and theory classes with experienced and enthusiastic staff. The school has been successful and through it’s achievements at Music Festivals and National Competitions, the number of students has increased rapidly. The Emerald Music School now has more than 100 students attending each Saturday.

Some students stay all day and spend their time joining in all the groups and classes, taking individual lessons in their breaks, and others just come for one individual lesson. Many change their options each year, making advantage of all the opportunities available as their interests and needs dictate. Emerald allows the students to develop from an eager 6-year old choir member to an 18-year old Grade VIII student taking A-level Music. Theory Class and Composition lessons give excellent support to GCSE and A-level Music students. Many students have gone on to study Music Degrees and are following careers in Music. We also have a few adults learning individually at Emerald, so there are no age limits and it’s never too late!

Being a part of the Emerald Music School is a great way to make friends. The students come from a wide area and over 20 schools are represented in the current membership. Countless friendships have been nurtured through Emerald and many continue through the Osiris Ensemble and into adulthood.

Over the years, the choirs have won numerous festivals and have won all of the choral cups and shields available at the Sutton Music Festival, Coulsdon and Purley Festival and the Croydon Festival.

In 2006, the Emerald Choir were Category Finalists at BBC Choir of the Year in 2006, making them one of the top six children’s choirs in Great Britain. They performed at the Cardiff Millennium Centre and on Radio 3. A few years back, the Chamber Choir reached the finals of the Music for Youth Choir Competition and sang at the Royal Festival Hall.

The choir members are regularly invited to attend auditions for productions and have taken part in operas, musicals and some have appeared professionally in the London’s West End. Over the past few years, the children have performed in Tosca , Carmen , La Bohéme , The Cunning Little Vixen, Macbeth, Fiddler on the Roof, Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance!, Oliver! and the West End’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.