h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Many years ago I had to make my choice of o-level subject. They were organised into groups and you had to pick (alongside English (lang and lit), Maths, one MFL and Latin) at least 7 others: history and/or geography; biology, chemistry, physics (or Chem & phys, or bio but not bio with either chemistry or physics) etc etc.

The last box was the most perplexing for me from which to select a subject. It contained needlework, art, music, home ec and geography.
I had been requested not to take needlework (because I couldn't, apparently, sew for toffee = I didn't want to make an elasticated waisted skirt when I could already sew a tailored jacket...) can't draw so art was out and didn't want to do home ec because - bäh.

I definitely didn't want to do geography (although in hindsight it looked really interesting) so music it was. I can't sing a note, didn't play an instrument (despite years of piano lessons) and was never sufficiently motivated to do more theory than be able to read the notes on a treble clef.

But it was theory and history, which involved 4 set works (of which since we would only be tested on 3, we dropped the Vivaldi 4 seasons, thank goodness).

the first year went well, although my grades for theory were horribly bad and I still couldn't do the sight singing (i can't sing and the idea of singing in front of even one person makes my blood run cold). And in the summer holidays before our O-level year the music teacher ran off with the Spanish teacher's husband (or something) so when we went back in September we had a shiny newly qualified music teacher.

a shy young bearded chap, he was very likeable and had an enthusiasm for music that motivated everyone. Except that I was still too lazy to learn which scales belonged to which key signature, syncopated everything and was generally rubbish. Except at the set pieces and the history.

Anyway. We studied Brahms' Academic Overture, Schubert's Trout Quintet and JS Bach's cantata Wachet Auf!

My grade forecast was a D (fail) but I got a B (purely on the strength of the music teacher's goodwill in letting me stay in the class, giving me 1/10 for effort on the sightsinging and my abilities in the history/set pieces essays)

When we came back in the 6th form the shy, retiring teacher hugged me and declared me his greatest success. As a reward that year the school orchestra performed the 1812 Overture (my favourite piece, we discussed it often) and I was the bass drum/canon (just a drum, unfortunately). And he sat me in the middle at the front pparently when they have had reunions he has mentioned it and said what a shame I'm not there.

Anyway. This all leads to: he's now going to retire in December. And in March there will be a small concert at the school. Invited ex-pupils will sing Wachet Auf! and since so many of my classmates have contacted me about it, I will not only be there, but I'll be singing.

EEK!

Where do we get tickets?

I think it's invitation only

I'll have to get the CD then!

Bass drum in "Wachet Auf" will be quite an interesting effect.

I performed "1812" with actual cannons, although they didn't fire live ammunition. It was memorable.

WS is going to show up and tell us all about the performance of 1812 she saw in Hyde Park with real cannon
(I hope)

The time we did it, a group called "Sealed Knot" looked after the cannons. They are an English group of specialists in military re-enactments and pride themselves on their costumes and attention to detail.

The cannons were very close to the back row of the choir and some of the older choir members nearly jumped out of their skins.

My daughter has a recording which not only uses real cannons, but also the actual bells of some Russian city (St Petersburg?) - apparently there's nothing to compare with Russian bells.

My wife also studied the Academic Festival Overture, Wachet Auf and the Trout Quintet when she did music in school.

cool - did she take an O-level in 1980? I think mine was the JMB board exam but I can't remember

She did Irish Intermediate and Leaving Certificate.

The Leaving Cert is somewhat more than an O-level but less than an A-level, so Irish students normally do six subjects.

Oh thank Bob, for a moment there I feared you had joined Jehovah's Witnesses, Sho

Choosing O-level subjects? Pah! My school (Bablake, Coventry) expected everybody to do a set 9 subjects: English Language, English Literature, History, Geography, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, French and one other language (Latin, German, Spanish) depending on your position in the streaming system. There were actually four classes in each year and the class in the bottom stream did Humanities, whatever that was, presumably because they were regarded as not bright enough to cope with two foreign languages.

We did do Music, but it wasn't done to O-level standard and I hated it, even though I was studying trumpet at the time and I was also in the school choir. I don't think I'd have minded doing Sho's course. At least she didn't have to listen to Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten. It's dire, IMO.

I've never been a fan of Britten but I saw The Turn of the Screw not long ago at the Düsseldorf opera and it was quite brilliant

I'm also not a fan of Britten. We're singing the Ceremony of Carols in a "Christmas is Coming" concert on 1st of December. I'm yet to be convinced about it.

I love the orchestral "Sea Interludes" from Peter Grimes, though.

We didn't have a choice of O levels. We all had to do nine.

Eng Lang and Lit, French, Maths, Art, History, Geography, and out of the three sciences Biology, Chemistry and Physics, we had to drop one.

Music was not an option. Nor was Home Economics. Or Economics, which is one of the choices offered to our counterparts in the Secondary School over the road.

I hated art, and would have loved to do music. Those that chose could do an extra CSE Latin. Three chose to do that, one of them because he had already started in another school before he joined us.

Forcing everyone to work for 9 O levels was Not a Good Idea. Some would have been better off just doing 5 and getting better marks in those than having to prepare for 9 subjects and not doing so well in any.

As for the music - are the girls going to be singing in German? I wonder if you'll get a chance to check their pronunciation beforehand?

My old school was, and still is, very strong academically. It has topped the league tables for Coventry schools since the day they were published. I don't know if pupils still have to sit an entrance exam, but in my day that was the only way of getting in after the abolition of the 11-plus. The pupils were reckoned to be intelligent enough to cope with 9 subjects.

The school had a good reason for deciding which subjects its pupils studied. They believed, rightly IMO, that the average 12-year-old doesn't know what they'll want to do when they leave school. The subjects chosen gave a broad grounding in the basics. Biology wasn't studied at O-level because you didn't need it to study A-level Biology. Similarly, Music O-level could be studied as one of the 'General Studies' options in the sixth-form by anybody who was interested in it.

I'm not sure, at this stage, if we'll be singing in English or German. I hope it will be in German.

Daughter El did 11 subjects at Junior Cert (slightly less than O-level). She got 10 A's and a B. Everybody kept asking her what subject she "only" got a B in.