We are in the midst of an extraordinary series of Performing Arts events at our school. 

This includes last week’s success in winning the interschool Battle of the Bands competition and our fabulous Years 3 to 5 performance of The Jungle Book. This week has brought our extraordinary Spring Concert and this Sunday our Middle School musical, The Spongebob Musical opens. 

At the Spring Concert I shared the following words that emphasise why we are so invested in supporting our students to thrive in the Performing Arts. While I have focused on music education, the same could have been said about the other art forms that we nurture at The King David School.

I thought I would share something that you might not know about me. That is that I absolutely love snorkelling. I am not a natural or even moderately competent swimmer and I hate getting into cold water unless I put a snorkel on.

I become immediately transfixed with the teeming life underneath the surface. I take the opportunity on every holiday to do this as I am enamored with the hidden other world that is not visible from above.

Sometimes when I watch our musos in flow, I think that they have gained access to an equally present other world. Just like a sunken reef or underwater wonderland, it is always there just below the ocean but unless you are equipped to see it, you wouldn’t know it was there. 

I believe that those who have been gifted with a music education learn to see, feel and especially hear the world differently. We are so lucky that we have a team of educators who are devoted to granting your children access to this other world.

This enables them to find something special in your children and to nurture it.

In a fascinating talk about the importance of finding and nurturing talent, the late educational thinker, Sir Ken Robinson, told an anecdote about Sir Paul McCartney. 

Sir Ken said the following: 

“I asked Paul McCartney if he had enjoyed music at school. He said no, he hadn’t. So I asked, “Did your music teacher think you had any talent?” He said, “No.” Sir Ken dryly pointed out – “He does, doesn’t he?”

He continued: “George Harrison was also part of the same music program at school, just a couple of years younger. I asked Paul if he thought the teacher had recognized George’s talent. He said, “No.”

So Sir Ken said to Paul, “Well, would this be a fair comment: that there was just one music teacher in Liverpool, in the late 1950s, who had half the Beatles in his class—and he missed it?” Paul laughed and said, “Yes, that’s right.” Sir Ken wittily pointed out “A bit of an oversight, isn’t it?”

Sir Ken presented another example –  “Elvis Presley, went to school in Tupelo, Mississippi, and he wasn’t even allowed into the Glee Club. They told him he would ruin their sound. Elvis! …  Well, we all know to what great heights the Glee Club went on to once they managed to keep Elvis out of the picture.”

Sir Ken summarises: “And that’s the point, isn’t it? Your life is something you create, according to the talents you discover or uncover.”

Our music program is designed to infuse a love of music for all who participate and also to encourage our students to have a go at pushing themselves. We find pathways for those with a passion and nurture that too.

Unlike half of the Beatles and The King – our students are so lucky to have the incredible team of educators that notice them, nourish them and draw the best out of them.

I am exceedingly proud of the School’s valuing of Performing Arts. We know that in gifting our students with our top class program and educational offering we grant them opportunities to push their personal boundaries to collaborate meaningfully with others and to access a world of creativity that changes them for the better. 

Shabbat Shalom,
Marc Light