Dance
SaMM ~ Saturday Morning Music
SaMM (first established as SaMS) celebrated their 15
th
Anniversary with a Gala Alumni Concert at KEVICC in March.
Formed in November 2000 by KEVICC, it has held workshops
and concerts on Saturdays during term-time making
available an enormously valuable resource to hundreds
of children starting out their musical career in the Totnes
area. It operates as an independent charity, providing an
encouraging and educational environment for collective
music-making for children of all abilities and backgrounds
between the ages of 5-18.
A large number of students have gone on to pursue music
to an extremely high standard. Some are studying, or have studied, at the most prestigious music colleges and reached
BBC Young Musician category finals; others are performing with top bands, making acclaimed records or receiving
international coverage on radio and TV. To celebrate the anniversary, we decided to showcase the talents of some of the
former students who have continued in their musical lives after SaMM in a special Gala Concert held in the Ariel Theatre.
There was a great atmosphere and an eclectic programme – as always – from percussion to string ensembles, folk to jazz,
choirs and guitar groups, and the very young to the not so young!
Highlights included:
• A spellbinding solo marimba performance from former KEVICC student and Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
graduate Harriet Riley (who is now a freelance percussionist based in Bristol).
• An improvised twist to an Abba classic from former students in the Percussion Ensemble.
• Some top-class jazz from some of the country’s finest young performers.
• Baz Hammond (who was at the first SaMM and stayed right through until he was 18 last year) made a come back with
the Guitar Groups.
• Some fabulous string players augmenting the String, Folk & Senior Ensemble groups.
• A finale combined all the former students (including 2 bass guitarists) with the SaMM Concert Band to perform the
‘Thunderbirds March’.
Chris McMurran (former early SaMM student and John Dankworth Jazz Composition Prize Winner 2015) summed up the
feeling of the day:
It is really thanks to SaMM and thanks to being encouraged to perform, as well as having all these
opportunities at such a young age, that has given me, and others, the confidence to go on and do it later on. It is really
nice to be back here and see some familiar faces – some haven’t changed a bit; others have changed quite a lot – and
great to see that SaMM is still going as strong as it ever was!
Thanks must go to: the SaMM trustees for their assistance in organizing the concert; KEVICC for all their invaluable
support over the years; Lewis Riley for all his great work for SaMM and running the concert on the day; the ‘Alumni’ for
giving up their time to perform in the concert, and the students for putting on a great show. Here’s to the next 15 years!
If you would like more information about SaMM, visit
for more information.
Sam Massey, Former SaMM & KEVICC student, & SaMM Brass & Concert Band Tutor
Contemporary Dance trip ~
35 KEVICC students went to watch Nederlands Dance Theater 2 at The Plymouth
Theatre Royal. Students were inspired by the breathtaking Dance Company who performed their triple bill, artistically
directed by the award winning choreographer Paul Lightfoot.
Schubert
was an emotionally charged ballet conveying a love story danced to Schubert’s String Quintet in C ~ Adagio.
The UK premiere of Romanian choreographer, Edward Clug’s
Mutual Comfor
t, highlighted the dancers’ own individual
stories with surprising moments of beauty
and spontaneous irony. Legendary Dutch
choreographer Hans van Manen’s
Solo
delivered an athletic tour de force with
an extraordinarily fast-paced ballet set
to Bach’s violin Partita. For the finale,
Alexander Ekman’s
Cacti
was an uplifting
and joyous party spirit that celebrated
the youthful prowess of NDT2’s eighteen
dancers. The students who attended the
theatre trip were a credit to the College
and enjoyed this opportunity to see the
company live.
Sarah McInally
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