Last night saw the welcome return of the Silver Tablet competition following a two year hiatus due to COVID restrictions.
The Silver Tablet celebrates the best of musical talent from the Senior School, with performers being chosen from pupils who have attained a minimum standard of Associated Board Grade VIII. The award was set up by Miss Waugh in honour of Miss Martha McIntyre and Miss Margaret Macindoe, both of whom taught music until 1914. The first winner of the Tablet in 1917 was Margaret Harper, who went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she gained great distinction. Miss Waugh taught all pupils the pleasure of listening to music: a lesson which lasted them throughout their lives. This is a sentiment still promoted at St Columba's today.
Depute Rector Mr McLaughlin was compere for the evening, which was held in the hall at Senior School, and entertained the audience with his gift of the gab, providing interesting insights into the musical careers of our five competitors before inviting them up to the stage.
First up was Hilary E-M on the cello, who opened her programme with a confident (and completely unaccompanied) performance of Bach's famous Suite in G Major 'Prelude', followed by Rachmaninov's Sonata in G Minor Mvt 3 'Andante' and Allegro Appassionato op. 43 by Saint-Saens.
Next, singer Hannah McC wowed the audience with a varied programme, which included songs from musicals such Sweeny Todd, Hamilton and Songs for a New World. She closed her programme with a spirited rendition of All Falls Down from Chaplin the Musical.
Maggie L presented a programme which saw her playing both flute and piccolo with grace and poise. Starting with the unaccompanied Syrinx by Debussy on the flute, she moved between the two instruments effortlessly playing pieces by Telemann, J. Rutter, Bach and Vivaldi.
After a short break, Cara E-M took to the stage with a programme that saw her singing in an astonishing FIVE different languages - English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. Her expressive performance included works by, among others, Handel, Mozart and Schumann.
Closing the competition was Poppy P on the cello. Poppy finished her programme with a dramatic performance of the instantly recognisable Montagues and Capulets by Prokofiev, which Mr McLaughlin quite rightly commented was full of light and shade.
While we awaited the results, we were entertained by two of our junior musicians, twins Anastazja and Olivia MacI (SI), who played the violin and cello respectively. They will definitely be ones to look out for at the Silver Tablet in 2027!
It was then over to our adjudicator for the evening, former St Columba's music teacher Mrs Anne Sutherland, who had the unenviable job of choosing a winner from among these five talented young musicians.
In the end, Mrs Sutherland was simply not able to chose between two of the competitors and opted to award the Silver Tablet 2022 jointly to our two vocalists, Cara E-M and Hannah McC.
It was fantastic to be able to host a musical event after so long and we are incredibly grateful for Mrs Sutherland, Ms Claire Haslin who accompanied our competitors, and everyone in the Music Department for putting on such a memorable evening.