A group of winners with officials during Inter-school Battle of the Bands 2019.
ISL Qatar hosted the Inter-school Battle of the Bands 2019, for the third consecutive year on January 22. The event is sponsored by Music Square, Rockschool UK, and the International School of London (ISL) Qatar, and actively promotes the development of bands in young people across Doha.
Music Square provided instruments, the first prize of QR4,000 for purchasing band equipment, and one of the judges, Vasileios Gkouzounas, the resident Guitar expert at 51 East.
Rockschool UK flew over Stuart Ellerton, a Rockschool Examiner, to judge and also provided study materials for prizes. ISL Qatar provide the venue, stage and sound and light each year to support the event.
The atmosphere was electric and the competition fierce as 10 bands from 7 schools across Doha competed. The first prize went to ‘Steemgate’ from GEMS American Academy for the 2nd year running with their renditions of ‘Subdivisions’ by Rush and ‘I’m So Afraid’ by Fleetwood Mac. The prize for most promising band went to ‘Undivided’ from ISL Qatar for their versions of ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ by Demi Lovato and ‘Feel It Still’ by Portugal The Man.
‘Puffle’ from Doha College and ‘The Underwater Acoustics’ from ACS have also been invited to perform at the Winners performance at 51 East, Lagoona Mall. Congratulations to everyone involved on a fantastic atmosphere and celebration of talent.
ISL Qatar host the Rockschool UK Examinations in Contemporary Music, examining students from all over Doha in Vocals, Guitar, Drums, Bass and Ukulele. Any schools or Music Education organisations who would like to join this event next year or find out about Rockschool examinations can contact Claire Daniels at [email protected]
Rockschool Vocals competition will take place in May/June and will be open to students from 11 – 18 years. Three classes, beginner, intermediate, advanced. This competition is designed to encourage students interested in contemporary music and show them that they need to take the skills seriously.
A variety of repertoire will be on offer for the students to choose from and the assessment criteria will be pre-published. ISL Qatar has an outstanding reputation for high academic standards, prestigious International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes and an impressive record of admission to the best universities worldwide. The student body of 1,000 are aged from 3 to 18.
