Dartford Grammar School hosts Regional round of Music for Youth 2026

Written by Navan R, Theo A, and Sathyakama P

The Music for Youth concert is a representation of how important the arts are across the country and around the world. Performers from the south-east were welcomed to Dartford Grammar Schools Mick Jagger Centre to express their talent.

Our very own students did an outstanding job in showing this. The judges were blown away by performances from DGS R&B, Senior Strings, Junior Choir, Senior Guitars and Wind Band across the course of the day, with bands joining in for the evening session.

DGS Chapter’s Sathyakama participated with the Junior Choir, who performed in Birmingham in Music for Youth’s National Festival last year. Sathyakama stated that “the experiences that the [Dartford Grammar School] music department gives is extraordinary and very empowering, allowing everyone to realise that music is useful and international.”

The R&B band also made it to Birmingham in 2023, where DGS Chapter’s Navan performed. That journey was “one of the most unforgettable” of his life and the high standards and quality feedback were “real motivation to improve musically and personally”.

Some other standout acts on the day included Walthamstow Girls Years 10 and 11 showcasing incredible skill with very creative steel pan performances and Brentwood Imperial Marching Band who stole the show with three out-of-this-world performances.

After all of the performances, the judges gave feedback to each group. After the feedback, if they weren’t a hosting school, they would leave shortly after. All of the DGS groups waited until the end, clapping for all groups.

DGS Windband opened the evening session with Black Forest Overture, where uplifting and clear dynamics contributed to a great performance, led by the “confident opening” with the clarinets’ quaver pattern. After the mentors in last year’s competition commented on articulation in the Windband’s performance, the musicians, led by Danny Glavin, really improved upon this. They demonstrated even better articulation as they performed Hurricane Season, where solos from Samuel, Tony, Rory, Ethan, Emmanuel and Flynn rounded off a musically tasteful set.

Windband were followed by the Bromley Boy Singers, who delivered a “spellbinding” performance of Chilcott’s Lily and the Rose, where a bright upper tessitura enforced a beautiful delivery, while the tenor part harmonised well with the lead part. Then, they showed exceptional and classy musicianship with their performance of Dires Irae, which was executed brilliantly and, despite the piano being out of tune, the accompaniment was played amazingly.

The night was finished off with some killer performances by Y11 band Liminal Space who played covers of My Iron Lung, No one Knows and Plug in Baby Liminal Space brought energy with a strong vocal performance from Manish, one Thom Yorke would be proud of on My Iron Lung, while a bit of slap bass from Taj added energy. The guitar playing, especially the unison in Plug In Baby were played well, as a mentor said too. This was a great show of professionalism after one guitarist clearly didn’t know how to “Plug In Baby” as we waited for the song to begin.

Y12 Band After Violet starred also with a very audience-engaging performance of covers of Purple Rain by Prince and Best Part by Daniel Caesar, where the lineup showed “great versatility” according to mentor Tom, who commented that he would love to hear them in a proper music setting as they have “a lot of potential”.

We must mention that the Essex Marching Corps performed a very nice rendition of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now where the audience was encouraged to sing the lyrics. A nostalgic way to finish the night.

It was an exciting day for music at Dartford Grammar School, being able to host such a great event and being able to give some of the many talented musicians in the school a platform to express this talent and receive world-class feedback from the mentors. The school thanks Music for Youth, Tom and Ali and all participants for making the day such a great experience.

In preparation for that day, Miss Metcalf and Mrs Streeks clearly invested so much time and effort organising the event at Dartford Grammar School and preparing us, all while having lessons to teach, mark exams and coursework. The utmost thanks go to those two, who continue to show their enthusiasm and class in running the department.