ON Q The fantastic new album featuring the talents of the Music and Music Technology students at Queensbury Upper School in Bedfordshire is now on sale.

Over the last 8 months we have been collaborating with the Music Department at Queensbury to help raise money for their much-needed recording studio. They have a wealth of musical talent at the school but sadly inadequate resources to harness it at a technical level and to teach A-level Music Technology. So we have been recording an album to show off the songwriting and performance abilities of the students there. All proceeds will go towards the new studio building fund.

This has been a massive project and is completely unlike anything undertaken by any school we have ever come across. The results are outstanding and feature blues and rock tracks from solo artists as well as the school band and jazz band, brass, flute and string ensembles and choir.

A full colour, 20-page booklet with loads of pictures taken during the recording sessions and details of all tracks comes with each CD.

This is well worth checking out. Copies are available now, for £10. If you are unable to drop into the Queensbury School reception (Central Building, Langdale Road, Dunstable LU5 6BU), please use the TEProAudio contact address and phone number on this site for more details or to order a copy.

Some highlights include:

Magnus’ Fruit Pie Emporium – As off the wall as it sounds ! An amazing, epic, roller coaster of a piece written by Ben Scrivener. All guitars, keys and bass by Ben with vocals by Sam Lomax and drums and keys by Robin Taylor. If you appreciate great blues/rock guitar work in the styles of the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Pink Floyd, listen to this.

Eve Of The War – This is an adaptation of the Jeff Wayne classic work; the opening track from his War Of The Worlds album. It is an amazing achievement for a school band and even features the Headmaster, Nigel Hill, taking on Richard Burton’s role as narrator. I am so impressed with the end result of this, especially given that the band is made up of students aged between 14 and 18.

Crazy – This is a cover of the Gnarls Barkley song, but it’s been produced quite differently. Britt Melly carries the vocals fantastically and this is really a showcase for her voice. Guitar work is by Jamie Parmenter, bass by Ryan Rockley and drums by Robin Taylor. Additional soft synth programming added by Tim Edwards and Kate Dalgleish. This has a great feel to it and is well worth buying the album for !

A Walk In The Woods – This string quartet recording shows the scope covered on this album. Christine Proctor wrote this for her A-level coursework and it is, in my opinion, quite simply, a great piece of work. It’s also very challenging to play, but that’s her fault for writing it that way, so she’s only herself to blame ! It is extremely evocative and will certainly scare you enough to stop you going down to the woods anytime soon. I am proud to have this track on the album. It features Christine Proctor and Kirsty Minnis on violin, Niki (is there an instrument she can’t play) Dunne on viola and Robert Grannells on cello.

This Little Light Of Mine – A traditional gospel piece by the school choir. It’s a very simple but effective arrangement and I thoroughly enjoyed working on this track. The choir is backed up by Niki Dunne on drums, Jamie Parmenter on bass and Robert Grannells on saxophone.

That’s just a few of the 16 tracks on this album. You need to listen to this to understand what has been accomplished by this project ....