Drakondale Girls Choir School

ABOUT US

The language and elements of music represent a unique and refreshing metaphor of Inspired Leadership; As Artist; As Leader. Inspired Leadership is a performing art and requires the abilities to create, inspire and sustain followership. Charles Kingsley reminds us of an exceptional parallel between the voice of music and the voice of Inspired Leadership.

“Words are wonderful enough; but music is even more wonderful. It speaks not to our thoughts as words do; it speaks straight to our hearts and spirits, to the very core and root of our souls.”

John Tungay

At the age of 23 John Tungay was appointed Editor of the Regional News Service of the SABC at Head Office and a year later he was promoted to Senior News Editor of the SABC in Cape Town responsible for broadcasting “Today in Parliament.” During 1960 he was instructed by the Board of the SABC and the government to research and prepare the initial memorandum for the introduction of television in South Africa.

Later he accepted an invitation by the Directors of Lever Brothers (SA) Pty Ltd to become the company’s National Public Relations Manager. During this 5-year period he was a founder of the Natal Branch of the Public Relations Institute of South Africa and regularly lectured to students on this developing young profession during evening sessions at the Natal College for Advanced Technical Education.

In 1966 John resigned from Lever Brothers to create, finance and build his Drakensberg Boys Choir School. Ten years later he received the Marketing Award of the Year from the S.A. Institute of Marketing Management for promoting South Africa’s music to the world in cooperation with Gideon Roos of SAMRO, the country’s newly formed music rights organisation. Gideon Roos was John’s former Director General at the SABC.

John has lived in the Howick area for 20 years. He currently conducts the Thembelihle Children’s Choir and the Howick Choristers in addition to the Drakondale Girls Choir. He regularly puts on concerts and performances in the local community and at his own church.

Wendy Clarke

Wendy Clarke has been involved in the music industry for 16 years and is a director of Monkeyshine Music Publishing. She is well versed in the mechanisms of the music and record industries and has worked with many of the top record companies in this country. Wendy is married to Don Clarke, one of the countries most prolific songwriters, who has been in the industry for 40 years.

Wendy has also been involved in Development Management for children’s homes and the opening of several after-school care centres in Mamelodi & Soweto. She also established and ran a children’s adventure holiday camp in the ‘berg which facilitated up to 70 children.

In addition to this, Wendy has spent many years of her life in the newspaper industry. In the early nineties she started a newspaper called Schooligans which catered for all the schools in the greater Durban area.

In 2009 she established a popular local tabloid, The Drakonteur, covering the Midlands and Drakensberg areas.

MUSIC, ACADEMICS & DANCE

Choir

Choir Director Judith Hawthorn has come from conducting the Curro Hillcrest Christian Academy choirs (10 years), the Hillcrest High School Glee Choir (5 years) which she founded, and the Durban Girls High choir (from 2015-2016). Her achievements include consistently outstanding results at Eisteddfodau and competitions, and numerous concerts and performances. In 2014 she toured with the HHS Glee Choir to Riga, Latvia for the World Choir Games, achieving Gold and Silver in the Open Competition with this very young choir of just 7 girls. Judith is passionate about the impact of story-telling through music, and empowering young girls by giving them a voice to express themselves. She is equally passionate about providing a foundation of classical music training and instilling a love for Musical Theatre in her singers. Her sense of humour, sense of style and her fierce passion for music and for performance enthuse and inspire her students.

Rosa De Castro Doran’s highly accredited and successful music school Vocal Vibes is based in Durban, with her alumni including professional Musical Theatre performers, Singers, finalists in Idol’s & The Voice and Music Teachers. With more than 25 years experience in the entertainment industry, Rosa de Castro Doran has taken an alternative approach to the concept of voice training. Using classical techniques with a contemporary twist, she brings passion and enjoyment into the classroom, and awakens individual creativity in her students. She teaches at DGCS every Thursday.

Academics

Shirley Bradshaw is the school’s Principal. Shirley comes to us from a prestigious background of academia, including the running of her own education facility in Pietermaritzburg. She is passionate about ensuring that young people have a strong background in Mathematics and English. An exceptional opportunity has been made available to multi talented girls who will benefit from a well-balanced educational programme and enable them to excel in developing leadership potential. Supervised study for both academics and music programmes takes place on a daily basis.

Dance

Ballet classes (Ceccetti Method) are held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 06h00-06h50 with local accredited Dance teacher Tanya Gordon. On a Thursday from 06h10-06h30 Tanya runs a free dance class for all the girls as part of the girls early morning excercises. Modern & Tap classes (RAD) are on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons with Christina Rencken from Domaine’s School of Dance. Zumba Dancing is also held on a daily basis and available to girls in their extra mural leisure time.