Culture and Music are in Clifton’s DNA

17 June 2025

Shelley Maclean Downham, Clifton‘s Director of Music, had the direction of her life irrevocably changed at the age of five when her great-aunt gifted her family a piano. She began taking piano lessons, and music became a cornerstone of her existence.

It has brought her excitement, variety, and great reward. “I sang in the choir throughout my school career and then landed up going the classical piano route,” she recalled. “I always wanted to be a teacher, so I became a teacher. I specialised in music.”

Ever since then, her life has been lived out on stage or in the classroom.

“In my first year of teaching, I auditioned for a show at The Playhouse, Grease, and got in and I was able to do that and teach (she was an understudy for the role of Marty). I was in the chorus. I never had any designs on being on stage, though.

“Then, I auditioned for a cabaret at The Cellar. I loved The Cellar. It was a beautiful, intimate little venue. My headmaster said, ‘Go for it! Resign, and come back to teaching’, and so I did that.”

Music has taken Shelley through many schools. She has also performed cabarets on cruise liners, appeared as a lead vocalist at The Barnyard, appeared in theatre productions at The Playhouse and The Snedden. She even featured as a drummer in Richard Loring‘s all-girls’ show, Girl Talk, which took her to Malaysia.

All of these experiences have helped her to explore music and to understand just how important her introduction to it at a young age was. For Shelley, music and culture are not just nice options, they’re crucial aspects of learning that should be compulsory.

Regular performances take place in assemblies and in bi-annual progress concerts.
Regular performances take place in assemblies and in bi-annual progress concerts.

Echoing her personal experience, at Clifton, learning an instrument when in the Prep School is compulsory.

“It is absolutely critical. Not just music, but the arts,” she stated emphatically.

“If any school is saying, from an educational perspective, that they’re looking at the whole child, and their overall development, and they are not investing in the artistic side of things, I’m ready to lead a riot.

“Sadly, our overall mentality in South Africa, as opposed to elsewhere in the world, we don’t always peg culture way up there. It should never come down to a choice between sport or culture. There should be both, always.

“I would go so far as to say that whatever is mandatory or compulsory for a child on the academic or sporting side of things should be exactly the same on the artistic side, whether it is visual art, music, dance, or drama.”

Clifton, as an institution, clearly shares Shelley’s view. “Culture at Clifton is pegged up there [with academics and sport] from when the boys are tiny,” she said.

The idea to chat with her about music and culture at the school arose because, when attending an event in the Ken Mackenzie Hall, I, as I enjoy doing, looked at the honours’ boards.

I saw what I expected to see, with many Cliftonians having earned their national and provincial colours in water polo. What I hadn’t expected to see was the large number of boys who have sung in the KZN Youth Choir or been members of the KZN Youth Orchestra. I wanted to learn more. These weren’t occasional achievements. They were regular achievements.

Shelley explained that the choir and orchestra are independently run and the opportunities they offer are not necessarily shared with students. It’s up to schools’ music departments to make children aware of the opportunities and to provide the teaching that provides them with the skills to perform at a high level.

Charl van der Merwe - and some members of the College Wind Band.We have the best teachers on hand - Charl is a member of the KZNPO.
Charl van der Merwe, a member of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, working with some members of the College Wind Band. 

“It’s at a provincial level, so auditions are held,” Shelley explained. “If you have a look at the Orchestra, what an amazing experience! However, if you are a school that doesn’t have an orchestra, which most schools don’t, especially at a Prep School level, you are not building towards that platform, so it is quite a small pool of kids. Then, they still have to be at a certain level.

“It is very prestigious to be in that orchestra. Before university and before professional lives, it is really a great opportunity. Similarly, with the KZN Youth Choir.”

She was previously on staff at Clifton in 2016, working mostly with the Prep School boys. They’re blessed to be afforded the musical opportunities they have, she said, with many different instruments available for the boys to try out and explore.

“I have taught at many different schools where there isn’t even a music room. To be back here, and to have these facilities and the resources available to us, and to be able to take smaller groups, is amazing.”

Whether a boy’s focus is classical or contemporary, they’re accommodated and, said Shelley, the school often brings in experts in specific instruments to guide and inspire them.

This is an amazing story of a 9year old boy who was introduced to bass guitar in class music. He held that guitar like he had been playing for years and soon he was enrolled in private bass guitar lessons and even wished for a bass and amp for his 'double digits' birthday.Sam Hawker is his name and his Mom has given permission for the pics to be used.
Sam Hawker’s story is the kind of story that excites Clifton’s music teachers. He was introduced to bass guitar in class music. At the first time of asking, he held the guitar like he had been playing for years and soon he was enrolled in private bass guitar lessons and even wished for a bass and amp for his “double digits” birthday. 

As an experienced teacher and performer, she wants the boys of Clifton to be enriched by the arts. “My focus is awakening an excitement around music. I’ve taught from the teeny tinies to adults.

“I’ve got two focus points, actually. One is to help people find their passion for music, whatever it looks like, whether it’s singing or playing, and the other one is giving them confidence in that space. Once you have those two things, you’re set.”

Music is also beneficial to academic pursuits, she explained: “There is much research now, on a developmental level – and you will see it often shows up in the College prize giving, when you see the academic awards taking place – often, the high achievers are the musicians.

“From the studies, if you look at the neural pathways that are being created from that repetition, the right brain/left brain, all of that, playing a musical instrument engages every part of the brain. I believe (and I can’t say I am an authority on it) that it is the only activity where the whole brain is engaged.”

Dance, too, is something about which Shelley is passionate. “That’s one thing I wish, especially in boys’ schools, that we had dance as a compulsory. As you get older, dance gets worse because you are more self-conscious.

“I heard about a rugby team that was doing ballet exercises for strength and conditioning… If it was compulsory from when we were younger, dance would be a part of life.”

It’s not just a music thing for Shelley Downham and her fellow teachers in the Music Department – Charmaine Holloway (Foundation Phase) and Nina Watson (Subject Music), who are, also, not only teachers but experienced performers – it’s also about the arts, and that’s why one hears the excitement in her voice when she enthuses about the Clifton Arts Festival, a celebration of the arts, which has become the traditional end to the second term at Clifton. In 2025, it is going to be bigger than ever before.

Highlighting some of the events, she spoke enthusiastically about artist Brent Dodd, who will share his knowledge and ideas on painting landscapes: “Our boys will do a workshop with him, and he’s an amazing teacher. That will be lovely during the day.

“In the evening, the parents will have an opportunity to get themselves a ticket. I took my husband to one for his birthday. He was horrified. We landed up having a fabulous evening.

“Then, we’ve got King of Broken Things, a wonderful drama production on the Monday night. That’s with Cara Roberts. It’s a one-woman show written and devised by Mike Taylor-Broderick. That’s going to be very exciting.”

The Clifton Arts Festival will also include, for the first time, a Foundation Phase Concert. “It is new, with all the grade threes, which is very sweet, and includes a couple of surrounding schools,” Shelley explained.

The College Music Competition is a high-level event, showcasing the considerable talent within the school across a wide variety of categories.

The Clifton Arts Festival also serves another purpose. It comes after exams have been completed and teachers are under pressure to mark papers. The boys are occupied and entertained, while the teachers have a chance to get their work done.

It’s a win-win, and it involves not only the boys and teachers, but their families. As one of school’s primary mottoes says, One School, One Family.

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