Junior music
We started the term with the Secondary School Instrumental and Vocal competitions which enabled all students from any stream to participate in some
We started the term with the annual Junior School Music Competitions Evening in April. Students were required to present two contrasting pieces and were marked by a guest adjudicator.
The audience enjoyed listening to a range of musical styles performed by participants in the Instrumental Competition; Bradley Sherer (violin), Madison-Rose Koniseti (drumkit), Cameron Sherer (acoustic guitar), Jeffrey Dimi (piano), and Bradley Sherer (bass guitar). Our participants in the Vocal Competition included Abbey Hammond, Madison Lok, Sofia Cristovao, Jeffrey Dimi, and Madison-Rose Koniseti.
The performances by all students were outstanding, and enjoyed by a very supportive audience parents, students, and staff. Special thanks must go to our adjudicator for the evening, Bev Kennedy; our vocal and instrumental tutors for preparing the students for such high-quality performances; and our accompanist for the evening, Lucy Bermingham.
Congratulations to our overall award recipients:
- Instrumental Competition Winner: Bradley Sherer
- Instrumental Competition Highly Commended: Madison-Rose Koniseti
- Vocal Competition Winner: Madison-Rose Koniseti
- Vocal Competition Highly Commended: Abbey Hammond
- Vocal Competition Highly Commended: Jeffrey Dimi
- As part of the Junior School’s Grandparents Day in May, our K – Year 6 students presented a concert in the Conference Centre. The Performing Arts Instrumental Ensembles enjoyed their first performance of the year. Our Ann McDonald scholars performed solos.
The Junior School school rock band had everyone moving to their music. The Years 3 – 6 Choir performed Never Walk Alone, and our K – 2 students performed a funny speech rhyme titled Grandma’s Glasses. The concert ended with the entire Junior School singing “Thank you Grandma, Thank You Grandpa.”
The theme of this year’s Junior School Music Showcase held in June was The Sounds of Nature. The Junior School Captains, Mia Honeysett and Jeffrey Dimi, compered the evening.
The first half of the concert featured each class performing an item they have been working on with Mrs Sherer during their Curriculum. Music lessons. There was much singing and moving, combined with bells, boomwhackers, recorders, ukuleles and xylophones. Madison-Rose Koniseti and Bradley Sherer impressed the audience with their solo performances.
The second half of the concert featured our String Ensemble, Woodwind/Brass Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, and our Guitar Ensemble. These ensembles performed their own pieces, and then all 40 students came together to bring down the house with their rendition of I Hear Thunder. The Junior School rock band entertained the audience with a Bob Marley classic Three Little Birds followed by an old favourite Shake a Tail Feather that had everyone ‘chair-dancing’. The Showcase started with the entire Junior School singing a three-part round titled This Pretty Planet and ended with Turn The World Around.
It has been a busy yet musically-rewarding term and in addition to these three major performance opportunities, the Junior School also performed choir pieces at the College’s ANZAC Day service and at the Mother’s Day assembly. The students love performing on stage and it has been fantastic to see improvement in such a short space of time (many of our students only started learning their instrument at the start of Term 1). It’s such a joy to see their faces as they perform on stage.
It was great to see so many students put their hand up for the opportunity and our congratulations go to you all.
The winners for each competition were:
- Junior Instrumental: Danniel Zhou
- Senior Instrumental: Anna Kim
- Junior Vocal: Malia Fonua
- Senior Vocal: Zoe Allsop Lander
Everyone performed to a very high standard, and we hope to see more and more students taking up the challenge next year.
We were once again able to join forces with our good friends at Vizio Cafè e Cuccina to present two evenings of Happy Hour Live Entertainment with the Junior and Senior music students. These evenings are proving an enormous success and so enjoyable for both the students and their families. We are grateful to the team at Vizio for enabling this opportunity and to the amazing music staff team who prepare the students so well for these occasions.
Our congratulations go to Sophia Hawley who was named in the top 10 finalists for the Singer/Songwriters competition – Speak Up!
For Industry Day, we invited Mr David McLeod to spend the day with the students. David is a contemporary singer in his own right; and a teacher and mentor of young people who are looking to join the industry. He shared with us his extensive knowledge around performance anxiety. He gave us strategies for prevention; and solutions for dealing with issues surrounding performance and the human body.
We rounded out the end out this term with two Music Showcases this week. The Junior Music Stream Showcase The Swingin’ 60s was a lot of fun with so many memorable tunes. The Senior Music Showcase was called Around the world and we saw our students exploring the music of their heritage. So much diversity and so much entertainment.
