Junior School Shines at “All That Jazz” Showcase!
It’s been a very busy, rewarding and musical term for our Junior School students.
We had our first ever Junior School Music Solos Evening in week 4. Students volunteered to perform solos at this concert, and the audience were amazed at their musical skill and stage presence. Well done to our performers from Year 1 – Year 6: April Hsin Biro, Laila Breen, Francesco Di Leo, Alexis Djordjevic, Alira Djordjevic, Atilla Kocaturk, Alyssa Jindal, Soul Lee, Abigail Lok, Madison Lok, Malakai McMah, Skylah McMah, Ilke Ozaras, Aya Santosa, Cameron Sherer and Elise Sherer. We are looking forward to the next Solos Evening to be held later this year.
K-6 Curriculum Music lessons in Term 2 focused on preparing students for a music incursion by Kaboom Percussion in week 7, as well as preparing a class performance item for the Junior School Music Showcase. Quinn and Grace from Kaboom Percussion showed our students that amazing instruments (and music) can be made from a variety of recycled materials.
We ended the term with the Junior School Music Showcase. The theme of this year’s showcase was “All That Jazz”. The concert was held on Wednesday 26 June in the Fraser Centre. Junior School College, SRC and House Captains 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. Items included singing and moving, combined with playing of auxillary percussion, boomwhackers, recorders, ukuleles, and xylophones. The audience were not only entertained, but also educated about what goes on each week in the Curriculum Music classroom.
The second half of the concert featured our Performing Arts Ensembles, including Choirs, String Ensembles, Woodwind and Brass Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Guitar Ensemble, and Rock Band. These ensembles not only performed their own piece, but the instrumentalists combined onstage to perform “It Don’t Mean A Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing”. The beginning of the Showcase featured all of the Junior School singing “All That Jazz” (with lyrics specially written to reflect the unique performing arts and tennis program we offer The McDonald College) and the Showcase ended with “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. We are fortunate to have an incredible team of music staff working with our Junior School students; they not only prepared their ensembles for performance, but also assisted backstage and onstage accompanying– sincere thanks to Lucy Bermingham, Rosy Timms, Joseph Littlefield, Jamie Castrisos and Jacqui Sherer.
OTHER SPECIAL PERFORMANCES THIS TERM:
Anzac Day Assembly – Monday 29 April
- Year 3-6 students sang “The Last Anzac” at the K-12 assembly
Grandparents Day Concert – Friday 10 May – Featured a range of items from K-6 from all Performing Arts areas. The Music items included at this concert included:
- Rock Band performed “Dance The Night”
- Year 3-6 Choir sang “Unsung Hero”
- K-2 Choir performed “Little Mousie Brown” and “Skinnamarink”.
- The concert ended with all students in Kindergarten to Year 6 singing “Make A Difference
Mother’s Day Assembly – Monday 13 May
- K-6 sang “Because They’re Cute”
Music plays a crucial role in the education of our students at The McDonald College Junior School. Our students appreciate the value of learning and practising new musical skills, preparing for performances, working collaboratively, and listening attentively. The smiles on the faces of our students, both in the music classroom and on the stage, reflects their enthusiasm and love of Music learning and performance.
“The item I most enjoyed performing was “All That Jazz” because everyone was on stage and it had instruments.“
Atilla (Year 3)
