Performing Arts

   Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2025, and welcome your input:

Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au 

Wominjeka!

VSSS 2025

We have continued with our Thursday afternoon rehearsals, under the direction of Kim Van Hoorn (who sets dance homework! - love it). We can see that many of the dancers have been rehearsing at home and we thank them for their dedication. Our next hub rehearsal will take place on Tuesday 24th June in the school gym. This will be supervised by Ms Humphries who will create more rehearsal videos for us. 

I have added some information to the VSSS Google Classroom page in relation to the costume requirements for all of our dancers. Please make sure you have read (and understand) this.  The hoodie order still remains open and the link for this is also on the Google Classroom page.

School Choir  - UPDATE

Unfortunately, due to lack of numbers in our senior choir, it has been decided that we will now just run one COMBINED CHOIR. This will be for all students from years one to six and be held EVERY WEEK now during the 3rd recess break on a TUESDAY. 

Please remind your child that the choir requires a commitment for a whole semester and is not something to drop in and out of. It is preferable that students leave/join at the end/beginning of a new semester. If your child has never done choir before, they are welcome to come along for a session to try it out before they commit to joining. We have such beautiful singers in our school (I know because I hear them during Performing Arts) and I strongly encourage people to come and share their talent with us. There is certainly something quite unique and special about singing in a group.

It is very important that anyone joining choir brings along a plastic wallet or binder with pockets so that they can collect the lyric sheets for the songs we are singing. 

Instrumental Lessons

Our school's Instrumental Program, now being managed by Amaris Lee-David, will continue to offer lessons on most instruments and will be retaining the outstanding team of musicians. The first 'trial' lesson is free of charge and your child will get the opportunity to perform in an end of year instrumental concert if they want to. You also have the option of choosing a lesson during the recess breaks if you would prefer that your child is not taken out of his or her class lessons. Feel free to contact Amaris info@groovefoundations.comfor more information.

IN OUR PERFORMING ARTS ROOM

Foundation

We have had a busy few weeks together as we continued to explore the elements of music. The students were introduced to 'pitch' and used the glockenspiels to experiment with sounds that are high, low and in the middle. They categorised sounds that were loud/soft and high/low and practised their rhythm reading of ta, ti-ti and za. We watched 'One from the Left' (a finger play) and discussed ways of moving our bodies to music. The students then had the opportunity to contribute to an improvised dance circle. It was great to see some students step outside their comfort zone and express themselves through movement. We listened to some orchestral music from composers Sergei Prokofiev and Edvard Grieg and learnt how music can be used to tell a story and create suspense. We also completed our Semester Two portfolio tasks identifying percussion instruments.

Year One and Year Two

The students in both levels worked hard to complete their Semester Two portfolio tasks. The year one students completed a listening task identifying instruments of the orchestra as well as sounds that were fast/slow and low/soft. The year two students used their knowledge of rhythm syllables to complete their task. Both grades have listened to Edvard Greig's orchestral composition, 'In the Hall of the Mountain King'. We have used this piece of music to explore dynamics, beat and rhythm as well as instruments of the orchestra. The students used their creative imaginations to 'wonder' what story the music was telling us. We then listened to a book reading by the author Allison Flannery and acted out the story whilst listening to the music again. We are now looking a the element of 'pitch' and are having fun exploring different sounds on our class glockenspiels. We have looked at ascending and descending sounds, melodies that jump, leap and skip and what an octave means. 

Year Three and Year Four

The students have been finishing their small group performances of their own rhythmic compositions. These incorporated dynamics as well as repeat symbols. These compositions were then re written (neatly) to form their portfolio task for this semester. We are now looking at tunned instruments and using these to explore the element of pitch. We have been looking at the 'musical alphabet' and exploring the different note names for music sounds. These 'note names' will be added to the students' rhythmic compositions and eventually these notes will be plotted on the music staff and performed. We listened to the song, 'Solid Rock' which was the theme song for Reconciliation Week 2025.

Year Five and Year Six

The students in Years Five and Six have spent the last few weeks presenting their 'Performing Arts Poster Projects'. You might have noticed them up on display both outside our room as well as in the windows of the Performing Arts room. We have had presentations about Mitch Tambo, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Metallica, Bongo Cat, Jim Carrey, Peter Jackson, Tyler the Creator, Tate McRae, Lady Gaga, Dove Cameron, Johnny Depp, Eminem and Miley Cyrus to name a few. It has been great to hear about such an eclectic range of artists and see such confident presentations. We have also listened to the song, 'Solid Rock' which was the theme song for Reconciliation Week 2025 and completed our portfolio tasks for this semester.