From the Head of Junior School

Something Bigger Than Ourselves

There is something deeply valuable about being part of a collective.

Much of life is understandably focused on the individual: our own goals, our own progress, our own achievements and the things we would like to accomplish. Yet some of the most significant experiences we can have come when we become part of something that is bigger than ourselves.

Being part of a collective asks something different of us. It requires us to practice when we might rather be doing something else. It asks us to listen carefully, to improve, to accept feedback and to keep going when things are difficult. It creates accountability because our contribution matters to other people. We cannot simply decide not to turn up, not to prepare or not to give our best, because others are depending upon us.

This is one of the great educational benefits of participation in music and the performing arts.

Our students who recently represented BMGS in the IPSHA Performing Arts Orchestra and Combined Choir experienced this in a particularly powerful way this week. Across rehearsals and preparation, they learned that the quality of the final performance depended not only on their individual contribution, but on their willingness to contribute to the collective.

A choir cannot sing as one if everyone is listening only to themselves. An orchestra cannot perform as one if each musician is concerned only with their own part. Students had to listen, adjust, practice and trust one another. They had to understand that sometimes their individual contribution would be prominent and at other times it would sit quietly within the whole. Each part mattered, but no single part was the whole.

There is an important lesson here for young people.

We are not diminished by contributing to something bigger than ourselves. We are enlarged by it.

The opportunity to perform at Sydney Town Hall made this experience even more significant. To walk into such an extraordinary and historic venue, to sit alongside students from other schools and to contribute to a combined performance of this scale is something that will stay with our students for a very long time.

It is also important that we recognise what a privilege this is.

Not every child is afforded the opportunity to participate in an ensemble such as the IPSHA Orchestra or Combined Choir, let alone to perform in a venue of the significance of Sydney Town Hall. Our students, therefore, carried both a privilege and a responsibility. They had been entrusted with an opportunity that required preparation, commitment and a willingness to contribute to the very best of their collective ability.

There is something particularly formative about standing on a stage in a significant venue and knowing that you are there because of the work you and others have put in together.

The applause at the end is wonderful, but it is not the most important part. The real achievement is found in everything that came before it: the hours of practice, the moments of frustration, the encouragement of a friend, the decision to keep working, the responsibility of not letting the group down and, ultimately, the realisation that your contribution helped create something that no individual could have created alone.

These are experiences we want our students to have at BMGS.

We want them to know the satisfaction of individual achievement, but we also want them to experience the joy and responsibility of collective achievement. We want them to discover that their gifts become even more meaningful when they are placed at the service of others.

Our students' participation in the Performing Arts Festival was therefore about much more than music. It was an opportunity to practice commitment, discipline, accountability, perseverance, listening and generosity. Most importantly, it was an opportunity to experience what it feels like to belong to something significant and to make a meaningful contribution to it.

Standing together in Sydney Town Hall, our students were not simply representing themselves. They were representing BMGS, contributing to a much larger musical community and experiencing the remarkable feeling of creating something together. That is an education worth having.

I do want to thank Mrs Cooney and Mr Forbes who have spent so much time preparing our students, as well as holding key roles in the festival organisation. Hearing the improvement over time is a reflection of your guidance and encouragement. Thank you also to the parents who drove down to watch, encourage and celebrate our School on Wednesday night. 

It certainly is special to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

Christopher Sanders

Head of Junior School