Music News

Secondary Speech Night 2021

Congratulations to all our Clayfield Musicians! We are so proud of our girls and how they conducted themselves at Speech night both on and off stage. Special thanks to our soloists on the night; Ella Craddock, Sophia Buchanan, Arwen Abad, Annabelle Goninon, Charlie Millard, and Lucy Newton. It takes a lot of courage to perform, not just for a large audience but also in front of your peers. 

Ella created a lovely ambiance with her beautiful solo piano playing at the start of the evening. Double Bass is rarely heard as a solo instrument, and Sophia demonstrated her virtuosic talents on this incredible instrument. Few musicians are, in fact, given an opportunity to play or sing as a soloist with a live orchestra/band on the Queensland Performing Arts Centre stage and all of our soloists were very grateful for the experience. Of course, none of this is possible without the efforts of our entire musical cohort. Thank you and congratulations to all.

We are extremely fortunate to have a school Principal who not only supports our Music Program but is a fine musician and performer, as was displayed at Speech night. Thank you, Dr. Cousins, for your meaningful and songful Principal’s address, unique to Clayfield College.

Of course, we owe sincere thanks to all our specialist instrumental tutors who work hard behind the scenes to deliver teaching and guidance to our musicians. We were very privileged to share the stage with a few of our specialist tutors during the Koussevitzky Double Bass Concerto, a challenging piece of music to play well. The opportunity to work in a professional partnership capacity is of extreme benefit to our musicians. 

Thank you to the following professionals who all have a connection with Clayfield College:

Bernardo Alviz' Specialist Double Bass teacher at Clayfield College

Phoebe Alviz Russell – Wife of Bernardo, Principal Double Bass in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and soon-to-be Sophia Buchanan’s teacher at the Conservatorium of Music in 2022

Simon Buchanan – Father of Sophia

Emily Francis – Specialist Upper Strings teacher at Clayfield College

Ceridwen Jones – Specialist Upper Strings teacher at Clayfield College

Gwyneth Jones – 2020 Alumni Student and previous Viotti Strings Leader

Lynne Backstrom (nee Hawley) – 1985 Alumni Student and Specialist Cello teacher at Clayfield College

2022 Private Music Tuition

In 2022, we are offering private specialist tuition for the following instrument groups:

Piano (from grade 2)

Strings (from grade 3)

Band (from grade 5)

Vocal (from grade 6)

Any student wishing to be involved in the Private Music Tuition in 2022, must submit the Private Tuition Application Form, to be completed by a Parent or Caregiver. Tuition fees, terms, and conditions are communicated in the form. 

As students are automatically re-enrolled each year, any student wishing to discontinue lessons must notify the Director of Co-Curricular Music (kgordon@clayfield.qld.edu.au) via email before Friday 26 November. This is to ensure that our specialist tutors are given advanced notification of student numbers to enable accurate planning of teaching hours and days. Any cancellations received in the New Year will incur a two-week cancellation fee.

Congratulations to Sophia Buchanan (Year 12), who was accepted into the Queensland Conservatorium of Music to study Double Bass with Phoebe Alviz Russell, Principal Bass of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Please email Mrs. Karen Gordon (kgordon@clayfield.qld.edu.au) if you have any music-related news or achievements that we can share and celebrate with our community.

Band Rehearsals 

Mr. Tim Opstelten - Coordinator of Bands and Activities PP-12

End of Year Brass, Woodwind and Percussion Rehearsals

Symphonic Winds

Tuesday 23 November - No rehearsal due to Block Exams

Tuesday 30 November - No rehearsal due to Block Exams

Big Band

Monday 22 November  - No rehearsal due to Block Exams

Monday 29 November - No Rehearsal due to Block Exams

Join Symphonic Winds break up at lunch on Tuesday 30 November

Primary Band (Wind Orchestra and Beginner Band)

Thursday 25 November  - Rehearsal 7:00 am – 8:00 am (last rehearsal of the year)

Primary String Orchestra

The final Primary String Orchestra rehearsal will be on Monday 22 November at 7:10 am. Thank you to all Primary String Players for coming along to these rehearsals – it has been wonderful to have a very full rehearsal room with so many enthusiastic musicians!