Music News

Big Band & Stage Band at VSMF

On 14 August, Stage Band and Big Band represented Nossal at the Victorian Schools Music Festival at the Hawthorn Arts Centre.  These performances were the culmination of countless rehearsal hours, practise and hard work, for which we were awarded two silver awards.

 We would like to give a special shout out to our elite soloists; the talented trumpeters Chamath “Chopper” Suraweera, Keshav Sharma and Jack Moeller, teriffic trombone players Arjuna Edirisinghe and Alex Wilson, stunning saxophonists Robert Ma, Movindu Gamage and Devan Fedhi and great guitarist Nadia Hadzikadic.  After our performance, we had the wonderful opportunity of a 15 minute workshop with famous trumpet player Willie Murillo from the United States, who spoke of the importance of ensemble balance and how passion affects how we play in a band together.  He also emphasised the point that everyone is an improviser!  We also learned a great deal by listening to other school bands perform their sets.  We then were able to spend time with Melbourne jazz pianist Steve Sedergreen, who gave us insightful advice on how to improvise as soloists; one of most significant aspects of jazz music.  He also spoke to us about the specific roles that each instrument has in a jazz band setting.  We are very much looking forward to performing next year’s festival and bringing home the gold!

Nancy Waddington

Director of Music