Junior School 

Performing Arts

Dates for the Diary – Term 2

Thursday 27 April – Junior Concert Band Rehearsal (first day of Term 2)

Monday 1 May – All other ensembles resume rehearsals

Friday 19 May – SS Camerata Concert - featuring Senior School Camerata competition winners. 6.30pm DPA

Thursday 1 June – JS Performing Arts Concert 5.30pm DPA – All JS students involved. All families welcome.

Thursday 8 June – SS Music Festival (Koristers to perform at this event) – Ticketed event. 6.30pm DPA

Performing Arts Report

Andy Bell & Vivian Meates 

5-6 Show

A reminder that Mrs Sinclair has posted the script and song for the audition required for Tut Tut! Regardless of what part you wish to audition for, you will read and sing. Please learn BOTH parts (Seti and Tut) as you could be asked to read either part in the audition. 

It is very important that you sign up for the auditions which will take place on the first Friday of term and the following week. If you are successful in gaining a lead part, it is important that you are available on Thursday morning from 8am for our rehearsals. This link will be available on the HUB. Sign-up closes April 26 which is the Wednesday before we begin Term 2. 

Cello Champions

Our Year 3 and 4 cellists - Nick, Lulu, Alex, Claire, Stuart and Joshua - were treated to a very special workshop with professional cello player and teacher Trish McMeekin. Mrs McMeekin travelled from the Blue Mountains for the day to work with our cello players. Ms Irik was delighted to see how engaged our students were during the lessons. This is a wonderful opportunity for our young musicians to work with a player of this caliber and we are very hopeful she will come again next term.

Good Practice

With music exams coming up in Term 3, now is a good time to think about what makes good practice. Remember that good practice should happen regularly. 15 minutes 5 times a week is much more beneficial than two 30-minute practices per week. It is important to find a time that works for you and your commitments.  Talk to your parents to schedule a time that works and stick to it. If you can, keep this practice routine in your holidays, this is the time to learn new music. Don’t forget to practice your ensemble pieces too. Take tricky music to your tutors so they can help you. 

And remember, as a famous American composer Phillip Glass once said, 

 “You practice and you get better. It’s very simple” 

Time for a Joke! 

Vivian:  Hey Andy, what type of music do planets sing?

Andy: I don’t know Vivian, what types of music do planets sing?

Vivian: Nep-tunes! 

Nomad String Quartet Concert 

Friday 10 March provided our young string players a wonderful opportunity to see a live performance of an extremely high calibre. Nomad string quartet are a young, vibrant group of musicians specializing in playing an eclectic mix of music genres. They wowed our students with a thrilling performance of two Danish folk songs, arranged for string quartet. The quartet were exceptional in their ensemble playing, but also demonstrated their ability to improvise throughout the music. We were delighted that many students gave up their lunch break to attend the concert. The students were clearly impressed with what they heard.

“...such a cool sound”

“It was so energetic and really fun”

“…that was amazing, they were so together”

“I loved the way they moved around when they played”

“I really liked that they read their music on an iPad!”

More strings in action!

Our Term 1 violin students have shown what they have learned with Ms Irik over this term with a wonderful concert for their peers in 1-2 Choir on Tuesday. They performed the Open String Song, demonstrating pizzicato and bowing on all four of the strings and showed their general knowledge of the instrument. Well done to those students for a great term’s work and congratulations on their performance. 

Parents will receive an email from Ms Irik regarding what to do if students wish to continue individual lessons.

Lindsay Irik – Strings Coordinator 

Percussion Playtime!

Our Kindergarten students have been developing their listening skills over the last few weeks in Music. We looked at the different types of percussion instruments, exploring how we make sound from each instrument. The students sorted them into three groups “shake, scrape, hit” and classified each instrument Mrs Sinclair played to them into the correct category. We noticed that the tambourine can be both shaken and hit, so we placed it in between the two categories. We then had lots of fun playing the different instruments.

Year 4 Instrumental Program

Please note the following dates for the Instrumental program in Term 2.

We will have Band and Ukulele classes on the first day back in Term 2 (27 April). Our program will conclude with an informal concert in Week 4 (18 May). We will also be joined by the tutors from our band program, who will be available to speak to regarding the option of continuing individual tuition. If your child is already keen to pursue individual lessons next term on their band instrument, please complete the online enrolment form (via the link to the JS Performing Arts Page) and complete the form. Individual lessons will commence in Week 5.

We look forward to seeing you in Week 4 next term for our concert!

Any queries regarding the band program, please contact kahowarth@kws.nsw.edu.au