Concert Band Tour of Echuca

On the last Thursday of the term, 15 brave Killester musicians of the Concert Band along with their leader, Mr. Vague and faithful sidekicks, Ms. Addis and Mr. Hickey took to the road for a triumphant tour of Echuca.

The mighty Murray river beckoned us as we crossed the border into New South Wales to stay at our very comfortable accomodation at Merrol Holiday Park in Moama. I'd thoroughly recommend this tourist park to any families who are thinking of taking a holiday up that way. Our cabins were perched high above the Murray's edge giving us a lovely vista each morning. The mist rising off the river and the Red Gums leave an indelible image on your mind.

Friday saw two performances. The first was for 600 primary students from St. Mary's Echuca which we found to our delight was in fact a Brigidine school. ( See photo). The concert saw our music captains, Angel Chau and Mikayla Lowther host a newsroom type commentary about the power of film score music especially John Williams ( of Star Wars, Harry Potter fame). The band played very well holding the concentration of a huge crowd of preps to Grade 6's right to the end of the 50 minute concert.

Our second performance of the day saw us arrive at the Echuca Specialist School. We performed a 40 minute concert for the entire school. These are very special concerts both for our girls and the audience. It is very important for our girls to see the power that music has in all quarters of our society. The enthusiasm and the joy that the audience gave and received from the girls' playing left a very warm feeling for all concerned.

The afternoon was an exploration of the famous port of Echuca followed by a highly entertaining and action packed trivia night back at the caravan park which was won by the Brass section. Saturday saw one of the wettest days Echuca had seen for about a year. This was very good for the dry, parched land but not so good for an outdoor performance at the Echuca Farmer's Market which had to be abandoned with only thirty or forty notes played. That didn't stop the Killester Concert Band in the afternoon as they braved the elements and entertained a packed boat on the Emmy Lou paddle steamer on an hour long cruise up and down the Murray. The finish of the cruise ended in high drama when a mini twister raced through the port causing a massive house boat to come free of it's moorings and block the river. If not for the courage of the fearless crew( is that a song?) we may still be on the river as we speak..

Overall our girls performed beautifully across the whole four days, both musically and in their behaviour. It is a pleasure to take such mature and friendly people on tour. These are the experiences that prove to be some of the most memorable of our student's school days. My thanks to Mr. Vague for preparing the girls so well and injecting such a love of performance into their lives. My thanks also to the all of the touring party; Mikayla Lowther, Angel Chau, Kezzia Chan, Cindy Le, Catherine Nguyen, Anna Eam, Rejoice Simon,Alicia Lay, Grace Nelson, Shelby Turone, Lauren Trang, Adriana D'Agruma, Lyn-Thao Nguyen, Christie Giang, Leila Tabak.

Bernie Hickey, Music Learning Area Leader

Important Music Dates for Term 3

Monday 29th July School Assembly - Improvisation group with Mr Vague

Sunday 18th August Essentially Ellington Stage Band Festival

Killester Stage Band - Xavier College, Kew 2.00pm-6.00pm

Monday 19th August Monash Youth Choir Competition

Swing Sisters – Huntingtower School, Mt Waverley 2.30pm-6.30pm

Friday 23rd August Brigidine Day - All Choirs and Concert Band at Killester College

Monday 9th September Lunchtime concert in courtyard

Wednesday 11th September School Assembly performance HONK

Wednesday 18th September Farewell Concert for the VCE Music students involving all senior ensembles and choirs plus Honk

Killester College Newsletter

Issue 6 · 19 Jul 2019

In this issue