Music Notes

Generations In Jazz Success 

Over the first weekend of May, Huntingtower attended and performed at Generations In Jazz for the first time. This annual event held just south of the town of Mount Gambier in South Australia, hosts over 5000 students from 120 schools from all over Australia, who perform in Big Bands, Jazz Combo Bands and Jazz Choirs. There were 270 Big Bands and 142 Vocal Ensembles who are self-organised into an appropriate division according to their level of expertise.  

Our HT Big Band have been working hard towards this event for over six months, with many extra rehearsals and workshops, which contributed to the wonderful result of being awarded Second Place in their division (against 22 other bands!). 

A special mention goes to Mr Mirko Guerrini for his deep knowledge and drive in training the band members to master the sophisticated genre of jazz. In addition, the trumpet section was recognised by being awarded ‘Best Trumpet Section’ for our division. And we were equally excited to learn that Jayland L was selected for the ‘Superband’, identifying him being amongst the best players from within our division as a consequence his amazing solos and section leading.  

The Year 10 Chamber Choir also competed in the Vocal Ensembles section, and whilst they didn’t receive a top three placing, they represented themselves and the school very well with high standard performances. They too have been working hard on developing their skills to present their songs with confidence and should be very proud of their efforts. Special thanks to Mrs Cassie Nolan for her fine choir directing, and Mr Ed Chan for his piano accompaniment.  

Generations In Jazz has been evolving for over 39 years, and as a part of the educational aspects of the weekend, the organisers engaged international acts to thrill the students with their energetic live performances. This year’s guest artists were The Tower of Power, a famous soul/funk group who have been performing since the late 1960s and are still performing and touring worldwide. The students not only enjoyed hearing and seeing them live in the main Saturday night concert, but they were lucky enough to experience a music workshop with the band members on the Sunday morning, further inspiring them and providing insights about the craft of live performance. 

Senior Ensembles Open Rehearsals 

Our senior choirs and ensembles will be holding a week of ‘open rehearsals’ in our regular rehearsal time slots, whereby we invite parents to attend and witness what transpires in our rehearsals. We aim to culminate the session with a recording of each of them performing the chosen work. This is a brilliant opportunity to take a look ‘behind the scenes’ and have the opportunity to understand the intricacies of bring a work of music to fruition. 

We will be sending out further details by each group, but the table below outlines the week’s plans: 

Winter Concert 

The combined Junior School and Middle School Winter Concert will take place in the early evening of Tuesday 16 June in our PAC. The groups performing are: 

• Little Choir Junior School Choir Junior School Chamber Choir 

• Junior Strings Intermezzo Strings JS Percussion Ensemble 

• Guitar Ensemble Prelude Concert Band Year 5-6 Band 

• Year 7-8 Choir Year 7 Chamber Choir Year 8 Chamber Choir 

• Intermezzo Concert Band Year 9 Chamber Choir 

More details will be soon deployed via Consent2Go, but in the meantime can you please mark this event in your diaries if your child is in one or more of the groups listed above. We will be starting the concert at 6:30pm and anticipate that the concert will be finished by 8:30pm. 

Woodwind Soirée  

We are delighted to offer our woodwind players the opportunity to perform for an audience on the evening of Thursday 28 May in the Orchestral Room. Students are invited to register their intention to perform a solo, duet, trio or small group item by emailing Mr Mowat, or discussing with their Huntingtower Instrumental Music Tutor. We look forward to hearing a wide variety of music from our talented, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon and saxophone players.  

HT Instrument Amnesty! 

We are aware that from time to time, students may have been issued with, or borrowed a Huntingtower instrument, but are yet to return it. Whist we maintain good records of our instrument stock, sometimes the processes can be overlooked, and consequently instruments can occasionally go missing. If you have a Huntingtower instrument at home tucked away in the back of a cupboard or under a bed, we would be very happy to have it returned without any questions asked! You can return it anonymously or in person to the school’s Reception, or the Music Office in the Music Centre.  

We also welcome any instruments (in playing order) to be donated to the school. For further enquiries, please email music@huntingtower.vic.edu.au.  

Mr David Mowat

Director of Music