Highvale Secondary College Newsletter

Music News

Chris MITCHELL

Director of Music

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEVR Concert - Wednesday May 29th, Hamer Hall

 

On Wednesday evening, around 70 Highvale students joined over 600 other students from around the North-East Victoria region for the NEVR Youth Concert 2024. Held at Hamer Hall, this event showcases the talent of students from a range of schools, encouraging teamwork and friendship beyond our own school gates. Highvale students participated in the String Orchestra, Secondary Choir, Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Symphony Orchestra. Year 12 Highvale student Gemima Nicholson also performed a beautiful cello solo. 

There are lots of people who made this event possible. Firstly, all the supporting staff from various schools, and the NEVR music coordinators for working with the students to learn the music and behind the scenes to make all the logistics happen. Many of our own instrumental teachers assisted with the rehearsals, and Lam Nguyen, our singing teacher, provided excellent management of the secondary choir. Also, thank you to all our own students, parents and staff for adapting so readily to the various changes to music timetables that were needed to allow us to host the choir rehearsals and support other rehearsals with staffing over the past few weeks. Thanks also to parents for supporting their students to practice and getting them to and from rehearsals and the performance. Finally, thanks to our principal team for supporting the event, including Ms Patti and Mr Hunter for coming along on the night. 

                                  

Winter Concert – Thursday June 20th 

The Winter Concert is our biggest event of the year, with back-to-back shows, one featuring our junior and intermediate groups and one featuring our senior and vocal groups. All instrumental music students, including ‘ensemble only’ members will be involved in at least one of the two shows.

 

Parents of students involved will be sent additional information via e-mail, but essential points are:

  • Events will appear on Compass. For the performance itself, please ensure you provide consent via Compass.
  • The junior / intermediate show will be at 4:45pm. Performers and crew will need to remain at school after Period 5 until the end of the concert. This means they will need to bring correct concert attire to change into.
  • The senior show will be at 7:00pm. Performers who are in the senior show are to go home at the end of the normal school day and return at 6:15pm.

Tickets to attend in-person will be available soon – they will be advertised via Compass news feed. 

 

Any students interested in being involved in stage / tech crew for this concert should 

e-mail me cmi@highvalesc.vic.edu.au or send a chat message on Teams, by Friday June 7th. Participation will involve a setup day, soundcheck day and the evening performances.

 

AMEB Exams

During this term, students who are considering an AMEB exam in 2024 will soon need to finalise their decision, in consultation with their teacher and parents. If you have any interest in completing such an exam this year, please speak with your teacher in your lesson or via e-mail within the next week.

 

Instrumental Lessons

A few reminders for students as instrumental lessons continue this term:

  • Please check your lesson times carefully each week, and again the day before the lesson. Write yourself a reminder if you need it, so you remember to attend (or if you use a BYOD, set a reminder using a calendar app such as Outlook).
  • If you will miss a lesson,, please see your teacher or send your teacher an e-mail in advance. In some cases, the lesson time may be able to be re-arranged but this is not always possible. The earlier you let a teacher know of a problem with the lesson time, the more likely it is that they can change it for you.
  • Please ensure you complete regular practice as advised by your teacher. Some teachers will write practice requirements in the Compass lesson plan, so please check this.   

Ensembles

Ensembles continue during term 2. Please note groups that were rehearsing in D3 are now rehearsing on the gym stage.  Ensemble sessions should appear in the student’s Compass schedule.

 

 

2024 Performances

For your forward planning, please see the proposed 2024 performances below. If you are unsure if your student will be required on a particular date, please contact the music department for confirmation.