Generations in Jazz
Over the weekend from the 1-3 of May, 4 audition groups traveled to a Jazz competition/festival in Mount Gambier, South Australia called G.I.J (Generations In Jazz). There were 36 students ranging from different groups, with some students competing in multiple.
Day 1!
Our trip started with an 8 hour bus ride, stopping over in Ararat for the mandatory Maccas and subway stop. It’s always a bonding experience on the bus. This year the students made a bingo card as to what they think will happen on our trip (targeting some teachers), and turns out, so did the teachers (targeting some students).
Our accommodation has been at the Mulga Street Primary School for years now and we got to play a few of our songs that we would be competing with on the following day, and had a fun time watching all their cute reactions to all our music.
After our performance, we unloaded the bus and got settled where we were staying, then we were off to the festival!
When we got there, we went to our dining hall and fueled up, ready for the welcome gala.
We got to be in the big top tent, seating over 6,000 people, and we were welcomed to G.I.J.
We headed back to our accommodation after the gala, had some supper that the Mulga Street parents had prepared for us, and called it a night.
Day 2!!
Day 2 was competition day. We all woke up bright and early, had an amazing breakfast very kindly cooked by the Mulga Street parents, got ready in our performance uniform, and got on the bus ready to compete.
Our first group was senior stage band, competing bright and early at 9:15 in Division 2. They did an amazing job and all the rest of us were there to support them.
We had a bit of time to kill until our next group so we got some free time to walk around the festival, get food from the food trucks, buy some merch and watch other schools compete in other divisions.
We met back up for lunch and then headed to the next group competing which was the Jazz Combo in division 2. This group is a student made and run group so it was so cool to see what they put together.
Straight from Jazz Combo, we headed to where Harmony Vocal was competing in division 2. This was our only vocal group competing so it was a very different dynamic but an amazing experience.
We went straight to support our Intermediate Stage band compete in division 3. Once we were finally let in, we watched Inter-Stage compete, playing three songs, one with singing!
That was it for our competition entries so now we could just enjoy the festival.
It was in this moment the students got to cross off “mud” from their bingo card as we got caught in a very severe rainstorm.
After getting absolutely soaked, we took off some of our wet layers on the bus and headed back out for the night 2 concert which we’d been looking forward to the whole trip. Sadly, moshing was banned, so we had to have fun from our seats, but it was still a super fun night.
After the concert, we headed back to the primary school for some supper and sleep. We spent some time debriefing the day, defrosting ourselves, playing games, and having a laugh before heading off to bed.
Day 3!!!
Day 3 was our final day. We started the morning with breakfast very kindly made by the Mulga Street parents again. We then tidied up our rooms and packed all our stuff to load the bus. We said our thank you’s and our goodbyes and then headed off one last time to the festival. We all attended workshops that applied to our instrument and got to learn different techniques and ways to use them. Most of us enjoyed some pancakes from the famous strawberry van. We then headed to the final concert where the scholarship and big band winners performed and then finally they announced who placed for each division. Sadly none of our groups placed but we still had heaps of fun. We finally headed back to Northcote high and said bye to G.I.J.
Overall, the trip was an amazing experience, getting to bond with so many people across different year levels and of course our lovely performing arts teachers (we still don’t know what they wrote about us on their bingo card…)
-Erica Giorgedakis
Performing Arts Captain