Music Update

House Chorals

This has been an absolutely crazy term for the music department!

We’d firstly like to thank all of our peers for their outstanding contributions; whether it was singing your heart out for your house or making your open mic debut, you have all made us very proud music captains. There simply wouldn’t be enough room in this entire newsletter for us to do justice to all of the exceptional performances over the last eight weeks, but please enjoy some highlights. 

• To kick us off, our concert band brightened up our week with a surprise pop-up performance in the agora, and were delighted to find the crowd still eager for more after we had exhausted our repertoire. We promise to be prepared for an encore next time!
• Our staff open mic revealed the hidden talent of Suzanne’s wonderful teachers, all while blessing us with some fantastic outfits, (thank you Ms Martini). 

• Our long-awaited Disney open mic was equal parts astounding and hilarious. I’m sure those classic numbers were stuck in every audience member’s heads for days to come. 
• Our Winter Concert that brought together the school’s biggest ensembles and some very brave soloists was a beautiful showcase of the semester’s hard work. It is always heartwarming to see family and friends gathered to support the musicians of SCHS.

• Our musical cast and band have had our first all day rehearsal and have been putting their all into the upcoming production. Get excited for this upcoming event!
• And of course, whilst all of this was happening we were working tirelessly in the background to put on an incredible show for chorals, the culmination of which was a truly inspiring and beautiful day of music. Seeing how much heart, effort and passion went into that competition alongside pure diligent musicianship never fails to blow us away. Congratulations to Cottrell for a well-deserved win and to all of the captains who brought it together. There isn’t anything quite like it. 

And would you believe it, there’s still more to come for this term! Our final week will see our year 12 VCE performance night followed by our LOTE week special, the annual cultural open mic that will be a beautiful celebration of music from various backgrounds. 

As you can tell, the music team have been insanely busy and we’d like to extend a thank you to all of the music staff that have slaved away at facilitating this, we owe so much to you and are endlessly grateful. 

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Jasmine Dyson (she/her) on behalf of the music team.

House Chorals 

Suzanne Cory’s most highly anticipated music event (and arguably, most highly anticipated house event), came to fruition in week seven of this term with an outstanding spread of instrumentalists, singers and performances representing each house. 

Over the last six months, teams have arranged, learnt and rehearsed their pieces with a determination and passion that absolutely shone through on the stage. 

The day featured an instrumental ensemble and small choir from each house, instrumental and vocal soloists, and of course the notorious mass singing in which hundreds of students come together as one voice to put their house spirit and musical prowess on display. 

The instrumental ensembles covered a range of styles from a rock band to an semi-orchestral arrangement, creating an extremely engaging day of music. Soloists represented their peers in front of the entire school via a live stream to each house area, braving this huge task and thriving even under such pressure. Small choirs performed both with piano accompaniment and acapella, traversing a further range of genres in renditions of even Jeff Buckley and Arethra Franklin’s most iconic songs. And finally, captains led their houses to sing as one with their very own bands, the energy in the room almost indescribable in such a moment. 

It was both a fierce competition and a beautiful show of support and encouragement between our school’s musicians. The standard was nothing short of excellence and everyone involved should be extremely proud of themselves. 

A huge thank you to our judges, Acting Principal Ms Leheny and esteemed visitor Mr. Mark Puddy, who were both burdened and honoured with the enormous task of determining a winner amongst such talent. Their input was extremely valuable. 

And an even bigger thank you to the frankly awesome music staff who have put in so much of their own time and effort into building the platform to showcase music at SCHS in this spectacular way. Your impact is seriously unfathomable and genuinely appreciated by every single one of us. 

A congratulations to all of our leaders, performers and everyone involved in our 2023 chorals competition. While Cottrell may have come away with the trophy, all of you have achieved beyond any expectations and have certainly earnt a restful break. These moments are what music is all about. 

Jasmine Dyson (she/her) on behalf of the music team.