The Arts

News from the Visual Arts 

Preparations for our ‘End-of-Year’ Exhibition - students in Visual Art and Visual Art Studio classes are completing work as we prepare for the final Junior Exhibition for the year. This exhibition will feature Yr 7/8 small works in painting and ceramics, as well as, Year 9 artworks from ‘My Backyard’ unit of work this Term. Also, Visual Art Studio and Year 7 Visual Art Studio Foundation program will showcase a range of work exploring processes of printmaking including darkroom photography, gel printing and mixed media works as well as photographic fabric and ceramic screen printing techniques developed with our artist-in-residence, Nancy Brown. This exhibition will open next week and continue in Week 10. See attached details for opening on Friday, 29 November. 

Music Department News

The last few weeks have been very busy in the Music Department. 

On Friday 8 November we held our last TULA Concert for the year. This was an exciting (and very hot!!!) evening of fabulous music, enhanced by the inclusion of a number of our incoming musicians from the local primary schools. It was wonderful to see all of the primary schools represented on stage in Concert Band and Vivaldi Strings. These students stepped up to the challenge of playing in a larger ensemble than they are used to as well as learning music at a higher level than they are currently playing. A huge thank you to Mrs Dinnis and Mrs Forgan for welcoming so many new members to your groups in Term 4 – the Year 6 students loved the experience of coming along to rehearsals, making new friends and having their first ever high school concert experience. Thank you also to the rest of the Music team for your wonderful performances and support on the night – Ms Donovan, Ms Elsworth, Ms Fawns, Ms Davis, Mr Jarrott, Mrs Collins and Ms Dargusch. Also, a huge shout-out to the PoPArts Crew and our tuckshop convenor, Theresa, for their work on the canteen. I know that drinks sales were through the roof due to the heat!!!

The Big Band and Chorale backed up after the concert to perform at our Senior Graduation Ceremony on Thursday 14 November. The Chorale sang and incredible rendition of Oceans and Stars, a poignant original work that paralleled the voyages we make through life with those of a river flow to the sea. Their incredible singing was complimented by our string quartet – Ava N, Lee-Ling H, William S and Catriona W. Thank you to Ms Donovan for your work preparing the string quartet and Mrs Collins for selecting another perfect piece of repertoire to honour our graduating students. 

We then moved into Gig @ The Gap – our Year 10 Music Honours and Year 11 Music students class concert. This was a fantastic night where the students presented their IA1 assessment (Year 12 ATAR assessment) to an enthusiastic audience in the auditorium. Ms Dargusch has done an incredible job with these young musicians and support them to perform on their individual instruments in a diverse range of styles. It was a wonderful night’s entertainment.

This week we have had both the Year 9 Accelerated Music Class Concert and Year 7 Accelerated Music Class Concert on Monday and Wednesday nights respectively. Our Year 9 class performed like seasoned professionals – a huge range of styles from Baroque masterpieces to punk rock bands. It was a really fun program and the students supported each other in performance but also in the range of concert jobs required. The Year 7 class were really excited to be making their debut and had a range of solo and small ensemble groups playing pop songs from across the years. Thank you to Ms Dargusch for her wonderful work with both these classes. The Year 8 class will be presenting their Australian Flair Concert next Monday 25 November.

Instrumental Music in 2025

New Instrumental Music Student and Parents Information Night – SAVE THE DATE

On Wednesday 29 January 2025, we will be hosting an information night for all of the new Music students and their families. Please save the date and come along to meet the Music team. We will have ensemble information, timetables, music folders and a lot of information about how the program works, as well as a calendar of events for the year. We are really looking forward to meeting our new musicians and welcoming them to our music family.

Existing students will continue to be enrolled in Instrumental Music and should be already placed in the ensemble they are continuing in. Please check with your IM teacher if you are not sure which ensemble you are in for 2025.

At this stage, our rehearsal and lesson schedule will be remaining the same as it is this year with these dates and times to be confirmed at the start of next year. Watch this space!

Music Camp 2025

Next year’s Music Camp will be held at Lake Ainsworth Sport and Recreation Centre from Monday 17 February to Wednesday 19 February. Students from our intermediate and senior ensembles will be invited to attend – Paganini, Amadeus, Symphonic Winds and Wind Ensemble and invitations/consent forms will be sent out early next week. The cost will be approximately $450 and payable at the start of 2025 – invoices will be sent out once consent forms are returned to Ms McMullen. Thank you for prioritising this important music experience in your calendars for next year. We are really excited to be returning to Lennox Head after a number of years visiting other venues. More detailed information will be sent out soon.