Instrumental Music

There has been so much happening in the music space at Healesville High School throughout the past few weeks.

On Wednesday 29th of May, Amanda Morrison was afforded the very great honour of being chosen to conduct the Concert Band at the NEVR music concert, held at Hamer Hall in Melbourne.

The NEVR concert, in 2024 entitled ‘Sonic Canvas’ is the prime annual music event for all schools in the North-East Region of Victoria and to be asked to conduct a key band is a significant achievement. Amanda performed her role impressively and her band, wonderfully prepared and led, performed beautifully, as you’d expect.

In addition, throughout the evening, ten of our students performed on stage in front of an audience of more than 2000 people and another one of our students played guitar to entertain the audience in the foyer before the concert. Our students performed brilliantly, showing the results of the tireless work of our instrumental music staff- a big congratulations to Amanda, Andrew, and Viv.

In the time between the day rehearsals and the evening, the students and Ms Morrison also took the opportunity to explore the city together. A great experience for our students and staff.

On Monday June 3 Dr Sue Arney visited HHS to run a workshop with the Legends band in preparation for their performance at the Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference in July this year. During the conference the Legends band will be acting as a demonstration ensemble for Amanda Morrison’s Presentation on ‘Bigger isn’t always Better: How to make your small band sound great’ and for Dr Sue Arney’s presentation on ‘25 tips for working with young ensembles’. They will also be the opening act for a concert featuring the Air Force Band!

On Thursday July 20, the Music Department hosted their Semester 1 Music Concert to showcase all the musical talent we have within our school. The concert opened with the Rookie Band, this was their debut performance and they all played wonderfully! Our concert included solos from Sam Low, Archie Kirby, Joseph Jacob and Grace Howie. All of these students performed with great aplomb and skill and left the audience amazed! Other ensembles included the Rising Stars Band conducted by Viv Doolan, the Jazz Ensemble directed by Andrew Darling and the Legends Band Conducted by Amanda Morrison. All of the ensembles had worked hard to prepare for the concert, and it showed on the night where all of their friends and families could see how it all comes together. The progression of skill and musicality from the Rookies to the Legends was great to see. It’s hard to imagine that not too many years ago the Legends were sitting on that stage performing Hot Cross Buns too! A huge congratulations to all involved in the music concert and a special thanks to the music team, Viv Doolan and Andrew Darling for assisting me in preparing the students for the performance.