Music

It’s been a most eventful start to Term 3 in the Music Learning Area. D01 was full to the brim with family and friends keen to hear our student ensembles perform at our Winter Concert, held on July 23rd. Our Learning Leader for Music, Chloe Burley, along with a number of our instrumental students, did a fantastic job of MCing the event, and it was great to hear the progress our ensembles have made since the start of the year.  A huge thankyou to our music staff, including Harper Dawson, David Gill, Will Jones, Damien Ryles, Jeremy Schiftan and Annie Stone for their dedication towards developing our ensembles. We will hear from these groups again later in the year at the Spring Concert, to be held on Tuesday November 19th.

Our Stage Band and Choir have both performed at the Victorian School Music Festival in recent weeks. The Stage Band, directed by Will Jones, earned a Silver Shield, performing in the Junior Jazz Section on Tuesday July 30th. The Choir, directed by Annie Stone, performed for the first time ever at VSMF, earning a Bronze Shield in the Open Secondary Choir section on Wednesday August 7th. Congratulations to all our students who participated in VSMF. It’s an extremely worthwhile experience where students are able to perform to their musical peers from other schools, and gain valuable feedback from experts in their field. Please read the articles below which are written from a student perspective. 

The Songmakers Songwriting Workshop, held over two days from August 1st-2nd provided an amazing opportunity for our senior music students to work with Industry Professionals to learn more about the songwriting process. Our students wrote and recorded some fantastic songs! Thankyou to David Gill for organising this amazing event for our students. 

A reminder that our Instrumental Assessment week is coming up from September 2nd – 6th, and will take place during a student’s usual instrumental lesson time. Students will perform one piece/song and some planned technical exercises to their teacher and another instrumental staff member. This will allow students to receive feedback on their instrumental progress, which will be included in their end of semester reports. If you have any further queries regarding this, please speak to your instrumental teacher, or contact me at kirsty.mechielsen@education.vic.gov.au

Kirsty Mechielsen

Head of Music 

Student Reflection – Stage Band at VSMF

When we pulled up to the Hawthorn Arts Centre, we made our way upstairs and started getting ready. Before we went onto the stage, our director Will gave us a speech and then the stage band captains pumped up the band with an amazing pre performance talk. We walked onto the stage and played through our pieces. We left the stage and made it to the bus, where we found out we won Silver. 

Nicholas Hetherington – Year 10

Student Reflection – Choir at VSMF

On Wednesday August 7th, the Wheelers Hill Choir attended the Victorian Schools Music Festival, performing after school at the Box Hill Salvation Army. The students attended the event with two other schools, who were all given the opportunity to perform in front of each other, two judges and a specialist who then worked with the students on refining their skills. After performing their two songs ‘Lovely Day’ by Bill Withers and ‘The Seed’ by Glyn Lehmann, the students were given constructive feedback and the opportunity to work on their balance as a choir, led by Mark Puddy.

Listening to the performances of the other schools also provided students with inspiration for future performance, also teaching them critical listening skills. It was an amazing experience for the students in the choir who now have areas to target for future improvement, to get the choir singing and producing the best sound they can.

Chloe Burley – Year 12