Performing Arts

   Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2025, and welcome your input:

Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au 

Wominjeka!

VSSS 2025

We have continued with our Thursday afternoon rehearsals, under the direction of Kim Van Hoorn (who sets dance homework! - love it). We can see that many of the dancers have been rehearsing at home and we thank them for their dedication. Our second hub rehearsal also took place on Tuesday 6th May in the school gym. This was supervised by Ms Humphries who was super impressed with the high standards on display. If your child missed this rehearsal, please encourage them to spend some time watching the online tutorials so they can catch up.

I have added some information to the VSSS Google Classroom page in relation to the ordering of VSSS hoodies. Please be aware that the ordering process is not something USPS is involved with. If you wish to purchase one (they are not compulsory) you must order them directly from the link I provided.

School Choir  - UPDATE

Unfortunately, due to lack of numbers in our senior choir, it has been decided that we will now just run one COMBINED CHOIR. This will be for all students from years one to six and be held EVERY WEEK now during the 3rd recess break on a TUESDAY. 

Please remind your child that the choir requires a commitment for a whole semester and is not something to drop in and out of. It is preferable that students leave/join at the end/beginning of a new semester. If your child has never done choir before, they are welcome to come along for a session to try it out before they commit to joining. We have such beautiful singers in our school (I know because I hear them during Performing Arts) and I strongly encourage people to come and share their talent with us. There is certainly something quite unique and special about singing in a group.

It is very important that anyone joining choir brings along a plastic wallet or binder with pockets so that they can collect the lyric sheets for the songs we are singing. 

Instrumental Lessons

Our school's Instrumental Program, now being managed by Amaris Lee-David, will continue to offer lessons on most instruments and will be retaining the outstanding team of musicians. The first 'trial' lesson is free of charge and your child will get the opportunity to perform in an end of year instrumental concert if they want to. You also have the option of choosing a lesson during the recess breaks if you would prefer that your child is not taken out of his or her class lessons. Feel free to contact Amaris info@groovefoundations.comfor more information.

IN OUR PERFORMING ARTS ROOM

Foundation

We have started Term Two by continuing to explore the elements of music, in particular the element of dynamics (volume). The students learnt the Italian words for loud and soft (forte and piano) as well as very loud and very soft (fortissimo and pianissimo). We discussed things around us that might fit into these categories and used our singing voices to change the dynamics when singing. We then used a variety of percussion instruments to practise playing loud and soft sounds to a steady beat. The students took in turns of being the conductor and controlling the volume of the playing with hand signals. We have begun to explore the instruments of an orchestra and looked at the different families, namely the wind, brass, strings and percussion. We watched, 'George meets the Orchestra' and the students reflected on what their favourite instrument was. We discussed what 'instrumental music' is and listened to 'The Hens' by Ottorio Respighi. It was wonderful to see them delight in the concept of music with 'no words'. 

Year One and Year Two

The students have been continuing to explore the element of rhythm and have been practising their sight rhythm reading using the words 'ta', 'ti-ti' and 'za'. We looked at how some sounds are fast and some are slow and when we might use a musical rest. We played 'poison rhythm' to improve our music ear. A variety of rhythms were clapped and echoed and the challenge was to listen for the 'poison rhythm' and avoid clapping it. We watched a short clip from Arts Live about dynamics and how musicians can change the volume in music from really loud (fortissimo) to really soft (pianissimo) and the variety of volumes in between. They used Dynamic Flash Cards and worked in small groups to play a variety of dynamics on percussion instruments, using the Italian names to identify each dynamic symbol. The students were introduced to the words 'crescendo' and 'decrescendo' and some of them got to perform a 'ripping composition' where they used the sound of ripping paper to create a whole class decrescendo. We used a metronome to keep our steady beat. It was lots of fun.

Year Three and Year Four

The students have spent the last few weeks exploring the element of dynamics in music. We looked at the Italian words for a variety of volumes including loud and soft (forte and piano), very loud and very soft (fortissimo and pianissimo), crescendo and decrescendo (gradually getting louder or softer), mezzo (moderately) and subito (suddenly). We listened to some music samples of differing dynamics and the impact this has on the mood of music. We had a lot of fun creating our 'ripping composition' using recycled paper that was ripped in unison to a steady beat. This created an amazing whole class decrescendo. The students have explored saying rhythms using 'tika tika', 'tika ti', ti-ti', 'ta' and 'za' and have been sight reading, saying and clapping their own 3x4 bar compositions. These needed to include repeat signs as well as dynamic instructions using the correct symbols ie forte (f), piano (p), fortissimo (ff) and pianissimo (pp). This will form part of the students Portfolio Task for Semester one. They will choose an unpitched instrument to perform this on and eventually plot and play it on a pitched instrument.

Year Five and Year Six

The students in Years Five and Six have spent the last few weeks working on their 'Performing Arts Poster Projects'. Due to the short week one, swimming and cross country, I decided to give all students an extra week to prepare for their presentation. These will now be presented in week five (next week). You might be able to assist your child by letting them rehearse in front of you and timing their presentation. They should be approximately five minutes long. I have been encouraging students to use palm/cue cards to avoid looking down and just reading off their poster. I am really looking forward to learning lots of new things about a wide variety of performing artists. Keep an eye out for the displayed posters in the windows of the Performing Arts room.