Instrumental Music 

Our Concert Band performed very well at the ANZAC ceremony last week.  Well done on your professionalism at such a solemn occasion.  Once again, our Year 7’s did a brilliant job handling the new music with confidence and the leadership demonstrated by our senior band members was very reassuring.  Our ensembles are now preparing for the upcoming “Open Rehearsal” on Open Day where anyone can come into the music room and sit in on a real live rehearsal as it takes place.  We are also getting ready for the “Battle of the Bands” in Laidley on May 29 where our Concert Band, Stage Band, Rock Band and solo vocalists will do battle with Lockyer and Laidley High Schools,  followed by our Western Tour on June 2.  There is a lot going on in music and we are very proud of our ensembles.

The following article is by Instrumental Music Student, Ash Pratt:

"The weekend of the 14th of March Yuna and I attended the State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP) in Toowoomba. There were students from all over, as far out as Chinchilla, Dalby, and Kingaroy, and all of us were curriculum level 6 at the very least, if not higher. All students who made it through the application process and were selected to attend were elite instrumentalists. In the wind ensemble alone – where Yuna and I were representing – there were around eighty of us in total. There were around twenty clarinets – my section – and around fourteen flutes, Yuna’s section.

We spent four to five hours learning five new songs on the Friday evening, with our day ending at eight o’clock. Saturday morning, we were straight back into it, workshopping and rehearsing these songs to get them performance ready for Sunday morning. On Sunday morning we had around an hour to do a final run through and confirm any technical bits. In total, we rehearsed the five songs for eleven hours. The performance was amazing, with no mistakes. Our conductor had students, members of the wind ensemble, give the introductions for the pieces, not himself. This highlighted that the performance was ours, we were the ones showing off our excellence.

The whole experience was amazing, with some bits challenging both my ability and confidence. I would say that I learned something new or a new way to apply myself to my music and instrument at least every five minutes. I can’t speak for Yuna, but I have returned with new skills that I can apply within our own band here at Toogoolawah, and I cannot wait to do so. With this being my last year of school, I won’t have the opportunity to go again, but I wish I could. It was an incredible experience that I could ramble on about forever and wish I could experience again."