Music News

Whoever it was that said the days go slow but the years go fast clearly had kids of their own. 

I have become very familiar with that sentiment over the last couple of years. Each day is its own rewarding challenge, but before you know it, you’re packing things down for the summer holidays wondering what just happened. 

We have had a wonderful year of music at Horsham College. From a curriculum point of view, it’s been a new look senior end with VCE Music being replaced with a Cert III in VET Music Performance. This allows students, should they wish to, to undertake an assessed exam at the end of the year which contributes to their ATAR, whilst completing bookwork relevant to the music industry and what a life in that industry can potentially look like. The record will state that Phillip Sierra was the first student at Horsham College to undertake this course, and his performance exam in October was fantastic. I anticipate that he will be the trailblazer for many students over the years to come. 

There have been a number of performances from Mr. Kirne’s Rock Band. This is a band that consists of students who have voluntarily given of their time on a Thursday after school to work with Mr. Kirne to up their skill set on their chosen instrument/s and work together to develop our repertoire of classic rock songs from decades past. Mr. Kirne’s influence of 70’s, 80’s and 90’s rock has been considerable amongst our future VET Music students! 

The Cert II VET Music class had a great year developing their skills and building a repertoire that was largely centred around Aussie Rock. This was a class that met on Wednesdays and spent the day rehearsing and working through bookwork that gave them an insight into the music industry. Over the year they performed at Horsham College, Dimboola Memorial Secondary College, Dimboola Primary School, Warracknabeal College and the Horsham Special School. 

The Cert III VET students made the most of opportunities to perform at the Regional Music Festival at Phoenix Community College, VET Fest at Ballarat High, a number of performances at Horsham College and all of this culminating with Phillip’s performance exam at the Wendouree Performing Arts Centre in October.

It was also fantastic to have a number of select music students participate in the Regional Recording Day, which involves students from Ballarat High, Phoenix Community College and Horsham College all working together to record 3 of my original compositions. I consider it an absolute privilege to work so closely with such an enthusiastic group of musicians, both staff and students, and share with them the insights into my own music.

Junior classroom music students have been the main focus of Mr. Kirne this year and they could not have been in safer hands. From my observational perspective in T3C I have been able to see each class work both as individuals and together as a band to produce sounds they probably didn’t ever think they would. Students who may never have had the opportunity to even hold an instrument were able to work together to make genuine music, which is such an amazing experience. For that, I thank you Mr. Kirne for your enthusiasm, dedication and, above all, patience! 

An exciting development for 2025 is the reinstatement of our instrumental program which has had to be on hiatus this year due to staffing difficulties. It will be great to once again be able to offer lessons on brass, woodwind, percussion, guitar and bass guitar.

Lastly, I wish to say a sincere thank you, best wishes and good luck to Miss Lauren Arnett who is concluding her time at Horsham College this year. Miss Arnett has been a shining light of passionate music education for 5 years at Horsham College and will be sorely missed by everyone in the music department. Personally, it has been a delight to share an office, a department and an equally musical mind with you. We wish you all the very best back in Melbourne where you will find a decent coffee on every second corner, more opportunities to spread your musical joy, and more time to spend with your family and friends.