Music Performance
Music Calendar
Autumn Twilight Concert
Congratulations to all those who performed at our first major event for the year, at the end of last term. Our Year 7 String Orchestra and the Year 7 Concert Band performed for the first time demonstrating what amazing progress they had made in only 4 or 5 lessons.. It was also an opportunity for those same students to hear the year 8 Strings Orchestra and Concert Band and get an idea of where they might be in another year's time as well as reminding the year 8 students just how far they have progressed.
This year we added some additional items including a Jazz duo - Gemma Ong (Sax) and Naomi Taylor (Piano) playing Take Five and the Saxophone Ensemble led by Bella Winter. The All Stars Choir led by Nina Selkver and on the of the rock bands, ‘Don’t Say David”, rounded off the twilight concert for another year. Congratulations to all performers and thanks to all staff who contributed with preparing students to be able to share their work.
ANZAC Assembly Last Post
An important part of MGSC's commemorative activities is the Minute's Silence. Phoebe Sanders (Year 10) led proceeding with an accomplished and moving performance of The Last Post followed by The Rouse. Thank you Phoebe for your contribution.
Choral@Melbourne - Sunday May 3
Last Sunday, students from the All Stars Choir and Madrigal were invited to perform as part of the Choral@Melbourne held at the Abbotsford Convent. The convent’s historic buildings, now used as performance spaces, provided a stunning setting for the afternoon. The acoustics of the venue, with its stone walls and high ceilings, created a beautiful resonance and an ethereal quality to the choirs’ sound. It is always a privilege to perform in such beautiful spaces for appreciative audiences.
Thank you to Blanka West for making this wonderful opportunity possible for our students.
(And a shout out and gratitude to Wendy Harvey for accompanying both choirs' performances. BW)
Senior Strings performances
A wonderful performance from our Senior Strings of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, directed by Liam Cullen, at the recent whole school assembly and Show and Tell event.
This is only the third year that our strings program has been included in the Specialist Classes in Years 7 and 8. We have also been fortunate to welcome an increasing number of students to MGSC who already have string playing experience, which has further strengthened the ensemble and expanded the level of repertoire the group is able to perform.
Assessments and Music Lessons
Students are reminded to regularly check when their instrumental lessons are scheduled. Music staff prepare lesson schedules a term in advance and spend considerable time ensuring that senior students are scheduled, wherever possible, during free periods or carefully rotated. All other student lessons are then rotated fairly across the day/s.
Many of our instrumental staff are at MGSC for only one day per week, which can make changing lesson times very difficult. Moving one student’s lesson often creates a flow-on effect for the remainder of that day’s schedule, meaning that resolving one clash can unintentionally create another. As a general rule, we aim to avoid changing lessons once schedules have been finalised.
Classroom teachers and students areaware of assessment dates well in advance. If students notice a potential clash ahead of time and raise it with their instrumental teacher the week prior, it may be possible to make an adjustment without impacting other students. Priority for lesson changes is generally given to VCE students.
House Performing Arts Event - May 29
This is a whole school event run by the students, and led by the House Captains. Our next mass rehearsal is Tuesday May 12. The day will run to assembly bells.
Thank you to all our House Captains for their work in putting together the items and running the auditions to select student performers. On performance day, all students are encouraged to add a splash of colour to their uniform
Wendy Harvey
Director of Performing Arts