Celebrating Music
Senior Concert Band Win Gold
The Bairnsdale Secondary College Senior Concert Band have won Gold for the third year in a row in their division at the Victorian School Music Festival. The event was held at the Hawthorn Arts Centre last Tuesday. It was an early departure for the band as they had to be in Melbourne by midday. Once they arrived the group sat in the audience to watch other ensembles perform. Two adjudicators from the USA work-shopped groups after their performance. It was a great experience seeing other groups perform at a similar level to our ensemble. There was definitely lots of excitement in the air from our musicians before it was our turn to hit the stage. The extra practice and rehearsals were all worth it as our players really put in. Our soloists need a special mention. They were Zoe Chapman on clarinet and Cade Steenholdt on Flugel Horn. These students played with absolute maturity and received a special mention from the adjudicator. All band members are to be commended on their professionalism on and off the stage. A great effort by all involved. A big thank you to their conductor James Newman who prepared the ensemble for their performance and John Smith who attends all rehearsals mentoring our young musicians. The senior concert band will be on show at our end of term concert next Tuesday 3rd September, at 7.00pm.
Gerry Ciavarella
Swing Band
The past weekends have been busy for the Swing Band, with two action-packed performances filled with lots of swing, rock and money raised for our end-of-year band tours.
Our first performance of the two was at the Bairnsdale Golf Club on Friday night, 16th August, for their Swing, Steak and Shake night. It was very exciting for us to be able to play for the amazing rock and roll dancers of the area, who began dancing very early in our set and didn’t sit down all night! It was a lively, energetic ambience that lead all of us to thoroughly enjoy our performance.
We received many compliments from those present that night, all of which were very encouraging and pushed us to perform better as we progressed through the sets.
Overall, this performance left us in good spirits and ready for the Main Hotel on Sunday.
Our second performance of the weekend was at the Main Hotel on Sunday afternoon, 18th August. This is always a highlight for us, as it’s a chance to show our family and the local community what we love to do.
We were thrilled to have the dancers back again for round 2 and to have the hotel full of people that came to support our band (and have a great lunch).
We were very happy with how we performed, as we once again, received lots of lovely compliments from the audience.
We thank all the staff members involved in planning our weekend and playing with us, as well as everyone who came along to support us.
Annie Rogers (Swing Band Leader)
End of Term Concert
There will be an end of term concert on Tuesday 3rd September. The concert will commence at 7.00pm. The venue is Boucher Hall. The evening will showcase our:
- Junior Concert Band
- Intermediate Concert Band
- Senior Concert Band
- Junior Strings
- String Ensemble
- Senior Strings
- String Quartet
- Guitar/Vocal Group
- College Choir
- No Lunch On Tuesdays
- Hiding In Plain Sight
- BSC Swing Band
The concert is open to the College community. Free admission. Come along and see the great progress our ensembles have made.
Gerry Ciavarella
Hiding In Plain Sight at ABC Gippsland
Our newly formed group “Hiding In Plain Sight”, made their way to the ABC studios in Sale on Thursday 15th August to perform and take part in an interview by local radio host Jonathon Kendall. This group of enthusiastic students arrange their own music and rehearse 2-3 times per week as their goal is to eventually do gigs in the near future. They are: Cade Steenholdt trumpet, Chris Dudley Tenor Sax, Aron Perez Baritone Sax, Hayden Lee Trombone, Callum Ingram Guitar and James Caddie Drums. The students interviewed well and their playing captured the attention of those working in the studio at the time. Their performance was filmed and put on the ABC Facebook page. It has already received 8000 hits which is remarkable. It has caused lots of excitement! They look forward returning back to the studios to perform in the near future. The ABC will feature our String Quartet and our Vocal/Guitar group in the coming weeks. We would like to thank ABC Gippsland in supporting our music program at Bairnsdale Secondary College in allowing our students the opportunity to perform on local radio.
Gerry Ciavarella
