Music News

Gold Award

Last Wednesday night our Senior Concert Band performed at Deaken Edge (Federation Square) in the advanced section of the Victorian Schools Music Festival and I am very pleased to tell you that they received a gold award for their performance.

This is a considerable achievement as the standards in this section are very high indeed.  It is also the highest award any band in our department has ever received and marks a real lift in the quality of music our kids are making.  It is also, I believe, a positive reflection on the quality of the teaching that we as a department are delivering.

This outcome is very much a team effort.  We are proud of all our students and I would like to congratulate all our Instrumental staff - Leon de Bruin,

Ben Braithwaite,

Carolyn McAlister,

Cristy Savage,

Dean Addison and

Bob Wijnschenk

and of course our class room teachers Sally Bredin and Peta Laughlin. Just sensational!

Peter Sharp

Head of Instrumental Music

Bronze Award

Emma Pacholli and Joshua Milton of Year 12 received a Bronze Award on behalf of the Senior Stage Band performance at the Essentially Ellington Stage Band Competition at The Darebin Arts Centre on 10 August. 

They are pictured below with the adjudicators Reggie Thomas, Head of Jazz at Illinois University and Vincent Gargner, both performers with The Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra in New York. 

They performed for the stage band during the awards ceremony and gave an enlightening workshop with the whole band after the award winning performance between Victoria's best Stage Bands. 

The Essentially Ellington competition has been running for 25 years in the USA and is now expanding to other countries. This is the first time the event has been held in Australia!

Leon de Bruin

Director of Bands, Head of Brass

Student Bursaries

Sina Mehdifar, of Year 10, was last week awarded a Peninsula Music Society Premier Study Bursary for his work on piano. Sina was the only first prize recipient. The Bursary is worth an astounding $3,500.00 and is to be used to further his study on his instrument.

The society awards four secondary school awards each year to students in state or private schools from across the Peninsula.

Peter Sharp

Head of Instrumental Music