PERFORMING ARTS
Success at the Victorian All State Jazz Festival
On the weekend of the 1st of May we had our Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Band perform at the Victorian All State Jazz Festival. This event took the place of the Generations in Jazz competition that we would usually have at this time of the year.
This event had all the top Independent, Government and Christian schools from around Victoria come together to compete both in the Jazz Band and Vocal ensemble sections. We were by far the smallest school in our division and we were up against other schools with much larger Music Departments.
The results have just come out and I am pleased to announce that the St Andrews Christian College Jazz Band was awarded 2nd place for our division! Our Vocal group were performing in a non competitive division so did not receive a place, but they also performed exceptionally well.
This is such a massive achievement for the students and I am so proud of all they have accomplished to get this far with their playing after the COVID lockdowns of 2020.
In addition to this we had some individual students and section awards given to us.
Most outstanding trumpet section: St Andrews Christian College
Most outstanding soloist: Adel Kalnoki
We also had several members of the band be selected for the all star band in their division. The adjudicators look for the most outstanding players across all of the performing schools and put together an all star band. In this band we had the following students chosen.
Tenor Sax 1 - Adel Kalnoki
Trumpet 3 - Caleb Ng
Trombone 2 - Caleb Elbourne
Trombone 3 - Ruby Muggeridge
Guitar - Tarkyn Pillifeant or Tim Chou (There was no way to indicate on the band form which student was playing in each song, so they can both get credit for this award.)
Vibraphone - Joshua Hendricks
Congratulations to all our wonderful Vocal Ensemble and Jazz Band students!
Luke Batty
Head of Performing Arts
Primary Music
During Music this week, the Year 1 students LOVED working in small groups to practise their rhythms! From Rhythm Jenga, to using a variety of instruments, students worked on counting, timing, and team work. What a fabulous bunch of musicians!
Rachel Ranger
Primary Music Teacher
Year 12 Production
Term 2 kicked off with our Year 12 Theatre Studies class presenting ‘The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Play’.
Performed as part of their assessment, the class formed a production team to plan, develop, research, design, rehearse and present this production. The students took responsibility for sound, costume, lighting, prop, set and costume design – as well as acting in the production. It was an incredible showcase of talent and hard work from these nine Year 12 students.
Each performance concluded with a Q&A forum where students were able to explain their choices to the audience and provide a glimpse into the ‘behind the scenes’ of the production process. It was wonderful to have live theatre on campus again, and the class should be extremely proud of all they achieved.
Miss Kathryn Brown
VCE Theatre Studies Teacher
Senior Ensembles Concert
On Tuesday the 29th of April, the various Senior Ensembles from St Andrews Christian College came together for our first ensembles concert for 2021.
The MPH was transformed into an intimate lounge performance space through the use of café tables and lights. The evening had a range of our senior ensembles perform from the string ensemble through to the concert band, Worship Band and Vocal Ensemble presenting pieces that they had been working on throughout the year.
One highlight of the evening was hearing the brand new Jazz Trio, a student lead group who were able to perform 2 very complex pieces after only rehearsing together for 4 short weeks.
A huge thank you to our instrumental teachers who helped out in running the event and preparing the ensembles for performance; Joel Dawson, Jayden Battey, Wen Hui Wong and Stephanie Greenwood. A massive thank you also to Michelle Perera for organising the lighting and setup of the evening.
Luke Batty
Head of Performing Arts
CSEN TheatreSports Team
St Andrews' TheatreSports team spent a wonderful day at Waverley Christian College, Narre Warren, participating in the CSEN TheatreSports Competition on May 7th.
I remember doing theatre sports consecutively each year and being able to work with people in year levels both below and above. The community that was built and the positive impression it left on me will always be some of my fondest memories. To do it again this year as Performing Arts Captain was an absolute honour.
Being able to watch both the senior team and the junior team exercise their sense of humour and quick wit was hilarious, and to say I’m excited to continue to make theatre with the same group of people and more would be a massive understatement. Both teams should be so happy with what they've accomplished and the skills they were able to showcase “Pride is not the word I’m looking for”.
Bryan Chin - Performing Arts Captain
Karen Elbourne
Theatre Studies and Drama Teacher
Introducing St Andrews' Instrumental Music Teachers
PIANO TEACHER – Rebekah Ho
Rebekah Ho graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of music in 1988 and a Master of Music Education specializing in Piano Pedagogy in 1990. Whilst studying there, she was under the tutelage of professor E.L Lancaster, piano educator and author, currently serving as Executive Editor in piano at Alfred Music Publishing. Upon her graduation, Rebekah taught in Juan Music and Language School for 6 Months before moving to Singapore. She then worked as vice principal of Emmanuel Music School for 5 years and subsequently gave private piano lessons for 26 years.
Having joined the instrumental teaching team at St Andrews Christian College since 2012, Rebekah has continued her passion in teaching piano. She believes that anyone can learn to play the piano regardless of their age and that learning to play the piano will help build their confidence and resilience. Rebekah teaches piano at St Andrews on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
PIANO TEACHER – Jenny MacKinnon-Love
Jenny started performing piano concerts with Allan’s Music, and later won a piano scholarship to the University High School. At the same time, she attended composition and theory classes at the University of Melbourne where she achieved a Bachelor of Music Honours in Piano Performance in 1977. This degree also included Education and Psychology studies.
Jenny continued with piano and singing studies for which she achieved an A Mus A, in addition to achieving Honours for Cello as her second instrument at Melbourne University. Jenny also trained as a musical accompanist under Margaret Schofield and studied composition with Keith Humble. Jenny currently plays organ at St Peter’s Anglican Church Box Hill.
Despite years of experience in music performance, Jenny is happiest working as a teacher, and she has worked with choirs, music productions, and even taught Classroom Music at VCE level.
Jenny currently teaches at St Andrews Christian College on Wednesday mornings, and enjoys teaching at at the College for the many opportunities to praise God through music so that His joy may be multiplied.