Music Notes

Live music is good for you festival

The magic of music comes to life in this festival. The wonderful people of the Royal Melbourne Hospital Music Therapy team create a unique opportunity that allows students to perform in a supportive environment free of competition, while bringing joy to the many patients, families and medical staff attending the hospital.

It is such a privilege to witness our incredible students rise to this challenge with pride, dedicated hard work and passion. A musically diverse program filled the afternoon and included solos by Gulliver Poole, Amelie Justin, Allegra Holmes a Court, Evie Taylor, Lucinda Greene, Acorn Holmes a Court and Leila Edelstein. Our ensembles brought the house down with Pavement Choir pulling heart strings, Adrian’s Band bringing funk and jazz while Strings Attached (plus guests) wrapped the afternoon up with an all-in sing-along session of favourites such as All You Need is Love and Starlight. The audience’s enjoyment was obvious to all and was beautifully summed up by one patient, “Your music moved me to tears.” 

Muriel’s wedding

As part of the Year 8 study of Musical Theatre, we headed into the city to the Princess Theatre to watch the Australian classic Muriel’s Wedding. Based on the film, the stage show set-music by Kate Miller Heidke and Kier Nuttall explored the journey of Muriel Heslop and her family. Complete with glamorous costuming and make-up, a revolving set, an exciting light show and music that made us feel every gamut of emotion as we followed Muriel through her journey of humiliation, joy, heart break, love and tragedy. Students experienced the power of music in telling stories and are now inspired to create their own musical.

Analysing the score

On Friday 26 April the DP Music students had the pleasure of experiencing the MSO in rehearsal for their upcoming concert of Ghostbusters. As part of the rehearsal the conductor, Benjamin Northey, took us on an exploration of the intricacies of film music with live projection. We learnt about the strategies in place for the conductor in order to keep the orchestra together with the film. We heard the unusual instruments used for this film score to give it its eerie edge and were introduced to unique concepts of film music. It was a wonderful learning experience for everyone. 

by Karoline Kuti, Music Coordinator