Music Academy
Music Camp
It was fantastic to spend time connecting and playing music at Music Camp, and it has been wonderful to see the excitement and enthusiasm amongst the students around it. Especially considering the last one was in 2019, and only our senior students had ever participated. In 2019, we played one piece of music all together, and for those who were there it was a great highlight. It has been often requested that we do something similar and this year, after being apart so much over the last few years, we decided it was a good opportunity to bring everyone together.
Inspired by ABC Classic FM’s recent Top 100 Movie Themes, we played the top 10 movie themes of all time all together and will hold a concert in the last week of term (Sept 15) to showcase the students' hard work.
It also gave us some time to really delve into what the students want out of the Music Department. The students were clear that they value the inclusive, encouraging, family like culture, and that it is something worthwhile for us all to maintain and build upon. The other clear direction was that the students want growth, to get better as musicians and ensembles, and to strive to be the best we can be.
The next step was to identify the behaviours, what we can do each day, to ensure that we can make this happen. Four behaviours were identified which included: Be committed (learn our parts, bring a pencil, show up for each other - rehearsals and performances), Encourage others (mentor less experienced students, celebrate growth, cheer on others), Be enthusiastic (about everything we do - Yes Let’s) and Respect (our environment, equipment, and each other, and to be actively present in rehearsals). It is a privilege to work with such mature and thoughtful students, and we look forward to the great steps forward that we can take together.
Austrian Club
On the first Wednesday night of the school holidays, Jam Band played brilliantly at the Austrian Club for Rotary. It was greatly appreciated by the Rotarians, and it is fantastic to see a group of student musicians who were not only happy to give up a night on their holidays, but were excited to have the opportunity to play.
Take Note Workshop
Students from Big Band, Jam Band and others took part in the Take Note Workshop recently, which is a part of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. It is a program that addresses the gender inequality of jazz musicians by celebrating women and gender diverse leaders on stage and in high schools across Victoria and was facilitated by Flora Carbo (Sax), Helen Svoboda (Bass), and Kyrie Anderson (Drums). The workshop focused on the basics of improvisation and gave students ideas and tools for how they can work on improvising in their own practice. It was a fantastic experience for the students, who were firstly treated to an improvised performance and then performed some of their own music.
The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne) runs a fantastic program called 'Gender Defying Jazz' for girls and gender diverse teenagers in high schools to get experience playing jazz, tutored by some of the best jazz educators and mentors in Victoria. https://go.unimelb.edu.au/9jje
Congratulations Tony
We would also like to congratulate Tony Yang, who has been accepted into the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VCASS). It is a big loss for us, and we will be sad to see him go, but it is a terrific opportunity for Tony, and we wish him all the best. We would also like to thank Tony and his family for their extremely generous donation of a new Fender Blues Junior guitar amplifier to the music department.
Other news
We are proud to announce that Big Band were awarded Gold at the Victorian School Music Festival. It is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the students, as well as Ms Bodenham and Mr Jones. They also performed brilliantly earlier in the day for Premier Dan Andrews and Anthony Carbines MP during their visit to Macleod College.
Big Band also performed brilliantly on the weekend at Essentially Ellington and took part in a workshop facilitated by Jazz at the Lincoln Center clinicians, Jerome Jennings and Vincent Gardner.
Music Support Group
Please get in touch with Mr Griffiths (gri@macleod.vic.edu.au) if you would like to help support the Macleod College Music Academy by being a part of the Music Support Group. We are actively seeking parents to join us in supporting our students and raising money for the music department.
Coming up…
15 September Music from the Silver Screen: Movie Theme Concert
20 October Spring Arts Gala
21 October Victorian Education Excellence Awards
Jim Griffiths
Music Director