Music
Music Matters
Welcome back to a busy term 3 in Music. This term we have Doncaster ensembles performing on four separate days at the Victorian Schools Music Festival. They are as follows.
- Monday, 29 July
- Concert Band
- Monday, 12 August
- Wednesday, 14 August
- Wednesday, 21 August
All performances are at the Hawthorn Arts Centre and they will be adjudicated and tutored after the performance. They will also hear other school’s ensembles perform during their time at the venue. For further details on times please check the events on Compass or contact Mr Dean.
It is essential all students attend all rehearsals and the performances leading up to these dates as the whole ensemble is counting on everyone to create the best sound and performance. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this.
All performances are events on COMPASS and require consent and payment before students can attend so please get these in early.
- Wind Symphony
- Junior Jazz
- Senior Jazz
St Mary MacKillop College visit for a Music Workshop
On Friday, 19 July, Doncaster hosted a Music school touring from Busselton, Western Australia. St Mary MacKillop College brought their Jazz Band and Vocal Ensemble to workshop with our Junior Jazz and Senior Rock Band. The schools combined their ensembles for workshops where they worked on songs from both school’s repertoire and finished up with a performance of eight songs in the Performance Centre during lunchtime to staff and students. Students enjoyed working on new songs and meeting other like-minded students from another part of Australia.
Nick Dean
Music Coordinator
Australian Strings Association (AUSTA) Mini-Conference
Over the weekend of the 20th and 21st of July Doncaster Secondary College was privileged to host the Australian Strings Association’s (AUSTA) two-day Mini-Conference. AUSTA is a nation-wide association representing Strings educators, students, instrument makers and players at all levels of the string playing fraternity.
Over the weekend upwards of 70 teachers of violin, viola, Cello and Double Bass attended a range of seminars, discussion groups and masterclasses presented by several international guests from Finland and some of the finest teachers this country has to offer. During the weekend we were privileged to witness the teaching of Evonne Frye in rehearsal and masterclasses. Evonne (pictured below) is now the international head of the renowned Colourstrings method of teaching strings and a very fine teacher.
We were also fortunate to have another international guest, also from Finland, Teppo Ali-Mattila who gave a series of thought-provoking talks and demonstrations on neuro-linguistic programming (using and focusing our minds and senses in performing music and applying these techniques to life in general).
Local presenters included Howard Penny from Australian Nation Academy of music, who gave several masterclasses for Cellists, Finton Murphy a great local violin teacher and conductor and Emma Sullivan an excellent Double Bass teacher and player with the MSO. There was such an embarrassment of riches available for the local Strings teaching community.
Howard Dillon
Strings Teacher