Music classwork continues while studying remotely

Iso Guitar Ensemble

Click on the google drive link below to see what our budding musicians have done during their time in isolation. We have recorded and filmed and made a guitar ensemble film of the song Romanza.

Marina Novelli

Instrumental Music Teacher

Our students have embraced remote learning and have sent many examples of their commitment to practising musical performances at home. Jack Stabek (10F) sent the following performances:

Piano - "Fur Elise" and "Jazz Exercise No 2"

Trombone - "Beyond the Sea" and "Busy Body"

David Forward

Music Domain Leader

Instrumental Music teacher John Wanner performs on the international stage

It was in October 2018, that I was contacted by a producer of a Swiss national folkloric music Television program, to perform in Switzerland live, on national television there, in February 2019.

The producer, Marcel Beer, had been following my musical activities in Melbourne (both in the Jazz/Big Band and Swiss folk music scenes) since 2017, after had brought to his attention of our existence, as a tradition Swiss folk band (as well as the activities of my other Jazz groups).

He was most impressed with all my music, but he was particularly amazed that such a large and competent Swiss folk music band existed in the Southern Hemisphere! After long negotiations with his board of directors at the Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF), it was decided, that they had enough in their budgeting allowance, to fly my traditional Swiss folk band (called “Kapelle Grüetzi Mitenand” - which means “Greetings Everyone/Altogether”), to perform in an all-expenses paid appearance, on national TV there.

This was done at very short notice and as a collective band, much had to be organized with our employers, to get time-off to fly there and perform.

The support I received by Ms Lee and the staff at Koonung was amazing and so, flew in early February 2019 to Switzerland for this opportunity of a lifetime.

The whole experience was a “dream-come-true” as despite being born, raised and in-love with Australia, my background is Swiss-German, to which I have an equal connection and love. To play in Switzerland was amazing enough, but to play with my band on National Television there, was mind-blowing!

All the people over there made us so welcome and appreciated. We were treated so well and ended up making many new friends.

After all of this, I received MANY Facebook friendship requests from musicians in Switzerland and other parts of the world. Many were prominent bandleaders who were well-known in Switzerland. It was both an honour and flattering experience to have them want to connect with me.

During the course of time, despite being in a different hemisphere of the world, I got to know many of these musicians quite well.

Then, in March this year, we were all confined to our homes courtesy of the Coronavirus Pandemic. This led to online teaching, as well as many people doing live( as well as recorded), online musical performances.

Many Swiss musicians were posting videos of themselves performing either solo, or with “socially distanced” other musicians. These were wonderful and brought us all closer together.

I was “challenged” by bandleader, Markus Huser to perform such a work, to which I played a solo piece from inside my garage!

Markus comes from a rich history where his grandfather Franz Huser senior, formed his own “Huserbuebe Kapelle” and wrote many beautiful compositions.

Markus then came up with the idea of combining several musicians he knew from other parts of the world, of performing one of his grandfather’s tunes called “Mamma”. This then became his project: "Ländlerkapelle Huserbuebe and friends" .

Two musicians came from America playing double-bass and piano, another came from Canada playing the piano accordion, another from Spain playing the button accordion, the bandleader, Markus being in Switzerland playing clarinet (melody) with myself playing the harmony part on clarinet from Melbourne, Australia.

The music was sent via email and then the parts were recorded separately. They progressively grew to be mixed and edited by Markus, who also manages a recording/production company.

I found it quite challenging to have to “fit-in” to the mix and play the correct musical phrases, as per the lead melody. There were some notes and musical inflections that weren’t written, so I had to listen over and over to the guide recording and write my own notes, to help make it all fit properly.

In the end, it was so exciting to see and hear the end product! We were all happy and proud to have been able to do this - and to share it with the world.

This then came to the attention to SRF producer, Marcel Beer in Switzerland, who intends to feature a story about this in June on another national TV (SRF) presentation there.

I will be having to do a recorded interview before the airing, so will need to brush-up on my Swiss-German (again!!!).

Music is one of our most powerful and uniting art forms. I am so glad to be a musician and share this most beautiful of art forms with our wonderful students and colleagues at Koonung.

Here are a couple of links to enjoy:

My performance on Swiss national television on February 9, 2019 called “Viva Volksmusik”

– This show highlights the best in Swiss folk bands/entertainers and occurs only once per year.

There is a short mini-biography of my life as a Swiss musician in Melbourne -along with interviews with my father, Hans and myself. The band then performs straight after this presentation. It’s all in Swiss-German by the way!

https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/viva-volksmusik/video/kapelle-grueetzi-mitenand?id=367bccf2-4bee-41cc-9045-4c4d4e3363bc&expandDescription=true

And here is the Youtube link to Project "Ländlerkapelle Huserbuebe and friends" – Mamma:

Stay well…stay SAFE!

John (Jonny) Wanner

Instrumental Music teacher

Postscript: The pianist who travelled to Switzerland with Jonny Wanner to perform on national TV last year is an ex-student, Bryan Anderson

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