Music Matters

It has been a chock-a-block semester of music with everyone happy to be back playing together in person, enjoying live rehearsals, Music camp and live concerts! 

We have welcomed Hannah Walters as our new Head of Strings and as such has seen the string program blossom under her leadership. 

The recruitment of new year 7 students was a big success, with one in three year 7s taking up the opportunity to learn an instrument. We held two “Turbo Days” for Soundworks and Stringworks in term 1 in which the year 7s turbo charged their learning and played their first concert in front of their peers. 

Our Rock Bands have performed at lunchtime concerts and year level assemblies and you’ll read about our Music Camp and Winter’s Eve Concert that were held this term in the articles below. 

We’re looking forward to another busy term with Wind Symphony and String Orchestra performing at the Victorian Schools Music Festival and many other performance opportunities for our school ensembles.

Have a safe and happy holiday and music students, don’t forget to take home your instruments!

Nick Dean

Music Coordinator

SUKI GUI

Performing at the 

NEVR Concert 'Spotlight'

We are very pleased to announce that Suki Gui of Year 11 has been selected to perform on solo piano at the North East Victorian Region Concert “Spotlight” at the Melbourne Recital Centre on Monday 18th July! 

This concert will highlight musical excellence in government schools in the NEVR, featuring a number of musical ensembles and soloists from schools across the region. There will also be a guest performance by the RAAF big Band, and Student Art works from schools in the NEVR will be featured in the program and on screen between performances. 

Tickets are now available so please follow this link for details:

https://www.melbournerecital.com.au/events/2022/nevr-music-spotlight/

Purchases of over $40 may be eligible for a 25% claim under the Victorian Entertainment Program For details please follow this link:

https://www.vic.gov.au/victorian-dining-and-entertainment-program

Winter’s Eve Concert

On the evening of Tuesday 31st May, our Instrumental Musicians performed in the College Winter’s Eve Concert. It was a huge success with the students playing to an almost sell-out crowd in the Performance Centre. 

All the students rose to the occasion including all our new year 7s performing in their first concert to their families and friends. There were highlights in every performance from the Beginner Strings to the Senior Jazz band. The night concluded with over 100 performers on stage playing the classic “Soul Bossa Nova”, the theme from Austin Powers. It was fabulous to see ex-students and in the audience who were raving afterwards about the standard of the ensembles.

A huge Thank You to Howin Tang for all his work setting up and supervising the live stream with tech students Ryan Ceola and Josh Farrell, Ryan Wilson for audio and light teching, Music students Abbey McDonald and Jamie Blacker for helping put together the program notes and compering the night, Glenn Morris, Belinda McGee, Gary Rule, Katrina Jing and Lisa Flint for support and supervision of students, Ning Zhang and Tass Sgardelis for playing Flute and Trumpet in Wind Symphony and supervising in P-Block, Lisa Fairweather for brilliant work on setting up the ticket sales and designing the best program we’ve ever had as well as attending the concert with her kids!, El Menta for all her Music secretary support leading up to the concert and being there on the night working on the door and backstage. 

Thanks also to all the instrumental staff Peter Brodie, Andy O’Connell, Suzi Reid (filling in for Chris Ondaatje on leave), David Rowlands, Troy Sheers, Josh Verco and Hannah Walters and last but not least, Wendy Howes for putting together a wonderful Powerpoint display of photos from the Music Camp that screened before the concert and all her multi skilling talents trouble shooting while taking more photos of the performances.

The whole concert was recorded as part of a live stream on the night. The recording can now be accessed via the school website: www.doncastersc.vic.edu.au, select the "quick links" tab, select Winter's Eve Music Concert and use the password: dscwinter22. 

Enjoy!

Music Camp 2022

I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate all of the staff and students who made this year’s Music Camp a fabulous success!

After the disruptions and challenges of the past few years it was a great pleasure to take 90 students from Years 7 to 12 away on this year’s music camp at Camp Oasis in Mt Evelyn. It was wonderful to be able to to showcase the fabulous work that was done on the camp with an outstanding Winter's Eve Concert the following week. 

On the 3-day camp students participated in ensemble rehearsals, sectionals and a range of non-musical activities which gave students the opportunity to get to know each other better and build social connection. Staff and students worked hard during the rehearsals and it was fabulous seeing students take on the responsibility of running a number of the sectionals and mentoring younger students and assisting them to build their music skills. Students were fabulous role models for each other. 

Students had the opportunity to take part in three different activities, some which took them out of their comfort zones, choosing from Crate Climb, Reptile House, Flying Fox, Archery, Climbing Wall, Candle Making and Team Challenge.

We were joined by four more Year 12 students for the Tuesday and we thank them for taking the time out to attend for the day, increasing the effectiveness of the rehearsals.

Thank you to the students who performed in the very eclectic Talent Quest/concert that we held on the Tuesday night, our fabulous, entertaining compere Austin Tamepo -Lee and judge Mr Morris.

On the final morning each of the ensembles held a final rehearsal and then we finished the camp with a concert showcasing all of the ensembles. It was fabulous to see the enormous progress that each of the groups Soundworks, Concert Band, Wind Symphony, Senior Stage Band, Stringworks, String Orchestra and String Quartet had made over the three days of the camp.

Thank you to the fabulous music staff Nick Dean, Hannah Walters, David Rowlands, Andy O’Connell, Josh Verco and Chris Ondaatje who took time out to attend the camp and direct the ensembles. 

A huge thank you also to Wellbeing Placement Students, Avisen Khanal and Emerson Gomes along with Teaching Candidate, Monique Gawne for their fabulous work and support on the camp working with students during a variety of activities. Monique and Emerson also played flute and saxophone in a number of the ensembles. 

I would also like to thank the Oasis Camp staff for another great camp and fabulous camp meals. 

A final thank you to our Principal Glenn Morris and Assistant Principal Gary Rule for coming up and staying in the camp after a day at school to ensure we had enough staff for the camp to successfully run.

I would like to congratulate all of the students on the fabulous way that they approached the camp, rehearsals and all activities. For some of them it was their first very camp, for others the first one for a number of years and they embraced the opportunity to be part of it. They worked well as a team, always happy to assist with set-up, pack up and clean up. School and camp staff agree that they were a fabulous group of students to work with and I would not hesitate to take them away again. They are a credit to themselves, the College and their families.

Wendy Howes

Music Teacher

Music Leadership Positions

On our recent Music Camp we held elections for leadership positions in all the ensembles. Those elected as section leaders will organise and run sectional rehearsals and ensemble captains will meet regularly to plan music events and improvements as well as helping with the running of their ensembles.

Congratulations to the following students:

Stringworks:

Captain – Milly Ruffo

1st Violins – Lewis Cho

2nd Violins - Pamudi Moragoda

Viola – Diego Montilla Romero

Cello – Milly Ruffo

String Orchestra:

Captain – Kelly Sun

1st Violin – Liz Balanica

2nd Violin – Oscar Chen

Viola – Nefeli Kouthouridou

Cello – Michael Mishura

String Quartet:

Captain – Suki Gui

Soundworks: 

Captain – Sienna Margarejo

Flute leader – Isabelle Veevers

Clarinet leader – Alexandra Black

Saxophone – Rachel Thomas

Trumpet – Adrian New

Low Brass – James Hudson

Percussion – Zachary Kha

Concert Band

Captain – Tayla Moll

Flute – Jordan Yeong

Clarinet – Maya Cadogen-Rawlinson

Saxophone – Tayla Moll

Trumpet – Riley Hew

Low Brass – Emily Aitken

Percussion – Jordan Smith

Wind Symphony 

Captain – Abbey McDonald

Flute – Lucinda Legoussouart

Clarinet – Edward Zhou

Saxophone – Ella Royal

Brass – Ethan McLeod

Percussion – Marc Margarejo

Junior Jazz

Captain – Emily Aitkin

Horn section – Adrian Ramkumar

Rhythm Section – Oliver Dean

Senior Jazz

Captain – Ethan Mcleod

Horn Section – Abbey McDonald

Rhythm Section – Jamie Blacker

Music Dates for Semester 2

Thursday 28 July

String Orchestra at Victorian Schools Music Festival (VSMF), Hawthorn Arts Centre

9.30am - 11.45am

Tuesday 23 August

Wind Symphony at VSMF, Hawthorn Arts Centre, 10.30am - 12.45pm

Tuesday 11 October

Spring Concert

Dates To Be Confirmed:

String Soiree – August

Rock Showcase - August

VCE Soiree - September

Soundworks and Concert Band at VSMF - November

A Great Way to Start a Day

Hey students. Are you considering learning a musical instrument but are hesitating to make the first move? If the photos from our Music Camp and Winter's Even Concert haven't inspired you enough, then you really need to read our Languages and Maths teacher - Ms Zhang's article below!

One early morning at 7:30am, I was running happily to my Wind Symphony band rehearsal. I felt like a bird flying in the sky. Since joining the band in Term 2, I've been looking forward to my band rehearsals and flute lessons every Tuesday.

Ten years ago at my first school, I met a piano teacher who taught me to read music and play. After a year or two, I realised it wasn’t easy travelling around with a piano, so I decided to start learning the flute, and my teacher had put me in the junior concert band during my first week of learning. 

Learning an instrument has brought me a lot of joy and a sense of accomplishment. When I started learning a musical instrument, I had also started to develop a deeper understanding for the charm and splendour of the music world! 

Students, if I can learn an instrument from scratch at 40 years old, and have continued learning it after the age of 50, you will definitely learn it better if you start now! How I wish more and more students would pick up an instrument that they like!                                                                         

I searched online and found great 10 benefits of learning a musical instrument, and after my own experience, I can wholeheartedly say that these benefits are all true! 

By Ms Ning Zhang