The Arts

The House Solo Eisteddford

The House Solo Eisteddfod is on Wednesday 21 June (Week 9) in the PAC.

Entry forms are available from tutors and the PAC office and need to be returned to Mrs Greenley by Thursday 8 June.

Generations in Jazz Mount Gambier

The Mazenod Jazz Band and Jazz Combo recently competed in a national competition called the Generations in Jazz Festival in Mount Gambier. This was with the help of Mr Graham, Mr Poletti and Mr McEvoy (the reed tutor) who accompanied us on the trip. On Thursday 4 May we flew to Adelaide where we stayed in a nice resort, only to be woken up bright and early at 6am (which is 4:30 over here) to start our 5 hour journey to Mount Gambier in our two buses. With some sleep catchup, study and jamming to jazz tunes in one bus and a bit of a sticky situation in the other bus, courtesy of an individual I will not name for his own safety, we made it to the Mount Gambier Tennis Club where we stayed for the next couple of nights.

Once we had settled in we went to the opening concert featuring the amazing Adam Lopez, Thndo and some of the best jazz musicians in Australia, which was a blast. It was then back to the tennis club for an early night, ready for our performances the next day. 

We woke up bright and early once again to get ready for the Jazz Combo performance at 8am. A bit of warming up, of both ourselves and our instruments, was needed before we headed over to the festival. After we managed to navigate through the mud, rain and single digit temperatures, the Jazz Combo was ready to perform. We played well, coming 7th out of the 23 Jazz Combos who performed.

With a few hours until the Jazz Band’s performance we watched some of the other performances, including Mazenod Victoria’s Jazz Band. Soon enough, it was the Jazz Band’s time to perform. The nerves were definitely settling in and our hands were very cold but we pushed through and played our hearts out.

Afterwards we met up with Mazza Vic again for lunch then went to see the Division 1 bands perform. This was an eye-opening experience for many of us, to see people our age do incredible things. That night the Swedish band Dirty Loops performed. 

Sunday was our final day in Mount Gambier. We attended some workshops hosted by some of the jazz musicians in Australia and I believe we took a lot away from these and are thankful for the experience. We then left Mount Gambier for the long 7-8 hour journey back to Perth.

Overall, personally I’m very proud of the band as a whole for all the effort they put in to prepare for this trip. I believe that most, if not all, the members have improved significantly and I can’t wait for the future performances. Thank you to the staff and our families for giving us this amazing opportunity.

Brendan P

Music Lessons

If your son is going to be absent on the day of his lesson please contact 9291 1535 (please leave a message if unattended) or email greenley.anne@mazenod.wa.edu.au before 7:30am as well as contacting Administration to advise of his absence.

Music Ensemble and Bands

Below is the weekly schedule for the many bands and ensembles.

If you have any queries about the bands and ensembles, please contact Mr Graham or Mrs Greenley in the PAC office.

Anne Greenley

Arts Administration