Dear School Music Group Students and Parents,

Your wonderful music conductors have been working to make a movie of your best playing for term 2.

Each tutor will email a link to the movie for your viewing pleasure by the end of term.

We hope you enjoy it.

Kind Regards,

Rachel Snedden, on behalf of the conductors

Instrumental Music Program School Music Group Reports Term 2, 2021

The CNPS Band consists of 8 committed musicians in a well-rounded ensemble including percussion, trumpet, flute and clarinet sections. This gives us plenty of scope for playing a range of different repertoire. In term 1, we took part in the massed performance of Party Rock Anthem along with the other school music groups. It was a real buzz to hear it all come together and experience performing with such a large combined ensemble! In term 2, we have been working on The House of the Rising Sun and Theme from The Mandalorian. We are so excited to present these pieces to the school community soon...watch this space!

Ceri Hills, Band Leader

The Lee Street Choir Melody and clapping in beat, I’m in LOVE with singing. Singing! This term we have been learning beat and it is really fun because we all were in sync. I LOVE SINGING, Singing in sync. Benefits. In choir we sing songs, perform and practice and Emily is a good teacher. Singing, practicing staying in beat, I love singing on stage. Party rock is in the Zooooooom today!

Written by the choir for Emily Bennett, Choir Conductor

The Junior Recorder Ensemble began the year unlike any other! With nearly all new students who had never played together with other recorder players before! These students did really well, learning to listen and play at the same time, performing in Party Rock Anthem, the massed school music group item at assembly at the end of term 1. In term 2, we worked towards learning new pieces for the Winter Musical Soirée and recorded them instead of playing live. We look forward to performing together later in the year.

Rachel Snedden, Conductor

The Senior Recorder Ensemble comprises over 20 recorder players with a wide range of musical experience. Some students have just begun to learn the high notes in the Blue Book, or the enharmonic notes in the Violet Book, or the treble recorder using the Indigo Book. When you finish the Rainbow Recorder Series you graduate to exam level music. At this school we regularly have students studying for AMEB recorder exams, level 1-4. In the senior recorder ensemble we also play on five different sized recorders; descant - the usual one for primary school, treble – the “real” recorder, tenor – twice as big as descant this recorder can only be played by students with the longest fingers, bass – twice as big as treble this recorder reads bass clef and is only played by our most advanced players, sopranino - the little one is half the size of treble. With all this diversity, it is great fun when we play together.

Rachel Snedden, Conductor

This semester the String Ensemble gained quite a lot of new members who had never played in a group setting before, so we have really been getting used to playing together - listening to what the other musicians are playing and working out how all the different parts go together, which is a great skill to learn and so satisfying when it actually all falls into place. This takes quite a lot of work initially but the students have come a long way and I am very pleased with their progress. We’ve been working on ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin and also an Irish tune called ‘Patrick’s Reel’. We were hoping to perform these pieces at the Winter Soiree but unfortunately that was not to be. Hopefully we can perform for you all in the near future.

Thanks,

Kate Connor, String Ensemble Conductor

Staff at CNPS