Music Matters
We’ve certainly crammed everything in to the last few weeks but it has all been worth it to see all the fabulous performances by our ensembles. We’ve had Valedictory, Orientation Evening, Senior School Awards, Orientation Day, Our Summer Music Concert and Middle School Awards. We told you about the Valedictory in the last newsletter so we’ll focus on the other five performances we’ve fitted in to the last week and a day.
The Summer Music Concert and Middle School Awards live streams are both available to watch through the Quick Links tab on the school website and we highly recommend you watch them.
2022 Year 7 Orientation Evening
On Wednesday 1st December, Soundworks, Stringworks and Wind Symphony, all performed outside W Block to a roving crowd of curious year 6s learning what to expect at secondary school next year. All three ensembles played really well and you could really hear them lift for, what was for most of the students, their first live performance to an audience!
Learning an Instrument Next Year
Information flyers were handed out to the year 6s with details on the instruments we teach and links on how to show interest in being a part of our awesome Music program. Links to the flyer and the survey are below. If you are interested in learning an instrument next year, please fill out the survey with at least three instruments you’d like to learn and our instrumental staff will make contact in the first week of next year. You will then be able to try the instruments and decide on which one best suits you.
e-brochure pdf:
Survey link:
Doncaster Secondary College Year 7 Instrumental Music Survey 2022 (office.com)
Senior School Awards Presentations
On Thursday the 2nd December after school, there were four musical performances. The National Anthem was ably sung by Jasmine Drakopoulos, Stephanie Grivas and Menuli Peiris, accompanied by Suki Gui on piano. Next we had Rock Band B, featuring Jasmine, Stephanie and Menuli singing and Daniel Perry on guitar, Kayla Glawitsch on keyboard, George Cook on Bass and Nick Dean on Drums. They performed “Naïve” by The Kooks.
The third item was a highlight of the entire afternoon, with Suki Gui playing on the school’s grand piano the piece “Aeolian Harp (Etude Op 25 No.1)” by Chopin. Suki is preparing for her AMusA in both piano and Violin and she is only 16 years old!
The ceremony was closed by Rock Band F, featuring Zach Meikle on guitar and vocals, Pam Sariklis on guitar, Sophie Thomas on drums and George Cook filling in on bass. They played “Harness Your Hopes” by Pavement.
You can watch the recorded livestream of the Senior School Awards ceremony on our College website through the QuickLinks menu. Here is a link to the livestream here.
Orientation Day
On Year 7 Orientation Day, String Orchestra, Strigworks, Wind Symphony and Soundworks all performed to the 2022 Year 7s and demonstrated their instruments so the students could see how the instruments look and sound in the flesh. All ensembles did a great job to show off the instruments we offer. Don’t forget the surveys above!
Summer Music Concert
On Tuesday the 7th December at 7pm we held the musical highlight of the year! After two years of postponed concerts, all the resilience and hard work paid off with an incredibly successful evening of performances by our college ensembles.
All the kids were amazing with the majority of them performing in their very first concert. They moved smoothly between P Block to the stage without making too much noise and they all played brilliantly. One parent said to me afterwards, he was waiting for things to go wrong at some point but it never happened! He couldn’t believe it after so long without rehearsals on site.
Thank you to Beliinda, Gina, Elisha and Lisa C for attending the door and checking vaccinations. Ruley and Ning for supervising the kids in P Block and Glenn Morris with our past Principal Eva McMaster for attending. Thank you to Wendy Howes for being all over everything as usual and even finding time to take pictures! Thanks also to Howin our tech guru, who was amazing with the Live Stream and all the Audio guiding our student Techs, Ryan Ceola and Joshua Farrell who also did a great job. Big thank you to Tim Sprigg for all his care and effort into making sure all went well with the live stream too. Thanks to Rose and Andrea Sprigg for their efforts with the ticketing and Lisa F for her work with the publicity.
The night concluded with a performance by our year 12s performing Colors by Black Pumas. We will miss them all greatly.
The night was a great success for the College and greatly appreciated by all the parents who were raving to us after the concert. Do yourselves a favour and watch the livestream soon!
Middle School Awards Presentations
On Wednesday 8th December during period 3 and some of lunchtime, the Middle School Awards were also a huge musical success with all the performances outstanding again.
The National anthem was again sung by our year 9 trio of Jasmine, Stephanie and Menuli, accompanied this time by Olivia Wang of year 7 on piano. Olivia was given the music on the Friday before and practiced for hours to get the part right and did incredibly well on the day.
The next music act was from Rock Band D featuring Ryan Allen on Guitar, Raul Da Silva on vocals, Marc Margarejo on drums and Patrick Murphy on bass. They played “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson but the Alien Ant Farm version.
The next performance was by Will Eckhardt and Menuli Peiris, who performed “Songbird” by Bernard Fanning. This was a triumph for the school community as both these students have faced many challenges but with the care and support of the Doncaster staff and students, they were able to be in a space where they were able to perform beautifully! Another example of the power of Music.
Finally the ceremony was closed by Rock Band C featuring Jamie Blacker on guitar, Oliver Dean and Natasha Krstic on vocals, Eddie Petruzziello on drums and his younger brother Lorenzo on bass. They rocked the Performance Centre with a powerful rendition of “Out of the Black” by Royal Blood.
Thank you and farewell Howard Dillon
We as a Music Department would like to pay tribute to our long serving and dedicated string teacher Howard Dillon. He has been at the college since 1987 (34 years!) and has seen six principals and six music coordinators pass through the doors in that time. Howard has been a part of so many great Music activities with countless musicals, primary school tours, Music camps and tours to Sydney, Adelaide, Bairnsdale, Echuca, Portland and Tasmania. With the highlight being our tour of New Zealand to Rhapsody Rotorua in 2018.
The last two years have not been what we would have liked but Howard has continued to show his dedicated and caring nature throughout, connecting with students through Teams and inspiring them to keep playing their instrument, despite the set-backs Covid brought. It was so good to be able to send him off in style at the Summer Concert this week where String Orchestra and Stringworks played beautifully.
Howard will be greatly missed by all the students and staff in the music program as well as the wider school community.
Thank you Howard for all you have done to make our string program what it is today. Enjoy your well-earned retirement.
Doncaster Secondary College Music Department
Nick Dean
Music Coordinator