Music News

Chris MITCHELL

Director of Music

Winter Concert 

On Tuesday 20th June, we held our 2023 Winter Concert, with both a Junior/Intermediate show and a Senior Show. We had a wide variety of outstanding performances, including themes from movies like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Brave’, classical standards like ‘The Magic Flute’, and even some rock ‘n’ roll, with a rendition of Elvis Presley’s ‘Devil in Disguise’. Check out the photos below, and enjoy the performances by watching the live stream here.

Ensembles in Semester Two

A reminder to students in AT529 that for terms 3 & 4, they will join Intermediate Strings (string students) or Intermediate Concert Band (brass / woodwind students), unless otherwise discussed with the student and the Director of Music. 

Ensemble Schedule Changes – Early Term 3

Due to some staff being on long service leave, there will be some changes the rehearsal schedule for the first few weeks of term three as follows:

Stage Band

• Monday July 10th: Rehearsal with guest conductor Mr McGuffie
• Monday July 17th: Week off – please practice/learn your parts at home
• Monday July 24th: Rehearsal with guest conductor Mr Milosevic
• Monday July 31st: Rehearsal with guest conductors Mr Mitchell and Ms Grunwald
• Monday August 7th: return to normal weekly rehearsals with Mrs Reid

Junior Concert Band

• Monday July 10th: Week off
• Monday July 17th: Rehearsal as normal
• Monday July 24th: Week off
• Monday July 31st: return to normal weekly rehearsals

Intermediate Concert Band

• Thursday July 13th: Week off
• Thursday July 20th: Week off
• Thursday July 27th: rehearsals resume as normal (with new members from Semester 1’s AT529 group)

Most other ensembles will run as normal, noting that some Wednesday rehearsals for Symphonic Band/Symphonic Strings will be combined HSC Orchestra rehearsals.

• We will welcome the following staff who will be running some of our instrumental lessons early in term 3:
• Janet Ernst – Woodwind, filling in for Mrs Reid for the first 4 weeks of term 3
• Harper Dawson – Woodwind, filling in for Mrs Gaudion for the first 2 weeks of term 3
• Alessandra Vodanovich – Brass, filling in for Mr McGuffie for week 3 of term 3

Please note that I will also be away for the first two weeks of term 3. For urgent enquiries, please contact admin@highvalesc.vic.edu.au, otherwise I will be able to respond to your queries after the 25th July.

Instrumental Lessons

A few reminders for students regarding instrumental lessons:

• Please check your lesson times carefully each week, and again the day before the lesson. Write yourself a reminder if you need it so you remember to attend (or if you use a BYOD, set a reminder using a calendar app such as Outlook).
• If you will miss a lesson please see your teacher or send your teacher an e-mail in advance. In some cases, the lesson time may be able to be re-arranged but this is not always possible.
• Please ensure you complete regular practice as advised by your teacher. Some teachers will write practice requirements in the Compass lesson plan, so please check this.
• In some cases, lesson days may be different when being covered by a replacement teacher, so please check Compass extra carefully.

2023 Performances

For your forward planning, please see the proposed 2023 performances below. There may be slight changes to groups listed as performing. If you are unsure if your student will be required on a particular date, please contact the music department for confirmation.