The Sweet Sounds

Drama performances

All members of the school community are invited to some VCE Drama performances in the first few weeks of term four.

Year 11 Drama “ The Arrival’, Tuesday November 14, 6 30 pm.

Year7/ 8 Drama, Wednesday November 22 , 6pm

A group devised ensemble performance, exploring a range of styles in a theatre performance which uses Shaun Tan’s , ‘The Arrival’, personal and family experiences to examine the history of Australian Immigration.

Not to be missed!

Darren Lowe

Drama Teacher

Calling on bakers! Cake Stall

The Music Support Group is holding a sausage sizzle on Mostyn Street on Saturday 4th November from 7:15am-1pm. Any cake/slice/biscuit donations would be greatly appreciated. The cakes make the most money on the day and all money goes directly back to the students.

If you would like to donate your baked goodies, please drop off at the BBQ early on the day (but anytime is still great) or come by and buy a snag and a cake.

Musician of the Year

You are invited to attend the 2017 Musician of the Year Competition on Wednesday 1st November at 7pm in the Blakeley Road Music Centre. Students who are entering will present 2 contrasting pieces and be adjudicated by Dr Barry Bignell, who will decide on a winner-$150 prize and 1st and 2nd runners up-both $100 prize. The criteria include both musical ability and the student's contribution to the Music Department over their years at CSC. The students will receive a medal on the night with prizes being received at Awards Night in December.

Due to building works, please park in the main carpark and walk past and behind the new Engineers' Building towards the Music Department on the east side of the campus (near the bush).

We look forward to seeing you there to support our students and our Music Department.

This year’s adjudicator is Dr Barry Bignell (LRAM, ARCM, LTCL, M.Ed, PhD)

Born in 1947 in Bundaberg, Barry Bignell attended All Souls School from 1955 to 1963.  A member of Ramsay House, he was awarded in his last year of school the Scholefield Cup for All-Round Athlete, the Paull Cup for Best Footballer, the Under 16 Swimming and Under 17 Athletics trophies, the Thomasson Cup for Open Boxing and the Welterweight Boxing trophy.

Barry Bignell’s career encompasses all aspects of musical endeavour: performing (classical and improvised music), conducting, composing, arranging, lecturing, teaching, adjudicating and directing music events.  He attributes his success to seminal music activities at school, including piano lessons, singing in the chapel choir, school musicals and local eisteddfods, and playing in The Phoenix Five, the school rock band.

Barry left school on completion of Fifth Form to take up a music apprenticeship in the Australian Army, on completion of which he was awarded the Gullidge Memorial Medal for Best All-round Student.  Following six years’ service in the Royal Military College Band, Duntroon, he was selected for three years advanced training in music direction at the prestigious Royal Military School of Music in the UK, receiving prizes for conducting, instrumental performance and leadership.

On return to Australia he was appointed Director of Australian Army Band (Melbourne), a post he held for seven years, completing many arrangements and compositions and developing a band of international standing.

Barry left the Army in 1984 and, with the assistance of a Goethe Institute scholarship, studied German language and orchestral repertoire in Berlin.  He subsequently pursued a career as a freelance conductor while at the same time serving as Director of Music at Haileybury College, Melbourne.  His conducting commitments include concerts with some of Australia’s best symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, choirs, and symphonic bands at home and abroad.

Barry’s teaching career includes a fifteen-year tenure as Head of Postgraduate Studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, the University of Melbourne, where he developed a ground-breaking Masters course in performance.  He has authored many discussion, curriculum and miscellaneous papers, book chapters and public addresses. He is a passionate advocate of music education and lectures widely on its social and psycho-spiritual implications.

Kirsten Boerema

Music Coordinator