Performing Arts

Communicating with the Specialist Team

We look forward to partnering with you in 2023, and welcome your input:

Penelope Lang (Performing Arts) penelope.lang@education.vic.gov.au 

Wominjeka!

We have had a busy few weeks in Performing Arts. Many students have started music lessons for the first time with Jordan and his team, our VSSS dancers had their first mass rehearsal (in our gym) and we all came together for our first assembly in a very long time. The students did a fantastic job at signing our Acknowledgment of Country and singing our National Anthem (we are still working on verse 2!). 

It was also an honour to present badges to our two Performing Arts Captains for 2023, namely Mila Biggs and Shakked Hadas. I am so grateful for your love of the arts and your willingness to get involved with all we do. Let's get busy!

Arts Centre Melbourne - First Call Fund Partnership

Thank you to the 65 people who applied for a ticket to see King Stingray as part of our first call fund partnership. Mr Kitch and I are in the process of reading all of the applications and we hope to have this completed after the long weekend.

Our next Arts Centre Melbourne event is a Ballet performance. I will provide more details soon.

School Choir

I am excited to confirm that junior and senior choir will be running every week (separately). We have 35 junior singers and 40 senior singers. Please make sure your child has a plastic folder, wallet or display book so they can get copies of all song lyrics. We are hoping to sing at the next assembly for Harmony Day. I will send home a reminder. 

Please remember that if your child has been offered a place in the VSSS choir it is an expectation that they are a part of our school choir.

NEVR Youth Concert - Hamer Hall

We have been given the opportunity to participate in the NEVR Youth concert 'Fire and Rain' at Hamer Hall on Monday 29th May. This is a fantastic opportunity for year 5/6 students (who love to sing) to join a large choir of primary school students in performing on stage at the prestigious Hamer Hall. Rehearsals will be held at The Basin Primary School on the 3rd and 24th May. Expressions of interest will be sent home next week. We are able to take 20 singers from our school and there will be a cost involved to cover uniforms and bus transportation to our rehearsals.

In the Performing Arts room:

Foundation:

The Foundation students have been continuing to work on their beat and rhythm skills. We watched, 'The Music Show - Beat' clip and sang the song 'Beat is the heart of music'. They practiced their listening skills whilst walking in time to different beats being played on the Djembe. They walked as 'Pappa bear', 'Mamma bear' and 'Baby bear'. We sang 'Johnnie Works' and 'Hot Cross Buns' whilst keeping the beat on our knees. We discussed the National Anthem, 'Advance Australia Fair' and sang this in unison in preparation for Assembly. We are now working on some fruit salad rhythms using word syllables to clap the rhythms (ap-ple, pear, wat-er-mel-on). We will perform them using body percussion first, followed by instruments. We also had fun playing 'Rockstar'.

Year 1/2:

We have continued to look at the different instruments of the orchestra and have now explored Woodwind and Brass instruments. It has been great to see the different shapes and sizes and listen to the different sounds these instruments make. I am looking forward to exploring the Percussion section of the orchestra so the students can get busy making their own music on our classroom instruments. We continued to explore rhythm and beat (in our feet) and the Level 1 students clapped their names whilst the class echoed back. It has been great to see how quickly the students have improved on their rhythm reading (stick notation). They played 'Hot Cross Buns' on Djembes and Rhythm sticks, taking in turns to play the beat and the rhythm. We sang 'Advance Australia Fair' in unison and discussed the meaning of some of the lyrics. We grooved to 'Uptown Funk' and played 'Rockstar'.

Year 3/4:

The Year 3/4 students have continued to look at the 'Elements of Music' with particular emphasis on Dynamics (volume of music). We looked at the Italian words pianissimo, piano, forte and fortissimo and the matching music symbols for these meanings. We clapped using crescendos and decrescendos and discussed the impact that dynamics can have in a piece of music. The students had fun creating a 'ripping composition' in which we literally ripped paper (recycled) to a steady beat...very messy but very fun. It was great to see them confidently perform a song of choice (Happy Birthday, Flowers, Raining Tacos, Believer) using a variety of dynamics and display respect as a supportive audience. We sang 'Advance Australia Fair' in unison and discussed the changed lyrics.

Year 5/6:

The last few weeks have seen us recapping some of the 'Elements of Music' including Dynamics and Tempo. We looked at the Italian words pianissimo, piano, forte and fortissimo and the matching music symbols for these meanings. We listened to, and played long sounds and short sounds, fast sounds and slow sounds. Students then chose an instrument of choice and participated in the 'Five Sound Song' where each musician is only allowed to play five sounds on their instrument over a 60 second period (to a steady beat). This was a fantastic opportunity to improve listening skills and individual musicality. Some students were challenged by the 'Levitating' body percussion song but showed resilience to the end. Well done.