Performing Arts News
Family Fun Day was a wonderful way of celebrating some of the Music and Dance learning our students have engaged in during Performing Arts this term – from sharing boom whacker skills with families in the Music Room and sing/signing “Rainbow Connection”, to our State Schools Spectacular dance ensemble hip-hopping away to “Dance Like Your Daddy”. It was great to see such enthusiastic participation from our parent community, too, singing along with the Year 5/6 Bush Band and showing their rhythmic skills on the djembes (and dancefloor!) during the African Drumming interactives.
This term our Preps have enjoyed creating their own choreography to the “ABC Rap”, playing Indigenous un-tuned percussion instruments and learning about pitch with tuned percussion instruments (Boom Whackers). They were introduced to the drum kit and proudly showed off their skills at ‘Around the World’!
The Year 1/2 students learnt the importance of playing instruments together as an ensemble, whether, using drum sticks to tap out the paradiddle and different rhythm patterns, or playing in time to a metronome and a conductor when co-ordinating two boom whackers at the same time. During Harmony Week, they explored dances from different cultures, including Tanko Bushi (Japan) and Flamenco (Spain).
The Year 3-6s all wrote compositions for the boom whackers, and explored some of the different choreographic styles included in this year’s Mass Dance.
The Year 5/6s particularly enjoyed learning about the band “King Stingray’s” unique style of Indigenous/surf rock – both by researching and listening to the band’s music during class, and experiencing the excitement of watching the band live at a special student-only rock concert at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on March 31. The students also danced along to the support acts - MzRizk (a DJ specialising in house, disco and global music ), Thndo (Zimbabwean born and Melbourne based singer-songwriter who was as a finalist on The Voice 2022), and Tarabeat (a collaboration of classic and contemporary Arabic music celebrating the rich history and traditions of the Middle East and North Africa, using odd time signatures and improvisations to mix live instruments such as qanun (Arabic harp), nay (Arabic flute) and tubbel (percussion) with modern sequencers and synthesizers).
It has also been a busy term for the 37 senior students who will be representing WPS at this year’s Victorian State Schools Spectacular. The Mass Dance ensemble learnt six routines in one day at the Mont Albert regional rehearsal, and our Mass Choir learnt six songs, including one in Japanese, at their regional rehearsal at North Balwyn. Both ensembles will continue to rehearse once a week until the September performances – which promise to be truly spectacular!
Many thanks to the parents and staff who have supported the Performing Arts program this term by transporting and supervising students at regional rehearsals an on excursions. Your help has made it possible to offer these special experiences which enrich the students’ learning.