Music Notes

What a crazy month for Music! We have seen some brilliant moments both musically and developmentally for our students in what has been a very busy term so far.

ABODA Festival

In Week 4 our students participated in the annual ABODA Festival (Australian Band and Orchestra Directors' Association) held at Westminster School.

Congratulations to the students and staff on some outstanding performances. This year was the best result Blackfriars have ever received at the festival, so a huge congratulations to the boys and all the staff involved.

Concert Band 1 travelled down to Westminster to compete on Thursday 15 September after their St Dominic’s Day festivities to be awarded with a Silver award. This was an excellent achievement and the band received some excellent feedback. Well done to Mrs Hunter and the boys! Stage Band 2 travelled down during Friday 16 September to compete during the day and were not only awarded a Gold award, they won the entire division!! With the pressure on, Stage Band 1 performed in the evening with one of the songs featuring Vince Ravida on Flugel Horn … and they also won their entire division!!

This was an absolutely outstanding effort by all ensembles but in particular to Stage Band 1 and 2 for being the overall winners of their sections. The commitment that the boys have put in to all of the ensembles has been outstanding and truly shows when they are able to receive such high awards. I was extremely proud of every student and hope they will remember these achievements for a lifetime as they only come with hard work and determination. A huge congratulations to all involved.

Annual Music Concert

Congratulations to all of the students who were involved in the Annual Music Concert on Thursday 29 August. It was a standout event with strong support from all students, families and the wider Blackfriars Community. The evening commenced with the opening item – Can You Feel It, by the Jackson Five which really set the tone for the rest of the evening. All bands and choirs performed to a high standard and with lots of energy and enthusiasm and a special performance from Stage Band 1 after farewelling and congratulating the departing Year 12 students.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the comperes on the evening – Harry Catley, Frank Snelling, Harry Boyd-Turner and Stefan Zienkiewicz who co-compered with Mr Patrick Kelly. They were fantastic in their delivery throughout the evening. Another thank you to Gianni Macolino and Julian McPeake, along with Marie Wohling for being our rhythm section for the evening. A big thanks to all of the administration, maintenance and instrumental music staff for making the evening successful. We were very overwhelmed by the generosity of our community with some outstanding donated raffle prizes. Thank you to all the parents for their help with both the raffle and sweets stall, in particular Danni Boyd-Turner and Michelle Zienkiewicz.

Special gratitude goes to Mrs Libby Hunter, Miss Marie Wohling and Mr Jak Francis for their commitment, dedication and professional contribution to the Blackfriars Music faculty. An event of this size involves a large team effort. We were extremely pleased with the success of the evening and the performances of our talented students.

Catholic Schools' Music Festival

In Week 10, Blackfriars will have a very strong presence in the 2019 Catholic Schools' Music Festival held at the Festival Theatre. The following groups will be performing on the mentioned nights so if you wish to come and support us, please follow the link to purchase tickets.

Monday 23 September

Year 6/7 Choir (This is the choirs only night of performing)
Senior Vocal in the Secondary Boys Choir (they are on every night)
Stage Band 1 (support act)

Tuesday 24 September

Senior Vocal in the Secondary Boys Choir
Blackfriars Small Rock Group (support act)

Wednesday 25th September

Senior Vocal in the Secondary Boys Choir
Big Band Theory (support act)

Thursday 26 September

Senior Vocal in the Secondary Boys Choir

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE THROUGH BASS:

Ph: 131 246 or on the website: www.bass.net.au

The performance for the 6/7 Choir is on MONDAY 23 SEPTEMBER at the Festival Theatre. All members of the Blackfriars community are welcome to come and see this spectacular event.

Upcoming Events

25 October - Academic Assembly (Stage Band 1)

26 October - Prospect Fair (Small Jazz Ensemble)

27 October - St Dominic’s Fete (Rockin’ Rhythms and Big Band Theory)

Music Soiree – Date TBC

Miss Lucy Pope

CURRICULUM LEADER: PERFORMING ARTS