Faculty News - Music

& the Performing Arts

Term 3 is shaping up to be quite a busy period for the Performing Arts Department. Despite the “ins and outs” of lockdown, students will still have many opportunities to perform, be that online, via video or (fingers crossed!) face to face. 

The Performing Arts Festival, which was set to be run as a live performance in the last week of this term, will now be produced as a video.  The Performing Arts prefects are currently working hard to gather footage of the wide range of talented students we have here at Mazenod.  The aim is to have this video ready by the end of term and released to students, parents and staff on Clickview.  More information on this event will be sent out to families over the coming weeks.

Music events such as our “Winter Recital Series” and our annual “Mazenod Gala” are still scheduled to occur, however, the formats will likely change to “online” or “pre-recorded video.”  This will enable us to ensure all performances are COVID-safe. Students are reminded to keep preparing their parts and pieces for these events!  As the dates for these performances draw closer, we will update all students and parents with the appropriate information regarding how they will be staged.  

On a very positive note, we have a large number of musicians currently preparing for AMEB examinations.  These examinations are very demanding, requiring students to not only demonstrate technical proficiency on their instruments, but also aural and stylistic awareness.  We have over 30 students preparing for exams in Session 4 around the end of August. If these dates need to be rescheduled, we will let students and parents know immediately.

That leaves the biggest and last session for the year!  We have 50 students entered for practical exams which will be scheduled around the end of October. We wish them all the best with their preparations. 

We also pass on our congratulations to several musicians who have recently passed AMEB practical examinations in Session 3.  We continue to see encouraging individual results and progress and have been extremely surprised by the success of remote learning in music.  In these uncertain times, these music exams are crucial for providing our musicians with a goal and a purpose and as we persevere through the vicissitudes of the current pandemic, music and performance help to bring a sense of joy and relief to our community. 

Finally, the instrumental music staff are now available for the next round of Parent/Teacher interviews.  We haven’t seen some of you for a while and would love the opportunity to discuss your son’s progress!

Mrs Felicity Kamevaar

Head of Performing Arts

Mr Douglas Leutchford

Director of Music (Instrumental)

Mr George Melitsis

Director of Music (Operations)