Battle of The Bands

What began as a decade of musical excellence reached it’s zenith between the years of ’85 – ’89. It was an era of excesses in the music industry that we are yet to see repeated – even to this day!

This is what CSC students experience at the Battle of the Bands, held at Penola Catholic College on Friday 7th September. The night saw bands from 7 schools come together to share their talents and compete for the top prize of a day in a professional recording studio. Students from Craigieburn SC, Hume Central SC, Overnewton Anglican Community College, Loyola Catholic College, Hume Anglican College, Gladstone Park SC & Penola Catholic College covered hits from all the best 80’s artists: Michael Jackson, Crowded House, Whitney Houston, Guns ‘N’ Roses and more! The show was expertly audio engineered and lit by Rob Broomhead, and industry professional who helped our students look and sound tight and professional!

Although we didn’t win the major prize, CSC’s very own Ella Moran (7J) took out the Junior Encouragement Award for her gorgeous rendition of ‘Better Be Home Soon’ by Crowded House. With 7 schools competing for 4 prizes, we were honoured to have a Craigieburn student as the recipient in our first year of entering the competition.

Next year’s theme has been decided: AUSTRALIANA: The OZ Rock Revolution which will be held on Friday 13th September 2019. Our bands are already excitedly working toward the first of the warm up gigs, held at Hume Central late term 1. We can’t wait to see what our young musicians achieve next.

VICTORIAN STATE SCHOOL SPECTACULAR:

Way back in February we held auditions for singers and dancers at CSC to be a part of the Victorian State School Spectacular. As one of the largest recurring productions in Australia, the Victorian State Schools Spectacular brings together over 3000 school students performing as musicians, singers, dancers, magicians and more. The performances are held at Melbourne Arena, with an audience of 10,000 cheering and supporting students.

Our choir and dancers have been rehearsing through the year both at school and at combined rehearsals throughout Melbourne. The hard work all came to a head on Thursday 13th & Friday 14th September when we first headed into the city for our full dress rehearsals. Students arrived at school at 7am both days and didn’t arrive back to Craigieburn until 7pm!

After two full on rehearsal days, our students and staff packed the bus at 8:30am for our final trek to Melbourne Arena. There were two performances on Saturday 15th September, and the students were fantastic. Our dancers were so well rehearsed that other schools looked to them for assistance. Our choir was singing out so loud and performing with such confidence we had compliments from schools around us. The behaviour and leadership exhibited by our CSC students was excellent, and we are very proud of each of our performers. Well done to all involved!

Michael Zerafa

Michael Zerafa visits Craigieburn Secondary College