“‘Tis the season for the concerts – Fa la la la la fa la la la” (Sing to tune of Deck the Halls!)

Wind and Brass Concert

This is the concert where all the School Bands play and show what they have achieved during the year.  This concert was held on 8 November in the Don Brown Hall.

The Year 4 Band (or the Training Band) showed how far they have come by performing Mucho Mariachi as well as showcasing each section. The Year 4 boys have been showing their instruments to next years Kindergarten class each Thursday morning. Each section had to learn a Nursery Rhyme song that the new Kindy boys could sing along to.

This was the final performance for the Year 5 Band (Intermediate Band). This has been a huge learning curve for those boys that had done very little music and no instrumental playing when they arrived at the school. They got Funky Town only a couple of weeks ago and where able to play it well. It showed me what they could accomplish. It was well played and I am sure some of the parents would have been grooving in their seats to memories.

The School Band performed a couple of pieces showing the potential of what the boys could achieve if they chose to have lessons and continue learning on the instrument.  It was a great late afternoon concert.

Christmas Extravaganza

“Tinsel and Tea-towels” was a huge success. It was a beautiful evening for a picnic and to sit back and watch the boys as they sang and performed what happens to prepare for a school nativity play!

The songs were catchy and lots of teachers have been singing them around the school and I can also say probably in the cars on the way to work!  The boys did a wonderful job – the singing, dancing and acting all came together really well. A huge thank you to everyone who helped making this a wonderful success.

String Concert

Year 2 started their instrumental journey this year and they have made great progress. They played some of their favourite pieces to show what they have achieved.

This is Year 3’s final concert on the String Instruments as a group. They played simple ensemble pieces as well as the Movie Suite in which each piece has a theme and a story to go with it. We have had lots of fun with the stories.

The School String Ensemble then showcased what is the next step. They played two pieces Spytime Rag which has lots of syncopation and Avatar which has a very driving rhythmic feature.

With only a few weeks left of school, all of the boys who have been part of or are still part of the instrument program (Years 2 – 5) have done a magnificent job of learning and playing their instruments. There has been lots of research published recently about what learning an instrument does to brain connectivity and general learning skills. These boys have a good head start. I look forward to seeing them all next year.

Vanessa South – Music Mistress