Diana Springford

This week has been rich in music performances. On Tuesday evening, we held our annual Night of Instrumental Music (NOIM). This exciting event, organised into two concerts with an interval in between, showcased the skills of over 300 young musicians, performing in concert bands, jazz ensembles and string orchestras. The evening provided an important performance and concert experience for many of our younger musicians who are just starting to learn an instrument.  NOIM performers ranged from our youngest Kindergarten members of the Infant Strings Program, through our Years 3-6 Instrumental Program (IP) ensembles and scaled the dizzy heights of our most accomplished High School extracurricular ensembles.

Our Years 3-6 students who are learning to play a wind, percussion or string instrument as part of our compulsory IP, performed in ensembles comprised of their Year Group. It was impressive to see the progression in skill level achieved by each successive year of tuition and practise. We congratulate all performers and thank parents for their ongoing support of their musical endeavours.

These large concerts cannot happen without a great deal of organisation behind-the-scenes.  Thank you to the whole Music Department as well as our great team of music tutors and conductors,  Ben Marshall for sound reinforcement, or student MCs and all the teachers who volunteered to supervise and assist on the night.  

I know parents will be very appreciative of the photographs taken by Ofer Levy.  A link to Ofer’s website will be emailed to all parents of performers with instructions about how to access these beautiful photos.  

Later in the week, our Twilight Concert provided a performance opportunity for students receiving tuition on voice or an instrument. The Twilight Concert featured 26 items of repertoire from soloists and group performers. Our thanks go to Danny Burley for organising this informal and enjoyable showcase for the benefit of our students and their parents as well as rehearsing and accompanying some of the students. Thank you also to the music tutors who attended to support their students. 

Students of all levels are encouraged to perform regularly and should express their interest via their music tutors to participate in future concerts. The next Twilight Concerts will be in 2019.