Volume 29 Issue 21 24 Jul 2020 3 Av 5780

Music Matters

Diana Springford – Head of Music

Private tuition and Infant Strings program

The schedules for Term 3 have been emailed. All tuition and ISP lessons have resumed, live and onsite.

Please contact Matilda Grieve if you have any questions about private music tuition.   

Ensembles and choirs – please join us!

Now is a great time to join one of our ensembles or choirs. We always welcome new members after Music Camp in June, and even in the absence of Music Camp, we welcome new members now. We have core ensembles, which are a great start, and then we have extension ensembles for musicians who have shown great commitment and leadership in these core ensembles. If you have only done IP until now, it’s a great time of year to join Gershwin Concert Band or Rubinstein Strings. If you love to sing but haven’t yet sung in a choir, try Infants Choir (Years K-2) or Junior Choir (Years 3-6) or Senior Choir (Years 7-12). 

We have auditions next week (from Monday 27 July 2020) for Junior Chamber Choir, Bernstein Concert Band, Copland Concert Band, Junior Stage Band and Senior Stage Band. The audition requirements and sign on sheets are on the glass wall of M18, in the Music Block. If you are already a member, you do not need to re-audition. For all other ensembles or choirs, please email Ms Springford to register your interest.

Please check out our regular Term 3 Ensemble Rehearsal Schedule to see if you would like to become part of our Music program. This schedule has the rehearsal day, time, and location. It also includes information about the age range of students involved and whether or not the ensemble requires an audition for entry. 

COVID-19 and Music

All ensembles are now rehearsing according to the normal schedule and we have just begun to sing together in choirs again, with some new protocols to keep us safe. We will continue to take advice from the Department of Education and the Association of Independent Schools, and we will continue to maintain awareness of scientific advice with an ear out for our particular community, student and staff needs. The sands are always shifting, and we will shift accordingly when required. 

Night of Instrumental Music (NOIM) in Week 6

NOIM is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday 26 August 2020. It is very unlikely to go ahead as a proper concert on site, but we are exploring options for streaming the concert or making recordings available. These recordings will be made during the day of Wednesday 26 August 2020, so everyone should be practising their parts and attending rehearsals with a view to their big showcase performance in Week 6.

This wonderful and popular concert is our main showcase for all small, medium and large instrumental ensembles. NOIM is also a compulsory component of the Primary Instrumental Program (IP). All students from Years 3-6 will perform at the concert in their year group ensembles and we will also have a performance by our Years K-2 Infant Strings Program. 

Essentially, every student will perform who plays a string instrument (violin, viola, double bass or cello), concert band instrument (flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone, euphonium, tuba and percussion) or is in one of our Concert Bands, Stage Bands, Jazz Ensembles or small Chamber Ensembles.

For many of our younger musicians it is their first performance for an audience other than their family. This is also a lovely opportunity to see both younger and older musicians perform in the same event.