Diana Springford – Head of Music

Thanks so much for your support of music at Emanuel this year.  Here’s some important information for Term 1 2021.  

IP Classes and Extra-curricular Music Ensemble Rehearsals

These both resume in Week 3 in 2021.

Year 3 and Year 6: The first day of IP in 2021 is Tuesday 9 of February

Year 4 and Year 5: The first day of IP in 2021 is Wednesday 10 of February

Recent Music Performances

Mazal tov to the Senior Boys Vocal and Senior Girls Vocal Ensembles for their performances at High School Assembly this week for an appreciate audience of their peers. Our thanks also to Mr Burley and Ms Girle for preparing their ensembles and for conducting and accompanying. Please see below for details of how to view these performances.

Emanuel School High School Ensembles and Choirs – some snapshots from Term 4 2020

In 2020 our singing and playing has been rather curtailed by COVID restrictions including the prohibition on singing together and reducing cross stage ensembles and choirs. We have very much missed our usual opportunities to share our music making with an appreciative live audience. Nevertheless, we have managed some “in progress” recordings in Term 4 that we hope you will enjoy. Please go to the Music Performances tile in the Parent Portal. 

Thank you to all our wonderful ensemble and choir conductors and mentors who have been so flexible and engaged throughout this crazy year. Thank you to Ben Marshall for so expertly and carefully supporting our assembly performances and our recordings. 

The ensembles and choirs presented there are:

• Senior Girls Vocal Ensemble at assembly The Cup Song
• Stage 6 String Quartet in rehearsal – Mozart Symphony in G Minor Movement 1
• Stage 5 Jazz Combo in rehearsal – Chameleon
• Stage 4 String Ensemble in rehearsal – Palladio 
• Stage 4 Jazz Band – “Some Other Blues”
• Copland Concert Band at assembly – The Simpsons
• Year 7 Guitar Ensemble – “Hallelujah”
• Year 8 Guitar Ensemble – “Funky Town”
• Senior Stage Band in rehearsal – Cantaloupe Island & Things Ain’t What They Used to Be
• Senior Boys Vocal Ensemble at assembly – Men of Song

The Primary School ensembles and choirs will be beautifully presented in the forthcoming Primary Presentation Website, so please keep an eye out for that. 

New Ensemble for K-2 String Players!

Next year we are adding an Infants String Ensemble for students who are having lessons (private lessons or ISP) on violin, viola and cello. We are responding to parent demand and our recognition that there are now so many fabulous young ISP music makers who have loved their recent experience of playing in a large ensemble. This will rehearse on Thursday mornings, 7:30 – 8:10 am, with Ms Monique Mezzatesta, beginning in Week 3 of Term 1. Monique will give her students in ISP an indication of when they are ready to join this lovely new ensemble.

Updated Ensembles and Choirs Rehearsal Schedule for 2021 – please check new schedule

To avoid some troublesome clashes and enable the conductors we love to continue taking our ensembles around their other commitments, we have made some changes to our schedule for 2021.  Please make note of the updated new ensemble rehearsal schedule  

Auditions for all relevant ensembles and choirs will be held in Week 3 of Term 1 and advertised in Ma Nishma as appropriate. Auditions always involve a student playing or singing a piece of their choice, and usually involve some sight reading and/or vocal exercises, and sometimes a couple of scales for instrumentalists but the details of requirements for auditions are announced when the auditions are first advertised.

Instruments checked and ready for collection

Thank you to students for bringing in any school instruments this week for our annual stocktake and maintenance check. They have been serviced and are ready for collection from the cabinets in the Music Department.  A few will need to go offsite for repairs and your tutor will have emailed you about those. If you haven’t already collected your instrument (or replacement instrument, if yours has gone for repair and you are keen to practice over term break – which we hope you will), please do so before the end of term.  No students should leave their instruments here over term break.

Private Music Tuition and Infant Strings Program for 2021

Please note that from 2021, the cost of individual private music lessons will be charged at a rate of $46.00 per half-hour lesson (plus GST, if the tutor is registered to pay GST). This is the rate advised by the NSW Music Teachers Association. Lessons shared in pairs are only available in special circumstances and would cost $24.00 per student per half-hour lesson (plus GST where applicable). The Infant Strings Program (ISP) for students in Years K-2 will be charged at $262 per term on school fees, in addition to an instrument bond of $200 which is fully refundable on safe return of the instrument with all parts and accessories.

Thank you to those who have already advised us of changes to private tuition and Infant Strings Program enrolments for next year. The deadline for new enrolments, notification of changes or intention to discontinue for Term 1, 2021 has now passed. All students currently receiving private music tuition and students in Years K-1 who are currently participating in the Infant Strings Program will be automatically re-enrolled into tutor schedules for 2021 along with students commencing lessons for the first time. Parents should enrol or discontinue using one of the online forms accessed from the links below. If your child intends to discontinue, formal notification in advance must be received by the end of term to avoid being committed to the full term of lessons and liable for fees. Please contact Matilda Grieve if you have any questions about private music tuition.

The schedules for Term 1, 2021 will be created at the end of term and emailed in late January.

Links to online forms  

New enrolment requests for private tuition

To discontinue private tuition

To enrol into the K-2 Infant Strings Program (ISP)

To discontinue Infant Strings Program (ISP)