Music Matters
Diana Springford – Head of Music
Welcome to our Music Matters page! 🎶
This has been a very busy couple of weeks of student performances.
On Wednesday evening in Week 6, 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 from Years 1-12, 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 and scaled the dizzy heights of our most accomplished High School extracurricular ensembles.
Our Years 3 – 6 students who are learning to play an instrument as part of our compulsory Instrumental Program, 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 practice. We congratulate all performers in the 21 featured ensembles 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. I would like to thank the whole Music Department as well as our great team of music tutors and conductors, Ben Marshall for sound reinforcement, our student MCs and all the teachers who volunteered to supervise and assist on the night. Special thanks to Remington Owen for stepping up to run this complex event.
Our photographs of the concert are courtesy of Ofer Levy, a member of our parent community and professional photographer, who has been so generous in regularly volunteering to attend school concerts to capture such superb images of our performers.
Here are the links to the recordings: String Ensembles concert and Winds & Percussion concert
High School Assembly – Tuesday 23 August 2022
Last week, at the High School assembly, Jonathan Levy in Year 9 gave a fabulous performance of the Schulhoff Sonate for Saxophone.
Infants Music Assembly – Friday 26 August 2022
On Friday afternoon the Infants Choir and Perlman String Ensemble gave a gorgeous performance of Aunty Antichinus by Michael O’Donnell. This was a world premiere of a piece written especially for these groups, commissioned by our lovely string tutor Monique Turner and conducted by our wonderful Infants Choir conductor Sarit Spira.
Jacob Marmot of Year 2 gave a polished and impressive performance on the piano of Tarantella by Friedrich Burgmüller.
HSC Music Showcase – Tuesday 30 August 2022
Our four Year 12 HSC music students gave some wonderful performances to celebrate their work this year in preparation for their forthcoming HSC performances on Monday 5 September 2022. Depending upon their elective choices for the HSC, some also presented the scrolling scores of their compositions by projecting them to the big screen. It was such a pleasure to hear these wonderful performances and compositions. Rebecca Pillemer, Gabrielle Utian, Myles Cohn and Ben Cohen are to be congratulated on their work and we wish them all the best for their final submissions and performances on Monday. Thanks to their tutors and teachers who have worked with them for so long over the years: Gillian Selikowitz (piano), Andrea Catzel (voice), Stefano Caroleo (percussion), Christina Leonard (saxophone) and Stephen Kramer (composition). A very special thank you to Remington Owen and Daniel Burley who are their classroom teachers this year and have guided them on this long musical journey. Extra thanks to Mr Burley for his lovely accompaniment.
Night of Song – Wednesday 2 November 2022, 6.00 pm
Auditions for Night of Song solo performers will be in Week 9. Mr Burley has sent an email to Years K-6 parents and High School students. Sheets with audition slots are up on the noticeboard in the music corridor. Don’t forget to sign up if you want to audition for a solo. Places are highly contested and are awarded on merit, based on the audition, but also mindful of a balanced program of pieces, voices and age-groups.
Term 4 dates
Weekly ensemble rehearsals and Private Music Tuition resume on the first day of Term 4, Thursday 13 October 2022. Years 3 – 6 Instrumental Program (IP) will commence in Week 2. Please remember to bring your instrument and music.
Extra-Curricular Music Program
You may be thinking about Extra-Curricular activities for Term 4. Current memberships will rollover automatically. Please email Ms Springford if you are not currently a member of an ensemble and are interested in signing up. You will find the rehearsal schedule here describing ensembles in more detail on a second tab.
Private music tuition and Infant Strings Program
Thank you to those who have already advised us of changes to private tuition and Infant Strings Program (ISP) enrolments for next term via the online forms on our Music Portal Page. The deadline for new enrolments or intention to discontinue for Term 4 is today. All students currently receiving private music tuition and students in the K-2 Infant Strings Program will be automatically re-enrolled along with students commencing lessons for the first time. Please contact music@emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au if you have any questions.
The schedules for Term 4 will be created at the end of term and emailed during October term break.
Please visit our Music Portal Page for information about:
- Private Music Tuition (beginning and discontinuing)
- Ensemble and Choir membership for Years K-12
- Infant Strings Program (ISP) for Years K-2
- Performance opportunities
- Borrowing an orchestral instrument.