Director of Music - Edition 9 - 2022

Music Notes

Congratulations to Luke Moriarty (Year 9 Carter), Eden Moriarty (Year 6 Charter), Eva Bratkovic (Year 9 Dunstan) and Henry Ruckert (Year 7 Woollacott) who were accepted into State Music Camp for July this year. This is an auditioned process so well done to these students who passed their audition.

Congratulations to Leo French (Year 9 Jeffries) who received an A Grade for his Grade 6 AMEB Piano exam recently. This is a great achievement for Leo, a very high standard of playing to manage this grade.

Generations in Jazz 2022

After a two-year hiatus Generations in Jazz re-appeared this year, albeit online. Westminster entered five ensembles in the National Big Band and Vocal Jazz competitions with a good degree of success. Bands and choirs from all over Australia took part in this event.

Our results were as follows:

West Direction (formerly Vocal Jazz 2) - 2^nd place
Big Band 1 - 3^rd place

Big Band 2, Vocal Jazz and our Small Jazz Ensemble all achieved 5^th place. This is especially significant in that these groups were amongst categories that included 25 to 26 ensembles in their sections.

Again, given this is a National event this is a wonderful achievement for our students. The icing on the cake, all announced last Thursday evening in a live-streamed concert hosted by James Morrison, was that three of the members of Big Band 1 made the Div 2 Superband.

Congratulations to Shalin Bigwood (trombone), Andrew Draper (trumpet) and Stella Byrne (vibraphone and congas) for this amazing achievement.

Music Performances

Winter Band Night

Our Winter Band Night was held in the MMC with the Senior Concert Band, Intermediate Concert Band, Prep Concert Band, Big Bands 1, 2 and 3, Senior Orchestra and Senior Jazz Combo. It was such a great thrill to be able to perform again and the students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Many thanks to all the students involved. Some students also covered for a few that were unable to take part in the concert through illness. Thanks also to some of our instrumental staff who helped out on the evening which gave our students a chance to perform.

Sing Sing Sing

The very next evening the Music Department staged the annual Sing Sing Sing concert, featuring all the choirs in the school. This included the newly formed Chamber Choir, Prep Junior Choir, Canto Choir, Chapel Choir, Vox Pops, West Direction, Vocal Jazz, Boys Vocal, Senior Vocal Ensemble and a combined item at the end which involved everyone on stage. Again, a number of students stepped in for a few that were not able to perform.

Both events were student-run with all the performers announcing their pieces on both evenings.

Thanks to all the students for two nights of wonderful music. In all, students performed 37 pieces of music over two nights in two 90-minute concerts, the result of almost a semester’s work.

Thank you to all of our Directors, accompanists and staff musicians who supported the ensembles in many ways.

Finally thank you to all who came along and supported the students. With performing not as often as we have in previous years, playing and singing “live” in front of an appreciative audience is a welcome outcome for our students.

Level 2 of the Forder Centre

Recently our new compactus arrived and the Music staff are now sorting through music resources to store in this facility. One of the very exciting aspects of our new facility on Level 2 of the Forder centre is a state-of-the-art Performing Arts lab with new software and technology. We are well on the way to setting up this facility and our students are putting this to good use. We are still expecting the arrival of our Yamaha recording lab which will complete the room.

Term 3 Major Music Events

We have some fantastic events and performances coming up in Term 3 - stay tuned for more information!

Michael Degenhart
Director of Music