Music Matters

SCEGGS Choral Program Online! 

The secondary school choral program is making the most of the shift to online singing by focusing on skill building in our weekly rehearsal sessions.  Our time together includes a focus on developing vocal technique.  We help the students to identify what good singing physically feels like and what they should be listening for in order to improve the quality of their sound.  This online time to listen to and tweak their own voice is very valuable. Our choristers then move through a series of music reading exercises to help them to hear what they see.  It is also important for our singers to see what they hear so we enjoy weekly aural dictations.  Over the past couple of weeks the students in the choral program have been enjoying listening to the recordings we made at the end of last term to enter into Sydney Eisteddfod.  

Miss Allison Harrigan
Choral Director

Year 11 Music 1 – Composition Arrangement

As part of their development of composition skills, Year 11 Music 1 students were assigned a task to reimagine Kate Miller-Heidke’s “Where?” from the Australian opera “The Rabbits”.  This task formed as part of the students’ assessment for composition. Students took elements of the original source material and manipulated the music to make it their own. They changed the style, instrumentation, and sometimes even the tonality of the piece – from something that is bright (major) to something quite sombre (minor).  Through this activity, students learnt the techniques that composers use to manipulate musical ideas in creative ways.  You can sample some of the students’ works here: https://vimeo.com/585600357

Mr Michael Tierney
Year 11 Music 1 Class teacher

Primary Virtual Music Concert

Primary Music Teachers would like to invite all students to share video recordings of their music performances at home to be collated as a “Virtual Music Concert”!  Over the past weeks we have shared some beautiful performances here and thought that it would be lovely to have a collection of these for you to enjoy as a virtual concert.

Instructions for you to participate in the virtual concert can be found here.

We look forward to receiving all submissions by Monday 6 September.

If you have further questions, please email Ms Stephanie Holmes (Music Administrator).

Are YOU A Musical Legend?

This week we have started a Music activities challenge!  The instructions are simple – record your musical activities for the week.  The activities could include your regular practice, participation in an online rehearsal or performing to members of your family online!  Get the Instructions and Record Sheet.  Email your record by Sunday night each week to Ms Holmes – Music Administrator. The top results will be published in Music Matters. 

We encourage ALL students who are learning an instrument at school or learning externally to flex their musical muscles and take part. Participate, have fun and enjoy your musical activities!

This week we would like to congratulate the following girls with their achievement of Gold, Silver and Bronze:

Primary

GOLD – Caitlin Cameron (6N)
SILVER – Hana Yao (Kindergarten)
BRONZE – Angelina Wang (4W)

Secondary

GOLD – Sophia Barry (8ET)
SILVER – Jess Weatherall (7Ce)
BRONZE – Lila Eversgerd (8ET)

The following girls are also acknowledged for their excellent efforts:

Thank you girls for sharing your musical achievements for the past week.  We look forward to sharing the results for next week!

Peripatetic Zoom Lesson Guidelines

Peripatetic lessons via Zoom are being offered to families to maintain continuity with learning.  If you decide to proceed with online lessons for your daughter, please note the following:

1. There must be an agreement between you and your daughter’s tutor, detailing date, time and platform for lessons (Zoom is preferable to Skype).
2. For the protection of both parties, a parent/guardian should be nearby to assist during the lesson if necessary. This is to protect both parties.
3. Students must let their class teachers know well beforehand if they have a music lesson during a timetabled class.
4. If your daughter is unwell, please let the music tutor know.

Practical considerations:

• Ensure that appropriate device and setup is confirmed well before the lesson.
• Ensure that the tutor has necessary contact details.
• Instruments should be tuned before the start of the lesson. Your daughter’s tutor can recommend a suitable app to assist in tuning instruments.
• Consult with tutor to determine the best camera angle for the lesson.
• Quality of connection may be improved if other family members remain offline during the lesson.
• Establish a dedicated space for music lessons is useful to eliminate distractions and extraneous noise where possible.
• Student should be appropriately dressed for the lesson.

We would love to see pictures of your daughter’s Zoom music lessons at home.  If you would like to share these with our school community, please email them to paulinechow@sceggs.nsw.edu.au.

Pauline Chow
Head of Music