Music Matters

POSTPONED Year 5&6 Musical                                                      

It is with great disappointment that the Year 5 & 6 Musical will be postponed until further notice.  A great deal of work has been done for this musical.  Special thanks to Ms Lanneke Jones who had spent a great deal of time putting the show together and teaching it to the students in Years 5 and 6.

2021 House Music Competition – Music of Elton John

Congratulations to Langley House, who was declared the winner of this year’s House Music Competition.  Well done also to Barton and Christian House who were awarded second the third places respectively.

Special thanks to our guest adjudicators Ms Ruth McCall and Mr Andrew Bukenya who were most positive and encouraging with their feedback for our students.  All Houses should be congratulated for their efforts, the standards for the performances continue to improve year by year!

Peripatetic Music Program – Zoom Lessons

Given the current situation with COVID-19, peripatetic lessons via Zoom are being offered to families to maintain continuity with learning.  Tutors will be contacting respective families from their studios with lesson times.  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 addressed for the lesson.

The nature of what we do as musicians have dramatically changed.  While online learning may not be ideal, it is helpful for the current situation. 

Co-curricular Music Activities

A schedule of Co-Curricular Music activities will be shared with the school community in Week 2.  Ensemble directors and conductors have worked hard to create activities for students to access online.

Primary Students – Please note that there are NO online Music activities for Week 2.  You will be contacted with a starting time in due course.  Primary students can still access the musical materials that will be rehearsed in their ensembles.  Students are encouraged to take these parts to their instrumental teachers to prepare in their online lessons.

Materials for the activities (music sound files and parts) can be accessed through Cognito or Seesaw.

If you have any questions, please contact Mr Peter Jewitt, Ensembles Coordinator.

Term 3 Rehearsal Schedule

Meet our Tutor – Vicki Parkin

This week, our tutor of the week is Vicki Parkin who teaches Cello in our Music program.  This week we asked Vicki the following questions:

Who did you learn from/where did you study?
I studied History of Music at Cambridge University as an undergraduate and then took a Masters degree (also at Cambridge) specialising in Medieval notation. After academic study I spent a postgraduate year at the Paris Conservatoire studying the cello, and then three more years at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

Share a performance highlight.
In my late twenties I worked for an Austrian orchestra and during a tour of Latin America we played for Fidel Castro at his palace in Havana. After the concert Castro asked for the entire orchestra to line up and he shook each one of us by the hand. I remember his glassy stare and him saying something to me in Spanish, and it is one of my greatest regrets that I have absolutely no idea what he said!

What are your other interests besides teaching your instrument?
I am a keen runner and have raced many half and full marathons. I have also completed two trail ultramarathons through the Blue Mountains and one in Italy. We have two very furry Maine Coon cats, Charlie and Caspar, who like to force me to sit down and read a book most days.

What do love about teaching at SCEGGS?
I am fortunate to have a studio full of wonderful girls who work hard and are attentive in their lessons. I also have an amazing mentor in Anne Sweeney (Director of Strings), from whom I have learned all the best aspects of my teaching and who constantly inspires me to strive for great things.

Pauline Chow
Head of Music