From the Music Department 

Congratulations to…

Alan L, Chris M and Russell J who were awarded their Associate Diploma in Music. Alan L received his for Musicianship, Chris M received it for French horn, Russel J received it for Clarinet. This is an outstanding achievement, and we congratulate them on this wonderful accomplishment.

Band Camp

Band Camp 2024 proved to be an extremely helpful experience for both Concert Band and Symphonic Winds. It was an opportunity for both ensembles to learn, rehearse and perform music together. The Camp consisted of sectional rehearsals with our instrument groups, and full band rehearsals in the Smith Auditorium. Sectionals gave my section and I the opportunity to brush up on tricky bits, but they also gave us the time to bond as a team of eight trombones, four euphoniums, a tuba, and a bass guitar. On the first day, our full band rehearsals were directed by guest conductor Ms Cathy Chan. Ms Chan proved to be engaging with professional mannerisms and had an array of musical dad jokes (the worst kind!), which kept the band well entertained. For our musical incursion on Thursday, we were lucky enough to be given an interactive performance by the ensemble African Beats, who offered us insight into the unique instruments, dances and rhythms of traditional African music.

Andrew Gilchrist and Saxon Mitchell
Year 11

On Thursday and Friday of Week 6, the band programme for Shore participated in a two-day camp. At this camp, students took part in full rehearsals and sectionals. Within the band camp, African Beats came and performed many forms of traditional African music. Overall, the two days consisted of productive learning and fun for the boys and was a great success. We thank Ms Barber, Ms Robertson and Mr Dorich for running such a successful camp.

Samuel Lim
Year 9

ENCORE Concert

On Monday 4 March, Years 9 – 12 Music students and music staff attended the annual ENCORE HSC concert held at the Sydney Opera House. ENCORE is a programme that seeks to display some of the most outstanding performances and compositions from the 2023 HSC. As always, the programme highlighted a diverse selection of styles, instruments and periods across all three HSC music courses, from both solo and ensemble, vocal and instrumental performances ranging from classical to more contemporary music.

Some of the most notable this year included Ryan Xu on the cello playing Lamentatio (Sollima), Harry Wang on the violin playing Wieniawski’s Polonaise de Concert in D major, Mitar Tomasevic’s rendition of Piazzolla’s Libertango with the accordion and Harvey and Milo Abrahams playing Bozza’s Serenade en Trio with their wind ensemble trio.

The cello performance was definitely an interesting mix between vocals and traditional cello playing. While some considered it a gimmick, credit must still be given nonetheless to the obvious high level of technical ability demonstrated. However, an unpleasant recurring motif throughout the whole concert that reared its ugly head in Ryan Xu’s performance was the overzealous crowd, which seemed too eager to applaud, often for the sake of being silly and contrarian, no doubt impacting his concentration and performance atmosphere.

The violin performance was one that was always going to be interesting, being one of only two veritably classical works that were played in the whole concert. Harry Wang demonstrated adequate bravado for the violin and brought out the showpiece nature of the Wieniawski Polonaise, impressing many with his stylistic maturity. However, there were obvious flaws with his intonation, speed, and other technical aspects, perhaps being just a product of nerves on the day, which were yet exacerbated by the poor microphone quality, ultimately marring the performance.

The accordion was another interesting performance, truly a verified toe-tapper. Mitar Tomasevic played to the strength of his interesting instrument, the accordion, putting a playful twist on a well-known classic. He did however, do his performance a disservice by inviting the audience to clap along for the duration of his playing.

The wind trio was excellent, no doubt being the most technically flawless performance of the entire concert. Clearly well-rehearsed, the Abrahams twins demonstrated their capacity as highly capable musicians, highlighting individual technical prowess, as well as the seamlessness of their ensemble playing. The only thing to criticise however, would be their over-the-top movements, where their choreography began to resemble a misplaced interpretative dance, ultimately taking away from an otherwise brilliant performance.

Overall, there was a range of different performances, from exotic instruments to more modern compositions, all with individual nuances and takeaways. We all enjoyed the performances, noting that stronger ones reflected deeper introspection and musical maturity, instead of relying on participation from the overzealous crowd or instrumental gimmicks.

Written by Year 12 Music 2

Upcoming Dates: 

Wed 20 March	Concert Group: SSO Meet the Music – Beethoven’s Third Symphony	Sydney Opera House	8.00pm
Thurs 23 March – Sat 25 March	School Musical: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Smith Auditorium	7.30pm
Wed 29 March – Sat 1 April	School Musical: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang	Smith Auditorium	7.30pm

Mrs K Barber
Head of Music