Year 10 Music Day
Students and their teachers travelled from all over the New England and North West region to attend the Year 10 Music Day at NECOM on Friday 8 March.
The day started with a rousing choral session led by Luke Byrne followed by a stimulating movement/improvisation session with much-loved local musician/teacher Phil Oxley.
In the afternoon, students were divided into smaller groups and moved between ethnomusicological activities including African drumming and dance, Boomwhackers, a Ukelele Choir, Pub singing for under 18’s and a dance workshop.
HSC Music workshop
The annual HSC music workshop was held on the 6 & 7 March and was an outstanding success. Both days of the workshops started with a mass choral singalong led by Luke Byrne. Students were then divided into four groups depending on their year level and HSC course. Each group attended intensive sessions on the musicology/aural paper, composition and performance components of the course led by senior examiners Jeff Willey (Conservatorium HS), Jane Cateris (Conservatorium HS) and Helene Galettis (St.Clare’s Waverley, and author of Musical Concepts textbook), composer Luke Byrne and local teacher extraordinaire Deidre Rickards. Year 12 students also booked in for individual composition and musicology sessions with Jeff Willey, Luke Byrne and Corinne Arter. The two day workshop concluded with HSC students performing ‘works in progress’ and getting valuable feedback on polishing their works ready for the big day.
Quotes from participants:
“The sessions were all excellent and the most beneficial part was that my students were fully engaged in all the activities. The students came away with very positive musical experiences.”
“Working in the large choral group was a very interesting experience. This day offered a lot of unique experiences. Thank you!”