It has been a joy to reconnect with our music students this week in lessons and ensemble rehearsals. The enthusiasm and energy in the first rehearsals has been palpable and has provided good insight into where the groups will be heading with their learning, preparation and performances this year.
American music educator Cheryl Lavender believes that ‘the fact that children can make beautiful music is less significant than the fact that music can make beautiful children’. There is no question that the music staff at Carey enjoy working with our music students, who time and time again prove themselves to be truly delightful young people.
Along with ensembles starting, the Senior School Musical is also in full swing, with a successful holiday intensive for the cast, settling now into weekly rehearsals. The orchestra is also rehearsing each Saturday afternoon. I say orchestra, but there are only nine of us, so it is a different experience than usual. With a performance of one of the numbers at the IB Awards, it has been fun to already have the musicians and cast working together; this never usually happens so early.
Many of the Performing Arts students from the graduating class of 2024 are furthering their love of the performing arts with their choice of courses this year. We have students attending WAAPA, Showfit, University of Melbourne (Jazz, Classical and Composition streams), Monash University and Berklee College of Music in Boston. Congratulations to Giorgia Smith who will be performing as part of the Top Acts concert series; this was based on her excellent VCE performance exam result. And congratulations also to Ben Tschillar who was awarded the Monash-Pratt Scholarship for outstanding musicianship in the classical stream, based on his VCE performance and audition. There are many Old Carey Grammarians doing wonderful things in the Performing Arts and we will continue to watch their achievements with interest.
It will be another great year in the Performing Arts Department. Term 1 highlights include recitals, the Senior Ensembles Concert and the Senior School Musical. Our students put much time and energy into their involvement in the program and we look forward to sharing their work with the Carey community over the coming months.
Sally Davis
Head of Performing Arts
