Recently our two beginner bands had their first rehearsals. Each band has around 50 members with instruments ranging from flutes to tubas. Students face the challenge of not just producing the right sound on their new instrument through co-ordinating finger positions, breathing, and a whole lot of muscles – but doing it in time and in tune with their colleagues. The first sounds are, to be polite, a little raw. However, what is exciting is the speed of progression. Within weeks, the sounds will become clearer and more co-ordinated and, within months, musical harmony will emerge. By the end of the year, you will witness a strong and impressive ensemble producing musically expressive and engaging sounds. We are strong believers that participation in a musical ensemble is a terrific educational experience for our Middle School students. It is a joy to witness the learning that will be evident each Wednesday morning.
Next week we hold the Information Night for our Middle School Musical cast, crew and band. This is, for me, another really exciting beginning. The starting point is the story – in this case, an idea that writer Baz Luhrmann conceived whilst still a student at NIDA. We start our production journey with this story, and a few songs in this case mostly written by Melbourne composer Eddie Perfect. From this story, the creative process builds. Students develop the characters in the story, the set designer creates the setting, the choreographer creates the movement, the director brings out the meaning of the story, the lighting designer colours the world, and the musicians set it all to music. Music theatre is such a wonderful way of combining all of the arts in a really meaningful way – but, at its heart, it is really just story telling. Next week we begin the journey of bringing the story to life.
Martin Arnold
Head of Music
