Boys' School Musical Extravaganza
Boys' School Musical Extravaganza
September 23, 2014 at 1:25 PM
Hot on the heels of the Jazz Band being awarded Gold for the sixth year in a row at the recent Lewis Eady Junior Music Contest and the Jazz Combo, the Recorder Minstrels and The Ligature Lads (five clarinet players) receiving Silver, as well as the Performer’s Choir being awarded Silver at Kids Sing, the School’s finest musicians came together for a fantastic display of musical talent last night. Performing to a large audience that packed JC Chalmers Hall, the range of instruments and selected music showed the enormous depth of the music programme at the Boys’ School.
In her opening words, Director of Music, Mrs Janet Grierson said she had recently seen an advertisement on the back of a bus that said, ‘You have to do the hard, before it becomes easy.’ She said, ‘I thought that was very appropriate for music. To get to the level that these boys are achieving, they do have to do the hard - practising at home and coming to early morning rehearsals. It does get easier and the more they practise the easier it becomes. Congratulations boys for taking on the challenge of learning music, for putting in the hard work and earning your outstanding achievements.’
The road to putting on a show is not always easy. The Music Department comes alive at 7.00am most mornings of the week with further rehearsals taking place at lunchtime. As Principal, Mr Cassie has often said, the music groups are amongst the hardest working ‘teams’ in the school. Unlike the sports teams who train for a season, music is a year-round commitment. In the case of injury preventing play in a sports team, it’s generally easy to find someone to fill the spot – not always the case with music when your drummer breaks his shoulder and a clarinettist breaks a finger just before a show! It was noticeable, hoever, that the lower limb injuries made it to the stage!
MC’s for the evening, Caleb Pese and Jack Beveridge introduced each of the items beginning with the Orchestra who played two popular theme songs, ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Chariots of Fire.’ The rest of the evening included a range of solo, ensemble and choral performances covering many musical styles. One notable performance came from a father and son combination – a ‘dad and his lad’ – as Leo Smith on the clarinet and his dad, Simon on the bassoon, delivered the well-known movie track, ‘Pink Panther.’
In a night of excellence there are always some highlights and Anthony Gu’s deft finger work on the piano playing Mozart’s Rondo alla Turca along with Jonty Samuels’ confident trumpet solo of ‘O Sole Mio’ and the talented Ben Lerner playing ‘Misty’ on Saxophone were three exceptional performances.
Both the all-comers choir, the Saint Kentigern Singers and the Performers’ Choir gave heart-warming performances, including a solo section in ‘Lord of the Dance’ led by Beck Robson. We were pleased to welcome Old Collegian, Mark Bradley to accompany the Performers’ Choir on piano.
Just as the show opened with music made well-known through the medium of film and television, so it closed with the Year 8 Rock Band, Black Ice, who are preparing for Fireworks Night, playing the Monkeys’ ‘I’m a Believer followed by the Concert Band’s superb and polished rendition of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller.’
To conclude the evening, Principal, Mr Cassie came forward and paid tribute to the Music Department and the itinerant music teachers for their enthusiasm and skill in guiding our boys to become both passionate and skillful in their pursuit of musical excellence.
