As the year ramps up to a crescendo, our hallowed Music Department has been busy at work making copious amounts of well-crafted music from so many young musos!

Our Year 10 Music Recital Evening at the Riddells Creek Hotel was a resounding success. The eleven Year 10 students were brimming not only with enthusiasm, but with a strong level of musicianship, aural and technical maturity.

Tonight’s performance contributes towards the students’ learning in a number of facets, and to a number of assessment outcomes within the Year 10 Music-Making curriculum. Students were each required to organize, rehearse and perform two pieces: an accompanied piece and an ensemble piece. The other aspect of assessment was their contribution to a printed program, by means of creating a personal profile, outlining their accomplishments and personality as a developing musician. The students looked magnificent in their formal attire and treated the audience to a huge variety of pieces, including a Metallica/Leo Sayer mashup.

The following day, Ms Helen Duggan and I were privileged to facilitate approximately 50 auditions for SHC Music Scholarships. This included students in Years 7 – 11 and a significant number of grade 6 students joining our Sacred Heart Music community in 2024! The standard of excitement, playing and attitude were all high. The challenge was deciding who the scholarships will be awarded to – there were so many incredibly worthy applicants! Scholarship recipients will be announced at the College’s Awards Ceremony on 6 December, following our Year 7-9 End Of Year Mass.

Last week’s Music Leaders’ Concert was hosted by our 2023 Music Leaders – Kayla Hogbin and Billy Barclay. The evening was a resounding success and featured a plethora of ensembles and solo acts, with 50 students performing repertoire ranging from Antonio Carlos Jobim to ABBA, Billy Thorpe to Beatles, Primus to Charlie Parker and Sade to Stevie Wonder! The night was supported by our wonderful Friends Of the Music Program (FOMP), and raffle prizes generously donated by Fed, Major Toms and The Macedon Ranges Music Festival. At this event, we announced our incoming Music Leaders for 2024, Lachie Hyatt and Amelia Walsh – very worthy recipients of this honour, following Kayla and Billy’s good work.

We are also accepting enrolments for the Instrumental Music Program in 2024. If you would like to apply, please do so online at https://tinyurl.com/shcmusic2024. Please note that all students currently enrolled in to learn an instrument are required to have a parent/guardian re-enrol them for next year through this link. Enrolments from 2023 do not automatically roll over into next year.