The Classroom Music Program is a new program to the school in 2017. In the current model, all students in the school are involved in the music program throughout the school year. This might be in the form of formal classes or extra curricula activities.
The Music Hub is a fantastic space with a large Band Room, storage for all of our instruments and a magnificent courtyard. In the courtyard, there is a large brick wall, the VCAL students a apart of one of their projects and assessments have designed a beautiful mural that will be painted onto the brick work by all of the Senior School students in late July/August. In December, we are looking forward to having outdoor concerts with this fantastic back drop behind the stage.
Currently all Middle and Junior school classes access the Music Curriculum for two terms of the year each. The focus for these classes are on beat and following colour patterns on instruments. The concept and keeping of beat/pulse is an important foundation in music tuition, we use many instruments and contexts to practice our keeping of beat. Instruments such as Hand Bells and Boomwackers are utilised in the Middle and Junior areas. These instruments are colour coded and create a good visual for the students. Using these instruments the students work on turn taking which leads to the students playing a structure song on the instruments. At the end of the semester that the students have had Music they will participate in a Sub School Concert were all classes and students from Middle School or Junior School will perform. The performance could be anything from singing a song to playing the hand bells, it all depends on the students and classes preference in what sounds they connect with.
The extra curricula activities that are offered to Senior students include: Rock Band, Choir and Percussion Band. Every band has a full group rehearsal every week. In addition to this, students receive a fortnightly one on one session in which they learn the instrument related to the group they are in, this including; bass guitar, drums, voice etc. The focus within each of the bands is team work, listening to what the other students are doing and working together.
The School Bands, Rock Band, Choir and Percussion Band will all have other performances throughout the year, these are community based performances that will be during school time and also evening performances. As an example, the Choir have been invited to perform at the Maroondah All Inclusive Performance Festival in June.
Every semester there will be a School Music Concert, this is an opportunity for classes and the bands to perform for the parents and staff of the school. We believe that performance is the most important element of studying music, and it is also were interpersonal development occurs as well as building of social skills can take place. This is why we endeavor for all students in the school to experience performance.