Working together is something that we talk about a lot at Joeys. The obvious example of team work is through our sport and this is certainly a huge part of our culture and tradition at the College. Having said that, there are many other facets of College life that really have a focus on team work. One of these in particular is our music ensemble program.
In sport, boys have to learn to work together by every boy contributing to the overall success of the team. In music, the reliance on other members of an ensemble is particularly important. An ensemble may have the greatest trumpeter … but if the woodwind section of the ensemble doesn’t pull their weight then the whole thing falls apart. In fact the reliance on the “team” aspect of ensembles is paramount to success.
On Monday I headed down to the Music Centre to see what this ensemble thing was all about and I spent some time with the Concert Band, led by Mr Ian Cox. In watching what the boys were doing, there were a few things that were very noticeable. The first was how important each individual was within the ensemble. Every boy had a role to play and these roles combined to make a fantastic sound. In many ways we become very used to hearing an excellent quality of music. We listen to radio, we watch talent shows and I suspect that it is possible that we think that creating great music may “just happen”. The reality, however, is that it doesn’t. To think that the each boy in the ensemble has different music in front of them, sometimes in a totally different style of notation … only to join forces to create the final sound is really quite incredible … and certainly doesn’t just happen without lots of work.
I also noticed when sections were singled out and had to do a section of the score on their own … I struggled to feel the music. But when we put it all together the result was great! Each boy in the ensemble had a role and could not hide. In fact the ensemble experience very much epitomises what team work is all about – the individual can sound ok but everyone together sounds awesome. If one team member doesn’t pull his weight then the overall sound is not nearly as good as it could be.
A big thank you to our Music Department who manage to deliver the ensemble experience to each of our boys in Year 7 – an experience which I am sure that they can duplicate in many varied facets of life in the future.
Photo 1: James Hill (Abbotsford), Lewis Williams (Russell Lea) and Xander Nies (Annandale) head up the saxophone section of the Concert Band.
Photo 2: Justin Brown (Freshwater) and Stephen Matheson (Longueville) contribute to the brass component of the Concert Band.
Photo 3: Harrison Powell (Roseville) with his euphonium.