Last Friday evening was the annual Year 7 and 8 Music Concert. Boys performing were selected by their class teachers and there was a great variety of boys chosen.

Although I wasn’t able to be at the concert myself, literally minutes after the conclusion, I ran into a parent who had attended. This mother was very quick to point out how much fun she had had at the concert. Since then I have also received a couple of emails from parents commending not only the performances but also the behaviour of the boys as an  audience. On Saturday I spoke to another parent who had arrived at concert thinking that his son was performing … oops … slip up in communication from the boy. Nevertheless, this particular father  said that it was a “lovely evening”, even if their son never did appear to play!

Aled Morris (Longueville) was one of our Year 7 performers and describes the concert below:

On the 12th of October, Joeys boys in Years 7 and 8 were asked if they would like to perform at this concert. About 30 boys said ‘yes’ and each of them got up and played their instrument. There was quite a large variety of instruments as some boys sung, while others played the clarinet, trumpet, drums, piano and the violin. Johnathon Walker (Roseville Chase) started the night off by singing “The Road to Gundagai”.

As we progressed through the evening some amazing talents were shown to the audience. When it came to Jonathon Garrick’s (Year 8) time to perform he stood up to play “21 Guns” on the drums some technical issues occurred but eventually he was able to perform and he was well worth waiting for. Finn Waugh (Balmain) was one of the last Year 7 boys to perform and definitely stole the show with “The A Team” by Ed Sheeran.

Overall, we all had a fun night and really enjoyed performing and we also enjoyed a nice supper on the Black & White tiles. The boys put their nerves to the test as many of them have not performed in front of a huge crowd before. It was a cracker of a night and hopefully the parents enjoyed it as much as we did.

Thanks to Alan Dawson and the music staff for preparing the boys so well for the evening. The confidence and talent that the boys display is a true testament to the wonderful work of those who work with them in the Music Centre.Did you miss out on attending the concert … no stress … there is still one concert to go this year. Whack it in your diary now – Friday 9th November – all boys in Year 7 will be performing so definitely one not to miss!

Photo 1: Johno Walker (Roseville Chase)opens the show with his vocal “Road to Gundegai”

Photo 2: James Der (Hunters Hill), Tom Small (Willoughby) and Ben Clark (Drummoyne) as part of the Zappa Percussion Ensemble playing “Christine Keeler”.

Photo 3: Milan Nitopi (Drummoyne) on the kit playing “Grenade” by Bruno Mars.

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.