Director of Music | Acting Director, Mr Jan Hewerdine

Congratulations to our large cohort of successful SHEP Middle School candidates! I encourage you to read more about this in the Director of Culture news in today’s newsletter.

Recently, Event Memos for the ANZAC Day Marching Band, Drumline and Pep band, outlining details for the remaining rehearsals and performance were sent out via the College App. Separate tour notifications for each element were sent to enable us to create accurate rolls for each rehearsal given that they are outside of school hours and regular rehearsal times. In preparation for the holiday rehearsals, students are reminded to ensure that they have their music memorised and spend some time working on marching; doing this in front of a mirror or video recording their practice will help to improve their skills. Years 11 and 12 students in the SWE and Red Thunder Drumline are reminded that this performance forms part of their qualification for an Honour Pocket (see p.151 of the Student Diary) for those ensembles.

There will be no assembly performance next week due to exams.

Last week was the final week for you to make changes to enrolments for Music and Speech and Drama lessons before billings were processed. Please fill in the appropriate form on the Terrace App (Culture Music) and email to music@terrace.qld.edu.au or print and return to the Music Department office.

A new initiative for Music staff this year has been the rollout of OneNote Class Notebooks. In brief, Class Notebook provides an easy to manage system for keeping rolls, communicating with students, managing free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. I encourage you to look over the software with your boys, to gain a view of what they have covered in each lesson, as well as their attendance.

For those students who perform with our beginner and intermediate level ensembles, it is a requirement that they wear grey trousers for performances. This provides a more formal and unified look as opposed to a mix of trousers and shorts. The first big concert event for these groups will be the Winter Concert in Term 2. Trousers are available from the Uniform Shop in sizes from 8 to 18. Students who perform only as part of the Years 5 and 6 Band and Strings classes do not need to purchase trousers. 

Please check the Terrace App and Parent Lounge regularly as this is where information regarding various events (see the list below) will now be published. As events are approved and posted to the Parent Lounge, you will be sent an email advising the name of the event, including the Event Memo, to check and provide a response regarding attendance. Event Memos will also be available through the Terrace App in Culture>Music.

Holiday Workshops

• ANZAC Day Marching Band (consisting of BCB, RCB and Red Thunder Drumline), Thursday 12 April 9-12pm Tennyson.
• Drumline, Thursday 12 April 12.30-2.30pm Tennyson.
• ANZAC Day Marching Band (as per above + SWE), Friday 13 April, 9-12pm Tennyson.
• Red Peppers Pep Band (TJO, BBB, Percussion Ensemble Two’s drumline, all tuba players), Friday 13 April, 12.30-2.30pm

Term 2 Events

• ANZAC Day Marching Band, Wednesday 25 April, 8am–12.30pm, meet at Terrace, march in Brisbane CBD.
• Senior Music Production, Wednesday 16-19 May, selected performers only. 
• Winter Concert, Wednesday 30 May, 6.30pm. 
• Norman Clarke Concert, Sunday 3 June, Villanova College. Sound checks from 10.45am, concert at 3pm.
• Drumline and RBB band Workshop, Monday 25 June 
• First Percussion Ensemble BBB band Workshop, Tuesday 26 June 
• Percussion 2, Percussion 3, TJC band Workshops, Wednesday 27 June