As I write this, the first group of Year 7 students are starting up in the Year 7 Music program. Beginner and experienced young musicians will this year spend two or three sessions a week engaging with music: instrumental skills, musical literacy, collaboration and performance.
The value of music education on a child’s overall development cannot be underestimated, with Dr Anita Collins explaining:
What we now know is that learning a musical instrument and foundation music education skills — such as clapping in time, singing in tune and moving to music — are some of the most complex cognitive activities the brain can undertake. They involve the auditory, motor and visual cortices communicating at an astonishingly fast rate, while the cognitive, reward and sensory networks are sharing information, and the perception, emotion and cognition networks are making personal meaning from all the logical information the brain is processing. (Collins, 2022)
Through their weekly interaction with classroom and instrumental teachers, our Year 7 students will engage in a variety of activities that will support their development on their instrument. While we acknowledge that those first few weeks of hearing them play at home can be challenging, be assured that by Term 2 you will notice a discernible difference in what is being produced.
2024 started with a number of activities that have set the department up for another great year. Rehearsals for the Senior School Musical, Legally Blonde, are in full swing, pink being the clearly favoured colour this term. Both the Big Band and Stage Band undertook workshops with guest clinicians last week which was a great start to their preparation for Generations in Jazz in May. Wind Symphony also kicked off with a welcome back rehearsal which gave the ensemble the opportunity to welcome new student musicians to the School.
Our Senior School Performing Arts Captains, Pacey, Conor, Giorgia and Lucy, have a number of projects in planning stages that will be shared with the community in due course. They are ably leading the department, ensuring inclusivity, community and a continued sense of joy in creating performance experiences. Our Middle School Performing Arts Captains, Kate, Claire, Mikko and Jack, introduced themselves to the Year 7s last week at the opening assembly, and with their involvement across all areas of the program are sure to be wonderful advocates for the Performing Arts.
Ensembles rehearsals are starting this week and next, with the Senior Ensembles Concert on 13 March featuring what I know will be wonderful work achieved in a short space of time. We look forward to sharing many performances with our Carey community this year.
Sally Davis
Head of Performing Arts
