The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

Middle School Music

A New Middle School Music Ensemble

This term, there will be a new ensemble rehearsing in the Middle School. On Friday mornings boys from Years 6, 7 and 8 will be rehearsing alongside similarly aged musicians from the local Perth community. This is a unique opportunity for our boys as they will have the chance to play with musicians from the Perth community with a similar ability level. This ensemble will be conducted by Ms Jennifer Sullivan (Middle School Music Coordinator) and Mr Tim Simpson (Head of Brass). This ensemble is an auditioned ensemble only and the first rehearsal for the term will start in Week 2.

Classroom Music

In the Year 6 Music classroom the boys have made wonderful progress on their concert band instruments. They have developed their sight-reading skills and worked on developing their tone, technique and musicality within the classroom ensemble. This term they will compose a piece of music for their own instrument using the music software program Finale.

In the Year 7 Music classroom, the boys have been conducting an investigation on music from around the world. This term the boys will be presenting their findings to the class. The students really enjoy learning about all of the unique instruments that originate from countries around the world; as well as listening to a variety of traditional and contemporary music examples.

Boys in Year 8 Music Extension have been studying the basis of music from the entire 20th Century, The Blues. Currently they are working on creative compositions using the latest Sibelius Scoring software commonly used by music and film composers globally. Some boys have created some interesting Blues lyrics about the trials and tribulations of going to school.

Year 8 Music General boys are also moving into their creative compositions with a slightly different twist. Working in teams similar to current music industry practices all music is either recorded or created using DAW Software and the boys also learn how to interact using Audio Interfaces, studio quality microphones, and of course traditional instruments.

Ms Jennifer Sullivan
Middle School Music Coordinator