Friday 27 May 2022

Instrumental Music News

Movie Magic Concert

On Monday evening, the Band Department held their Movie Magic Concert. The sold-out performance featured Percussion Ensembles 2 and 3, Flute Loops, Wind Band, Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Concert Winds, Chamber Winds, and Wind Symphony. The bands brought to life the soundtracks of some of the most popular movies from the past two decades. The audience was treated to popcorn while they listened to the very famous tunes and watched clips from the movies broadcast on the big screen. Blockbusters such as Jurassic Park, Bohemian Rhapsody, West Side Story, Aladdin, and How to Train Your Dragon were just some of the highlights of the night. The students and staff also enjoyed dressing up as their favourite movie characters for the evening. The Movie Magic Concert is always a popular event on our concert calendar, and we enjoy bringing it to the stage for everyone to enjoy.

Many thanks to the MSG for providing their support on the night and Mrs Harper for all her wonderful work behind the scenes, Mrs Ingram and Ms Mynott for their attendance at the concert, and of course, our very talented students and staff for their tireless work preparing for, and presenting, the concert.

Pascal Green (12G)—Master of Ceremonies

Maggie Lynch (7H)—French Horn

Olivia Knauer (9M)—Piano

Miss Garvey conducting Concert Winds

Ms Smith (Mary Poppins)—conductor of Concert Band

Concert Winds performing West Side Story

Concert Band performing Disney’s Magical Marches

Wind Band performing Mamma Mia

Winter Strings Concert

The Winter Strings Concert was themed ‘Fireside Stories’. We were excited to be having a ‘real’ concert again and wanted the audience to feel warm and cozy in the Gehrmann Theatre. The connection between music and prose is ubiquitous—music tells stories, and stories are brought to life by music. We were fortunate to have Madeline Khoo (12E) as MC, Libellum Captain, Dorothy Rae (10G), as narrator, and Sally Grice (12E) as stage manager. Dorothy shared excerpts from stories and read some stories written by members of Vivaldi Strings, especially for the evening.

A special highlight from the evening was the very first performance by Elgar Strings. Guitar Ensemble, Celtic Ensemble, Gypsy Band, Dvorak Strings, Copland Strings, Albinoni Strings, and Vivaldi Strings also performed brilliantly. There was a palpable buzz of excitement that lifted spirits. Congratulations to all performers and thank you to all the ensemble directors as well as Ms Harper, Mrs Davidson, Mr Joncheff and the MSG. Bravo!

Eliza Prescott (9G), Layla Barbour (10O) and Danika Fisher (10L)

Elgar Strings at the Winter Strings Concert

Dorothy Rae (10G)—Narrator

Copland Strings performing at the Winter Strings Concert

Charlize Chang (10H) and Kaiyu Su (10R)

Chantelle Lam (7B), Isabella Jiang (7M), Karin Sagara (7R), Grace Zhao (7L) and Ava Wang (7G)

Adelaide Window (8W), Soraya Prendergast (9W) and Tiana Lin (8E)

Euphonix performance at QYMA

On Friday 20 May, Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s Years 9 and 10 Choir, Euphonix, performed at the Queensland Youth Music Awards (QYMA), taking away a gold award for their beautiful singing.

This energetic group of young women travelled to St Peters Lutheran College to sing in the Intermediate Choral Section. Fourteen choirs from the South East Queensland region took part, including Ambrose Treacy College, St Rita’s, Centenary State High School, and Churchie to name a few.

The girls sang Bob Chilcott’s The Lily and the Rose followed by Vois Sur Ton Chemin by Christophe Barratier, and Bruno Coulais from the French film Les Choristes. Emily Cox and Sandra Milliken, well-respected industry professionals and adjudicators expressed, ‘a very relaxed and poised choir …’, ‘lovely, free sound …’, and ‘well-rehearsed and a most enjoyable performance’.

The ensemble is congratulated for the professional way they conducted themselves on the night, representing the School with pride.

Many thanks to Birralee Voices for putting on this wonderful event that provides an opportunity for young people to hear other choirs from neighbouring schools and share in a rich and diverse range of choral music.

We are very proud of, and thankful to, our students and staff for their exemplary work.

Euphonix on stage at QYMA. Conducted by Mrs Dias-Jayasinha, accompanied by Mrs Kerry Nian

Queensland Conservatorium tertiary preparation workshop

From Monday 27 June to Friday 1 July, the Queensland Conservatorium (South Bank) will be hosting its annual tertiary preparation workshop. The workshop covers topics such as entry requirements, audition skills and techniques, interview tips, theory and aural fundamentals, and much more. The workshop is an excellent opportunity for students who are considering a future in the music industry to discover some of the tertiary preparation courses available towards achieving this goal. Further information and registration details can be found here.

Cathedral Concert

On Saturday 4 June, the BGGS Instrumental Music Department will be presenting the Cathedral Concert at St John’s Anglican Church. The Cathedral Concert is an eagerly anticipated event on our performance calendar and tickets are selling quickly. Tickets can be booked through Humanitix.

The beautiful acoustics of St John’s Cathedral provides the most glorious atmosphere to enjoy what will be a stunning concert.

Recruitment drive

We are looking for students who might be interested in playing one of the rarer instruments. We are looking specifically for students to play Tuba, Euphonium, and Double Bass. If you already play an instrument and are interested in the possibility of advancing through our ensemble structure quicker than you may do on your current instrument, we want to hear from you.

The String Department is looking for students interested in learning the Double Bass. The Double Bass is an amazing instrument that can participate in all sorts of music from classical to jazz to gypsy to pop. Perhaps you already play another instrument and are interested in an extra challenge, or perhaps you are interested in starting as a new beginner. We need you!

The ability to read, or willingness to learn to read, bass clef is a distinct advantage. The desire to be awesome is not negotiable.

If you would like to explore one of these instruments a little further or simply find out some further information, please contact Ms Porter aporter@bggs.qld.edu.au (Band) or Mr Michael Patterson mpatterson@bggs.qld.edu.au (Strings).

MSG News

Thanks to all the parents who assisted at the Movie Magic Band Concert on Monday and the Winter String Concert on Wednesday. It is wonderful to have these concerts back in full again, and we are proud to play a small role in putting them on!

MSG needs assistance from parents at the following events:

Cathedral Concert (Saturday 4 June)—ushering. Sign up here
Junior Vocal Workshop (Friday 10 June)—BBQ for choir members. Sign up here.

MSG committee members will be present at all of these to show you the ropes, so don’t worry if you haven’t helped at a music event before and are hesitant about what to do!

We are also still seeking assistance in providing lunch for staff members at the Cathedral Concert—please email us at msgbggs@gmail.com if you can help with this.