Live on the Lawn + Generations in Jazz

SCOTT TEMPLETON, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC

The first Saturday in April saw the start of a new musical tradition at The Geelong College: Live on the Lawn was an instant classic!

The brainchild of the wonderful parents of the Humble Club, Live on the Lawn was conceived as a way to bring the College community together on the Talbot Street lawns in the iconic surrounds of the Dining Hall and Senior School buildings for an event highlighting the musical talents of our top-tier music ensembles.

Live on the Lawn featured students from both the Senior and Middle Schools, and showcased our

Symphony Orchestra, Senior Concert Band, Phoenix Voices, Lunar Contemporary Band and Senior Stage Band.

The emphasis was on entertainment, and the audience of over 500 certainly seemed to agree – the atmosphere was amazing! Our school’s grounds looked superb, the Dining Hall was beautifully lit, and our musicians excelled themselves. The excitement felt by all of our students at seeing the stage and lighting set up for Live on the Lawn, as well the reaction from the audience to their performances, made everybody’s hard work well worthwhile.

It was wonderful to see so many members of the College community enjoying themselves, and we are particularly grateful to many members of the Humble Club, led by Justine Phung along with Sam and Mark Pullin, for their tireless efforts in bringing the event to fruition. Live on the Lawn had wonderful support from Old Collegians Lyndsay Sharp (OGC 1979), from Jack Rabbit Wines and Flying Brick Cider, as well as Scott Hunt and Tom Summers (OGC 2009) and Lachie Summers (OGC 2012) from Valhalla Brewery.

The feedback from all present was that Live on the Lawn was a fabulous event, and we look forward to it becoming an annual highlight of the College’s Term 1 calendar in years to come.

Later in Term 2, our musicians were able to return for the first time in four years to the Generations in Jazz festival, held in Mount Gambier, South Australia. The event had not been held since 2019, but prior to that The Geelong College had a long history of participating. This year we sent 29 students from three ensembles, the Senior Stage Band, Pegasus Singers

Chamber Choir and the G-Train Stage Band from the Middle School.

The festival sees nearly 4500 students from 150 school around Australia converge on Mount Gambier to perform, hear concerts and attend workshops from top Australian musicians. Our students heard some amazing singers, including Thando, who was on The Voice in 2022 and Adam Lopez, who holds the world record for the highest recorded sung note by a male – among many other talents. These incredible vocalists were backed by the Generations in Jazz All Star Big Band, giving our students the chance to hear some of the very top musicians in the country perform. One of the highlights was seeing the Swedish jazz-electronica band Dirty Loops, who had the entire big top tent of 4000 teenagers dancing.

Our three ensembles performed with distinction in their respective divisions, and the experience of hearing other schools perform the same set pieces that they themselves had prepared was an enlightening one. Other brilliant educational aspects of the weekend included the Sunday morning workshops that saw our students get tips on playing and performance from some of the best practitioners in Australia.

The weather was a challenge across the weekend, with cold temperatures and almost biblical levels of rain, and our students quickly learned that, in the traditions of Woodstock and Glastonbury, most great music festivals have epic levels of mud! Despite all of that, it was a brilliant experience, and we look forward to returning to Generations in Jazz in 2024.