Music Captains’ Report

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MUSIC CAPTAINS’ REPORT

In 2021, Music at Pymble came back with a bang with the live return of many of our favourite events as well as new opportunities inspired by the 2020 lockdown period. Despite the range of restrictions placed upon Music, the Pymble musicians had a year of success and celebration, both individually and in our many ensembles.

Christmas 2020

Last year saw the launch of our first lunchtime Christmas festival, with performances all through the week by our Pymble ensembles for a year’s worth of music across five lunchtimes. The event was a combined effort across a number of fields, raising funds for the McGrath Foundation. The Stage Band and Jazz Band delivered swinging Christmas tunes on the Music Colonnade, and the Pymble Chorale girls had fun carolling throughout the school. The Rock Bands also gave us a taste of the performances we missed in our year of Music lockdown. Even the Junior School got involved with a performance by the Junior Jazz Band!

Ensemble Concerts

After 17 months on pause, Pymble ensemble concerts returned in Term 1. Our Term 1 ensemble concert was our first held outdoors, and certainly lived up to the title ‘Let’s Get Loud’. Featuring captivating performances from all of our ensembles, students played for an outdoor audience of more than 300 in an exciting return to performances at Pymble. In our Term 2 ensemble concert, ‘Thank You for the Music’, we said farewell to our Year 12 musicians and thanked them for their years of dedication and passion for music at Pymble. The Dame Joan Hammond Memorial Scholars Recital also returned as a live performance featuring some of the College’s most talented pianists.

Pymble Open Mic

This year saw the launch of Pymble Open Mic, an informal opportunity for students to perform at lunchtimes. To encourage more people to get involved in music and try new opportunities, we launched this event for students to give performing a go without judgement or competition. Our first Open Mic was met with resounding success, with ten students delivering seven amazing performances!

Eisteddfods and Competitions

A number of Pymble ensembles participated in and received outstanding results at the City of Sydney Eisteddfod. Considering the video submission and online adjudication format of this year’s entries, this was an eisteddfod unlike any other and we were incredibly proud of our Junior and Senior ensembles that participated.

In addition, a special congratulations must go to violinist Alana Gao, Year 9, who made the finals of the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition.

Clare Macpherson and Tara Narayan, Year 12

Despite the range of restrictions placed upon Music, the Pymble Musicians had a year of success

Events in Lockdown

As we entered the second lockdown period over Term 3, Pymble Music thrived online with a number of guest speakers and special events, such as hearing from Dr Anita Collins and Francine Bell while our choirs benefitted from the choral wisdom of Naomi Crellin (The Idea of North) and our string ensembles from Dr Mark Laycock.

Clare Macpherson and Tara Narayan, Captains of Music