Music at the Preparatory School

I am always amazed how much passion our boys develop for their instruments and music.

Trevor Addison

PREPARATORY

Music at the Preparatory School

Music at the Preparatory School is bursting at the seams and our Music Centre is over-flowing with hard working young musicians. The Prep music program currently provides opportunities to all Prep students within the Music Centre, accommodating on a weekly basis, 23 instrumental tutors, 19 ensembles, with numerous stage opportunities, as well as providing a range of concerts from small soirees to whole Year groups.

The current Music Centre was opened in May 2002 as a welcomed addition to the musical landscape of the School. With such vast musical excellence now circulating our lower level School, the Prep Music Department looks to the future towards plans to reconstruct the Music Centre, creating additional classroom space, instrumental practice rooms and performance space.

The King’s music program is one of the best in the country and we are proud of our achievements. The classroom curriculum program provides boys with comprehensive learning opportunities that allow them to develop music literacy and performance skills through the study of music from all periods of music history and also from all corners of the world. Within any week, the Music Centre could be resounding with Javanese Gamelan from Year 6 boys, Fanfare compositions from Year 5, tone and semitone exercises in Year 4, the Year 3 Band and Strings program warming up, Year 2 preparing for Grandparents’ Day, Year 1 dancing to discover the structure of a piece of music, Kindergarten working on developing their vocal skills and Pre-K exploring pentatonic melodic improvisation.

Alongside our compulsory music curriculum, many boys learn instruments at School. The string and band program headed by Mr Trevor Addison and Mr Ben Crocker and taught by experienced instrumental tutors, are areas of the School of which we are very proud. “I work them incredibly hard, using good teaching techniques delivered through a great relationship built between myself, the boys and the parents,” said Mr Addison.

Within any given week over 220 boys receive lessons in our Music Centre and all boys are placed in one of the many ensembles that rehearse each week. In addition to the main ensemble placement, we also run chamber groups for further musical development. These groups include string quartets, flute, clarinet, percussion and guitar ensembles.

Superstan

Performance is essential to our co-curricular program and throughout the year we showcase the work of individuals and ensembles through a variety of avenues. Prep concerts at King’s often take place in Horrocks Hall, with combined concerts with the Senior School groups in Futter Hall. Boys perform in assemblies, along with special events such as Grandparents’ Day and Christmas Services, with new opportunities always arising, including performances with our neighbouring schools of Tara and Burnside. The annual Art Show and King’s Fest performances allow the wider School community to hear our music. We also participate in choral festivals, eisteddfods, band competitions and have developed relationships with St Jude’s in Bowral and St Martin’s Killara as performance opportunities for the boys.

One significant area that is unique to our School is the wonderful relationship that we have with renowned Australian composer, Paul Jarman. Paul has now composed three choral pieces for Year 6 students and these pieces have all been premiered to acclaim at the opening of our PYP Exhibitions in 2014, 2016 and again this year. It is a wonderful experience for boys to be able to work with a composer bringing their hopes and dreams for the future to life.

Music is also present within our drama productions. Recent performances of Superstan, Lion King, and Jungle Book all drew on Prep musical strengths. The School was particularly delighted when international composer Christopher Norton offered to write and compose a play for us to commemorate the 100 Years of Anzac and focus on the stories of King’s Old Boys and staff and their involvement in WWI.

One of the areas of growth that has continued to amaze has been in the external examination opportunities provided by AMEB and Trinity College, London. It is at these examinations that our boys excel and reach extraordinary levels of achievement. Guided by gifted tutors and always ably supported by Dr Eskenazi as resident accompanist, boys in Year 6 are now attaining not only outstanding marks at Grade 8 level, but also going on to excel at performance certificate and diploma levels. This is certainly one of the ways that the Music Department in the Preparatory School stands out from many other places working with children of a similar age.

Jonathan Todhunter Director of Music, The Preparatory School