The College’s Instrumental Music Program is grooving to the rhythm of 2018 with style and finesse.

Four of our ensembles participated in the Fanfare Bands Competition, an interschool contest organised by Education Queensland which offers our students the opportunity to learn from expert adjudication and to pursue musical excellence alongside their peers. Our Senior Band and Orchestra were awarded Bronze, while our Jazz Band and String Ensemble Corelli both won Silver.

Our first semester has also been marked by successful showcases, public performances, and invaluable workshops with regional and international guests.

Earlier in the year, our students engaged in a wide variety of enriching activities. Our Beginner Band and Beginner Strings groups had their Immersion Programs in February. The Jazz Music Institute, a Brisbane-based specialist jazz school, visited the College on an Incursion workshop. In March, Calamvale Community College held the inaugural Collaboration Concert with the Queensland Korean Youth Orchestra (QKO) at the on-campus Calamvale Performing Arts Centre. Established in 2016, QKO has continually expanded to become the most dynamic and diversified orchestra in Queensland. This concert provided the College’s music students with the opportunity to interact with and perform alongside like-minded young musicians. Audiences listened to performances by our String Quartet, the Queensland Korean Youth Orchestra’s Strings and Woodwind Brass Percussion, as well as collaborative performances that showcased the combined talents of these young performers.

Our students have also participated in a variety of activities and performances outside of the College. In March, Instrumental Music students from across the College visited the Conservatorium of Music at Southbank and attended a lecture presented by the Deputy Director. Our Taiko group began the year with an international focus – they performed at our Multicultural Festival, welcomed and farewelled our visiting Japanese schools, and showcased their skills at the Kisaragi-Sai Japanese Festival at Roma Street Parklands.

At the end of Semester One, the College’s Instrumental Music Program successfully hosted their first all-ensembles showcase for 2018 – Music@6. Close to 200 students performed on the evening across eight ensembles, including the Mallets Duo, Junior Band, Senior Band, Stage Band and Taiko Drummers, as well as three string groups – Crochets, Corelli, and Crescendo. It is always a privilege to perform for familiar faces, and our students embraced the opportunity to demonstrate their musical talents and collaborative skills. All ensembles performed on the evening to a full house with a very enthusiastic and supportive audience.

This term, our Junior Brass and French Horn students participated in Brass Master Classes. Our Taiko group performed brilliantly at the Japanese Immersion Day, hosted by Seville Road State School. On Saturday August 25, guest conductor Toni Bonetti will instruct and work collaboratively with our students in a combined Band and Strings workshop. Through August and September, another guest conductor – Josh Hatcher – will run rehearsals for Senior Band and State Band and assist them with their preparations. On September 15, the Taiko Group is performing for esteemed guests at the World Multi-Cultural Dinner at Sun-Pac. This term our Senior Band, Stage Band and Taiko groups will all perform at College assemblies.

The College’s Instrumental Music Program is showing no signs of slowing down – our Term 4 calendar is booked out with variety of performances such as the Music Fest Bands Competition, Art Waves Festival, College Arts Night, Whole College Awards Night and of course an all-ensembles performance at our End of Year Instrumental Music Awards Night. To top off the year, the College will welcome Japanese Percussionist – Fumiko Yamazaki – for a week in October. She will collaborate with a number of our Percussion Students for two workshop days, followed by a Concert in CPAC.

The College continues to provide students invaluable opportunities to develop new skills collaboratively and independently, to hone their musical proficiencies each lesson, and to celebrate their musical talents with confidence on stage. To further prepare our talented musicians for local and international opportunities, the College will offer Music as a part of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in 2019.