St Peters Music Touring Program

As our touring program gets back on track, St Peters Music Co-Directors led their respective ensembles—Strings and Choirs—on regional tours this year, visiting new places and making friends along the way.

DAVID DEACON Co-Director of Cocurricular Music and head of strings There are so many wonderful aspects to participating in a music tour with your friends and peers. The St Peters Chamber Soloists String Orchestra tour to the Sunshine Coast and Bundaberg at the beginning of the Term 3 holidays certainly reminded us all of the added value of a music tour. On top of the obvious music making involved in a tour, students are immersed in an environment of sharing their talents, creating new relationships with communities and improving their own personal organisation skills. The concept of performing the same repertoire every day makes one realise that true musical enjoyment comes from playing for others and seeing their happy smiles and sincere appreciation. The five-day tour included concerts with the Sunshine Coast Youth Orchestra, Immanuel Lutheran College String Orchestra, Sunshine Beach State High School, Shalom Catholic College Strings and performances at the Argyle Gardens Retirement Village and St John’s Lutheran Church. The St Peters Chamber Soloists lived up to their reputation as one of Australia’s leading string orchestras as they amazed and inspired so many communities with their passion, energy and hard work. At each venue the Chamber Soloists members engaged as 'mentors', directly working alongside a younger student and engaging them in musical thought. This interaction was highly successful and the improvement in just one rehearsal could be seen in the way the students began to move and communicate their music with a renewed sense of passion and fun. I know this firsthand teaching experience for each Chamber Soloists member opened their own eyes of the importance of music and the impact that one can have on another as an educator. Chamber Soloists enjoyed the time to relax and socialise with each other at the end of each day. A new initiative for this tour was that pre-formed groups were responsible for organising and cooking their own breakfast and dinner. The students displayed a strong sense of pride in the culinary accomplishments and truly created some beautiful meals. Overall, the tour was a great success and combined with fantastic performances and lots of laughs seemed like the perfect way to finish off Term 3, 2022.

CHRISTINE TAYLOR Co-Director of Cocurriculuar Music and head of choirs At the end of Semester 1, St Peters Chorale and Chamber Chorale spent five days on tour in the Darling Downs area. Their public performances in St Luke’s Lutheran Church, Crows Nest, and St Luke’s Anglican Church, Toowoomba, were given standing ovations by the enthusiastic and supportive audiences. Chorale was warmly welcomed by the congregation of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for their Sunday morning service as they helped to lead music worship. At all of these public events, the students really enjoyed meeting St Peters alumni and hearing their stories of St Peters and Ironbark from the past. Chorale also visited Highfields State Secondary College and Centenary Heights SHS, Toowoomba taking part in combined workshops with their choirs and giving lunchtime concerts. The positive experience of making music together quickly removed any barriers and all the students enjoyed sharing social time together. Chorale staff and students also enjoyed the opportunity to explore some of the tourist attractions in the Downs area including The Kingaroy Observatory, Warwick Museum and Sutton’s Apple Farm in Stanthorpe. Campfires, bush dancing, games night and a handbell ringing workshop added to the fun during their time at Koonjarewon Campsite in Highfields.