Music 2014

Dr Robert Braham Director of Music Miss Athenia Litis Secondary Music Teacher

It was a pleasure to welcome Mrs Ann Clarke on to the music department staff to begin 2014. Ann has slotted straight in to the junior and middle school programs, conducting all the junior choirs and the junior string ensemble. Ann has done an outstanding job and in her first year the junior vocal ensemble was awarded the Primary Liturgical Singing award in the Performing Arts Festival for Catholic Schools and Colleges, also performing at the Perth Concert Hall.

I would also like to pay tribute to the Year 12 students who led the music program this year. Adrian Soares’ (12.5) leadership in the instrumental ensembles and his inspiring piano playing, Yew Zhi Tan’s (12.2) calm leadership of the String orchestra, Joshua Adam’s solo singing, his leadership from within the tenors of the Chorale and his cantoring in the cathedral, and Jack Kay’s (12.3) voice in the choirs and his roll as pipe major.

Following on from his soloist award in the World Strides Heritage Festival in New York last year, and the solo instrumental award for the CSPAF, Kayvan Gharbi (10.2 cello) has another feather in his solo career cap by being announced as a winner in the American Protégé Music Talent Competition, which allows Kayvan to perform in Carnegie Hall in 2015.

Performances at the ABODA and classical guitar festivals from Trinity and Trinity/Mercedes ensembles continued their strong form from recent years. Both the Wind orchestra and Wind Ensemble achieved an ‘Outstanding’ grade as did the String Orchestra. The classical guitar ensembles also fared well gaining ‘excellent’ awards in their respective festival.

The Middle School Music Program has seen a further development of both the Kodaly and Orff methodologies in the classroom with impressive results. It has been wonderful to see improvements in students’ musicianship skills and in particular, the standard of singing across the years. As Ella Fitzgerald once said“. The only thing better than singing is more singing”.

All Year 7 students have explored a myriad of musical concepts and genres and boy, can these boys sing with gusto! It has been a dynamic and vibrant year of music making alongside Mrs. Ann Clarke, with many delightful moments all round.

Highlights of this year include seeing the Year 8s compose their first composition using the computer program, Sibelius. This was in the form of a Percussion duet, which they then performed to the class with a partner.

The Year 9s kept us very entertained with their compositions where they were required to create two verses of text and set it to music with added accompaniment! The Year 10s finished the year with an advanced Rondo Composition for keyboard instrument employing the skills of effective harmonic writing and voice leading. It is always remarkable to witness such interesting and inventive ideas from students of all year levels.

Dr Robert Braham conducts the Senior Chorale at the Quarry Amphitheatre

Combined Orchestral Program

The Trinity/Mercedes String Orchestra began Term 4 with an exciting combined project with Hale School. The project ran over a three week period consisting of a trip to Hale to rehearse in their stunning auditorium, followed by a rehearsal and concert in the acoustically engineered Braham Auditorium. Not only was it a fantastic opportunity for students of the orchestra to work with another conductor and gain new ideas, but to also perform as part of a larger orchestra. The boys and girls formed new friendships and shared stories over Pizza for dinner, which was then followed by a PSA Handball challenge! I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Mrs Katie Doyle, String Orchestra Director of Hale and we look forward to expanding the project in the following years.

Visiting Artists Program

Trinity was indeed fortunate to host its first chamber music series in 2014. Magellan, a piano trio consisting of Faith Maydwell (piano), Margaret Blades (violin) and Michael Goldschlager then Janis Laurs (cello), performed four world-class concerts in the Braham auditorium. With repertoire spanning from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Centuries, these concerts were a treat of virtuosic playing. The trio also treated Year 11 and 12 music students to a workshop on each of the programs. This gave the boys a close-up look at the workings of a professional ensemble and a chance to learn the idiosyncrasies of the genre for each era.

Faith Maydwell also joined our piano students for a series of teaching sessions focusing on posture, technique and sight-reading. These were invaluable sessions for students of all stages. Michael Goldschlager also attended a string orchestra rehearsal to sharpen their performance skills

Students at the Magellan workshop

Visit from the National Boys Choir of Australia

Performing Arts Festival for Catholic Schools and Colleges

Students across all year groups excelled themselves at this year’s performing arts festival. With eight section wins in the senior school and one in the junior school, 2014 could be described as a stellar year. This emulates the feats of students in 2008 so a hearty congratulations to all students for their wonderful performances.

In the solo and duet sections of the festival 45 Senior School entries received honourable mentions. In the instrumental and choral ensembles 27 received honourable mentions. The senior school also had 43 certificates of merit.

Special mention goes to the following individuals, duets and ensembles who won their section: the Senior Chorale (sacred choral music), Trinity/Mercedes Chorale (Secondary Choral Singing), Swing Band I (Big Band/ Jazz Combo), Baroque Trio (Instrumental ensemble), Kayvan Gharbi (10.2) (Instrumental Solo), Adrian Soares (12.5) (Secondary Piano/Solo Duet) Joshua Adams (12.4) & Shania Lee Eliassen (Mandurah Catholic College) (Secondary Vocal/Solo Duet), Joshua De Souza (11.3) & Yew Zhi Tan (12.2) (Instrumental Duet). Michael Waller (11.5) was also presented with the Roberta Chapman string scholarship.

To be awarded the Zenith Award for Secondary Metropolitan Schools and Colleges for the eleventh consecutive year is a great achievement and testament to the depth of participation and quality performances across a wide range of music entries. In addition some strong performances from drama and dance entries augurs well for the future of performing arts at Trinity College. A full list of performing arts results is contained in this annual.

Dr. Robert Braham and Miss Athena Litis Director of Music and Secondary Music Teacher

prior to the Performing Arts Festival and Jason Noble, Wind Ensemble Director at Columbia University, also took the Wind orchestra through its paces in an enlightening rehearsal. Unfortunately Professor Heribert Koch from Germany, had to cancel his Australian visit due to his new appointment. However, we hope he will be able to join us again for his piano master classes in the near future.

Visiting choirs proved to be a big hit with the boys this year. Hosting the National Boys Choir was a privilege. Thanks must go to the parents who billeted the boys. Our efforts were very worthwhile as the wonderful sound of this treble choir filled the hallways for a day. Boys from Aquinas, Christ Church and Wesley Colleges joined us for a wonderful workshop on some combined repertoire.

The boys of the St Andrew’s Choir from Singapore soon found friends amongst our Year 8 and 9 choristers in their November visit. There was much hearty singing from the Singapore lads, and with our middle school and junior choirs as they joined us for a day or singing, academic classes and sport by the river.

Combined Trinity/Mercedes Chorale at the senior Music Night

Miss Litis conducts the Middle School Vocal Ensemble