The focus for many of our students this fortnight has been preparation for the upcoming Eisteddfod. Students across all disciplines of Performing Arts - Dance, Drama and Music, have been rehearsing for both individual and group performances and we wish them all the best of luck. The individual piano students are the first group to perform on Saturday. I encourage parents to please send through any results from the Eisteddfod to share so we can celebrate the achievements of our students.

Assembly Performances

Thank you to Imogen Daymond (12) who sang at our Secondary Assembly last week. You can watch a video of her performance here.

New flute teacher

We welcome Ms Caragh Butler to the Music faculty this term. She will be teaching our flute students as well as helping with the orchestra and re-establishing our flute ensemble, Flutissimo. Caragh will be teaching on Wednesdays and Flutissimo will rehearse at recess in M1 on that day. Caragh has spaces available so if you would like to learn flute, please complete the online enrolment form on the website. We do also have some flutes available for hire and you can find the hire form on the website as well:

https://www.bdc.nsw.edu.au/mybdc/music/instrument-tuition-enrolment

Welcome Caragh!

Attendance at Music Lessons

We are very excited to have acquired a sign-in computer system in the music foyer. To ensure attendance at school is accurate, we are now asking all students to sign in and out of instrumental music lessons. The system is exactly the same as what is at Student Services so the students should be familiar with the process. Students will also now be able to sign in if they have morning ensemble rehearsals and are unable to attend roll call.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Marisol Taylor (10) who has accepted a position in the first violin section for Playerlink this weekend in Lismore. Playerlink is a student program through the Sydney Symphony so it is a wonderful opportunity for Marisol. She was also placed on the reserve list for the young players Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) chamber program in Melbourne later this year. Congratulations and well done Marisol!

Congratulations Joshua Walraven (Year 8) on his results from the Taree Piano Eisteddfod held at the weekend. 

• 1st Place- 16 Years and Under Intermediate Championship1st Place- 14 Years and Under Piano Solo
• 1st Place- 14 Years and Under Post 1900
• Winner- 14 Years and Under Highest Aggregate 
• Winner- Across All Ages Highest Aggregate
• He was also awarded a Taree Eisteddfod Smile Scholarship.

Joshua had a great time performing at Taree Eisteddfod and would like to thank the event organisers and coordinator Don Secomb for putting on such a fantastic event. 

Special thanks to his exceptional teacher Mimia Margiotta.

Battle of the Bands

Good luck to Oli Caesar (11) and Finn Reedy (10) and their band The Crets, who will be battling it out at the Battle of the Bands at the PCYC on Friday June 24th from 6pm. Good luck boys!

Suzuki String Program for Stage 1 students

The next round of Suzuki lessons on violin have started for our Kindergarten students. Classes are running on Thursday afternoons from 3 - 3:30pm and Wednesday mornings from 9am - 9:30am. If you are interested in your child joining this program, please contact Ms Sandra Smith ssmith@bdc.nsw.edu.au for more details on this wonderful program.

Staff Spotlight

For each newsletter edition, I am going to showcase one of our Performing Arts staff. This fortnight, I have chosen our woodwind and band director, Mr Peter Morgan. Peter started teaching at Bishop Druitt College in 2021 and has some amazing ideas on how to grow our band program. See Peter’s bio below:

Hello! My name is Peter, and I am one of the woodwind specialists in the music department. I specialise in clarinet, saxophone, composition, theory, and I also work with various ensembles at BDC as well as being involved with external programs.

I have taught and worked with many students and ensembles in various regional areas of NSW for over 15 years from primary school all the way through to adults. While a lot of work goes into teaching and learning, enjoyment of lessons is an important aspect of what I seek with all students and groups to provide a positive experience.

I’m looking forward to meeting many students to provide them with the opportunity of learning music, and to develop original programs for the school to strengthen individual musical skills and ensemble playing.

If you are interested in learning a woodwind instrument from Peter, there are some spaces available. You can sign up for lessons on the website or talk to any of the Performing Arts staff. There are also some instruments available for hire through the school as well.

Secondary Assessments due

The following tasks are due for Performing Arts subjects in the coming weeks:

Week 6 (30th May - 5th June)

Year 7 Drama Comedy Performance

Year 7 Music Instruments of the Orchestra Research Task

Year 12 Drama Group Devised Project - First Appraisal

Week 7 (6th June - 12th June)

Year 8 Music Film Music Composition Task

Year 12 Dance Submission / Performance of Draft Major Study Work in Progress

Week 8 (13th - 19th June)

World Options Just Music - Composing and Improvising - Final Concert

World Options Just Drama #2 Playbuilding / Theatre Sports - Playbuilding Performance

Year 11 Dance - Presentation of Dance Performance

Year 11 Music 1 - Topic 2 Viva Voce

Upcoming Events for your diary:

• Saturday 29th May - Piano Eisteddfod at the Coffs Harbour Conservatorium
• Tuesday 31st May - Primary Performance Choir Eisteddfod - 10am at Lifehouse Church
• Thursday 2nd June - Schools Instrumental Section at the Coffs Eisteddfod - 9am at CHEC
• Friday 10th June - Schools Dance Eisteddfod - 10am at CHEC
• Tuesday 14th June - Year 3 Strings Semester 1 concert from 5pm in the Theatre
• Monday 20th June - Year 11 Drama Productions from 5:30pm in the Theatre
• Wednesday 22nd June - World Options Showcase
• Thursday 23rd June - Brass Recital Evening from 4:30pm in M1
• Friday 24th June - Foundation Day

Rebecca Day
Head of Performing Arts