Welcome back to the last term for 2024. An exciting term with many events and concerts to finish the year.

HSC Success

Congratulations to the following Performing Arts students for their nominations at various HSC Showcase events:

Callback

Abbey George - Dance Core Composition Major Study Performance

OnStage

• Ziggy Brown - Individual Performance
• Jamika Macauley-Earnest - Individual Performance
• Ty Robinson - Individual Performance

Bravissimo

• Sam Fisher - Performance. Sam has been offered a place and will perform at this event
• Max Egan - Performance

Outstanding work across the Performing Arts courses.

Max Egan - RockFest winner

Congratulations to Max Egan who has won the Best Bass Player in the 2023 Rockfest competition. 

This is an Australia-wide competition with over 160 band entries. Max was nominated as one of 4 finalists and was announced as the winner during a livestream video on Thursday 12th October. 

Luc Travers from RockFest made a special visit to the College to surprise Max after the announcement with his prize. Max won a brand new Ibanez Bass Guitar and Orange Bass Amp. 

This is a massive achievement for Max and a great recognition for his hard work and practice on his instrument. Congratulations Max.

Charlotte Quodling

Congratulations to Charlotte Quodling on her recent achievements at the Port Macquarie Dance Eisteddfod. Charlotte is in Year 3 and has achieved amazing results as outlined below.

• Intermediate Classical Ballet Solo 8 Years and Under - 1st Place
• Novice Demi Character Solo 8 Years and Under - 3rd Place
• Intermediate Lyrical Solo 8 Years and Under - 2nd Place
• Novice Jazz Solo 8 Years and Under - 1st Place
• Intermediate Classical Ballet Improvisation 10 Years and Under - 1st Place
• Intermediate Lyrical Improvisation 10 Years and Under - Encouragement
• Intermediate Jazz Improvisation 10 Years and Under - Encouragement
• Open Demi Character Improvisation 10 Years and Under - Encouragement

Plus, three special awards:

• Novice Award 8 Years and Under Jazz
• Novice and Intermediate Aggregate 10 Years and Under Classical Award
• Most Promising Intermediate Classical Dancer Award

Congratulations to Charlotte on all of your hard work and achieving these amazing results. 

Mahi Khobregarde and Sureyya Brennan

Thank you to Mahi Khobregade and Sureyya Brennan (10) who performed at the Coastal Claymakers event in Bellingen on Saturday 21st October. This event helped raise much-needed funds for Pete’s Place and the day was very successful.

The coordinator for the event made the following comment: “Sureyya and Mahi performed so beautifully for us; they were a hit with all in attendance and a real credit to the college.”

Thank you Mahi and Sureyya.

Primary Performance Choir - Nursing Home Visit

On Thursday 26th October, the Primary Performance Choir visited Calvary Nursing Home where they performed a number of Christmas Carols to entertain the residents. There were approximately 30 residents and they absolutely loved the entertainment from the choir.

Thank you to Mrs Caesar and Mrs Muelenbroeks for organising the excursion and preparing the Choir. Also thank you to Tim Hardman (9) who attended the excursion and accompanied the choir as well as Sarah Jupe (10) who assisted the primary students with singing.

Adelaide Robinson and Tim Hardman

Thank you to Adelaide Robinson (7) and Tim Hardman (9) who assisted with multiple performance opportunities this term already.

Adelaide and Tim performed at the Year 11 Service at St John's Church on the first day of term as well as the opening of the refurbished Chapel in Week 2. Tim also attended the Nursing Home excursion with the Primary Performance Choir in Week 3 where he accompanied the choir on piano. He also entertained the attendees at the Sports Awards Evening.

As recognition for their commitment to the college and representing the Performing Arts faculty, these students were both presented with Principal’s Awards for Service at the Secondary Assembly in week 3 from the principal, Mr Nick Johnstone.

Thank you Adelaide and Tim and congratulations.

Performing Arts Awards Evening

Our Performing Arts Awards Evening is fast approaching and we are very excited for our first annual event to occur. A reminder that this event will start at 6pm however, people are able to arrive earlier than this to set up their tables. There will be beer, wine and soft drinks available for purchase from the ROC prior to the evening and we have beautiful music from the Woodwind Ensemble in the breezeway outside the Branson Centre from 5:40pm.

The following ensembles and groups will be performing on the evening:

• Woodwind Ensemble
• BDC Orchestra
• Primary Performance Choir
• Joy Choir
• Secondary Vocal Ensemble
• Secondary Rock Band
• Junior Jazz Band
• Acting Centre Stage World Options Drama Class
• Primary Dance Academy
• Secondary Dance Academy

All student performers are required to wear their BDC Performance Uniforms. Students in the Joy Choir are asked to wear their normal full school uniform and the dance students will have costumes.

As this is a seated event at tables, spots are limited. There are a handful of seats available at some tables so if you do not have a ticket, please contact hheather@bdc.nsw.edu.au to be allocated a seat.

There is also the option of ordering savoury and sweet boxes of food for the evening. These can be ordered through Flexischools and will be available for collection in the evening. A great option for dinner for busy families.

Also, please note that there will not be supervision after school so students are asked to go home and return in time for the event that evening. Alternatively, primary students can attend OSHC in the afternoon.

It is going to be a wonderful evening.

Classical Concert

This term, we will also be holding a Classical Concert at St John’s Church from 5:30pm on Friday 17th November. 

This event will be open to the public and any classical musicians are able to perform. Ms Sandra Smith is coordinating the program so if you are interested in performing, please contact her regarding the event. It is going to be a beautiful showcase of our talented classical musicians.

View flyer. 

Musical

The 2024 BDC Musical - The Little Mermaid - has begun. Thank you to all students who auditioned for roles in the musical. Mrs Caesar, Ms Crane and Mr Haynes were impressed with the talent of our Performing Arts students and it definitely made the casting challenging.

Students were informed on Wednesday Week 3 at lunchtime of roles and were given their scripts and songs to start learning.

The musical rehearsals will occur every Wednesday afternoon for the rest of the year with the performances during Term 2 2024.

New Cello Teacher

Welcome to our new cello teacher, Ms Lydia Chesterman. Lydia will be teaching cello at BDC on Wednesdays and currently has some availability for lessons. If your child is interested in learning to play cello, please complete an online enrolment form on the BDC website. The direct link is here: https://www.bdc.nsw.edu.au/college-life/performing-arts

Please see below an introduction from Lydia.

Hello, my name is Lydia.

I have recently started teaching cello at BDC. I have grown up in Bellingen, first going to Chrysalis Steiner school where I learned violin in Year 3 and went on to learn cello in Year 4.

I have been very lucky to have a musical family who have encouraged me through difficult times of practice blockage. It has been amazing to grow up in such an enthusiastic music community, where there always seems to be a variety of group ensemble and performance opportunities. Much of this comes through the Bellingen Youth Orchestra, which I joined in 2015, and it continues to be an exciting delight to play with, along with other chamber groups. I have also had a string of opportunities throughout my music journey, such as tours, workshops and masterclasses with musicians from across the country, of all different styles and genres.

One particular opportunity I have undertaken this year is the Belingen Youth Orchestra Gappie programme. This is a programme that facilitates the training of young musicians to teach their instrument. I am so grateful for this opportunity and it has definitely set me up with some great teaching skills.

I have just returned from spending 3 months in Sydney where I studied Taiko Drumming (Traditional Japanese Drumming) with the Australian Taiko Academy. I have been so amazed by the energy and movement put into Taiko performance and I am so delighted that I finally got the chance to learn Taiko. It is something I will definitely continue with in the future.

I am excited to bring my knowledge of cello and music to share with students at BDC. I feel that I have been loaded up with so much rich music experiences and I hope I can pass some of this on to willing students. If you think you might be interested in learning cello I have spots available on Wednesdays and I would be delighted to take you. Just let the school know or email me at chestermanlydia2004@gmail.com 

Warmest regards, Lydia Chesterman.

Secondary Assembly Performances

Thank you to our students who performed at the start of Term 4 at the Secondary Assembly. Week 1 we had an amazing tap routine from Darcie McInally in Year 10. Darcie is one of our High Performance Performing Arts students for Dance. You can view her performance here.

Freya Eather in Year 7 also presented a dance routine in Week 3. Freya is a member of the High Performance Program and Secondary Dance Academy.

Community Performances

Congratulations to a number of BDC students who performed in community productions recently. We had many students perform in Tuck Everlasting (WPAS) and Spongebob The Musical (Liberty Theatre). Coming up we have Atomic The Musical at the Jetty Theatre which also includes staff, alumni and parents from the BDC community. Tickets are onsale for this now.

Benefits of Your Child Learning to Play a Musical Instrument

There are many benefits to children learning to play a musical instrument - far beyond the actual musicianship or performance. If you are uncertain as to whether your child should learn an instrument, please see below an article from Andrew Rumsey, Head of Education Partnership at Kawai Australia listing the top 12 reasons why children should learn a musical instrument. There also links to further information at the end of each point if you are interested.

1. Attention and working memory

Musically trained children perform better at attention and memory recall, have greater activation in brain regions related to attention control and auditory encoding, executive functions known to be associated with improved reading, higher resilience, greater creativity, and a better quality of life.

Frontiers in Neuroscience 2020

2. Linguistic development

It has been shown that regular music play for 5- to 6-year-old children has a positive effect on the development of children’s vocabulary skills and processing of phonemes.

Nature 2018

3. Reading ability

Children who learned to play the piano exhibited enhanced verbal sequencing and vocabulary ability, compared to children who did not undergo any type of music tuition.

Sage Journal Psychology of Music 2009

4. Writing and reading skills

A study conducted with over 13,000 high school students showed that those who participated in music training scored higher in English than those who did not.

NAMM Foundation 2005

5. Performance in science, mathematics, and English

High school students who took music courses scored significantly higher in maths, science, and English exams compared to their non-musical peers, according to this study. The findings suggest that multi-year engagement in music, especially instrumental music, may benefit high school academic achievement.

APA PsycNet 2020

6. Attention and focus

Studying music leads to lasting changes in children’s brains, increasing their ability to perform tasks that require prolonged attention, and careful listening and reading skills. Data confirmed a rapid transfer of cognitive benefits in young children after only 20 days of music training.

The Royal Conservatory of Music 2014

7. Quality of school life

This study found that extended music education has an overall positive effect on the quality of students’ school life, particularly in areas related to general satisfaction about the school and a sense of achievement and opportunity for students.

Music Education Research 2013

8. Self-esteem

This study published found that playing the piano weekly for three years increased the self-esteem of students compared to those that received no music instruction.

2004 Sage

9. Empathy

In this study, children who had six years of either piano or violin training showed more developed traits of empathy than those who had no such training. Self-expression via music was shown to encourage students to take responsibility and to concentrate, and as such to improve an inner self-control.

Sage 1990

10. Perseverance

Children who received training with either individual or group Suzuki violin lessons spent significantly more time on the perseverance task, and showed better scores than the control groups.

Sage 1992

11. Social skills

This study showed that children who received music lessons showed more prosocial behaviours (helping, sharing, and cooperating) than the control group.

PLOS 2015

12. Aggression

After 15 weeks of music education, a group of children with highly aggressive behaviour showed a notable reduction in aggression, and an improvement of self-esteem as compared against the control group.

NCBI 2008

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