Music for 2009
At the end of 2008, we bid farewell to Mrs Erna Cloete, who was teaching mainly flute and piano, in an itinerant capacity. At the beginning of 2009 we welcomed Miss Wendy Matthews in a full-time position, teaching flute, piano, voice, steelpan and subject music. Miss Matthews, who was Head of Music at Lawson Brown High for many years has come to Victoria Park with many years of experience in the music field and it is a great pleasure for all in the music department to have her on board.
It is with great sadness that the music department will be saying farewell to Miss Tracey Kendall. I have had the privilege of having Miss Kendall teaching with me since she was a student in her fourth year of her Bachelor of Music studies. She has taught woodwind instruments, voice, piano and subject music for the past five years at Victoria Park High and whatever she has done, she has done to the very best of her ability. Her results have been par excellence. Miss Kendall is a huge loss to the department and to me personally. We wish her all the very best for the future.
I am happy to report that our music subject numbers are growing once again and for this our department is grateful as some schools have only one pupil in matric, which is worrying for the future of music in some schools. Anotherpositive for the department this year has been the growth of the number of pupils in the schools taking music extra-curricularly from Grades 8 to 10. The music teachers have filled their timetables to capacity throughout 2009.
The band room that was completed in 2007 has become too small for the wind band as the conductor is stuck tightly between the flutes and the wall whilst the rest of the players can hardly play in a comfortable position. This is a very positive sign of growth, which means that we will have to start fund raising early next year to build an auditorium near the music department to house the band.
In January 2009 at the 19th Annual Showtime Awards held at the Opera House, “Copacabana” which was produced by the Music Department won nine awards, including best actor, Emile Doubell, best actress, Caron Strydom, best show routine for “Ay Caramba!”, best vocalist, Liske Potgieter, best director, Garth Tavares, best contribution to theatre music, Marlon Louis and “Show of the Year”
In the third term, the Music Department played a large role in the success of the production “My African Dream”, directed by Mrs Mariette van der Walt. I would like to convey my most sincere thanks to all the music teachers, vocalists, members of the band and choristers, who gave up so much of their time in making this production a huge success.
My heartiest congratulatios also go to all the pupils in the music department, who participated in the Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth Eisteddfods, Royal Schools of London and Trinity College of London external examinations for their excellent results. Eisteddfods and external examinations are a wonderful opportunity for musicians to display their talents and accordingly be awarded for them. We are fortunate at Victoria Park High to have so many pupils that have been given amazing talents and we are proud to be your teachers.
To end 2009 with a bang, the Music Department will present a Spring Concert “Music Extravaganza” on 9 October in the Blake Hall and will consist of the Jazz Band, the Wind band, the Steelpan band, the choir in concert. Various vocalists and dancers will also enhance this concert.
Finally, I would like to sincerely thank all music teachers in the department for their invaluable contributions that they have made in uplifting our department throughout 2009.
To the matrics of 2009, we bid you farewell and wish you all the very best of luck for the future and to all music pupils, a big thank you for all their invaluable input in making our department such a special place, a place where each pupil is given the opportunity to compose, improvise, perform and most of all to succeed at what they love doing most and that is making music. We look forward to continued growth and success in 2010.
