Music Patron bestows wisdom to students
On two separate occasions this term, students from the Specialist Music Program were fortunate to receive a visit from the JFSC Music Patron Dr Ashley Smith, who has studied and performed around the globe and brought his wealth of knowledge and experience to share with the students.
On Wednesday 24 July Music students from Years 10 to 12 attended a 1-hour session with Dr Smith where he asked about styles of music everyone listens to. Upon hearing the breadth of genres enjoyed remarked that it is great to listen to music of all styles.
From here two students, Renata Riquelme and Tyler Deakin-Thomas, performed a piece each for their fellow pupils and Dr Smith. Dr Smith says that we tend to focus on pitch and rhythm when practising a piece, but ultimately a musician needs to make the instrument sing. He explained that you need fuel for your instrument, whatever that means for your particular device - for example air for wind instruments.
On Wednesday 4 September Dr Smith returned for a workshop session where Year 12 students performed pieces and received feedback ahead of the Year 12 Performance Night in mid-September and their examinations in October.
This invaluable feedback was gratefully appreciated by the students and staff and the College would like to thank Dr Smith for his continued support of the JFSC Specialist Music Program.
