Hello to everyone. There are not many sleeps to go until PHPS’s ‘big day out’ at the Bazaar. It’s been fantastic to feel the anticipation and excitement building, see the flocks of folk gathering at the Bazaar container before and after school and spot many staff and students sporting stunning Bazaar T shirts. There are so many highlights to look forward to, but from a Performing Arts/Music perspective we I am excited about the outstanding line up of entertainment booked for the main stage. In the past two weeks we have also enjoyed wonderful performances by our Instrumental Music students and our Prep stars have welcomed the Preps of ‘25 and their parents/carers with a performance of their ‘Like a Pirate’ song. Please read on via the link for more news.
A massive thank you and congratulations to all involved in our Instrumental Music program. We enjoyed 2 wonderful performances which celebrated the achievements of our IM students. It was terrific to see all our beginner students overcome their ‘butterfly tummies’ and play their pieces. Many students commented that they had put in a lot of extra effort practising for their performances, and were so proud of how they played. Stepping up to perform in front of 350 plus people can be daunting, especially when you know so many of the audience members. And there were many ‘personal bests’ achieved.
We were treated to a PHPS composer premier by LuLu in Yr 34, who wrote a piece, ‘Fine’, for her guitar lesson group. The students played and sang a beautiful melody and Mark accompanied them. It was a proud moment, and LuLu looks forward to presenting a repeat performance at the Bazaar. Other highlights from the afternoon Concert included Flynn and Milo’s performance of the theme from ‘Jaws’ coupled with ‘Spy Riff’, Hugo and Stephanie’s moving performance of ‘Abide with Me’ on flutes, and the ripple of excitement amongst the Preps as they recognised that ‘Where is Thumbkin’, played by Astrid and Juanita, is the same melody as Freré Jacques.
As a school community, we achieved another first in the area of Body Percussion. With thanks to Emily Hayes, who runs the Red-capped Robins choir, we now have the engaging ‘10 Step Samoan Sasa’ emerging as a suite of body percussion rhythms across the school. For the movement break in our afternoon IM Concert, the whole school performed and layered 3 patterns of rhythm. With 330 students performing, the clarity of the rhythmic patterns was impressive. Great listening and focus everyone, and thank you!
On behalf of the IM teachers too, we congratulate our ✨Yr 6 IM ✨students for their music learning achievements, and thank them for being inspiring music leaders. It has been a joy to see them grow and develop their gifts. We thank them for sharing their IM journey with us through many performances over the years, and thank all the families for supporting this valuable opportunity for their children. We wish all our Yr 6s the very best for their musical learning at secondary school. Bravo everyone 👏🏼
Back in the Neighbourhoods we have been adventuring further into music notation learning with the Yr 1s and 2s, and now we are starting to learn ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ in Italian which is an enjoyable collaboration with Isabella. The Yr 6s have voted for their 5 favourite songs which will make up their Graduation Song and… spoiler alert… Youth Group’s ‘Forever Young’ has made a comeback (Yay!) having been bumped off the selection charts by Charlie Puth’s ‘See You Again’, and, for us ‘golden Oldies’ we have a Neil Diamond number voted in by the students too!
And… it’s been a delight to welcome back to school the wonderful dancer/movement Artist Tony Yap. Tony worked with the students during our Wellbeing Festival after the COVID Lockdowns to explore how movement can be a form of therapy for processing emotions and freeing areas of tension held in our bodies. With the students of 34 Nghs he demonstrated how to use breath as catalyst for growing free expansive movement, stage presentation focus and for core stability. Students were fascinated by the concepts of what Tony described as ‘A and B focus’, the difference between focussing on people and objects near us, and that hazy, soft focus to a distant point that is beyond who and what is near us. This ‘B focus’ is fantastic for stage work, especially when learning tips about how to acquire nobility in stature if you are to play the role of Henry VIII for example! Later this week we look forward to working further with Tony to explore movement related to particular characters which are emerging from 34 Ngh1’s Tudor England Performing Arts Inquiry, and the idea of sculptural garments made from natural materials in 34 Ngh2.
Have a wonderful weekend, and a fabulous and happy Bazaar Day. Be sure to listen out for some stella performances from our Bazaar Talent Quest performers, and the Red-capped Robins, and join in for African Drumming with Kofi… and more! Thanks to everyone and all the best, Deb.