2024 School Magazine

Year 9 Music Showcase

In the last week of Term 2, the Year 9 Music cohort presented an entertaining concert featuring numbers from Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Matilda and so much more. We enjoyed showcasing what we had spent so long arranging and choreographing to our friends and families. Throughout the show we also shared performances of small groups and trios— I Know It’s Today from Shrek the Musical, Six Finale from SIX, and more. We worked together as large groups, classes, and a whole cohort to produce a show we were all very proud of. It really did bring us closer—as Rob Sheriffeild aptly said, ‘bringing people together is what music has always done best’. In Term 2, the Year 12 Music class led by Mr Michael McGrath, chose the theme of the Wizard of Oz to guide our composition project. We spent the Term composing our original pieces inspired by the classic story written by Frank Baum, aiming to capture its essence through our original music. The pieces explored Dorothy’s full journey through the Land of Oz: from her arrival in Oz; her journey to the Emerald city; and her battle with the Wicked Witch of the West.

A lot of gratitude goes to our teachers, Mr Michael McGrath, Mr Andrew Pennay and Ms Zoe Ballard, who helped us as we prepared our performances in class and gave us the opportunity to bring Broadway to the Gehrman Theatre. Thanks also goes to Ms Suzannah Ferry, who helped bring the stage to life with her lights, digital backgrounds and soundtracks; and the Year 10 musicians, who helped run backstage and organised the microphones. We thank the audience for coming to see our hard work and sharing in our Hopes and Dreams performance. Kira Green (9E)

Year 12 Music Showcase

After completing the compositions, we had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with professional musicians, Nonsemble, to perform our pieces as a combined ensemble. Through a short, but intense, rehearsal period we perfected our piece for the final performance, and the wonderful Ms Suzannah Ferry created beautiful artworks for every individual piece—adding vibrant visual media to accompany each song. Being able to hear each of our compositions played by professional musicians was an incredible experience and it was a unique opportunity for our class and, more importantly, a way to enhance our playing and musical creativity. Mackenzie Somerville (12H)

Musical Theatre Showcase

In its second year, the Musical Theatre Showcase was held at BGGS in the first week of Term 3 with musicians from Year 9 to 12. The wonderful Ms Marcia Penman worked with us on a variety of repertoire including One from A Chorus Line, School Song from Matilda , and the iconic musical theatre ballad You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen . These songs, alongside seven others, were workshopped in a week-long intensive course where we tackled challenging harmonies, tricky footwork, and of course, meaningful storytelling. Each girl brought out their inner star for the culminating performance, resulting in a showcase we were all very proud of. Thanks must also go to the amazing Ms Cara Tran – her wonderful work as an accompanist at rehearsals and the performance was crucial to the success of the project. We hope this wonderful activity continues to become bigger and better each year as Grammar

girls continue to grow their glow through musical theatre. Lucinda Isbel (12H), Maeve Lynch (12M), Lottie Levy (12G)

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