Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2022

Repertoire that Resonates Celebrating and championing women composers

Ms Laurinda Davidson Director of Instrumental Music (Acting)

As music educators, we are charged with the responsibility of cultivating concert experiences and selecting repertoire. The repertoire we choose should teach, challenge, and inspire our students and ourselves, and be reflective of our curriculum. It can focus on specific musical concepts, a glimpse into a different place or time, or even a celebration of an important event. Music selection has the power to both resonate with students, as well as challenge them to learn more about themselves and others.

At Girls Grammar, we like to look at each concert as a curated musical journey, providing quality and memorable experiences for our audience, but most of all, our student performers As we search for repertoire in preparation for the annual International Women’s Day Concert, each year we realise that despite the diverse musical upbringings we have all had, women composers remain underrepresented worldwide We love our classic composers: Bach; Mozart; Holst; and Beethoven We love their pieces and feel privileged to perform them, but how are they enriching our students’ imaginations and integrity as the young women of the future? Initiated by the Instrumental Music Staff of Girls Grammar in 2018, the International Women’s Day Concert has become our way of championing women composers—teaching the next generation that we want our women artists to be heard and empowered to use their creative voice We want their identities and experiences embedded in the music that we perform By commissioning women composers each year to write a piece for our students to perform, we are leading the way in providing equal opportunities to women artists, and actively campaigning for greater equality and diversity across all genres of composing and song writing ▶

No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens. — Michelle Obama

above Scout Sommerfeld (10L), Jaimee Jessop (9R), Trish Chow (11H), Sophia Caposecco (11H) and Melissa Bucknill (11W) performing with Symphonic Winds

Gazette

Brisbane Girls Grammar School

14

Issue 1, 2022