Scotch College

Ewing Memorial Church - a very special concert

Every year, a small band of Junior School musicians are invited to present a concert at the Ewing Memorial Church in Burke Road, Malvern.

This concert is organized by Mr Garth Tapp, a former Junior School headmaster and an active member of the Church community.

On Thursday 6 June, nineteen Years Five and Six students led by staff members Miss Jenni Allen, Mrs Julia Piggin (accompanist), Mr John Officer and Ms Jocelyn Pride, performed a series of solo instrumental items and a selection of songs. The programme could not be finalized until the actual day because so many boys had been ill during the week and no-one was quite sure who would be at school!

Unlike other Junior School concerts, there were no parents in the audience. Instead, we performed to residents of nursing homes associated with the church. The programme consisted of some well-known tunes such as the themes from movies such as Forrest Gump (Jeremy Palazzo - trumpet) and Back to the Future (Anthony Palazzo - euphonium) and a jazz-inspired piece, Ragamuffin (Luke Dawson - trombone). There was also some challenging listening such as Bach's Prelude and Fugue No. 2 (Steven Stamopoulos - pianoforte) and a selection of Suzuki violin items including Seitz Concerto No. 2, Vivaldi's A minor Concerto, Mvt. 1, Dvorak's Humoresque and Bach's Bouree and G minor Gavotte (Damien Qi, Daniel Qi and Nathan Su, led by Mr John Officer). The concert finished with some favourite Junior School songs - two choral pieces, Bist du bei Mir (Bach) and The Little Fish (arr. O'Leary) and some favouite assembly songs, The Tree Song (Medema) and You'll Never Walk Alone (Rogers and Hammerstein). The latter was very popular with the audience.

A staff member, Ms Jocelyn Pride, who attended the concert and took our fantastic photos, commented:

'Although the boys were musically brilliant that was really only a small part of the overall impact of the afternoon. To see the pure enjoyment on the faces of people who had all sorts of health problems, not to mention just plain old age, was something I will never forget. For all the fantastic concerts this school puts on, yesterday was the ultimate community service, the boys certainly made a difference to many people's day'.

Miss Jenni Allen
Head of Junior School Music