By Max Davies
ST PATRICK’S Primary School, Kilmore hosted its annual soirée last week, showcasing the school’s musical talent with a range of different instruments and musical styles.
At Assumption College’s Champagnat Music Centre, the soirée is an opportunity for the St Patrick’s instrumental students to perform some of the pieces and songs they have worked on during the year in front of their friends and family.
This year’s event also reflected the return of the school’s music program to its full extent following the COVID-19 pandemic.
St Patrick’s music coordinator Corey Mills said the soirée was a success and was happy to see the progress of the school’s music students over the past year.
“The evening was such a great success. The students, staff and families all came together again, to witness all the students hard work and efforts. The flow of the evening was really awesome for the performers,” he said.
“Just having school come back to normality from the pandemic has been absolutely amazing for the students. They all really pushed to get ready for the show, which was the first performance in front of an audience for many of the performers.”
Mr Mills said the students saw significant progress in their musical skills and abilities during 2022.
“During COVID the progression of online lessons was much slower paced, bringing on new challenges, not only for the students and families but for us as educators too. The ability to adapt, stay positive and resilient was key,” he said.
“This year the progression has been huge, it’s really gone back to normality. [The students] knowing they had a performance in front of a live audience coming up built their preparation skills.
“It was also fantastic for their learning, motivation to play their instruments and meeting performance deadlines.”
St Patrick’s expects to have almost a quarter of all its students enrolled in instrumental lessons for 2023, spread across all instruments on offer including drums, guitar, piano, and singing.
About 150 students currently take instrumental lessons though St Patrick’s, which has grown from about 100 at the beginning of the year.
Mr Mills said the rapid growth of the music program at the school was a result of the influence of all the staff, parents, and Assumption’s senior musicians.
“It all comes from the culture that we as a school community are building – the primary school students hear the senior students playing and want to be able to achieve the same goals, they want to get to that level,” he said.
“You also can’t have the growth without the support of our amazing parents. It’s really fantastic when they see their child’s knowledge expanding on their chosen instrument and it’s having a positive effect on them, they encourage them to keep it up.”
St Patrick’s is aiming to further expand its music program in 2023, providing more opportunities for students to perform, with talks underway to include at least one musical performance at each fortnightly school assembly.
A ‘re-showcase’ is planned at the school’s courtyard for early next year, aimed at allowing the students to perform some of the same pieces as they did at last week’s soirée to get back into the swing of performing following the Christmas holidays.
Students can also be involved with new music groups through the school, including drum squads, a full band program and a singing ensemble, held through the private singing program.
A family close to the school has also donated new music equipment, including instruments, microphones, and other electrical equipment to allow the planned band program to go ahead.
