MUSICAL ADVENTURE
St Margaret Mary’s College Year 8 music student Bella Marquez wrote about her experience after being invited to the State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP) in Cairns presented by Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium.
Five students from St Margaret Mary’s College were invited to the 10th annual SHEP program, the only young musicians from Townsville to be invited.
More than 120 young musicians from 20 schools in North Queensland travelled to Cairns to participate.
Students worked in an intensive environment under the direction of three of Australia’s finest conductors: David Law (wind ensemble), Lisa Stevenson (string ensemble) and Kate Albury (vocal ensemble). The three-day program concluded with a grand finale concert. In a long, exhausting but fun weekend, a group of students and myself went to Cairns for a great experience of the State Honours Ensemble Program (SHEP).
The students who were involved in this program were Laura Richardson, Ellie Richardson, Alyssa Hastie, Clare Stewart and myself. We arrived in Cairns on Friday afternoon and got straight into practising that evening, followed by all day Saturday and all day Sunday, ending with a performance.
The music was quite enjoyable and fun, ranging from medium difficulty to complex notes. With practice over three days, we were able to learn five pieces of music. We ended up nailing the right notes and the tuning was amazing. In the end, this was a great experience for us all and we all enjoyed every moment of it, learning even more skills and techniques, and meeting new people from all different schools across North Queensland and Mount Isa. The Maggies girls all contributed to a highly successful weekend and the final ensemble performance for a very large audience.