Lunchtime activities on Monday

Yesterday was a busy lunchtime in the music room.

All our rooms were full, we even had to turn a few young musicians away as there was no more more for them to work in.

In the main music room Guitar Club were working, in the rheearsal space Mr Harding was teaching the Junior Guitarists, in the piano room Mrs Riddle was teaching strings and voice, in the drum room Mr Stevens was teaching bass guitar, in the instruments room Mr Hatcher was teaching electric guitar, the computer room was full of Year 11 and Year 12 boys completing composition assignments, the keyobard room had Trent Davies and Scott Murphy working on a performance for Gala day and their entry for Rockquest!

Here are some photos of the boys working hard.

Its always great to see the boys making full use of our fantastic facilities, musicians are always welcome in the department - so long as they treat it with respect.

Guitar Club

Every Monday lunchtime Kale Joines (camera shy) and Nick Coulton (far from camera shy) lead our Guitar Club which is open to the school's advanced guitarists.

Playing acoustic guitars the boys learn new tunes, compose parts for each other and are working towards a performance later in Term 2.

We would have loved to have the guitar club perform at Gala this year but Nick, Kale and Scott are being athletic this weekend!

Dormitabo

Meet Dormitabo...
Mark on vocals,
Wicus on guitar,
Daryl on bass and
Ashley on drums.

Making lots of noise as I write this but its a great sound, full of energy, excitement, creativity and exceptional musical ability.


This is their first in-school rehearsal of 2007 but its clear they have been rehearsing out of school a couple of times each week.

This afternoon's rehearsal is in preparation for a private gig on Saturday night at an undisclosed location in New Plymouth!!!



In 2006 Dormitabo made it to the Taranaki Finals of Rockquest and put on a fantastic performance.
Now their gigs are in the public domain, with gigs at the Basement bar on 30th March - supporting Agent, and 13th April - supporting Magnum Opus the boys of Dormitabo have deservingly gained quite a following.

Core Music class playing guitar

As a music department we are so lucky to have a class set of acoustic/classical guitars. For a young musician to learn how to play a few chords on the guitar, read guitar tab and construct thir own chord sequence they are equipped for life to be able to jam with friends, recreate music heard on the radio or on CDs and to make their own music.

Here are a few of the photos taken this morning as a Year 9 Core Music class developed their skills and techniques, seamlessly stringing together a few chords and learning to strum. By the end of the lesson there were a few sore fingers but a lot of eagerness to learn to play Wild Thing next lesson.

Year 9 perform "In C" by Terry Reily

As part of Year 9 Option music boys study the Twentieth Century movement of Minimalism. Through performance boys are learning how the music is constructed so they may compose their own Minimalist music.

After three lessons of rehearsal some of the boys performed today. Their performance lasted almost 10 minutes though was cut short by the end of lesson bell. In professional performances this piece may last anywhere from 20 minutes to 52 weeks!!!

Performing in Dean's Assembly

Mrs Meyer has now made it a tradition for Year 10 boys to perform in her fortnightly Dean's assemblies. It is a great opportunity for boys to share with their friends, peers and teachers the music they enjoy making. Performing in front of a large audience can be a daunting experience but Mrs Meyer fills her Year 10 boys with confidence. Today Sandi played the piano and Charlie performed on the drums.

Boys in all year groups are invited and encouraged to perform at their Dean's assemblies. If you have something you would like to perform then please see either Miss Suren or your Dean about performing.

Trombone practice

Practice makes perfect as new boy and boarder Lewis blows out some tunes in the rehearsal space after school yesterday. Its fantastic for Lewis to have his own trombone section in Fusion. (check out www.trombone.org)

Contemporary Combo rehearsing for Gala 2007

Our "sound resistant" windows are working to the max this lunchtime. Led by our Saxophone and Clarinet tutor Robin Wellaway the Contemporary Combo are sounding quite brilliant today. With Isaac on keys, Simon on drums and Nick on bass guitar the rhythm section is complete.

This year Tim Wood has a saxophone companion with new boy Jarrod Bakker. (I'm working on getting Jarrod a baritone sax which would be fantastic for Combo's sound). Thomas and Tane are fast attaining the standard required of Combo memebers and we can't wait for them to join the group.

Robin has done, and continues, to do a great job helping these boys sound so great. Well done to you all.

Barbershop singing at lunchtime

As I sit here creating the FDMC Music Department Blog the barbershop boys, led by Scott Murphy, are sounding great, learning "Barbera Ann" and perfecting "I Feel Good".

They're a talented group of boys: Scott Murphy, Scott Corboy, Nick Coulton, Shehan Gunatunga, Thomas Langrigan and our newest member, Stephen Kibby.

New Plymouth Brass Band Workshop

Back at the beginning of March members of the New Plymouth Brass Band, including FDMC student Zac Milner, visited our year 7 music lesson and gave us the opportunity to hear them perform, learn a bit about their instruments and even have a go playing the cornet and tuba. Some of the boys enjoyed playing the brass instruments so much that they have signed up for lessons.

Learning to play an instrument at Francis Douglas is an opportunity we aim to offer to all boys. If you are inspired to learn an instrument then please see Miss Suren for more information.

FDMC Music Department Blog

Welcome to the Francis Douglas Memorial College Music Department Blog. A page that will undoubtedly serve as the source of great information, creativity and ideas.

If you have any suggestions of ideas about what could be added to the blog then let me know.