Band Jam is an initiative where students from various Anglican schools combine to form a mega Concert Band under the direction of a guest conductor. This year, Mr Nic Jefferies was the guest conductor, and did an amazing job with the 130 student musicians from five schools, including Broughton Anglican College, Wollondilly Anglican College, Macarthur Anglican School, Shellharbour Anglican College, and students from the Thomas Hassall Senior Concert Band.
Mr Jefferies is a professional vocalist and saxophonist, and has performed with James Morrison, Schools Spectacular, was a contestant on the Voice in 2016, and has his own Academy of Music on the Northern Beaches. He brought along a wealth of knowledge, wisdom and experience to our students, and they all had a great time learning how to sing, listen to each other and perform a variety of music. Throughout the day, they workshopped three contrasting pieces, including orchestral piece ‘A Joyful Journey’, a fun ‘Tribute to Ray Charles’, (where all got to hear Mr Jefferies sing too!) and a popular closing item ‘Havana’, which had a great Cuban flavour, and featured the percussion section, and select students from all represented schools performing improvised solos. Tinashe M and Joshua C from Year 8 were the nominees from Thomas Hassall in the improvised section.
Every student had a great day, and the evening concert was well attended and supported from parents and family from all schools involved. Big thank you to all the teachers and support staff from Thomas Hassall who helped make this day possible, and we are looking forward to Band Jam 2020!
Mr Byron Mark
Director of Ensembles