The music program at the school had over 450 students receiving weekly music tuition in 2014. There were many performances and events throughout the year, including recital night which had close to 400 students performing in 27 ensembles. The dance program involved over 160 students in various dance classes and competed in eisteddfods, and the drama program involved building students' skills in areas like voice, physical theatre, and script analysis. It was a successful year for the performing arts programs.

1. YEARBOOK 2014
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2. ALL SCHOOL
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MUSIC
The co-curricular music tuition program in 2014 had
over 450 students receiving weekly tuition. This year
we had over 140 students sit the Trinity Music and
Rockschool music exams with examiners being flown in
from London using our state-of-the-art studios.
Recital Night was once again a huge success with
close to 400 students performing in 27 ensembles.
Band Leaders in our large ensembles helped make our
many performances and rehearsals a success and
our Audio Video CREW members assisted in making
assembly and off-campus performances seamless
and professional. The highlights of 2014 included:
Community Performances
ANZAC Day Sydney CBD March broadcast
on ABC TV
NSSWE Winter Festival at Forest High
Recital Night at C3 Auditorium
The Manly International Jazz Festival —
Stars of the Future Stage
The Voice television performance with
members of the OFGS Drumline
School Performances
Senior School Swimming Carnival
Senior and Junior School ANZAC Day
ceremonies
Senior and Junior School Assemblies
Year 12 Graduation & Thanksgiving Service
Senior and Junior School Awards Day
Trinity Music Exams
Jemima Belger, Maddie Clacy, Evan Gauci,
Sarah Jones, Heath Lewis, Tom Maguire,
Benjamin Manning, Sebastian Palmer,
Nicholas Perry
Our Music Ensemble Program for 2014
included:
Training Band, Junior Concert Band, Senior
Concert Band, Junior Stage Band, Senior
Stage Band, Intermediate Woodwind
Ensemble, Junior Percussion Ensemble,
Intermediate Percussion Ensemble,
Senior Percussion Ensemble, Debut Bass
Ensemble, Bass Ensemble Friday, Bass
Ensemble Thursday, Senior Bass Ensemble,
Junior Guitar Ensemble, Intermediate
Guitar Ensemble, Acoustic/ Electric Guitar
Ensemble, Senior Guitar Ensemble, Infants
Choir, Junior Choir, Senior Show Choir,
Intermediate Keyboard Ensemble, Pop
and Rock Band
Rockschool Music Exams
Holly Andrews, Lachlan Atkin, Jordan Atkin,
Charlie Beatham, Luca Benvenuto,
Giacomo Benvenuto, Daniel Colville, James
Dawson, Emily Dulieu, Jacob Ditchfield,
Nathan Douglas, Maxim Eychenne, Jack
Fontes, Kate Harris, Darcy Hodge, Lola Hunt,
Scarlett Keay, Kael Kirkby, Jordan Koops,
Lotus Kypriotis, Chloe Lane, Samuel Lowe,
Jemma Roberts, Alexis Rugg, Bridie Ryan,
Ella-Jane Sharpe, Emma Sutton
Workshops
• The Royal Australian Navy Band workshop
with Snr Concert Band
• The Australian Army Band Sydney
workshop with Junior Concert Band
• Vocal and Performance Workshop
featuring Uncle Jed — Winners of
Australia’s Got Talent 2014
• Drumline performance for the opening
of the IPSHAA conference
• Rock Ensemble Workshop featuring rock
legends including Peter Northcote
• Jazz Workshop with Jazz Legends John
Morrison and Jacqui Cooper
• St Ignatius Riverview Drumline Workshop
Festivals and Competitions
Northern Beaches Band Festival
performing in High School B Grade & Junior
School B Grade
NSSWE Spring Festival at Chatswood
Concourse
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ANZAC Day March
Rock Ensemble
Workshop
Australian ARMY Band Workshop →
Australian NAVY Band Workshop
Head of Co-curricular Performing Arts, Mr Gibson presenting a
Music Citation to Year 12 student, Matthew Nixon
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3. YEARBOOK 2014
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RECITAL
NIGHT
Infants Choir
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Junior Stage Band featuring Charlie Pearce on vocals
Intermediate Woodwind
Ensemble and Dancers
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4. ALL SCHOOL
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Combined Drumlines with Senior Show Choir
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Junior Choir
Bass Ensemble 2
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5. YEARBOOK 2014
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Training Concert Band
RECITAL NIGHT ➻
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Guitar Ensemble 2
Senior Concert Band performign with live video clip
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6. ALL SCHOOL
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Guitar Ensemble
Senior Stage Band
and Elective dance
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Senior Show Choir
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7. YEARBOOK 2014
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PERFORMING ARTS ➻
DANCE
Co-curricular Dance at OFGS has over 160
students and offers a wide array of dance
classes, which cater for students beginning
in Year 1 to senior students entering
competitive classes. This year has been
a great success for all classes. Students
performed at school assemblies as well as
participated in the annual co-curricular
Dance and Drama evening.
A highlight of the year was the Dance
workshop which featured So You Think You
Can Dance choreographer, Jason Winters
and former judge/choreographer Matt Lee
as well as Lauren Seymour, who was runner
up in 2014 (SYTYCD). The day was extremely
beneficial for all students, who went home
with new skills, choreography and an
inspiring experience.
The 2014 Senior Lyrical Eisteddfod Team
choreographed by Miss Lyndal England, the
Senior Jazz Eisteddfod Team and the Senior
Lyrical Reserve Eisteddfod choreographed
by Miss Milly Goodearl, competed in four
Eisteddfods this year. The students showed
great team spirit at every performance.
The first event was at the Northern Beaches
Eisteddfods, where the teams took out the
prizes of 3rd place for the Senior Lyrical
Team and Highly Commended for the Senior
Jazz Team.
The teams also competed in Extreme
Dance Eisteddfod at UTS Kuringai Campus,
Sydney Eisteddfod at UNSW, and the Ryde
Eisteddfods. These performances gave
the students an amazing experience at
professional venues, competing against over
40 other schools from around Sydney and
the Central Coast.
It is encouraging to see the students develop
their skills in Dance as well as enjoy the
wonderful opportunities dance has to offer.

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DRAMA
We are so proud of the achievements of all
co-curricular Drama students. They have
worked hard and demonstrated strong
discipline and talent.
Drama classes build skills in communication,
team-work, and lateral thinking. In Terms
1 and 2 classes focussed on building
student's spacial awareness and vocal
stamina. In Term 3 students progressed
to narrative storytelling and character
development through improvisation and
text work.
Year 3/4 Drama focussed on voice and
physical theatre this year, developing two
chorus-speaking pieces using the poems
‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat’ and ‘The
Night Before Christmas’. The students
strengthened their voices, learned about
support and diction, intonation and poetic
meter. They also learned about physical
characterisation and visual-storytelling, and
expanded their understanding of theatre
and narrative beyond the literal and lineal.
Intermediate Drama saw a return to traditional
narrative theatre, and a new focus on acting
techniques and stage-craft. Students had
opportunities to develop characters in more
detail and learn about the many jobs in
theatre production. We encourage critical
thinking and start to explore how theatre
can comment on culture. This year the
group developed a modern Cinderella, and
discussed class, compassion, and family.
Senior Drama – Co-curricular drama
considers and supports Curricular Drama
and English, presenting students with a
Theatresports®
When improvising, what we do isn't dictated
by a set of rules. Instead, the choices we
make are influenced by a set of values.
Start slowly and clearly, name everything,
say “yes, and”, yield, do rather than talk
about it, make statements, if you get stuck
then change, be affected, let yourself be
changed, don't be afraid to succeed, only
come on when needed, don't gag, end the
scene yourself, if you're going to fail then fail
brilliantly and most importantly HAVE FUN!
These aren't just values we take to the stage
but values we try to live up to in everyday life.
Timothy Wilde
Theatresports® Tutor
chance to deepen their understanding and
practice of acting and textual analysis.
This year students explored a range of
acting techniques, methods and styles.
They built on basic skills in script analysis
in Term 1, moved into deeper character
development in Term 2, looked at camera
skills in Term 3 and in Term 4 the class
turned their attention to Shakespeare,
focussing on Hamlet.
All Drama students had the opportunity to
work with industry veteran actor and director
Mark Lee at the Drama workshop held during
the year.
Congratulations on a magnificent year
of theatre!
Erica Lovell
Drama Tutor