Women In Percussion Festival
The Women in Percussion Festival was attended by the Mac.Rob Percussion Ensemble on August 5th and 6th. For us, it was a thrilling, enjoyable, and engaging few days that helped us all get to know one another better and grasp the vastness of percussion.
As spectators on the first day, we had the opportunity to witness personally the incredible fusion of many instruments and sounds in the performance of the piece, Yugen, by a variety of students from all the schools. Many students were pleasantly shocked with the piece's ambience, as it was eerie but soothing which was really entertaining to observe. One impressive aspect of the first day of the percussion festival was viewing all the professionals rehearse their piece. Their dedication to their instruments and incredible mastery of untuned and tuned percussion were both evident in the concert, which was incredibly admirable.
On the second day of the festival, we had the opportunity to perform live as well as experience a variety of percussion workshops. The guest workshops held before the performance, such as the tribal drum workshop, were a great deal of fun and everyone was excited after finding out that the instructor used to be a student at Mac.Rob! After the workshops, the concert commenced. For many, it was a frightening yet exciting experience, and it was quite thrilling to see all the amazing solos performed by all the schools. Everyone was incredibly enthusiastic for our performance, and it was a great joy to play "Crazy in Love" with everyone in the percussion ensemble.
In all, understanding the enormous diversity of percussion instruments and sounds was made possible by PLC's hosting of the Women in Percussion Festival.
Minali S, 10C
Our percussion students at Mac.Rob were delighted to take part in the ‘Women in Percussion Festival’ hosted by PLC. Other talented students and staff from various schools including PLC, MLC along with Monash University participated in the festival. At the event, students were able to meet students from other schools with similar interests and also professional percussionists who provided guidance and encouragement to aid our music journeys. The weekend was full of fun and there were many activities for everyone, such as African drumming, tuned percussion and untuned percussion sessions.
The most memorable part was definitely the concert, where Mac.Rob’s Percussion Ensemble performed ‘Crazy in Love’ by Beyoncé. The piece was full of energy and uplifting and we received so much positive feedback from others at the event. Four students (Kiara, Mimi, Mishka and Ranya) performed a world premiere of the piece ‘Yugen’ written by Australian composer Johanna Selleck which was rehearsed with just two rehearsals. Mimi from Year 11 also performed Marimba solo ‘Rain Dance’ for Marimba written by Alice Gomez. Everyone played spectacularly and we have all gained a new aspect to improve our musicianships.
Congratulations to everyone who performed: Amba, Anita, Anya, Aveline, Jennis, Katie, Kiara, Lily, Mimi, Minali, Mishka, Ranya, Roderine, Tanvi, Tiffany and Tivona.
Mimi G, 11B