Musicians Had a Field Day Creating Own Music

As part of Field Day last week, our Director of Music, Jonathan Woodley, encouraged students from Years 10 to 13 to consider what they might like to do, rather than dictate the session himself.   

Ever enthusiastic and highly ambitious and creative, these young musicians decided they would like to record cover versions of songs by Etta James and Nina Simone.   

Mr Woodley commented on his decision to hand the power over to his students for their Field Day activity,

“By giving students the freedom to make these kinds of choices it empowers and motivates them, as well as creating desire, interest and broadening their approach to making music – it’s the perfect storm!”  

He continued,

“I explained to each of them that I wouldn’t be writing the music for them, they would have to figure out the chords for themselves and work together to put on a performance ahead of recording it.  I take a similar approach with all of my students – encouraging them to learn to play with sheet music as well as without – playing by ear is just as important a skill for young musicians, and one that is often overlooked.  Every lesson, rehearsal and even this Field Day is an opportunity to learn, to improve and to realise what they’re able to accomplish with hard work and focus.” 

 Talking more about his approach to teaching music in general he shared,

“Even when we have a band or an orchestra, I have an expectation of each musician taking ownership of the part they play – pardon the pun – and ensuring that they have a learning opportunity each and every time.  There’s little point giving them a piece of music they could easily perform, the purpose of learning more about themselves, their instruments, playing together and music in general is to stretch them, taking them out of their comfort zone slightly and most importantly give them the opportunity to improve – which they always do!” 

He continued,

“I’ll often hear students share their concerns that they can’t play the piece they’ve been given in an orchestra, worried it’s beyond their current capabilities – but that’s the whole point, and by the end, when it comes to the live performance, they can always do what they worried they couldn’t.  Because they’ve learned to!” 

It’s clear to see the students thoroughly enjoyed Field Day, and by all accounts they recorded some super music.  Well done everyone!