Classroom Music at Essex Heights covers a large range of thematically-based activities which are designed to engage Prep to Year 6 students and develop a lifelong passion for music. The music program is developed around the Victorian Essential Learning Standards with a strong emphasis on the enrichment of creative thinking, personal and interpersonal skill development, fine and gross motor coordination and logical thinking. Children work cooperatively while discussing the steps and processes required to prepare for an audience.
Children are encouraged to:
Classroom Music Extension Activities
These are available for students at all ages and are targeted towards appropriate age levels. These includes choirs, marimba ensembles and concerts. Students who participate in the Instrumental Music Program have the opportunity to participate in various ensembles including Percussion, Strings and Concert Band. We also run a Contemporary Band for Year 5 and 6 students. Members of this ensemble are selected by the Music teacher and the instrumental coordinator.
Choirs
At Essex Heights we run five choirs so that students of all ages have an opportunity to be immersed in music. Each week we hold a rehearsal for:
All students in from Prep to Year 4 are members of a Year Level Choir. Year 5 and 6 students may audition to become a member of Chamber Choir or Chorale. All choirs have opportunities to perform throughout the year. These performances may be at school for an assembly or special event, or outside of school on an excursion. Students in Chamber Choir and Chorale have performed at venues such as the Parliament House, Federation Square, Hamer Hall (Victorian Arts Centre), Forest Hill Shopping Centre, Elizabeth Gardens, Waverley Eisteddfod and The Glen Waverley Shopping Centre. Each year all choirs perform on the biggest music night of the year - Showcase!
Marimba
Students in Years 4, 5 and 6 participate in a weekly marimba ensemble, with performances at assemblies, special school events and Showcase at Robert Blackwood Hall (Monash University).
Chamber Choir performances around Melbourne
Music Events
Showcase
This is an annual event that is a wonderful celebration of the music program at EHPS. All EHPS students prepare to perform in this special event in Term 4 at Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University.
A souvenir program is produced. A professionally filmed and produced DVD/USB will be available to order.
Count Us In
The idea of Music: Count Us In came about as a way of promoting music in schools. Each year, one song is written and thousands of schools across Australia sing the same song on the same day at the same time as a way of joining students, teachers, parents and friends nationwide to celebrate the importance of music and community. Fun Fact: The 2015 event had additional significance for EHPS, with one of our students collaborating with three other students, John Foreman OAM, Marcia Hines, and Tom Diesel to write the song for 2015.
Victorian State Schools Spectacular (VSSS)The Victorian State Schools Spectacular (VSSS) is an annual event and includes a cast of 3000 Victorian government school students, working towards a common goal in a collaborative, competition-free environment. Its dual aim is to provide an invaluable performing arts opportunity to students and to showcase the enormous talent that exists in our schools. This all comes together in a three hour show that celebrates a diversity of performance mediums, including choir, dance, vocal, drama, and orchestra. EHPS students have been involved in many different aspects of the VSSS for many years. In 2022, EHPS students will participate in the mass choir and mass dance.