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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-11-16 Daily Xml
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Modbury High School

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (16:38): Each year, it is a privilege to attend and MC Modbury High School's Semester 2 Concert showcasing the talent of students under the instruction and encouragement of the dedicated music staff at Modbury High. I thank principal, Joanne Costa, and the governing council for ensuring music remains a high priority at the school. Mr Ben Fuller is Arts Coordinator, ably assisted on the night, in the absence of Ms Joan Baker, by Mr Mitchell Bettison and other specialist instrumentalist teachers. We, the audience, were thrilled to hear from the year 8 mega band, the year 9 band, the school choir, a guitar duo, the year 10 band and the stage and concert bands.

Thursday 11 November was the first of our very recent cold, wet days and the Modbury gym was or felt a cavernous space at the beginning, but by the end the very large and enthusiastic crowd, or should I say audience, of family, friends, supporters and members of the wider school community were very receptive to the efforts of all the students performing.

The year 8 band conducted by Mr Fuller played Ode to Joy; the very ominous, short and sharp Shark; We Will Rock You; and the seasonal teaser Jingle Bells. At the beginning of their musical journeys, these students were very warmly received and left a very good impression of hopes of a much longer program on their next outing. Mr Bettison led the year 9s in Feliz Navidad, another Christmas item, and a compilation of The Best of Green Day—again, great music really enjoyed by everybody.

The choir was a gem I did not really know existed. Conducted by Mr Fuller, their items were This is Home and People Help the People. They were exceptional, and it was just fantastic to hear the students sing. The guitar duo of Cooper Whitbread and Aimee Wilson—sans Mr Seabourn but playing his pieces Edeowie, Anniversary Reverie and Ipanema Sunset—were spellbinding. Their years of practice have really paid off and, even with Mr Seabourn's absence, gave an impressive performance. The year 10s played the Van Morrison classic Domino and the very fitting Baby, It's Cold Outside. Both were well received.

A highlight of the night, though, particularly for those who were unable to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony held earlier that day, was the reprise by the concert band of the Last Post and Highland Cathedral, featuring Mr McKie on bagpipes—tough to top but ably followed by A Summerset March and Victory Dance. The Modbury High School stage band, again under the baton of Mr Fuller, played Duke Ellington's Blue Serge and the classics My Funny Valentine and On Broadway.

It is really an honour to present the Florey music prize each year to the school, and I know it is always a tough job for the staff to single out just one musician. I thank everybody who makes this program available, particularly the parents who entrust their budding musicians to Modbury High School. I look forward to continuing this relationship with them in 2022 and much further beyond.

Within the current electorate or even former electorate of Florey, I have been able to establish a music prize in every school, and it is always very hard, I know, for the staff to choose just one student, but it becomes very difficult when every school wants to pick at least two. We have to be fairly strong on that. The primary schools, in particular, do not have the big band music programs, but they can use the prize to encourage choir work or just even appreciation of music.

It has been really well received by all the primary schools in the area. It is not just for public schools; it has also been established in private schools, and we are now looking at putting them in these schools further up the Tea Tree Gully end of the electorate. Those schools have welcomed this opportunity to acknowledge music in their schools.

So many students are part of the music program, particularly when we look at the primary choirs concert every year, which is usually held over four nights and, most recently, at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Those individual performing artists come from this large group of children who are undertaking musical instruction through the public schools but also through private schools, when the private schools have their own concerts. I did a grievance earlier this year on William and The Mullighans, again featuring that fabulous rock instrument—the bagpipes.

We see a large variety of instruments at all our schools, great enthusiasm from all the students, and it is an absolute thrill to know music is alive and well in all the schools in our electorates in our state. It is through music and a strong music program that I know both sides of their brain get a strong workout and our students receive the sort of well-rounded education all of us hope and know they receive.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Florey. I always enjoy your contributions, and thank you other members. Before we turn to other business, I propose to resolve a matter of privilege.

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