At the end of my street is Mansfield State High School. The Mansfield State High School music program is highly regarded, and a popular method of entry for out of catchment students through the Music excellence programme too (it’s pretty competitive though). With something like ~700 students in the Mansfield music programme – so its a big parts of the schools life, and for music student you get to be one of the cool kids too!
One of the things I like about the music programme is its commitment to helping students at all levels learn. Sure there are the excellent students, but it also caters equally to the more every day students. There are something like twenty performance groups across strings (7 groups I think), choir, brass, woodwind, jazz ensembles and bells as well!. Concerned nights are a feast for the ears!
As a strings player one of the things I really like seeing is their Celtic strings group as well, this group learns the traditional ‘aural’ way, that is by listening and copying. Its a really important aspect to learning and compliments nicely the classical ‘dotes on a page’ in preparing strings players for music after school. After all there are lots of strings players that end up playing outside of the classical music genre…and its a bit of a transition to make. Some thoughts here Beyond Classical Violin
So if you’re looking to come to Mansfield high to play music, there is likely a place for you to come and enjoy it.
