For more advanced students, the senior ensemble provides an opportunity to apply their skills to a more challenging repertoire.
Ensemble highlights
The ensemble is available by audition to students from year 4 onward who can demonstrate technical skills around grade 2 level.
- The group rehearses for 1 hour per week after school.
- Performances and workshops both inside and outside the school
- A highlight for term 2 is participation in the Northern Beaches Strings Festival
Festival of Instrumental Music
The Festival of Instrumental Music (FoIM) presents 4 concerts of diverse repertoire, as well as some specially commissioned works by Australian composers, in the Sydney Opera House.
School recorder and string ensembles join together to form the combined recorder and string ensembles. As well as their individual pieces, these 2 ensembles will perform a combined item to conclude the concerts.
The senior ensemble tackles the most challenging repertoire of the groups at KHPS. Music should be enjoyable, not stressful so we want to ensure that students are placed in the group that most closely suits their current skills and needs.
Your conductor will be able to provide guidance on what to work towards in order to successfully transition from the intermediate ensemble.
The repertoire for FoIM is set by the NSW Arts Unit and may include any/all of the following features.
- Varied, moving parts
- Some position changes (third position for violin 1)
- All fingers in sharps/flats
Typically, we would expect that students at around AMEB grade 2 should have no difficulty learning the pieces.
Note that the work is performed from memory so practice will be required even if you’re able to sight-read!