Music in the Classroom ...and Beyond

Music Conference and Workshop at St. Peter's

On Saturday 15 May, Mrs. Grobbelaar and Ms. Fouche attended a workshop at St. Peter's School in Johannesburg. Leaving very early in the morning we arrived at the school for registration and was met with some welcome coffee and muffins.

Many old friendships were rekindled and many new ones made while we learned some clever tricks of the trade to make our already wonderful music department even better. The workshop dealt with 4 different topics – Marketing, Choir, Class Music and Preparations for the RSM exams and valuable information was relayed in all of these sessions.

We have some great ideas to implement in the coming months so just keep your eyes peeled!

On Pic:
Front Row 5th from Right – Ms. Fouche
Second Row 5th from right – Mrs. Grobbelaar

Music on the Golf Course

On Friday, 11 September, WHPS had their annual golf day at the Pretoria Country Club. As WHPS' largest fund raiser of the year we had to make sure that the participants all had an enjoyable day and who better to ask than the boys involved with the music?

The senior choir, senior orchestra, rock band and percussion band took part in the entertainment. For a couple of hours the music filled the air and the boys excelled in their task. The highlight of the day was most probably the donuts and juice enjoyed by all after the hard work in the hot weather! music teachers

A big thank you to all the staff at the music department for making this day such a success.

Violin Group Class

Music in the classroom is alive at WHPS! This year WHPS started with violin group classes. The Gr.2 and Gr.3 boys took to the strings for 6 weeks and learnt how to play the violin while four boys in each class could learn to play the cello.

The Gr.3 group already performed two pieces in assembly! This initiative inspired some of the boys to take individual lessons. We are looking forward to the Gr. 2 performance during term 2.

Mrs. Junod's Birthday

Holding fast to our tradition as proud Whipsians, a group of Gr. 6 and Gr. 7 boys, along with Mrs. Grobbellaar and Ms. Fouche, paid a visit to a very special couple.

Mrs. Junod and her husband have been affiliated with WHPS for over 50 years, in fact, he is probably the oldest, or rather most mature, old boy! Mrs. Junod celebrated her 79th birthday on Monday 25 March and a short musical program was performed.

With a bunch of flowers and her favourite chocolate in hand (we do our research!) the boys wished her well. Not only did we have an orchestral program but she was serenaded by the dashing young lads as well.

We could feel their appreciation and thankfulness and as it often happens, our gift to them became I gift unto ourselves. We once again realized how the little things in life make the biggest difference.

Choir Workshop

The choir started their music education and repertoire for the new year with a bang. On Friday 16 January the boys had a choir workshop. We worked very hard on our new songs and made a lot of progress. But all work and no play is never a good thing and the day ended with a fun game which was enjoyed by all.

The choir's first performance was with the orchestra during grandparents' day. We also sang during assembly – we had to showcase what we worked so hard on!! Mrs. Grobbellaar and Ms. Fouche are very proud of what the boys have achieved so far.