On Tuesday 20th September all our High School Preparation students went across to city hall to listen to a (mostly) Capella performance of songs from well-known musicals. It was part of the Brisbane Festival.
The students in HSP4 wrote a reflection on their experience:
Livia from BROWNS HSP4 class:
Music is an important part in my life, I can’t live without it.
This was my first time in a music festival in a foreign country. At first, I thought that is was just a show from some older performers without singing some songs. However, when the host came out, I suddenly noticed that this show was not really from older performers.
The best thing at all was listening to the chorus singing a song and it was full of passion. These were my first feelings of the first song. I don’t remember the name of the opening song, but I admit their strength when I heard their voice. There is no doubt that all of their voices were infectious and they caught my attention. Talking about my favourite song, I think it would be the song “On My Own”. One of the reasons why this song was and still is my favourite is because the person who sang it was full of passion and it even made me cry. When the song finished, I thought of my parents and I noticed that I really miss them. The last song called “One Day More” was also a perfect song. It was a very powerful song and I felt inspired by it. It also let me become hopeful to my life.
I think I can’t forget this experience even in the future, and from this time, I think I will dare to follow my dream. The performers are all students, they can follow their dream, so can I.
Susan from BROWNS HSP4 class:
We arrived at the Brisbane City Hall for a music show and sat down. I have been to the clock tower for an extra school activity before, but I have never been in the hall. It was big, with many entrances and some boxes on the second floor. At the end of the hall there was a huge stage, a great organ was beautifully inlaid. The ceiling was round and high above, with dark blue and purple which made it look like the sky in the night. It even had light shining far away upon us like stars.
The place got fuller little by little before the host came out to introduce the performers for today: nearly 100 students from music theatre of Griffith University, and one of their teachers played the piano to accompany them. I soon learnt that the performance was part of the Brisbane Festival, which was mainly for musicals this time.
First it came a big tutti with all the members divided into three part. The show was absolutely amazing and exciting, included many songs of my favorite musicals and other famous music composition like “Wishing you were somehow here again” and “All I ask of you” in The Phantom of the Opera, and “On my own” in Lés Misérable. When some of the sad music came to the end, there were even sobs burst out from the audiences. Some of the rhythms and the tones were changed, but it did not mean they were not as good as the original one—they were awesome!!! “Memory”, known as the theme of Cats, was famous for its solo. The singers changed it into a chorus for 20 people, with four voice part.
My favorite part came when the show came to the end after about 12 songs. It was One day more, also the end and the big tutti of the second act of the musical Lés Misérable. People expression their different feelings about the unpredictable future in the lyric, some of them were fear, some worried that they cannot see their lover again, some wished the revolution to be won, some wanted to grab personal belongings while the owners were busy preparing for the battle. All the voice at last came together with the sentence “Tomorrow we’ll discover what our God in heaven has in store.” The emotion got stronger and stronger, and the voice of the singer became louder and louder. The song ended with the sentences “One more dawn, one more day, one day more.” With each sentence, they raised their arms one by one, and finally lowered the high raised arms from the highest levels to the grass roots. The last word last for a long time, faded in the warm applause.