May 24

Hills Are Alive Vocal Ensemble Concert

The Redfield College Vocal Ensemble and Redfield College Schola performed at the Hills Are Alive Choral Festival last Sunday. Both of these choirs performed a combined 20-minute set in a concert featuring four other adult choirs based in the Hills area. 

The Vocal Ensemble commenced the set with a Simon and Garfunkel classic, Bridge Over Troubled Water. Year 12 student Rishi Ganesh performed solo in a piece that featured moments of acapella choral singing as well as solos. This was followed by the Coldplay favourite, Fix You. Solos were performed by Year 8 students Isaac Busch and Dominic Ng, as well as Year 11 student Michael Rossi. 

The Schola then stepped forward to sing the Crosby, Stills & Nash classic, Find the Cost of Freedom, featuring beautifully blended harmonies throughout. Click here to see the performance of Find the Cost of Freedom. This was followed by the complex arrangement of Run To You by the Pentatonix. 

Finally, the Vocal Ensemble performed Baba Yetu as the last song of the set. This is a Swahili adaptation of The Lord’s Prayer. Again, Rishi Ganesh was the featured soloist in this performance, while Year 12 student Christian Jilwan demonstrated his versatility by accompanying the Vocal Ensemble on the Congas. The two-hour concert ended with a combined choral performance of The Sound of Music. 

Click here to see the performance of The Sound of Music. This experience was of great benefit to our students. The audience and other choirs could not believe the talent, discipline, musicality and professionalism demonstrated by our boys. The students received overwhelming praise and gratitude after their performance, all of which they thoroughly deserved. 

- Frank Romeo, Head of Music

May 24

Learning Success by Design 

At the end of Week 2, every Year 9 Design and Technology student was able to finish his Chopping Board project on schedule, in time for Mother’s Day. This fabulous project was only introduced to the school curriculum last year with great success and, this year, the new generation of Year 9 students was able to deliver even more exciting outcomes, as we used a wider range of materials in the production of the boards and more creative freedom was given to students this time around. 

Students had the chance to learn about different types of wood, laminating methods, forming methods and finishing techniques. In addition, they took on the challenge of developing concepts from hand-drawn sketches to CAD designs using Adobe software and including their own complex custom engravings that were laser-engraved into most of the finished pieces.

It was a pleasure to see students cooperating with each other and supporting and assisting the development of each other’s projects during the different stages of this task. The excellent outcomes achieved by this fantastic group of students are a testament to their great potential and commendable work ethic. 
- Leo Carol, D&T Teacher 

“I thoroughly enjoyed this project, especially the designing aspect, as we had complete freedom as to what our design would be. The board actually turned out much better than I thought it would and it seems I was not the only to think so. My family was also very impressed with the board, thinking that I was joking and actually just bought it. My parents even asked me if I could make another one for my sister, as she liked it the most.” 
- Ben Vala, Year 9 D&T Student