Small singers get big result

Girton Grammar’s Junior School Performance Choir has been awarded the highest honour at the 2015 Royal South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat yesterday.

The annual competition featured performances from calisthenics to choirs and the Girton Grammar Junior School Choir was awarded the highest mark of all performances on the day and won both of their sections in the competition.

Headmaster of Girton Grammar School, Matthew Maruff, said that a good choir can be the mark of a good school, especially in the junior years.

“This is a really outstanding achievement for our Junior School. The discipline required to produce quality sound from a young choir is no small feat.

“The children sang their hearts out but it is their preparation that that made the difference.

“This year their performance has been lauded by internationally acclaimed opera star, Suzanne Johnston, and Douglas Heywood, OAM, as one of the finest children’s choirs they have heard in a very long time.

“Mr Heywood cited the choir as an example of what other choirs should be aspiring to in terms of sound quality, diction, presentation, intonation, dynamic control and telling and selling the story,” Mr Maruff said.

Every week around 178 music lessons are conducted in the Girton Grammar Junior School and around 300 in the Senior School. More than 100 Performing Arts performances are carried out each year within the school and the broader community.

“From our Junior School Performance Choir to the Forever Young community choir which is supported by our Senior School orchestra and is made up of members who are a minimum age of 60, we have vocal performances well covered,” Mr Maruff said.