I have always had a love for music so pursuing it during Years 11 and 12 seemed the only option for me. 

I started brainstorming my repertoire choices with Mrs Rowsell partway during Year 11, going through the tough back-and-forth of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to get my four pieces confirmed. My passion for all things theatrical heavily influenced the choices, however I did come across some issues choosing which songs to choose for my Drama monologue or Music. 

From the beginning of Term 4, we knew I was going to perform ‘Last Midnight’ from Into the Woods as I’ve always been a Sondheim fan and love the dramatic quality of this piece. By the end of the term, after countless hours of research we settled on ‘Maybe I like it this way’ from Wild Party and ‘Summer in Ohio’ from The Last 5 Years. While both drastically different characters, I become obsessed with their stories. From Queenie’s tear-jerking ballad of domestic violence to Cathy’s unenthused lament set in America’s most boring state, each brought new character challenges.

It wasn’t until the end of Term 2 that I settled on my final song ‘Summertime’, originally a Fitzgerald classic but I chose a cover by Celine Dion as I felt it showed more. 

Over the summer break I worked hard on practising my selected repertoire as my songs each feature moments that challenge me vocally. My vocal tutor Bridget Patterson has been a godsend, helping me work on my breath control, pitch, mix and scat among many other things. Having being blessed with a dynamic range of roles in our school’s annual musicals has pushed me as a performer, stretching my acting capabilities and stage presence allowing me to harness my talents in a way I never thought I was capable of before. 

Mrs Rowsell and NBCS as a collective have moulded my voice into what it is today and for that I am forever grateful. My performance journey has been challenging but I wouldn’t have changed it for anything. I believe each of my pieces shows a different aspect of my range and have pushed me respectively and I love each one to bits.  

I started my HSC journey in Term 3 of 2023 by choosing my repertoire for performance. This was the easiest process in the journey as most of my first songs were approved by Miss Rowsell. 

The songs selected were ‘Mad Hatter’, ‘Gone’, ‘Masterpiece’, and ‘You’ll Have to Swing It’. 

In the beginning, I’d already rehearsed ‘Gone’ for my Year 11 soiree, but Miss Rowsell suggested that I should save it for Year 12 as the quality of the ballad was able to reach the expectations of Year 12. 

The first song I rehearsed was ‘Mad Hatter’ which is a musical theatre song, so the struggle was the combination of working on the diction and tempo of the song, and developing the character of the Mad Hatter. The advice I was given by my singing teacher was to work on the vocal part of the song in the holidays before adding character. As Term 4 began, I already had the song rehearsed so I focused on the character movement and tone of my voice to suit the Mad Hatter.

At the beginning of 2024, I moved on to my next two songs ‘Masterpiece’ and ‘You’ll Have to Swing It’.

The jazz song, ‘You’ll Have to Swing It’ took me two terms to rehearse due to the scat section taking up most of the rehearsal and the struggle of finding time to rehearse with the band before the assessment.

I struggled with the pronunciation for the scat, so I decided to slow down the audio to properly hear the syllables and as I got more confident with the tempo, I sped it up until it returned to the original tempo. This was my favourite song to perform as I enjoyed communicating with the band and achieving the challenge of scatting throughout the piece.

‘Masterpiece’ started as a piano ballad, but when I performed it for my assessment, I realised that it was quite similar to ‘Gone’, so to differentiate them I changed ‘Masterpiece’ into a guitar ballad which appealed more to the lyrics and tone of the song. 

Due to a personal situation, I was unable to perform for the HSC trials. Still, I am confident in performing for the HSC exam as I have been able to overcome the struggles of each song. 

Throughout the year, I realised the main part of the performance I needed to focus on was my stage presence, so I performed my pieces as much as I could, for example in the Music Theatre Soiree and Showcase. Music has allowed my confidence and performance skills to improve, and now I’ve learnt how to work with a band and rehearse music properly before I begin my university course in music theatre or performance. 

I’ve been passionate about singing since primary school, and by the time I started at this school in Year 7, I knew that singing would be a central part of my HSC journey. As Year 12 began, I dove into researching repertoire that not only complemented my voice but also pushed me to step outside my comfort zone.

The first piece I selected was ‘Orange Colored Sky’ by Natalie Cole, an older jazz piece that I found particularly fun and well-suited to my vocal style. I discovered a mashup version that blended it with another Natalie Cole classic, ‘Unforgettable’, which I thought would add an interesting edge to my performance.

Next, I wanted to choose songs I loved and could reimagine to stand out to the markers. I selected ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, a timeless classic, but I opted for Katie Noonan’s version to bring a fresh twist and variety to my repertoire. My singing teacher then suggested incorporating a musical theatre piece to demonstrate my versatility across genres and provide contrast with my other selections. I chose ‘Christmas Lullaby’ from Songs for a New World for its emotional depth and theatrical quality. Finally, I added ‘Billie Jean’, a classic, but instead of the original, I went with an acoustic version by The Civil Wars to give it a unique and intimate feel.

Throughout this HSC music journey, I have focused on overcoming my long-standing struggles with confidence and stage nerves. Mrs. Rowsell has been actively involved in this process, providing me with multiple performance opportunities to help me refine my skills and build my stage presence.

The journey started near the end of term 4 of 2023 where I started to decide on what I would do for my one song. From the very beginning I knew I was going to do one performance and at least two compositions but was hoping for three. I knew the song would be jazz or rock, not just because it fits both my playing style but because I like that style of music. While searching for songs it became apparent that I would have to find a soprano saxophone-focused song and play it as tenor saxophone. This led me towards saxophone quartets which brought me down to a few different songs before Miss Rowsell gave the thumbs up on a saxophone quartet arrangement of the song ‘Green Bossa’ by Mat Classen.

Throughout term 1 of 2024 Miss Rowsell would go back and forth on whether I should do this song or find another. While this was going on I started work upon my first composition exploring the wide variety within the many styles of jazz, inspired by John Coltrane and Frank Sinatra. I eventually called the piece Paradoxically Jazz.

In the next term my next composition and third elective of a viva was decided, with the second composition being a duo Guitar piece before becoming a flute and guitar piece called ‘Featherweight Bossa’ inspired by Pat Metheny. The viva focused on the music of the video game Bloodborne.

I joined music at the beginning of Year 11. I started playing guitar around the end of 2022 and knew I wanted to pursue the subject. My performance journey started mainly in this year, where I picked four songs I knew I wanted to perform and make my own. I chose ‘Tornado of Souls’ by Megadeth, ‘Mr Crowley’ by Ozzy Osbourne, ‘Sultans of Swing’ by Dire Straits, and ‘The Sleep’ by Pantera. These songs were chosen due to my fascination with the playing style of each lead guitarist in the bands.

In the beginning of my performance journey with the band, we rehearsed each song to the best of our abilities and enjoyed every minute of it. I had to choose certain parts of each song to cut out as performances can not be longer than 5 minutes. Performing my chosen pieces for the first time during our HSC trial block was a great experience, and being surrounded by a band made the experience all the more exciting. I learned to combat certain nervous behaviours that affected my performances and learnt to play efficiently standing up, which was a hard task due to the intensity of the solos in each song and the hard riffs that were a challenge to play while standing up. I have come to understand the nuances and niche elements of playing guitar that have impacted my pieces only positively, and have gained a passion for the hobby.

In each piece I had to learn the different playing styles of the guitarists along with the hard legato licks, sweeps in chosen solos, and other styles such as; palm muting, tapping, dive squeals, pinch harmonics, and other techniques. My guitar tutor, Dan, who helped me develop my guitar skills during school hours, assisted me when I was first starting to learn the instrument, and taught me the first song I learnt properly, ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy Osbourne. 

One of my favourite quotes is, ‘Music. It’s not what I do, it’s who I am’. Music has always been a passion that has shaped my choices and enjoyment in high school. From starting in the choir in primary school to private vocal tutoring with Sabella Osborne and Bridget Patterson, the journey of discovering my voice has been…fun, exhilarating, scary, and rocky. However, it was the missing piece for me. If it had not been for Bridget’s continuous push for me to discover my range, I could not have been wrong enough when I said that I was an alto. The moment Bridget helped me strengthen my high register, the doors opened to so many possibilities. I had never felt such joy in being able to sing songs from mainly musical theatre, which I was constantly doubting myself about in the past.

I joined music in Year 11, and it was one of the best decisions I have made. Mrs Rowsell helped me come out of my shell in performance.

I knew that choosing my Year 12 HSC Repertoire would be complicated. There were so many options, and most of the songs were followed with a ‘no’ from Bridget or Mrs Rowsell because they would say, “There is something better out there for you”. I am so glad I persevered because I have absolutely fallen in love with my pieces. Although they are incredibly technical and sometimes tiring, they bring me such joy when I express my passion to others when I sing them. 

Incredibly different, I begin with the first two ‘yes’ confirmations: ‘The Light in the Piazza’ from The Light in the Piazza the Musical and ‘Green Finch and Linnet Bird’ from Sweeney Todd the Musical. Although both are by Stephen Sondheim, their characterisation is astonishingly different. It was even more enticing for me to research and explore how I would distinguish Clara, who is searching for love, from Johanna, who is searching for freedom. 

My third piece is in the romantic genre from 1889: ‘Villanelle des petits canards’ by Emmanuel Chabrier. This piece took me out of my comfort zone as it is also a language piece. Singing in French, the story is a social commentary on society and people, but the story evolves around ducks. This piece challenged me in so many aspects. First, the language barrier. Everything had to be sharp and pitch correct while still telling an animated story, thus taking me the longest to learn and perfect.

Finally, after many attempts to find my final piece, Mrs Rowsell and I decided on ‘Vanilla Icecream’ from She Loves Me the Musical, a story of confusion for Amelia as she searches for a suitor but tries to convince herself that Georg, who had bought her ice cream when she was sick could be the one for her. I am so glad I chose to finish with this song, as it finishes my repertoire with a bang and is highly comedic—a great contrast to my other pieces.

I started singing in primary school in the school choir, and continued to pursue my love of music through learning to play flute and drums, as well as piano and guitar in my spare time. Throughout Years 11 and 12, my love for singing grew continuously, and I decided to do vocals for my HSC.

I began researching potential repertoire, both songs I know and love, and new and exciting options that could push me to do something different to what I usually choose. After many, many changes in my repertoire choices, I finally decided on my final four songs. However, after trials, I decided to change one of my songs for the HSC in order to achieve the best marks possible, as this particular choice was bringing down my marks as I was struggling with the arrangement. I decided to change this piece – ‘Man in the Mirror’ by Michael Jackson, to ‘Love in the dark’ by Adele.