With a return to our Learn@Home program, students in the auditioned Epstein Singers (Years 4-6) have commenced our Breakfast with Epstein online Choral program. This program started in 2020 and proved to be a great way to ensure our girls stayed connected as an ensemble, and continued to extend their choral skills and vocal technique. Currently, we have 46 members in the Epstein Singers.

As part of Breakfast with Epstein, the students gather at 7:20am online, chatting together over their breakfast, as members log in to the meeting. Pancakes, French toast and eggs on toast seem to be favourites, although the good old vegemite on toast makes a regular appearance.

Breakfast finished, we focus on developing our vocal technique, choral tone and aural skills through a series of warm-up exercises and short songs. Many of these vocal exercises and short songs have been shared with us by Choral experts who were invited to join us in 2020 as part of the Breakfast with Epstein Choral series. We then move on to working on several larger choral works.

This week we worked with vocal expert Mrs Lyn Richardson. Lyn shared a song that she had written about wearing a face mask. The song followed a ‘call and response’ structure with our girls singing the ‘response.’ Based around a chord, our girls were encouraged to select one of three starting notes and sing their response together. Beautiful harmonies were created and a great deal of fun was had by all, with masks twirling overhead and side to side.

The Epstein Singers are currently working on several larger choral works, in two and three parts. We plan to perform these later in the year at the 125^th Year Celebrations Gala Concert, the Victorian Schools Music Festival, our Junior School Annual Music Concert and the Carol Service at the end of the year.