Welcome to HSPA Mic'd up Episode 3

In this episode of HSPA Mic’d Up, Erin and Scarlett talk with Year 12 Music students, Quincy and Leslie, about the upcoming Music Tour. They talk about what towns they will be visiting on their 10-day trip and what they’re most excited for on tour.

Transcript

Speaker 2 0:00

Before we begin, we acknowledge the Awabacul and Warramai people, traditional custodians of the land where we learn and perform. We pay our respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Scarlett 0:13

Hello everyone and welcome back to the HSPA Mic'd Up, the official podcast of the Hunter School of Performing Arts.

Erin 0:19

If you're new here, welcome. And if you've been listening since the start of the year, we're so glad you're back with us.

Scarlett 0:25

HSPA is always busy with rehearsals, performances, and creative projects. And today we're talking about something really exciting coming up very soon. That's right, the music tour for 2026. Students from marching band, stage band, and choir will be traveling across regional New South Wales performing gigs and visiting schools that might not normally get the chance to experience live performing arts.

Erin 0:46

We'll be chatting to some of the students involved to hear what they're most excited about and what music tour means to them. Let's get into it!

Scarlett 1:14

Before we jump into today's episode, we thought we'd quickly introduce ourselves as your host. My name is Scarlett, and I've been at HSPA since year five. I'm involved in all three performing arts, dance, drama, and music, and my goal after school is to pursue musical theatre. I'll be going on the music tour this year as one of the singers in the stage band, which I'm really looking forward to.

Erin 1:34

Hi, and my name's Erin, and I've been at HSPA since year seven, and I'm a drama student. My passions within school is the crochet club, leadership and drama. My favorite ar- my favourite area of drama is screen acting. I've done screen acting classes at True Screen Acting Studio in Newcastle. They're amazing and should and you should check them out if that is your passion too.

Scarlett 1:55

We're really excited to be hosting today's episode and talking all about the music tour, especially because it's something that so many students at HSPA look forward to.

Erin 2:04

Today we're joined by some of the students heading off to the music tour this year.

Scarlett 2:09

Music tour is always one of the highlights of HSPA performers, not just because of the performances, but also because of the experiences and connections you make along the way.

Erin 2:18

Would you guys like to introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about yourself? What year you're in, what ensemble you're part of, and what instrument or voice part you perform.

Quincy 2:27

Yeah, hi, I'm Quincy. I'm in year 12. Um I played trumpet and I also sing. For tour, I'm playing in stage band, marching band, and the choir. I'm playing lead trumpet and marching band and stage band, and I'm singing tenor in the choir. So I'm looking forward to that.

Leslie 2:42

Yeah. Hey, um, my name is Leslie Mooney, and um I play trombone and I'm the drum major of the marching band. I'm gonna be playing in the stage band.

Scarlett 2:51

So we have a few questions for you guys. So, number one, where will you be visiting on the tour?

Quincy 2:56

Yeah, great question, Scarlett. Originally we were gonna go out um Adelaide Way, but obviously it's Easter time. We booked pretty late, so we weren't able to make that happen. But um, going out still into the bush now, we're gonna be visiting um Cobar first. It's gonna be great. I think it's a long bus ride to get there, but then Silverton, going to Silverton Pub, it's gonna be great. Stage band and choir gonna be playing some sets there, then spending most of our time in Broken Hill, staying around some schools and getting to work with the kids there, um, doing music and ensembles and stuff. Then Hillston, and finally, we're gonna be finishing off with Leeton, which is really exciting because they have the Leeton Sunrise um Balloon Festival, which happens every year, and it's gonna be great to play there. Yeah.

Erin 3:40

Wow, that's really exciting. Um, for anyone who has never been on the music tour before, what is it actually like?

Leslie 3:46

Well, it's actually really exciting because it's it's just so much hard work. Like it's just you work hard, you play hard, and you rest hard.

Quincy 3:53

Yeah, just like G always says, you know?

Leslie 3:55

Yeah, yeah. But um, it's it's just like a fulfilling experience that you need to have at least once in your life, you know?

Quincy 4:03

Yeah, because you know, it's always really interesting to see the life that we have here and the life that they live out there is so different, even just all of us living in Australia. It's amazing for us to go out there to see the kind of life that they're living, to see what they experience, how their day-to-day is, and then for them to see how we work, how we roll, and just to really see how those two different um experiences can come together.

Leslie 4:27

And it's like really contrasting because the schools out there are absolutely tiny. It's like I think one of the last tours on Lightning Ridge had like 20 people in it, and we pulled up with like over a hundred people, and it was crazy.

Scarlett 4:41

Yep. So, what would you say that you are most excited about when it comes to performing in these towns?

Quincy 4:46

Definitely, it has to be the workshops we do with those kids. Man, they're like the most passionate music students I think I've ever worked with. They are all about it, they love it, and like it's always astounding to me the product that these kids can get with the resources they have, with such tiny schools, such small funding, um, getting to work with these kids, playing some music with them, them getting to experience working in larger ensembles and with musicians maybe of ours, like schools caliber, obviously, as a performing arts school. It's really great to go out there and experience it. Yeah.

Erin 5:22

Yeah. So one of the goals of the music tour is performing for schools that might not normally get the experience, to experience live performances. Uh, why do you think that's important?

Leslie 5:32

I think everyone should have the chance to see a live performance, especially like a a near professional live performance. It just helps you get that projection of your music career and your music life.

Quincy 5:46

Definitely. I feel like so much of what we take for granted here, getting to see huge artists coming, touring internationally around the world, coming here, we get to go see them. So much of that we take for granted, but it really shapes so much of our understanding of just the music in our world, whether it's us making it ourselves or just listening to it, and getting to take that experience to these kids out in the bush with the like with the red dirt, you know, it really broadens what they get to have as their understanding of music in general.

Scarlett 6:16

Yep, so do you think that that's one of the most meaningful parts of going on tour?

Quincy 6:22

Definitely, definitely. I mean, it's all fun to play some music, play some great tunes, but really it's about getting to share those two experiences between us and them, and them and us. Yeah.

Leslie 6:34

I really agree with that.

Erin 6:35

Thank you. Um, do you have a favorite piece that the band or choir will be will be performing on tour?

Quincy 6:41

Look, I think it definitely has to be our brilliant stage band leader, Archie. He's been working on a song with us called Kalashnikov. It's an arrangement of a song. It was really amazing. He got to come in with drafts of it, work with us as the band.

Leslie 6:54

I think it's been about like six months now, like that we've just been working on it every day, just like, well, actually every week, but um, every day that we come home and you practice the piece at home. And it's just it's a really interesting piece.

Quincy 7:06

And rewarding as well, getting to, you know, Archie comes to you at lunchtime, he says, What about this? I'm thinking about this for the trumpet part, like I'm wanting to add this into the song. How does this sound? He comes into rehearsal, you know, we run it and we go, Oh, that doesn't quite work. We take it home another week, we come back, and it's been really rewarding to see this piece grow with the band from the ground up. Yeah.

Scarlett 7:28

I would probably say that my like favourite stage band piece is probably Uptown Funk since all the band gets to join in and everything.

Leslie 7:34

Definitely, yeah. That's fun. Yeah.

Scarlett 7:36

Um, what are you most looking forward to outside of performing? Is it like the traveling or spending time with friends?

Quincy 7:43

I mean the memories. The memories that we build on tour, they're unforgettable. They last for decades. Decades. I'll remember them when I'm outside of school, when I'm probably maybe not friends with half these kids anymore. You know, I'll still remember going on tour with these guys and making some amazing mu- amazing music. Yeah.

Erin 7:58

Thank you. That sounds like such an amazing experience.

Scarlett 8:01

Before we wrap up, here's a quick rundown of what's happening or what's coming up at HSPA.

Erin 8:05

Music Tour is coming up very soon. So if you see the marching band, stage band, or choir rehearsing around the school, make sure to wish them luck.

Scarlett 8:14

Auditions are also underway for the junior production, so keep an eye out for ticket information coming soon.

Erin 8:19

Which happens every Tuesday and is a great opportunity for showcasing your talents. You can sign up through the Canvas or Students page.

Scarlett 8:26

And of course, Fun Fridays in the hall at lunchtime, with activities like just dance and volleyball happening each week.

Erin 8:32

Make sure you're checking your emails and canvas announcements regularly. HSPA offers so many opportunities, so you don't want to miss out.

Scarlett 8:40

That's it for today's episode of HSPA Mic'd Up.

Erin 8:43

Good luck to everyone heading off to the music tour. We can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.

Scarlett 8:48

Make sure to share this episode with your friends and tune in every fortnight when we drop a new episode with more great guests and updates from around the school.

Erin 8:55

And we'd love to hear from you. If you have any ideas on who we should interview or what we should talk about next, send your suggestions through the HSPA website. Thanks for listening. And remember, you heard it first on HSPA Mic'd Up.