Sydney Eisteddfod – Rehearsing for Life

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of watching our students take to the stage, having prepared for months, bringing something deeply personal and technically demanding to an audience of strangers and judges. I am reminded every year of just how much is happening beneath the surface of these performances. The nerves, the discipline, the courage, and the joy.

Tonight, that journey reaches its pinnacle for two of our ensembles. Our Year 2 Choir and our Senior Singers will both compete in the Eisteddfod Choral Finals – The John Lamble Championship for Youth Choirs – having each claimed first place in their respective sections earlier in the competition. To watch a group of our youngest students stand alongside one of our most accomplished senior ensembles on the same finals stage is, for me, a beautiful expression of what music at Meriden looks like from beginning to end.

The Breadth of Music at Meriden

While we have seen wonderful results, what has struck me most this Eisteddfod season is not any single result. It is the sheer breadth of our participation. Across the past fortnight, Meriden has had thirteen ensembles compete, spanning Junior and Senior School, choral and instrumental, chamber and symphonic. From our youngest singers to our Symphony Orchestra, from our Big Band to our Chamber Strings, group after group of Meriden students has taken the stage and represented the School with skill and character.

Outstanding Instrumental Achievements

Two instrumental results deserve special mention. Yesterday, our Sinfonia claimed first place in the Intermediate Youth School Orchestra section, a wonderful achievement that speaks to the strength of our orchestral program from the middle years up. And last night, our Symphony Orchestra took the title in the Secondary School Premium Symphony Orchestra section with a breathtaking performance of Dvořák that drew glowing praise from the adjudicator, both for the girls’ playing and for the conducting of Ms Spooner-Ryan. To lead a student orchestra to that standard, on that stage, with that repertoire, is a remarkable achievement, and one the whole School community should celebrate.

I genuinely believe the depth of our music program, measured by the number and diversity of ensembles we are able to field at this level of competition, is rare, and something our community should be enormously proud of.

Why Music Matters

Beyond the results, I want to share something of why I believe music and the performing arts sit at the very heart of what we do here, and why they matter for our students in ways that extend far beyond the stage.

Research continues to build a compelling case for the developmental power of music education. A study published through the University of Southern California found that participation in music education contributes meaningfully to what researchers call “positive youth development,” a framework that measures competence, confidence, character, caring, and connection. Students who engaged with music demonstrated stronger school connectedness and greater hope about their futures. The researchers noted that music may be one of the most powerful activities available to help students develop skills and competencies, work through their emotions, engage in identity formation, and build community.

More recent research published in 2024 looked specifically at ensemble performance. The researchers found that adolescents participating in ensemble music programs developed a wide range of life skills, including communication, collaboration, resilience, and the ability to perform under pressure. Crucially, the study highlighted the unique contribution of learning to make music together, of listening as much as playing, of holding your part while trusting that others hold theirs.

This is, of course, exactly what a choir or an orchestra demands. And it is exactly the kind of experience that forms the character of a young woman.

Educating the Whole Person

At Meriden, we talk often about educating the whole person. We believe that who our students become matters at least as much as what they achieve. Music and the performing arts are not a supplement to that goal. They are central to it. They ask our students to be vulnerable and precise at the same time. To be individual and collective. To fail in rehearsal and return the next day. To stand before an audience and trust what they have prepared.

I have watched girls find their confidence in music who struggled to find it elsewhere. I have seen friendships forged in the pressure of performance that have lasted well beyond school. I have heard from alumnae who still count their involvement in choral groups or the orchestra as among the most formative experiences of their years at Meriden.

With Pride and Gratitude

To the students who have competed this season, and to our Year 2 Choir and Senior Singers who will take the finals stage tonight, know that we are immensely proud. Not only of the results, but of everything that brought you to them.

And to our wonderful music department: your passion and expertise are a gift to this school and a gift to our students. You are simply extraordinary. Thank you.