The Arts have been important to the life of the school since the very beginning; that pioneer first class performed a musical at the end of the very first year.

When Mr Murray Averill was first establishing secondary education at NCC, he pondered the legacy of churches across the centuries and the fact that the College was a ministry of the church. He thought of their contribution to the Arts and felt that the College could really ‘make a mark’ in that area.

He also considered the possibility of training up worship leaders and musicians for the churches who were represented in the College.

Both of those dreams came to fruition.

The Arts have certainly ‘made their mark’ in the years since. Music, Visual Art, Drama, the making of sets and props for the musicals, the choirs, the bands and orchestras – they have all contributed to the excellent standard of performances and art pieces that play a significant part in the legacy of the College.

Regarding the worship in churches, Mr Averill later reflected, “And then, one day, I was looking up (in chapel), and the whole platform was students for the first time. Every musician, every singer, was a student. And we had this vision, what if in the churches across the north side of Brisbane, and on every platform there was a former or a current Northside Christian College student…”.

The Instrumental Music Program is one piece in this mosaic of creativity and has two parts: private lessons, which are rostered throughout the week, and the Thursday Class Program for Years Four, Five and Six, which involve small group lessons as part of the Junior School Timetable.

In 1994, the second year that Mr Averill was Principal, Mrs Julianne Hamilton was employed to set up the private part of the instrumental music program. In the second half of that year, over 60 students were involved in learning a variety of instruments. At the end of the first term of the following year, an Instrumental Concert was held to showcase the achievements after three terms. By 1998, there were 130 students being taught to play about fifteen different instruments.

In 2002, Mr Malcolm Elvery was appointed as the Coordinator for the Instrumental program, and in that same year, a Year Four Violin program was initiated with Mrs Margaret Larking as teacher. This involved dividing each class into two groups. The class teacher retained half the class while Miss Larking taught violin to the other half. In this way, every Year Four student was introduced to learning how to play the violin.

At the end of the year, the students were given the choice to continue with the violin, learn another instrument or stop learning an instrument. Thus began the optional Year Five and Six program.

In 2010, the Year Fours were included in the same program format as the Fives and Sixes and the whole-class approach, being taught at that time by Miss Tiana Robinson (now Mrs Angus), ceased.

In 1998, the very first Junior Orchestral Ensemble was formed under the leadership of Mrs Julie Flint, one of the instrumental teachers.

In 1999, Mr Maitlohn Drew formed ‘The Refrigerators’, a group of Year 12 students who performed as a band for ‘Esther-Queens of Hearts’ and impressed the community with their high level of professionalism. In the same year, the Middle School Instrumental Ensemble was formed by Mrs Flint and Mr Bruce Smith-Cotteril. Mr Smith-Cotterell and Mr Peter McClenaghan led the Junior School Band, Prima Facie’.

Since then, there has been steady growth in the number of students, variety of instruments and different groups of musicians forming bands, ensembles, quartets, orchestras and many more.

One of the factors of the success of the program is the number of teachers who have stayed for long periods and established high standards. In addition to Mrs Tiana Angus (already mentioned), some of these people (who have been here for twenty years or more) are Mrs Debbie Bradford, Mrs Leanne Rogers and Mr Peter Howlett.

The current Instrumental Coordinator, Mr Chris George, commented, “During the pandemic lockdowns, many people decided they wanted to work from home, wanted a pet, and wanted to learn piano. Many new students signed up, and we put two extra piano staff on to handle the load! Again, we’re near capacity!”

Currently, there are 13 members of staff teaching 380 students. These students play 14 different types of instruments in 14 bands, orchestras and ensembles.

There is more to tell in future newsletters about other parts of the Arts program on campus but it is true to say that the program has flourished and the vision come to pass.

- Mrs Bev Starrenburg, College Archivist.