Music has the capacity to engage, entertain, challenge, inspire and empower students. Studying music stimulates imaginative and innovative responses, critical thinking and aesthetic understanding, and encourages students to reach their creative and expressive potential.
Music exists distinctively in every culture and is a basic expression of human experience. Students’ active participation in music, individually and collaboratively, draws on their own traditions and life experiences. These experiences help them to appreciate and meaningfully engage with music practices and traditions of other times, places, cultures and contexts.
At East Fremantle Primary students in Pre-Primary to Year 6 receive a weekly Music lesson in a well-resourced, dedicated music room. Students participate in singing, movement, improvisation and composition, and lessons are structured sequentially to develop music literacy and a lifelong love of music. In the upper years all students have the opportunity to develop instrumental skills and take part in recorder, xylophone and ukulele programs.
At East Fremantle, singing is an integral feature of assemblies and ceremonies. Assemblies regularly feature musical items, and each assembly finishes on a high note with a whole school community song.
For those students seeking further singing experiences, the EFPS Choir is a non-auditioned, large vocal ensemble consisting of over 70 students in Year 4 to Year 6. Rehearsals run weekly before school for 50 minutes, and performances occur regularly at assemblies and events throughout the year. Students have previously performed as part of the Massed Choir Festival at the Perth Concert Hall, and also the Western Australian Government Schools Music Society (WAGSMS) Concert series, held at Crown Theatre.
At EFPS over 60 students from Years 3 to 6 learn an instrument through the Instrumental Music School Service (IMSS). Visiting teachers provide lessons on Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Flute and Brass. Students in years 2, 3 and 4 are tested using the Musical Aptitude Indicator provided by IMSS, and those who demonstrate high aptitude are selected and offered positions in the program.
Year 5 and 6 string students join the EFPS Orchestra, and perform at assemblies and events all year round. The Orchestra has previously performed at the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association festival held at Churchlands Senior High School. They have also rehearsed with students from John Curtin College of the Arts, and performed in a combined primary & secondary orchestra.
The music program caters for all abilities, including high achieving students. EFPS students are consistently accepted into Musical Theatre and Music programs at John Curtin College of the Arts.