Recently Scotch College attended the 31st Generations in Jazz in Mount Gambier. 77 Scotchies competed as part of our 8 choirs and 2 bands against 130 other schools from all over Australia. The atmosphere was incredible, almost indescribable.

Mount Gambier and the surrounding towns, every hotel, motel, cottage and home stay was filled to capacity for the annual event. Friday night thousands of students poured out of busses for the welcome concert in the James Morrison Pavilion: A mega tent with 5000 plus capacity, its 10 white pinnacles adorned with flags against a backdrop of green paddocks is in itself a spectacle that heightens the excitement.

On arrival we were treated to the remarkable Patti Austin. With 6 Grammy nominations and 1 win for Best Jazz Vocal Album she was unforgettable and showed us the true art of vocal Jazz improvisation, “Bp doo be dap, dup.”

The school competition ran on the Saturday from 8am until 5.30pm. With over 5000 students performing the event was an organisational master piece, with warm ups, performances and thousands of meals running to clockwork precision over the space of 9 hours.

The whole event was even bigger than last year with more schools entering more events, 2018 did not disappoint. Jazz bands compete across 5 different divisions and choirs across 4 divisions, with the difficulty increasing dramatically towards division 1.

The biggest division was the division 3 choir with 51 choirs entering. In contrast, division 1 small group had only 7 entrants. This shows the steep increase in difficulty between divisions. Scotch entered 8 choirs and 2 stage bands, the second most for any school. Our contestants ranged from years 7 to 12 and we competed across divisions 4 to 1!  Giving, in true Scotchie spirit, more of us a taste of what Generations in Jazz is all about. We applaud The Senior Soulette Septet who placed 3rd, an all-time best result in choirs for Scotch College!

Our Stage Band 1 entered in the 2nd division for the second time and amazingly increased our ranking to 6th place. I am so proud of our band and thank Mrs Briony Nickels for her hard work and encouragement and her excellent choice of music to suit our band’s strengths. I was lucky to be chosen out of 135 division 2 saxophones as Tenor 1 for the Division 2 Super Band. This is a very big deal in the Generations community as Division 1 and 2 super bands perform the set piece to the thousands of attending students on Sunday morning. I was very grateful to experience this in year 12 and it is something I’ll never forget!

That night we were blown away by The Cat Empire, their concert had most of us dancing in our chairs and cheering for more.

Sunday morning, a bit bleary eyed we took part in various workshops and concluded the festivities with a closing concert featuring the Idea of North, Blackburn High, 2017 Division 1 winners and the Division 1 and 2 Super Band performances. In his farewell address Mr James Morrison promised that next year will be even bigger with, believe this if you can, international schools competing!

The time we shared with each other at Generations in Jazz makes friendships and gives a new meaning to music. It makes music cool. Thank you, Dr. Hubmayer and all staff, for taking so many of us. We all really appreciate your time and efforts and for truly believing in all of us. In my humble opinion Generations is the best weekend of the year, it is an experience that we as scotchies will never forget. As Patti Austin said “This is the most soulful experience I have had in my life. You have rekindled my soul and the true meaning of Jazz. Thankyou.”

Will Burton
Scotch Music Captain 2018.