The Thistle - An E-Newsletter of Scotch College, Perth, Western Australia

From the Head of Middle School

One of the most frequent snippets of feedback I hear from former students is, that in hindsight they wished they had continued on with a musical instrument whilst they were at school or had gotten involved in drama production. With the freedom to run their lives, to choose how they spend their spare time, huge numbers of 18yo+ seek out bands, go to concerts, circus, talent, comedy or theatre performances and they save their money and travel the country to attend festivals that are weekends of colour, music, dancing, laughter and creativity. Why? Because it is fun, enjoyable, it feels great. The performing arts and all the permutations it can come in is a celebration of human ingenuity and innovation. However, as our past students often tell us, they recognise that it is the performers, the guys in the band, the crew that are onstage who are having the most fun. They wish they were up there too but feel it is too late to have a go.

For the vast majority of kids who take up Music and Drama at school and learn an instrument or memorise a script, it is not about embarking on a performing arts career pathway. It is about enjoyment, an inner satisfaction that comes in part from utilising that latent streak of creativity in all of us. The Arts, both performing and productive, is an enjoyable pathway to take; it is fun, very satisfying and very cool. This week 'James and the Giant Peach' the first of the 3 dramatic productions Scotch delivers each year takes to the stage in the Foundation Theatre for a short but very exciting three performance season, from Thursday to Saturday. For those that have never thought of the performing arts as something for them, or do not want to leave school and say, I wish I'd had a go at some more drama when I was at school, I urge you to come and see "James and the Giant Peach" and we will see if we can inspire you for next year.

Mr Richard Ledger
Head of Middle School