SENIOR SCHOOL
Simon conquers the ‘king of instruments’ –
scholarship leads to music awards
Year 9 student Simon McDowell
joined the School in 2013, as one of our
outstanding scholarship recipients – awarded
both an academic and a music scholarship,
with a focus on the organ. Fast forward just
two years, and Simon is not only the School’s
Senior Organ Scholar, but he is also winning
competitions for his talent.
small local church outside of school so that I
could gain some church service experience.”
“I must admit that learning the ‘king of
instruments’ is extremely hard, but all of
the long hours of practice are paying off.
Sometimes it feels like I am constantly
surrounded by the sound of organ music! It
is hard work but I also find a great deal of joy
in the music and I feel it will always be a part
of my life.”
Simon’s interest in music started when he
was five years old, when he started taking
piano lessons, soon adding percussion and
clarinet lessons to his program.
Simon was introduced to the organ initially
by the Headmaster, Mr Stephen Webber,
when he was given a tour of the Chapel
during his scholarship interview in 2012.
“I was very curious and keen to find out
how the stops, pedals and manuals worked
together on this instrument, all at the
same time. A few days later, the Organ
Scholarship was offered to me by Mr
Webber. My lessons were to start in a few
months, under the tutelage of respected
organist, Alessandro Pittorino.”
more difficult repertoire, such as Bach and
Messiaen. “I use all my school holidays and
weekends to study music theory and do as
much as practice as I can. In 2015, my organ
teacher placed me as the organ scholar in a
In May 2015, Simon was awarded first prize
in the Classical Pipe Organ Competitions,
for both Baroque music and non-Baroque
music in the under-15 section at Fremantle
Eisteddfod. He is now challenging himself
with a new repertoire in preparation for the
upcoming Sydney Organ Competition.
As a member of WA Organ Society for Young
Organists, in 2014 Simon was invited to
attend the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Organ Academy Improvising Workshop and
the Sydney Organ Competition. Inspired on
his return, Simon’s commitment to working
hard and practicing regularly were reinforced,
as was his commitment to receiving
advanced AMEB grades in both theory and
practice to enable him to play some of the
Year 7 Camp
Photo Competition
To raise the bar on the quality of the
photographs taken on school camps, Mr
Ashby held a photography competition
for the boys on the Year 7 camp.
Congratulations to the following boys for
their winning entries:
• Winner – People category –
Cooper Anspach
• Winner – Non-people category –
Jakson Bowran
The boys were each awarded a gift voucher
from Getaway Outdoors in Midland and had
their photos displayed in the Hamilton Library.
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