St Stithians College Preparatory Marimba Festival 2016

Author: Mike Sibanda

St Stithians College hosted the 11th Preparatory Marimba Festival on the 20th of September 2016. The festival brings together over 200 children to share and enjoy vibrant marimba music as one. The participating schools each prepare a programme of 4 pieces that they present at the festival as a school. However, the highlights of the festival are the combined items that all the schools perform together on over 170 marimbas played by over 200 children at the same time.

This year we had a total of 8 schools participating with over 200 boys and girls in total. We had Auckland Park Preparatory, Brescia House, De La Salle Preparatory, Holy Rosary School, St Johns Preparatory, Redhill School, St Stithians Girls’ Preparatory and St Stithians Boys’ Preparatory.

The evening’s performances began with the first combined piece, “Marimbanation” which was performed by all the participating schools. Starting off with soft melodies by the lead players the hall was soon filled with vibrant, rhythmic and harmonious sounds as all the players joined in. The audience was in for a treat. The different schools then each took to the stage to perform their different programmes. The audience was kept entertained as a wide repertoire of music from different genres arranged and composed for marimba was presented.

To close the evening all the schools got back onto stage to perform the final combined item. With choreographed dances infused in the music and all the children having the time of their lives on stage the festival came to an end. Thank you to the Rector, Dr Tim Nutall for his support in the growth of marimba at St Stithians College.

We look forward to an even bigger marimba festival next year and call on our Saints community to come in numbers to support our Girls and Boys Marimba Bands.