Nurture by Edward Fairlie. Eltham High School Symphonic Band - Conductor Rick Keenan

Performance from the Eltham High School Celebration of Music Concert, September 14, 2015

“Nurture” is lovingly dedicated to former music administrator at Eltham High School, Jill Browne, who is a living embodiment of the word.

There are some people for whom the act of nurturing is innate. If you are fortunate, you have such a person in your life, helping you to thrive. Perhaps without you even realising.

This person would rather starve before you felt hungry, would freeze before you felt cold. The work they do is often unheralded; acknowledgement of their efforts the last thing on their mind. But nurturers carry pain, too. Their own burdens, anxieties and hardships often take a back seat to that nurturing impulse.
This piece is a meditation on that idea; that some people, not without their own deep personal obstacles, can’t help but live out the powerful instinct to hold those around them in a warm embrace of care.

Eltham High School Symphonic Band

The Symphonic Band is the most senior of four wind ensembles at Eltham High School. Over many years the band has built a prestigious reputation both locally and internationally. 2014 was an exciting year for the Music Department, as the Symphonic Band and Stage Band toured the USA in December. As part of this tour they had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s greatest composers and educators, as well as attend concerts by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, United States Air Force Band, United States Navy Band and the Sibelius Academy Wind Ensemble. The Symphonic Band also presented at the Midwest Clinic assisting Dr. Ingrid Martin & Jodie Blackshaw with their repertoire and education clinics.