Students have made music at Ormond since the very beginning.
While bands and choirs came later, informal music making arrived with the first Ormond students. Soon after the College opened it acquired a piano for general use and the Students’ Club purchased sheet music for popular songs to play and sing. By the 1890s, students were giving concerts to raise money for a College gymnasium. The performers weren’t music students as the College wasn’t yet home to any; instead it was talented musicians from other faculties. Ormond has such a history of these multi-skilled students that it now has several scholarships specifically for such individuals.
In the decades before recorded music was readily available, playing and singing was one of the only ways to relax to a tune at Ormond. When recorded music did arrive with the College’s first wireless in the 1930s, students still made their own music; in particular the College’s first Music students, who appeared at about the same time.
Students performing in a ‘Rock Off’ in the Junior Common Room in 2014.
Music students and those in other faculties alike contributed to one of the main forums for informal music at Ormond for 40 years: Pleasant Sunday Evenings, known as PSEs. Here musical performances were interspersed with poetry readings, debating and other cultural activities; the evenings were so popular that for a while they also ran on Wednesdays. PSEs began during the Mastership of Davis McCaughey, who was known for giving readings of Keats in his lilting Irish accent; at that time the evenings were also noted for Jean McCaughey’s cakes.
In the ensuing decades PSEs were eclectic. One year the program opened with a Rachmaninov concerto; another French-themed evening featured Gallic poetry, food and composers. Other years there were jazz recitals, Ghanaian drumming and performances on everything from harp to recorder. In 1999 a Czerny piano competition attracted fierce competition, not least from Master Hugh Collins who stole the show with a rendition of Land of Hope and Glory arranged in the style of the nominated composer.
An Ormond student band called ‘Blueberry Jam’ performing in the 1980s.
More recently, Ormond repurposed the Lodge to serve as music, art and design hub; it now holds music practice rooms and its airy ambience is the setting for recitals and concerts. Ormond has also had success in the intercollegiate Battle of the Bands; with fierce competition to even secure the nomination as Ormond’s competitor.
A drummer performing in a ‘Rock Off’ in the Junior Common Room in 2014.
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Every Ormondian has their own unique experience of College life, and their own story to tell. Were you involved in music at Ormond? Share your favourite story with us.
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