Nil Sine Labore is the motto of Brisbane Girls Grammar School, which commissioned this work for ceremonial occasions for their school community. The motto is emblematic of the school’s instrumental music program and its Coordinator of Bands, Laurinda Davidson – Nothing Without Work.
The work is a grand ceremonial prelude, or a recessional. It displays the resilience and strength of the young woman who graduate from the school to take part in all walks of life. It is resonant of the students who assemble each week to make music together in the five bands the school hosts, striving as they do, through hard work, to ensure the finest artistic outcomes and to celebrate their own and their colleague’s achievements.