During QBOC2010, at the start of the second conducting masterclass, Timothy Reynish took the opportunity to show delegates a few warm up and tune up techniques. Luckily the video was running and so here they are. The videos are quite short and each features just one exercise to get the band listening and playing in tune.
Tim Reynish band warmup, part 1
Tim Reynish band warmup, part 2
Tim Reynish band warmup, part 3
Tim Reynish band
warmup, part 4
For those who couldn’t make it to QBOC2010, here’s a quick peek at what you missed. BoB (Greg Aitken, Bob Schultz, Mitchell Buckley, Armin Terzer and Matthew McGeachin) entertained the delegates at the
ABODA 25th Anniversary Dinner on Saturday night and also the following day with latin and jazz repertoire. Here’s a short video of their performance on Sunday.
The final day of QBOC2010. Today’s sessions included:
and performances by BoB, the Canterbury College Ritornello and the Hillbrook Wind Symphony.
You can see all the photos from
Day 3 here.
Canterbury College Ritornello
Canterbury College is a co-educational Anglican School of 1400 students from PrePrep through Year 12. The college supports a music program of 400 students involved in seven choirs, four string orchestras, a symphony orchestra, two stage bands, three concert bands and numerous chamber ensembles. The Canterbury College Ritornello is focused on developing the talents of the most advanced string students and is led by Mrs Belinda Williams, a former member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
Hillbrook Wind Symphony
Hillbrook is a co-educational Anglican secondary school of approximately 600 students. It was founded in 1987 by a group of teachers looking for a different approach to traditional schooling systems. Hillbrook Music is an energetic and dynamic program with a strong connectedness between academic and co-curricular studies. The Wind Symphony is Hillbrook’s senior concert band. It is made up of students from years 8 to 12. In recent years this ensemble has had the opportunity to work with guests including, Ralph Hultgren, Dr Matthew George, John Reynolds and Frank Ticheli. The Wind Symphony has also shared the stage with some of Australia’s finest bands including Queensland Wind Orchestra, Queensland Conservatorium Wind Orchestra, Queensland Youth Orchestra ensembles and touring ensembles.
The Canterbury College Ritornello opened the concert with the Holberg Suite, Op. 40 (“Suite in olden style”) by Edvard Grieg (Kalmus). Hillbrook Wind Symphony followed with:
Washington Post March, John Philip Sousa arr. Jay Bocook (Music Works)
Klezmer Dances, Stephen Bulla (Curnow Music)
Fate of the Gods, Steven Reineke (Barnhouse)
The students’ performances were a credit to their schools and
their directors (Belinda Williams and David Jones) and the concert was well-received and appreciated by the delegates, parents and friends.
One of the last sessions at QBOC2010 was a panel discussion. The panelists were:
The panel explored many viewpoints relating to conductor preparation and ways in which ABODA QLD can collaborate with tertiary institutions, the QSO, and Education Queensland to help better prepare conductors for their first few years of
teaching, and to help more experienced conductors continually develop their craft and improve their teaching practice.
I think all delegates were encouraged by the responses from the panelists and the future of conductor training and professional development in Queensland looks very bright.
Jemima Bunn completed a Bachelor of Education at The University of Melbourne in 1996. She completed her Masters in Music Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 2001–2002 where she undertook research in curriculum studies and the comparison of the affect of standards-based education on a global level, and investigated historical perspectives of Australian music education applying the results in the analysis of pedagogical trends. Jemima has served as a committee member and Vice-President of ABODA Victoria, taking over as President in 2008. She has helped organise and run the Melbourne Summer Conducting Clinic and various other professional development activities. In 2006 she received an ABODA Excellence Award for her work as an ensemble director and music educator. Jemima currently works as Director of Music at Glen Waverley Secondary College in Melbourne.
Joanne Heaton is currently the Director of Music at Camberwell High School in Melbourne. She completed a Bachelor of Education (Music) at the Melbourne University Institute of Education in 1992, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Education Studies in 1994. Joanne completed a Masters of Music majoring in Conducting Performance at the University of Utah. She is in demand as an adjudicator, conductor, guest lecturer and educative consultant in the USA and Australia and has served as the music education representative for a curriculum writing project for the Utah State Office of Education. Joanne has been a guest lecturer and conductor at Monash University, and in 2000 she was awarded the Jordan Education Foundation’s Outstanding Educator of the Year for her work in Utah schools. Joanne was invited to be the guest conductor of the Southern Mississippi University Honor Band in February 2007.
Jemima and Jo co-presented a session called ‘Making ensemble count: a curriculum-based approach to performance through band’. In this session they were ably supported by the students from the Hillbrook Wind Symphony. The presenters discussed the importance of establishing educationally sound decision making processes within the planning of ensemble rehearsals, repertoire and performances. They talked about many different rehearsal techniques and having the live band there to immediately demonstrate the effect of these techniques
was invaluable. The presenters are superb music educationalists and this was evident from the depth of study that had gone into this presentation.
Download Jemima and Joanne’s handout Making Ensemble Count from this presentation.
Ralph Hultgren is Head of Pre-Tertiary Studies, Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, and the Academic and Artistic leader of the Pre-Tertiary program Young Conservatorium. He also lectures in Composition, Conducting, Music Education and Instrumental Music Pedagogy. He conducts the Queensland Conservatorium South Bank Wind Ensemble, Queensland Conservatorium’s premiere wind group, and lectures in conducting and instrumental music education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Ralph’s compositions are published by Brolga Music.
The title of this session was ‘Beyond the baton and beating time: what other things need to be considered?’ and in it Ralph Hultgren used humorous anecdotes to explain many of the things conductors forget when they are so concentrated on the difficulty of the repertoire.
Ralph’s experience has been invaluable during QBOC2010 and ABODA QLD looks forward to many more years collaborating with and drawing on Ralph’s experience and expertise.
Download Ralph’s handout from this presentation.
David Maddick graduated from the Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne University. He spent ten years as a vocalist and instrumentalist on stage and in television, and later as a jingle writer and music director in a recording studio. He was Principal Tutor of Strings at The Southport School and All Saints Anglican School on the Gold Coast. In 2004 he was appointed Head of Strings at Villanova College, a position he held until moving to St. Peters Lutheran College, Indooroopilly, as Head of Strings and Voice and Director of Orchestras. David now teaches at Kelvin Grove State College and Wilston State School with Education Queensland. He is a lecturer at the Conservatorium of Music, teaching String Pedagogy.
David’s session was titled ‘A band director’s worst nightmare: instructing string players in the high school orchestra’ and it was an extremely useful session for those band directors faced with the challenge of directing string players when they have no first-hand experience of string instruments themselves. David showed the delegates many useful techniques, including various seat placements string
sections have historically used and the differences these make to the sound of the section. David’s experience and enthusiasm were obvious to all and his session was very well received.
Many thanks to the Canterbury College Ritornello for helping with David’s presentation.
Another great
day at QBOC2010. Today’s presenters included:
and performances by the Brisbane Contemporary Jazz Orchestra and the Queensland Wind Orchestra.
Here are some photos from Day 2.
The full gallery can be seen on Flickr here.
Day 2 of QBOC2010 finished in fine style with a concert by the Queensland Wind Orchestra led by Timothy Reynish. The program consisted of modern British wind band repertoire–repertoire of which Tim Reynish has an intimate knowledge. Tim conducted the majority of the concert with ABODA QLD President Dr Lewes Peddell conducting Tails Aus Dem Vood Viennoise by Bill Connor.
The program:
Masque — Kenneth Hesketh (Faber Music)
Tails Aus Dem Vood Viennoise — Bill Connor (Maecenas Music)
Song of Lir — Fergal Carroll (Maecenas Music)
Yiddish Dances — Adam Gorb (Maecenas Music)
Here is a video of the first piece from the program, Kenneth Hesketh’s Masque.
Congratulations to the two conductors and the Queensland Wind Orchestra for an excellent performance. The repertoire was extremely challenging and took a high degree of musicianship to bring to life. I look forward to the day when more wind ensembles in Australia can perform repertoire like we heard tonight at the highest levels as exemplified by the QWO.
Bravo!