Week Ten

10/19/2019

I have been so fortunate over the past three and a half weeks to have a plethora of musical experiences that I never imagined would even be available to me. First and foremost, I was grants the opportunity to travel with my high school as a teacher, mentor, chorister and soloist on their 2019 European Music Tour to Austria, Budapest, Prague and Germany. The experiences I was fortunate enough to have on this tour were so valuable and allowed me to learn from my former music teachers in a new capacity, and interact with them as a colleague. I was able to observe all the organisation and planning that goes into not only planning and rehearsing for a tour, but also during the tour itself. I also found myself implementing strategies I had learned in the Orff unit, especially using one word and very simplified instructions to save not only my voice, but communicate more clearly with the students. I also was able to get valuable advice from not only my own teachers and colleagues, but conductors and directors who ran masterclasses for the girls. Overall, it was an incredible experience, and I feel so lucky to have been a part of it. In the previous week I have also been a part of the Sydney Conservatorium's performance of Jandamarra by Paul Stanhope. As a passionate chorister and aspiring choral director, I really enjoyed watching Liz Scott rehearse the choirs, and see how she interacted differently with each group according to their needs and experience. I also just really enjoyed the music and the performance - it was such a fun and memorable experience and I felt so privileged to be involved. ​ Finally I have been preparing for a performance with the Filmharmonia Orchestra as a volunteer chorister, which has been an entirely different experience, as I've been able to watch an honours student conduct and rehearse the choir, in a completely different manner to both my own former teachers, and Liz Scott. I think being able to watch all these different conductors and teachers has been an incredible experience, because I get to learn from their experience and from observing them, and build upon what I learn from them in my own work and learning. My guitar practice has been less of a focus in these past weeks (especially while I was in Europe), but I hope to get back into it in the following week, and hopefully I haven't forgotten anything.