| Time | Presenter | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00am – 8:45am | Registration | |
| 8:45am – 9:00am | Jocelyn Kotchie | Opening Address by Conference Co-Chair |
| 9:00am – 9:30am | Lionel Cranfield | Hybrid Piano Advancement |
| 9:30am – 10:30am | Valerie Lang | No Time for Aural? Exploring ways to include aural and listening skills during your instrumental lessons |
| 10:30am – 11:00am | Morning Tea | Provided |
| 11:00am – 11:45am | Cecilia Sun | Performance Practices of the Classical Era | 11:45am – 12:15pm | Paul Tunzi | The Life of a Piano Technician |
| 12:15pm – 1:00pm | Anastasia Buettner-Moore | Flipped Learning Online |
| 1:00pm – 2:00pm | Lunch | University Club / Bring your own |
| 2:00pm – 2:45pm | Katherine Smith | Don’t just sit there! Dalcroze-inspired instrumental learning |
| 2:45pm – 3:45pm | Simone Collins | Demystifying the Web |
| 3:45pm – 4:15pm | Afternoon Tea | Provided |
| 4:15pm – 4:25pm | Anastasia Buettner-Moore | Energy Booster |
| 4:25pm – 5:15pm | Jocelyn Kotchie | Colour Play – simplifying the reading process |
| 5:15pm – 6:15pm | Shuan Hern Lee | Recital |
| 6:30pm – 8:00pm | Sundowner and Close of Conference | |
Topic Overviews
‘Hybrid Piano Advancement’ – Lionel Cranfield
Is a new, cheaper digital better or worse for the student than a 100 year old piano? Old and poor condition second hand pianos are being offered as “great to learn on” by unwitting and uncaring importers. This workshop will look at the importance of a traditional piano not just being mechanically playable but being musically competent to allow sensitive, dynamic and colourful playing both for teaching and in performance.
With huge advancements over the past 5 years in hybrid pianos such as the Kawai Novus 10 (grand) and Kawai Novus 5 (upright), with traditional piano actions, dampers and the ability to be played musically and sensitively with similar touch as a traditional quality piano, they present a great option, including in a teaching environment.
‘No Time for Aural? Exploring ways to include aural and listening skills during your instrumental lessons‘ – Valerie Lang
There just never seems to be enough time in an instrumental lesson to include many of the musical skills and concepts which contribute to developing ‘well-rounded’ musicians!
This session looks at ways to integrate singing and listening in your weekly lessons to encourage students to regularly practise and develop their aural skills. A little bit of forward planning and using some of these tips and tricks may help with this often neglected area of examination preparation.
‘Performance Practices of the Classical Era‘ – Cecilia Sun
This session will introduce participants to the late 18th-century fortepiano—the instrument for which Mozart, Haydn, and the young Beethoven wrote most of their keyboard music. We will discuss the distinctive characteristics of the 18th-century piano, the impact that had on the way composers wrote for the instrument, and what we can transfer when playing this repertoire on a modern piano.
‘The Life of a Piano Technician‘ – Paul Tunzi
After 300 years of the piano’s existence, Paul will talk about the present day challenges of the piano technician and how to preserve their precious skills into the future – an issue of concern for all pianists and piano teachers.
‘Flipped Learning Online‘ – Anastasia Buettner-Moore
Teaching online is an effective and essential skill required in current studio teaching practices. This session gives teachers some of the leading tools and strategies to handle teaching multiple students with ease and accelerate their learning through a flipped learning model, plus ways to maximise efficiency through easy resource creation.
‘Don’t Just Sit There! Dalcroze-inspired instrumental teaching‘ – Katherine Smith
Dalcroze Eurhythmics is an embodied and experiential way of learning music. It is a sound-before-symbol approach, meaning that students experience musical concepts aurally rather than learning about them through notation alone. It is also a kinaesthetic experience – physical movement is used to make abstract musical concepts tangible and in doing so, bridges the gap between “head knowledge” and a deep understanding of how music works. This session looks at the application of the Dalcroze philosophy to instrumental learning. Dalcroze-trained teachers use active listening, improvisation and embodiment at every stage of learning so that students are actively experiencing – not just learning about – music. In the instrumental lesson, Dalcroze-inspired games and activities are an effective and fun way to develop the musicianship skills, artistic feeling and conceptual understanding of your students. This hands-on session will present ideas for developing the sense of beat and metre, preparing new or difficult rhythms, teaching phrasing, and more.
‘Demystifying the Web‘ – Simone Collins
Does putting together a website for your music teaching business seem too hard, too confusing, too expensive, and just not worth the effort? Delve into why a website is invaluable beyond it just being a marketing tool, learn what all the jargon means, and see a range of solutions suitable for teachers from the simplest and cheapest through to more customisable and professional.
‘Colour Play’ – Jocelyn (Jo) Kotchie
Learning to read music is a complicated business – especially for young children – and as teachers we struggle to find ways to teach these skills in a way that makes sense for the child without overly stretching their cognitive abilities.
Jo’s ‘Colour Play’ method allows the child to develop a consistent and reliable visual connection with the notes as they are learned, in a way that provides context for the child without detracting from the fun and joy that all children should be experiencing as they go about the business of music making.
The process is simple, the results are quick and the child develops a healthy self confidence in being able to apply new found knowledge to her or his instrument.
Not just for young children, this is a method which can be applied effectively with all ages and with any type of music.