Course organiser:Roger Tindley with Neil Fleming
Presenter:Roger Tindley, Cathy Irons and another
6 Mar:
Roger Tindley on 'Aspiration - How musical are you?: Roger was the Head of Music Department in several UK High Schools prior to taking up a post as an Adviser/Inspector for Music in Schools. In this latter role he was responsible for organising instrumental tuition in schools and for the establishment of a part-time Music Centre with more than 2000 students and more than twenty separate activities. Roger will look at means of discovering musicality in prospective pupils and discusses the advisability of testing and assessment. The session will include non-confrontational games for members to enjoy and score points!
13 Mar:
Roger Tindley on 'Ambition - What would you like to learn?'': Roger looks at features that make certain instruments more suitable for young or older beginners. He discusses the relative merits of individual and group tuition and examines basic facets of technique by giving a ‘first lesson’ to U3A members en masse. There may be opportunity for the intrepid ‘guinea-pig’!
20 Mar:
Roger Tindley on 'Assessment - How well are you doing?': Roger explores the differences between examiner and adjudicator. He looks at the components of a typical ‘grade’ examination as well as other forms of assessment. Is competition an intimidating or challenging experience? Members are invited to try one or two features, such as ‘sight reading’, ‘viva voce’ or ‘ear tests’ for themselves. Collectively, of course!
27 Mar:
Cathy Irons on 'Alternative - Stepping off the stage': 20,000 lives enriched. 75 activities each year. 1 extraordinary programme! In this session we will be learning about the valuable contribution the CSO Outreach and Education Programme offers in building our community, as they bring music out of the concert hall and into people’s lives.
Cathy Irons is Outreach and Education Coordinator and a first violinist in the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Cathy studied violin and piano at the University of Natal and graduated with distinction for her Bachelor of Music (Honours) in Orchestral Performance. For 10 years she played violin as a member of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa. Growing up in the peak and then the breakdown of the apartheid years she became aware of the positive impact music had in drawing together people of different ages, races and backgrounds. She immigrated to Christchurch in 1997 with her young family.
3 Apr:
Carolyn Pritchard on 'Achievement - The specialist music programme': After her initial training in Auckland Carolyn quickly developed enthusiasm for choral and orchestral activity in schools. She has worked as a private piano teacher, a ballet pianist and an accompanist for examination candidates but has concentrated on her school-based work since being in Christchurch. She says, “Westburn boasts an exceptionally talented school orchestra which has developed over the years with many a pupil going on to bigger things in music once they have left school.” The ‘live’ aspects of Carolyn’s session will depend entirely on the availability of school performers on April 3rd.