AUSTA News 2024
2020 AGM Reports
The AUSTA AGM took place on Thursday November 26 online via Zoom. Relevant reports can be found below: To read or download the Presidents Report for the 2020 AGM click HERE To read or download the Treasurer Report for the 2020 AGM click HERE To read or download the Stringendo Report for the 2020 AGM click HERE To read or download the Social Media Report for the 2020 AGM click HERE For access to the Chapter Reports, please click on the relevant Chapter below: ACT NSW QLD SA TAS …
The National Conference dates moved to Friday 1 July – Monday 4 July 2022
After much discussion, the National Executive has decided to delay the next National Conference to 2022. This gives time for us to better understand what the future of conferences and large gatherings will be, and to work safely with our sponsors, international presenters and of course our members, in order to provide the best conference under whatever circumstances may be at play. The conference will be held in Melbourne and the dates have been confirmed as Friday July 1 – Monday July 4, 2022. Please make a note in your forward planner, and we look forward to seeing you there.
Loreta Fin 2018 Conference notes retraction
It has come to my attention that one of the papers I authored and presented at the 2018 AUSTA National String Conference in Perth and included on the AUSTA Website Resources page was flagged as problematic with regards to copyright and permission of some elements of the content. The paper indeed contained images that acknowledge the author Barbara Barber, but did not thoroughly refer to copyright, and indeed permission had not been sought from the author for the use of the images in the paper. My intention in including the images was simply to support the concepts and make delegates…
AUSTA VIC – 40 Years of Newsletters
The first AUSTA VIC Newsletter was published at the end of
AUSTA Patron Richard Gill Honoured
AUSTA patron Richard Gill has recently received an Arts Leadership Award. Angus McPherson’s article, recently published in Limelight
Australian Honours for Elizabeth Morgan AM
AUSTA Founding Chair and Patron, Elizabeth Morgan has been recognised in the 2013 Australian Queen
How to improve String Technique and Musicianship
(in just twenty minutes a day!) Music, perhaps more than any other human activity, enlists the synthetic cooperation of intellect, creativity and athleticism. As a physician and psychotherapist who spent nearly a decade working with students of classical music, I was deeply impressed by this inextricable interrelationship between mind and body. Eventually I devised a method of practice designed to enhance the technical and musical abilities of string players, and I am pleased to reintroduce it here for Stringendo readers. First, a few general observations. Listening closely to string players one can over time distinguish superior from inferior technical ability…
How I Teach The Bass
My teaching methods have changed markedly over the years, partly through experience but also from my solo work and commissioning many new works for double bass. Three of my teachers (Laurence Gray, Bronwen Naish and Franti
The Joys of Teaching Beginner Violinists
Teaching beginner violinists is an incomparable, stimulating and enjoyable occupation. Each child is uniquely individual; every day produces new challenges and rewards. The last four decades have seen great improvements in beginners
The left hand
Professor Jan Sedivka, who had few peers in his knowledge of the workings of the left hand, left an important legacy of thought on the subject. Here are some of his ideas on tackling the problem of left hand asymmetry. Gleaned from my experience in teaching as his assistant for ten years and also from the video tapes he made in the early eighties, this brings together at least some of his ideas in what I hope will be an ongoing set of articles. In playing the instrument, we are required to reach a note or a group of notes…
I teach what I needed to learn
How would you make progress with this challenging student? Let
String Teaching in Groups
The teaching of stringed instruments in groups is both well established and widespread in Australian schools as in many other parts of the world. There are a number of reasons for choosing to teach strings in groups such as budgetary constraints, timetabling and staffing efficiency, integration into the school curriculum, as support and extension activities for individual tuition, ensemble experience and as broad based recruitment for orchestral programs to name but a few. However most compelling are the many benefits gained by the participants when group teaching is carried out efficiently by specialist staff. Instrumental music programs have burgeoned in…
Practice and Parents
The ideal of most parents of musical children is be involved with practice in ways that maximises usefulness and minimises interference. No one knows your child the way you do – this can be a help but also a hindrance when it comes to music practice. Most teachers agree that for children of primary school age, and sometimes older, parental attendance at lessons and assistance with practice makes a big difference to the child
There
Is there any value in learning a stringed instrument? As teachers we try to inspire, and make lessons enjoyable. So much time, effort and money is spent in learning to play. Surely there is more to it than simply learning notes and tunes? How may we help our students get the most out of learning and doing the best they can? The scope of this topic is extensive. However a few factors that are of musical and non musical benefit to the student bear special mention. It takes time to get to know our students. I have found that apart…
Do I feel like Practising?
Practising is what we do for ourselves. It is solitary. It is where we work in harmony with ourselves and teach ourselves everything we will ever know. A good outside teacher is essential, and skills are learned in lessons. However it is that time on our own, where we make those skills our own, through our own brains and our own instincts – that makes the instrument our friend and the skills second nature; money in the bank to be drawn on at will. Practising is a luxury. Students often fail to realise this. In the full hormonal bloom of…