A.R. IRWIN Violins Pty. Ltd.

Enjoy this edition!

Many people don’t realise the amount of work that is needed to run online events. While most of us were familiar with Zoom and other online communications, we all had a great deal of learning to do. This included experimenting with adjusting presentations to suit the new environment, different types of events, new event times and learning to manage the event from the ‘back end’. As an organisation, we quickly worked out how to run the events online and tried to concentrate on keeping our members connected. Although we all enjoyed the online events, we all know that an in-person experience is totally different!

Theme for April 2018

Coming out of lockdowns, we all faced even more challenges. Density limits, masks, hygiene protocols, COVID marshals, QR codes, sign-in sheets…it sometimes felt like a lockdown was easier!

90% of Australians are urban dwellers. For the string teacher, player and maker living in one of our national cities, there is access to violin repair shops, regular live concerts, private school resources and so on. But what is it like for our regional string teachers and makers and their students?

Over

I would like to thank the State Chapter presidents and committees and the rest of the National Executive for all of their work over the last three challenging years. Your continued support and enthusiasm – despite the difficulties around you –gave me and our membership the confidence to see our way through.

The theme of April 2018 issue will be Regional teaching, playing and making. All of you out there in the country, this is the time to have your say! Tell Stringendo readers what string teachingplaying-making is like in your local area. What resources do you lack? How do you adapt to limitations? How can city colleagues assist?

Our remarkable administration team was also fundamental to keeping us going over the last three years: Emily Dittman with her support of online events; Gina de Francesco for applying for government support grants; Susan Pierotti, Adele Gibson and Mary Nemet for their work on

The deadline for the April 2018 issue is 5 January 2018.

Expert Repairs and Restoration undertaken. Bow Rehairs & Repairs carried out on the premises.

Expert and Restoration undertaken. Bow Rehairs & Repairs carried out on the premises.

Victoria

decided to do a presentation on position changes. This event and its repeat on AUSTA’s Encore platform were very well received around the country too. Thank you, Evgeny!

Hamish Paterson President, AUSTA

Vic

2022 has been a different year in terms of being able to run face to face events with elements though still affected by Covid. Our Reading Day was able to run in early February but there were smaller numbers with a local spike in Covid cases at the time and understandable caution among the community. We unfortunately had to cancel our String Orchestra Festival for a third year in a row. This was due to a number of reasons, including difficulty in finding a venue and many Victorian schools starting the rehearsal process for their ensembles later in Term 1.

In spite of all this earlier in the year, the National Conference went by very smoothly and was considered a great success by delegates, presenters and traders alike. I would like to give one final shout out to the great work of the organising subcommittee of James de Rozario, Karen Kyriakou and Helen Holt and to the rest of the state committee for the myriad of tasks required in the final months before the event and during the conference itself.

In the coming months, Victoria will still be running its VCE Masterclass with guest violinist Roy Theaker in late August and our String Performers Festival has been moved to mid-September to accommodate the timing of the National Conference. There will also be an opportunity for younger teachers to get together with more experienced colleagues and discuss their experiences so far over a drink at a social event in early December.

Act

Louise Butler President, AUSTA ACT

FirstSemester of 2022 has certainly been an improvement on the previous two years, but it has had its own challenges too.

At the last minute, we decided to change our inperson Pedagogy Forum to a national Zoom event. While this presented many structural changes which had to be managed in a very short time frame, we did gain many enthusiastic participants from around the country, so in the end it worked out very well.

We followed this up with another Zoom presentation by Evgeny Sorkin who, due to recent world events,

In early June, we managed to run our much postponed String Festival. In order to make the Festival more manageable and Covid-safe for everyone, we decided to make all sections noncompetitive and run it only over one day. We also decided to present each performer with a lovely Certificate of Performance and a report written by teams of local teachers. The atmosphere was truly festive, with all 88 performances much more relaxed and enjoyable for all.

We have our annual Reading Day booked in late July, followed by our much delayed Klezmer Workshop to be presented by local violinist Pip Thompson in early August. We very much hope that the Covid situation will allow this event to be done in person!

We are also planning an Alexander Workshop with local cellist and registered Alexander teacher Megan Taylor later in the year.

Four local members (I missed it, thanks to Covid!) managed to get to the wonderful Melbourne Conference and came home totally inspired! A big thank you to AUSTA VIC for such a great experience!

Queensland

Melissa Dineen President, AUSTA Q

TheAUSTA Q committee were delighted that so many members managed to attend the rescheduled annual Reading Day in early April. Despite the change of date and growing Covid case numbers, AUSTA Q’s flagship event provided its customary collegial opportunity to gather and play through new works provided by our local composers. As always, the standard of works provided by some of our most experienced composers was not only very impressive but clearly continues to evolve and develop each year. We were also pleased to see new and emerging composers coming through with some exciting works.

This year the Reading Day formed the opening sessions of the AUSTA Q Mini-conference and, again, it was gratifying to see so many members attend the Mini-conference sessions throughout the first weekend of the school holidays, despite anxieties about rising Covid infections at the time. The event reminded us of the importance of coming together to share our string playing and teaching journeys, and the overall feel of the event was one of warm collegiality and generosity.

We thank Mini-conference guest presenter, Caron Chan, who travelled from Sydney and provided very practical insights into assisting students to prepare to perform at their peak. Her humble and amiable approach was clearly appreciated by those in attendance. We enjoyed meeting cellist Gyorgy Deri and were dazzled by his genuine affection and meticulous presentation of the Popper cello studies. Phoebe Russell provided an insightful ‘it’s not rocket-science’ approach to teaching and playing the double bass and it was wonderful to be able to tap into Keith and Natalie Sharp’s vast wealth of experience and knowledge. Those that participated in the Delegates’ Orchestra session lead by Camerata’s Brendan Joyce at the end of weekend walked away truly uplifted by what was a genuinely remarkable experience.

AUSTA Q was thrilled to see almost 40 Queenslanders attend the National Conference in Melbourne in July. Congratulations and thanks go to the AUSTA VIC Committee for their enormous efforts in putting the event together and in bringing AUSTA members from around Australia together again following the pandemic restrictions of the past two and a half years.

South Australia

Samantha Raftery President, AUSTA SA

AUSTA SA has had several different events and sponsorships that we have been involved in this year. To begin the year, we ran an encore presentation of Belinda McFarlane’s ‘Tips for Engaging Multi-Level String Ensembles’, where Belinda recounted her experiences working as an animateur and educator. Following this presentation, AUSTA SA ran a string workshop for adult beginner players. It was wonderful to see many attendees and positive feedback about the experience! AUSTA SA was grateful to Therese Janus and Kathy Wozniczka for assisting in this event. We have also sponsored a number of prizes this year, including an AMEB prize, a section of the Adelaide Eisteddfod and sections of the Young Composer’s Awards. Next month, AUSTA SA will be presenting a string workshop for primary school students, supported by the University of Adelaide. We are also hoping to host a Reading Day, and an open orchestra rehearsal

Western Australia

Helen Tuckey President, AUSTA

Wa

We began the year at the ASME WA Summer School, where I was joined by committee members Edel Taylor, Rupert Guenther and Stephanie Jefferies at an AUSTA strings information booth. We also presented two sessions, one on the appropriate support for students in pilot programs started by arts organisations in schools and the other on the at times tenuous careers of instrumental teachers in various school systems. In February/ March, WA was hit by our largest Covid wave, which led us to change plans and go online with two AUSTA Zoom presentations, ‘Asian Melodies’ in conjunction with the South East Asian Music Academy and ‘Healing Stage Fright’ by Rupert Guenther. We also gave substantial prize support to the Fremantle Eisteddfod which moved online, enabling participants from anywhere in WA to submit entries. Finally in May, all members and the whole string community had the chance to join an AUSTA Forum on string teaching in person and with some attending online, hosted by Dr Suzanne Wijsman at the UWA Conservatorium of Music. Matters emerging from Summer School were discussed further, as well as OH&S in schools, youth and amateur orchestras, the need to train instrumental teachers to support students to achieve the mental and physical challenges of performing, inclusivity and diversity, advocacy for instrumental programs for all ages in education. There was no shortage of ideas and energy and the points raised remind us about the importance of connection that AUSTA provides us with, across various employment systems and fields of interest.

Seven members of AUSTA WA crossed the Nullabor for the fabulous AUSTA National Conference in Melbourne. For many of us, it was our first journey out of our state in several years, and well worth the effort – congratulations to the organisers! Ibolya Mikajo presented on the extraordinary teaching career of Lyndall Henrickson, and Laura Carr demonstrated activities, games and props for a teacher toolkit for early childhood.

Thank you again to our committee, including our regional reps who also do much for strings in their communities. We look forward to more live events in 2022, including our annual AUSTA String Festival in August and a string orchestra reading day in October.