In the past two months, I have been fortunate to attend two brilliant music educator workshops at NECOM.
The first was with the choral adjudicator for the Eisteddfod, Elizabeth Veirboom.
Liz took us through various choral warm-ups, many of which involved movement. This means that children are actively involved during choir sessions, especially boys who need to move!
She then took us through some of the pieces in the Gondwana produced resource “Hooray for Song”.
The second event was a conducting workshop with the fabulous Carl Crossin from Elder Conservatorium. Some of those attending were novices in this area while others have had many years of experience, such as our own Head of Choral training, Leanne Roobol.
Ms Roobol noted, “Carl’s workshops were incredibly worthwhile and I highly recommend the opportunity for anyone who would like to further develop their conducting skills. Carl provided accessible repertoire, fantastic warmups for choirs, and provided information that reinforced topics that students were already learning. It was a great opportunity to work with someone of the calibre of Carl Crossin. His workshops are accessible for people of all experiences, from students to experienced conductors and it was so engaging that it felt that the workshop was over in no time.”
Carl catered for all of these levels with great ease. He introduced us to some simple yet extremely effective choral works. Having only watched Carl at Gondwana concerts, it was great to tap into his wealth of knowledge in this area.
I felt very fortunate to have attended both events.
Nicole Mackson
NECOM Choral Teacher