Student opportunities and activities

Music at the Conservatorium High School

As the State’s only specialist music school, we are committed to developing in our students the knowledge, skills, understandings, attitudes, habits, dispositions and mindsets required to become Whole Musicians. We believe making music benefits the community and brings joy. Combined with their knowledge of character strengths our student are focused on the belief – Be Good, Feel Good Do Good.

Core Vision of the Music Department

Musicians of the 21st Century need to develop skills and competencies in a variety of areas. McPherson (2006) lists these areas as

• Performing
• Improvising
• Composing
• Arranging
• Analysing
• Appraising
• Conducting
• Teaching

Our various music programs work together to develop all these musical competencies.

Our goal is that all Conservatorium High School students graduate from the school as a “Whole Musician”. Their engagement in music brings them and others life-long joy, regardless of what profession they pursue.

A “Sound-before-symbol” Approach

A core guiding principle for the Classroom Music program is that of Sound-before-symbol. Like language acquisition, musical skills and concepts are best learned through an aural/oral approach and immersion in sound. After this the student associates this sound to a symbol, whether that be notation or a concept.

At the Conservatorium High School, students complete a sequential program inspired by the philosophies of Zoltan Kodály (1882-1967). Characteristics of this approach include the following.

• Active music making in every class
• A singing-based approach to learning musical concepts
• The use of a movable doh system
• The use of a function-based rhythmic solfege (“Takadimi” system)
• Development of partwork skills through group performance and individual “Sing and Play” tasks
• Analysis of music according to the concepts of music (pitch, duration, structure, tone colour, texture, dynamics/expressive techniques)
• Learning activities based around the question: “You may know it, but can you show it?”

Musical Creativity

Composition and creativity are at the core of what we develop at the Conservatorium High School. Research suggests that musical creativity is skill that can be developed and strengthened, just like the development of performance skills at an instrument. For these reasons, every student at the Conservatorium High School will engage in learning that develops their compositional and creative skills in music.

In Years 7 and 8, creative skills are developed through improvisation and compositional activities in the Classroom Music program as well as in the individual Keyboard Musicianship lessons.

Students are also called upon to use these skills in their Small Ensembles work.

From Year 9 onwards, creative work is formalised and targeted through small-group composition classes held once a week.

Keyboard Musicianship

A well-rounded musician will have expertise in their major study areas, as well as a solid grounding in skills such as sight reading, understanding of harmony, improvisation, aural skills, transposition, composition, knowledge of musical styles etc. These are important areas of being a musician that we often do not have time to cover in regular instrumental lessons. Instead, these skills are learned and practised in Con High classroom music as well as in weekly Keyboard Musicianship Classes.

Keyboard instruments are one of the most effective ways in which a student can acquire these skills, no matter what background they may have. Basic keyboard literacy is also a significant asset for any musician, regardless of their major study.

All students in Years 7 and 8 have weekly lessons with a Keyboard Musicianship specialist teacher to work on foundational harmony exercises, scales and modes, improvisation, chord progressions and accompaniment patterns, sight reading, transposing, and song arranging. These skills can be quite different from those covered in instrumental lessons whose focus is often on the mastery of existing repertoire, where the attention is on a “correct” reproduction of a printed score.

The school expectation for Years 7 and 8 is 15 minutes of Keyboard Musicianship practice a day during the week, with student progress monitored in every lesson. Every student will receive a formal report on their effort and achievement in Keyboard Musicianship twice a year. There is no examination as part of the course, and students are not required to perform in front of an audience.

Small Ensembles

All students in Years 7-9 participate in a small ensemble, led by the school’s classroom and instrumental teachers. The purpose of the Small Ensemble course is to build foundational skills required for music making with others, whether this be in Large Ensembles or Chamber Music. Students will be encouraged to step outside of their comfort zone through activities such as

• performing in a style they may not be familiar with
• learning music by ear
• individual and group improvisation
• performing on an instrument that is not their major instrument

Chamber Music

From Years 9/10, students will become acquainted with the standard chamber music written for their major study. These classes will be taken by professional performing musicians who often teach at the Tertiary Conservatorium. In this course, students will learn the foundational skills of professional chamber music making.

Large Ensembles

All students will participate in a weekly large ensemble activity, led by a highly experienced conductor. Students will learn the essential skills of following a conductor and listening to other musicians’ playing. While students will normally be performing on their main instrument of study, they are also frequently asked to perform on a second instrument.

Choir

Singing is a central music-making activity at the Conservatorium High School and all students participate in choral singing throughout their time at the school. Central to this is the Whole-school Choir which rehearses once a week and regularly performs in the term concerts. Additional, smaller-group choral singing opportunities are also provided for interested students in the form of auditioned choirs.

Concert Program

The school is very proud of the high standard of performance that our community of students produce, and this is showcased at an end-of-term concert four times a year. These concerts are conducted by both our High School music teachers as well as external guest conductors.

• Term 1:         Term 1 Concert
• Term 2:         Annual Concert
• Term 3:         Valedictory Concert
• Term 4:         House Concerts led by Year 11 students