Music
Music and ‘Soft Skills’
A central focus of our Musical learning at Redlands is the ability to improvise and to thoughtfully explore new ideas, connecting these with existing understandings and frameworks. Never has our ability to adapt and innovate, to be flexible and collaborative been a more universally applicable skill.
Redlands Music pedagogy is embedded within an integrated Kodály and Orff Schulwerk approach, enriched by the Harvard Project Zero Visible Thinking framework. Indeed Zoltán Kodály himself said:
“The characteristics of a good musician are a well-trained ear, a well-trained mind, a well-trained hand and a well-trained heart. All four must develop together in constant equilibrium.”
Whether we’re taking time to nurture our heart and motivation for music-learning itself; training our minds to enquire more deeply within the music we’re engaging with; or locating our personal goals to help us ground why we want to train our hands and ears / aural skills in support of these, all four of these aspects are central to our balanced growth as musicians and we must find ways (at home and at school) to nurture these now and always.
From our youngest learners who are learning how to focus and have a violin lesson via a screen, to our Year 12’s who are developing their final HSC & IB performances amidst extraordinary challenges, we commend you. We are so very proud of you, our musicians for your innovation, adaptability and resilience – attributes that will serve you well beyond your Music-making.
Competitions
Composition Competition Finalists announced in last week’s Note Day (with feedback offered on iLearn), and the studio workshopping process will begin once we return to campus. Our attention returns to our plans for the Senior Instrumental Competition that was scheduled to take place this coming Monday evening, showcasing 16 extraordinary instrumentalists from our Senior Campus ranks. Our accompanists are diligently working to create backing tracks to support the Finalists’ preparation, but the ultimate form of this performance competition in Term 4 will likely be shaped by the level of restrictions that are in place when we return to On-Campus Learning.
We encourage the finalists to keep your repertoire ‘simmering’, and we will have formal communication to you by the end of the term regarding the event’s reimagining. Thank you for your patience.
Learning Music from Home
All extracurricular and cocurricular Music lessons, classes and ensembles continue in their now established home-learning patterns. Conductors communicate directly with P-12 ensembles when they wish for a Zoom session be scheduled in support of the weekly resource uploads to stage-specific learning platforms (See Saw, Google Classroom & iLearn).
Date Changes
Please keep your eye on the Music Events dates on Pulse in case of adjustments in the weeks and months ahead, in light of our rapidly changing context.
Secondary School Cocurricular Photographs
As mentioned last week, Cocurricular Music photos are ready for ordering. Please visit the Melba Studios website, www.melbastudios.com.au. Select school orders and enter the password, WINNIE.
If you have any questions, please contact Melba Studios directly on (02) 9438 4566 or email sales@melbastudios.com.au.
Contact Us
If you have any questions at all about Music learning at Redlands – please don’t hesitate to reach out to Mr James Olds seniormusic@redlands.nsw.edu.au or Ms Jacqueline McGlade juniormusic@redlands.nsw.edu.au who would be delighted to assist you.
Health and wellbeing to you,
Amy Richardson
Director of Music P-12 (Acting)
seniormusic@redlands.nsw.edu.au
9968 9820