Composition tutorials in Kerikeri

I had the pleasure of going up to Kerikeri High School on the 22nd to 23rd of August to work with my good old mate (also the Head of Music) on some professional development and with the students - providing some composition tutorials. DAY ONE This was a teachers' only day and the perfect opportunity to talk through the music equipment and classroom setup - focusing on how new technologies can be implemented in the department. We also spent some time working with Sibelius and seeing how effective it can be in education... one of my favorite things!

DAY TWO Heralded the return of the students! I gave two one-hour talks on composition and another session where I went through many of the students' compositions with them.

The focus of these talks was "back to basics" - how do you go about starting a composition and developing your ideas during it. We had fun looking at many different variation techniques and how they are used in different pieces of music. Most of the examples were from the 31 microscores I wrote during May this year.

It was a fantastic few days. Please contact me if you would like me to come to your school!