Working in perfect harmony
Harry Boothby and Tessa Scott, Year 12, TAS
TRINITY Anglican School music students have performed under the guidance of conductor Ingrid Martin.
The TAS music ensembles of the TAS orchestra, TAS concert band and TAS strings participated in a two-day intensive music workshop, February 15 and 16, to revise a total of seven musical items and professionalise the TAS musical repertoires.
This workshop was led by Ms Martin, who is a highly regarded conductor. Her skill and experience as a conductor ensured we improved.
With a focus on breathing together, subdivision, and listening, Ms Martin’s expertise really helped us play to the best of our ability.
We could all feel our collective improvement and that is a very powerful thing.
Breathing together before playing is one of the most important things she taught us and it is a lesson we both will carry with us through future ensemble experiences.
The magic of this technique is that it works for everyone.
Breathing together is the best way to ensure you are starting in time with the people around you, something which is extremely important in an ensemble.
This technique was just one of the many things we learnt under the capable tutelage of Ms Martin.
After the workshop, a concert was performed to showcase the pieces that had been worked on.
The orchestra performed The Matador’s Tale emulating a bull fight between a matador and the wild bull, as well as Baccanalle, an exhilaratingly fast dance piece.
The strings played Waltz No 2 and Fire Dance.
The last of the ensembles for the night was the concert band which performed The Imperial March, a piece from the Star Wars soundtrack, Libertango, a Latin jazz piece, and finally Whirlwind.
This piece had a particular significance as the song represented the passing of a large storm such as a cyclone.
In this instance the performers had all experienced a cyclone. Unconventional instruments were used, such as a whirling pipe that was spun above the percussion players’ heads to create a howling wind sound.
The song was written by a personal friend of our conductor, Jodie Blackshaw.
The entire TAS performing arts department is extremely grateful for the opportunity to work under Ms Martin.
We learnt a lot and enjoyed every moment.
We would like to thank Ms Martin for making our workshop such a success and so very enjoyable.