Workshops & MASTERClasses

Sometimes it’s good to take stock of what young musicians are actually doing when they play music - they need to read notation and reproduce it as sound, make nuanced judgements about pitch and rhythm, and navigate some serious physical challenges.

It’s an incredibly complex business. However, these are not the most amazing things that musicians do.

The most amazing thing they do is breathe life into all those dots, measurements and patterns, to manipulate them to create meaning and feelings that they can share with us, so that we in turn feel joyful, sad, exhilarated, or compelled to take to the dance floor.

That is the magic part of music – the art part – and in our experience it’s the part that kids can be brilliant at, regardless of their skill level.

And that’s because two of the most important attributes you need to create musical meaning are imagination, and access to your emotions.

Luckily, just by being human, we all come equipped with these essential components for expressive music-making. All of us - even very young kids - are capable of feeling loss, joy, love or sadness, and we all have imaginations.

However, just like the technical side of learning an instrument, making meaning by being creative, imaginative and expressive has to be taught. You can’t tell a student to “be expressive” and just expect it to happen.  

If you want young people to express feelings through music, you have to show them a way to connect their feelings with the underlying emotion that the music contains or implies.

This is an idea of music making that underpins the whole of the Boxties’ mentorship program and our lives as professional performers. Over the years we’ve developed a methodology for teaching it, and our workshops, masterclasses and guest conducting classes are designed to give students an intensive introduction to this approach.

Two key components of our workshops are repertoire and “bespoke” arrangements.

Right from the start we ask students to think like artists, so it’s important that the repertoire they play is inspiring. We like to expose students to music that is unfamiliar and emotionally complex, that has hidden secrets just waiting to be discovered by those who are prepared to dig a bit deeper.

So, for example, we might explore the exuberance of Yiddish dance music, the loss and longing of Celtic heart-songs, the driving, discordant ferocity of Eastern European folk music or the quirky, eccentric minimalism of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

We then tailor that repertoire to suit the group’s instrumentation and individual skill level.

If you want to get more of an idea about some of our repertoire, check out our Spotify playlist.

We spend a lot of time before the workshop arranging repertoire so that it is accessible to students of all technical and musical abilities.

We collaborate with the teacher to identify each child’s abilities and arrange a part that fits their needs.

Such bespoke arrangements allow us to work successfully with students with a wide variety of technical and musical abilities in one ensemble. Everyone gets the same musical experience, but plays at a technical level that they can manage.

We charge students a minimum fee of $200 per workshop, with a discount for those participating in more than one ensemble. We require a non-refundable booking fee from the school of $2000.

String groups, percussion ensembles, concert bands, orchestras, big bands, choirs of all sizes, and mixed chamber ensembles.

Unlimited

AMEB Grade 1 - tertiary entrance level

Minimum two hours per ensemble. We also offer weekly sessions, weekend workshops and holiday programs. The most popular format is a two-day weekend workshop culminating in a performance for family and friends.

At your school