Harry Jakamarra – Intensive Mohan Veena lessons.

Harry Spent two weeks of intensive Mohan Veena tuition (an Indian instrument similar to a classical guitar) with a renowned Mohan Veena guru in India. The lessons focussed and developing a further understanding of Raga’s, their musical forms, structures and place within Indian culture as well as advanced techniques for playing the Mohan Veena.

Zoe Miller

The Live School course at SAE was a fantastic course that was really pratical- with enough theory to get me started and interested in the whole audio engineering world. I exceeded the objectives I had for this class- I loved learning about Live as it is a program with a very elegant design. It is so flexible and mutli-dimensional so it will help me a lot. It will be espeiclaly useful for  recroding on the fly with young people and creating re-mixes. I took some really comphrehensive class notes  so I can easily refresh my memory when i need to. Pro-school 101 and 110 was extreemly heavy on the theory but showed that Pro-Tools is an extreemly powerful program. I learnt a lot from talking with other people in the class and the teacher. In fact one of the people there refeered me to a mastering guy who mastered everything for the hip hop project! I exceeded the objectives I had for this class ten-fold, I made contacts, learnt about gear I need to buy and I have a comphrehensive understanding of the program. Now I no longer have to deal with third party prducers and rely on people to provide beats, while at the same time I have made great contacts with other producers, like Nick Toth, as mentors.

Ria Soemardjo - Vocal Rhythmic Improvisation lessons in Melbourne.

"The lessons varied in focus, but  generally always  included practical exercises in stepping, clapping and vocalizing in  different polyrhythms. These particular exercises were based on the Taketina process that Tania has trained in, and are designed to  build  skills in perceiving different rhythms simultaneously. The exercises also  help to deepen  the sense of rhythm in the body – so that any playing or improvisation  can then flow spontaneously.  The sessions also included  exercises combining vocalizing while using simple percussion including  the Korean drum, shakers, rattles , bells etc. The exercises  became more and more complex as my ability to stay in rhythm  improved. We were able to introduce unfamiliar polythythms, while taking into consideration the types of rhythms I play in traditional  Javanese music, and in my original music".

Rogerthat – 2008 Professional Development

The band begun worked with Mat McHugh (Beautiful Girls)in a series of song writing workshops. He spent time suggesting ways in which the songs could be made more direct, as well as providing ideas for instrumentation and arrangements. This provided valuable preparation for the meetings and sessions to come. We feel that the workshop with Mat improved our song writing and gave us new ideas and inspiration for the future. The bands new EP tangerine Bird is a huge improvement from our last project, thanks to Mat’s input.

Chris Williams

Chris attended the Dartington International Summer School – Advanced Composition School with internationally renowned composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. While at the intensive course, he composed a piece entitled “By a thousand names o flower” for a small chamber group performing at the workshop.
“I learnt a lot about the construction and development of musical ideas, as well as being given the chance to learn from the musical thought of the five other talented composers (from around the world) chosen for the course”.
“The array of lessons learnt during my project was amazing, covering the entire range of proffessional composition from instrumentation, orchestration, development all the way to rehearsal technique, part production and more abstract notions about the composers role and responsibility in society”.

Bryce Jacobs

I have just returned from a very successful trip to the United States as a part of the composer Christopher Young's (Spider-man 3, Sword Fish, The Grudge, etc.) residency named Tilden House, which was established for young composers to help enable them to make a start in Hollywood through the assistance of a supportive network of Chris's personal team.  Whilst in the US, I attended composition and orchestration workshops including the orchestration course offered by some of L.A.'s leading orchestrators and composer I used every available moment to meet with composers and studios, offering any assistance I could in their compositional environment to prove myself in each and every hard working way possible. I also attended many recording sessions for major upcoming films and television shows at many of the leading film and recording studios in Hollywood.

There is too much talent in Australia to be left unnoticed. I believe what I have achieved already is an incredibly solid foundation to build the rest of my mid to long term plans and goals on.

Heart Of The Streets – Hip Hop Workshops and Album Release

“The majority of the project was conducted through a series of 10 workshops held at the Red Cross Night Café in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane.

The end result was a 6 track CD called “Heart Of The Streets”. The albumlaunch was a resounding success, gaining media attention from local street press as well as mainstream media.
One young woman who came to the café was displaying some quite acute psychiatric symptoms. She was unwilling to talk much to any of the staff or volunteers for the first week she was there. On the second week, however, she returned with lyrics she had written for a song that included many revelations about her past which she did not feel comfortable discussing in any other way. Through the song writing process she built up trust with those involved and was able to talk openly to the producer and the facilitator, as she had established a rapport through the music. She was then able to open up and seek help from the Homeless Health Outreach Team who were able to offer her ongoing support. I do not believe this would have happened were it not for the sense of working together on a musical project. I think this is a great example of the way music can break down barriers and bring people together.”
 

Maningrida Project/Black On White
The Black On White Project travelled across remote Arnhem Land and photographed 12 indigenous Australians expressing their perspectives of white culture.  The resulting images are elegant and powerful in their simplicity. Their impact became apparent when one shot won the Australian Human Rights Commission Award for photography and received media coverage as far away as Germany.

Roxstop Action Kit
The Roxtop action kit was produced to provide a tool that empowers people to take action against the proposed expansion of Australia’s largest uranium mine, Olympic Dam. It aims to raise awareness about the dangers of expansion and it’s damaging potential to both environmental and human health.
With JB Seed funding, Roxtop were able to produce 600 action kits including a DVD documentary by film maker David Bradbury and educational postcards and brochures. These were distributed to anti-nuclear groups Australia wide.
 

Performers for Peace – Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
Nine members of the Woman’s International league attended 5 workshops constituting a formal introduction to street theatre. They developed a performance piece entitled “Need vs. Greed” which were then performed in Brisbane and Rockhampton.
 

Sonic Elevation

Sonic Elevation offered an 11 day dance program for Indigenous youth from Aurukun, QLD to participate during the September school holidays. Sonic Elevation contended with extreme geographic isolation by providing the youth with travel experience, skill development, education and entertainment. Within the context of cultural development and preservation, diversity and exchange; contemporary forms of music and dance were taught in an essence that appealed and enticed the youth of today. Five participants were selected for the program on the basis of previous interest, participation and skills displayed from dance programs that have occurred in Aurukun in the past. These participants aged 12-18 were  flown down to Melbourne to partake in an 11 day intensive dance program. Combining acrobatics, hip hop dance and traditional dance, the program built toward a final public performance outcome, showcasing skills learned. .
The participants developed cultural awareness through exploring Melbourne’s museums and theatre productions, whilst indulging in many of Melbourne’s highlights.  This program has great potential for growth and will enormously benefit select youth, and as a pilot program, Sonic Elevation September 2008 was very successful.