AUSTA News 2025
Rodney Wikstrom
Rodney Wikstrom
Session2.2: Using technology in string education
Session: This presentation will focus on what and how to use technology in string education. The use of technology in string teaching can enhance the enjoyment of learning, improve the quality and effectiveness of...Robert Harris
Robert Harris
Session 2.6: Cafe Viola: playing and pedagogy with viola ensemble Session: Robert Harris brings his ANZ Viola Society Cafe Viola workshops to AUSTA National, not only to focus our attention on the viola but also to support our middle-voice violist friends in their alto clef endeavours. All attending are encouraged to...Moirsheen Kelly-Keesing
Moirsheen Kelly-Keesing
Session 1.5: Suzuki Method in 21st Century Australia
Session: Known for its success around the world, this influential method has developed a great deal over the decades. This lecture/performance includes the following, with a focus on string instruments in modern Australian Suzuki Method:- Suzuki philosophy, language acquisition, and creating the environment ...
Miriam Morris
Miriam Morris
Session 2.5: Making the Switch to a New Instrument
Session: This presentation deals with the challenges of being a multi-instrumentalist, and outlines the differences between the varied musical styles, ranging from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods. The pedagogy of the viol family and its repertoire with...Lorraine Chai
Lorraine Chai
Session 3.6: Creating Responsible, Professional Students
Session: In this generation, as educators, we cannot always rely on parents to help students through their practice. Most parents are too busy to remember everything. Students have to learn how to be responsible...Loreta Fin
Loreta Fin
Session 1.2: SING and STRING - Teaching Group Beginners Without The Book
How to free up your classroom - no books, no stands, no clutter. This is aimed at Year 2 or 3 beginner classes of mixed instruments and can be used alongside any method...
Laura Case
Laura Case
Session 3.5: From the Parlour to the Pub; A Social History of the Violin in Australian Society
Session: Since the First Fleet arrived on Australian shores, the violin has been a constant presence in various facets of Australian life....Laura Carr
Laura Carr
Session 2.2: Teachers' Toolkit for Early Childhood Teaching
Session Time: Sunday July 3, 12.00
Session: Are you on the lookout for innovative, meaningful and playful ways to engage with your younger learners? If your goals are to nurture, inspire...Karen North
Karen North
Session 2.2: “Fun & Games” for String Teachers
Session: Are you looking for new ideas for your Beginner to Grade 3 string students? Or seeking inspiration for fun ways to teach skills such as note reading, fingering and practice...Karen Kyriakou
Karen Kyriakou
Session 1.6: Connect & Engage. Inclusive aural activities for the string class
Session: There are many advantages to implementing aural-based games and creative activities in the string class and ensemble; they increase student enjoyment and interaction, they allow students to...Josephine Vains
Josephine Vains
Session 3.5: Speaking through music - finding the rhetoric in persuasive musical performance
Session: Josephine is a passionate believer that musicians of all levels can, with a little knowledge of musical language and rhetoric, build on their natural communicative instincts and engage directly with their audiences...Jeremy Woolstenhulme
Jeremy Woolstenhulme
Session 1.2: Back to the Basics: Teach and Re-teach
Session 1.5: Ideas for Teaching Group Vibrato in the String Classroom
Session 2.3: Building Rhythm Accuracy in the Orchestra
Session 1.2 (Back to Basics): Reinforcement is the name of the game, no matter the advancement level...Julie Hewison
Julie Hewison
AMEB Session One: Consolidating Fundamentals

Caron Chan
Caron Chan
AMEB Session Two: Developing Artistry in the Level 2 Repertoire

Workshop in bow-guiding
Workshop in bow-guiding
Presenter: Yvonne Frye In this workshop participants will experience very practically, how to established a balanced bow hand (violin) by manual work of the teacher. In an almost physiotherapist way of working, we will look into different supporting grips. With the help of those grips, the student will be able...Teaching Boys and Girls, do they Learn Differently?
Teaching Boys and Girls, do they Learn Differently?
Presenter: Yvonne Frye This lecture brings to the focus the question: when boys and girls learn differently, how should the teaching strategies be changed? We will have a look into the different brain structure and also how hormones effect learning. Often, educational institutions are more...Musical Talent – What is it?
Musical Talent – What is it?
Presenter: Yvonne Frye The word talent in music is sometimes used with very fixed ideas of what it is. Often labels are put to children in classes: talented – not so talented. But music ability is consisting of so many different layers like deliberate practice, an...Ibby Mikajlo
Ibby Mikajlo
Lyndall Hendrickson: multi-sensory pedagogue
Session: Australian concert violinist, Lyndall Hendrickson AM (1917 - 2017) was a developer of multi-sensory teaching methods. Her career included achievements as a concert violinist, war-time performer, commercial artist, violin instructor, lecturer, journalist, and teacher of...Heather Lander
Heather Lander
Session: As a teacher I encourage students to engage in improvisation and composition. This presentation will feature ways in which I include improvisation in my lessons and how I have used this as a basis for students to compose their own works. From using this process,...Fintan Murphy
Fintan Murphy
Developing Rhythm in Solo Playing and String Ensembles
AMEB Session 3: Approaching New Repertoire
Session (Developing Rhythm in Solo Playing and String Ensembles): Good rhythm depends on fluent, coordinated string playing, good musicianship and aural skills. Preparing...