The Music Box Qatar Music Academy s monthly newsletter ABRSM Theory Exams ABRSM Theory exams will be on Saturday, 7 March, starting at 9am. The ABRSM theory exam will be on Saturday, March 7th at Doha College, al Bustan Street, Al Waab. The exams will start at 9am promptly and students should be there no later than 8.30am but preferably not before 8.00am. Students are reminded that only pencils, rulers and erasers are allowed in a clear plastic bag can be taken into the examination room. All handbags and other articles have to be deposited on a table with the invigilator. Mobile phones are not allowed into the examination room. The times allowed for these examinations are as Highlights of this issue... follows: Grades 1, 2 and 3 Grade 4 and 5 Grades 6,7 and 8 1hour and 30 minutes 2 hours 3 hours Please note that theory classes will not be scheduled from March 7th March 13th at QMA. This is a chance for the students to have a welldeserved break after the months of preparation for the examination. Prep 1 and 2 and Grade 6 (students who did not do an exam ) classes will run as usual. QMA wishes all the students the best of luck with their preparation for the exam over the next week. Please do not hesitate to contact your child's theory teacher if they need some help with a particular aspect. Good Luck! Please Note: The above is only applicable to those participating in theory exams. Page 2 AMD Recitals Page 6 Coming soon to QMA Page 3 School Workshop Page 7 Coming soon to the AMD
The Music Box February 2015 AMD Recitals On the 22nd and the 29th of January, the Arab Music Department had their instrumental and ensemble recitals. Congratulations to all of the students who performed. It was fabulous to see so many students play and perform challenging repertoire. We look forward to hearing you all perform again at the next recitals on the 21st of May and 4th of June 2015. ABRSM Theory Mock Exams On Friday February 13th, QMA held mock exams for those students sitting the real exam on March 7. Judging by these pictures, it seems things got quite tense. 2
London International School workshop Students (between 15 and 16 years old) and teachers from the London International School visited Qatar Music Academy on February 23rd to learn about Arab music and musical instruments. Yassine Ayari, Taoufik Mirkhan and Bayan Rida demonstrated the Arab music instruments including; the nay, qanun, ud and Arab rhythms and percussion. Yasmine Hamd a talented ud student at QMA was part of the group. She had a wonderful experience playing her fellow classmates music. New Members to Junior Symphonic Wind Ensemble The Junior Symphonic Winds is happy to have 3 new members this term! Riley Pigneguy, Tom Kelly, and Caitlyn DeKlerk started attending Junior Symphonic Winds rehearsals in January. This is the first time that these three students have played their instruments in an ensemble, and they are all doing a fabulous job! They have been refining new skills such as listening to others, playing in tune, and playing in time with the other members of the ensemble. Riley and Tom both play the trumpet and Caitlyn plays the clarinet. They are looking forward to their first performance with the Junior Symphonic Winds on Thursday, March 12th at 5:30pm. Well done! 3
AMD Annual Musical Instrumental Workshops The Arab Music Department had it s annual instrumental workshop on February the 21st. The idea was to have all AMD teachers sit with their students and work on specific practice skills, sequences and exercises to cover problems related to finger technique, maqam and improvisation. The teachers was working also on how to tune your instrument, how to take care of it and how to clean and keep your instruments safe. The workshop was an opportunity to give more attention to important details in a group class and help students get used to working as a group. It was an exciting experience for all of the AMD. The workshop was in preparation for the Turkish Instrumentals workshop which will be held at QMA starting March 8 (more info on pg. 7). American Saxophonist Patrick Murphy Coming to QMA QMA will be hosting a visit from American saxophonist Patrick Murphy on March 19th. Mr. Murphy will be performing a recital in Ziriab Hall accompanied by QMA s Deborah Armstrong as well as giving a masterclass and individual lessons to QMA woodwind students. Times and locations of Mr. Murphy s visit will be confirmed soon. Patrick Murphy, a New York native, is a thriving saxophonist, equally comfortable performing and teaching. He has been invited to perform with such groups at The Chicago Symphony, The New World Symphony, the MusicaNova Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Trujillo, and the Orchestra of Northern New York. Mr. Murphy is actively involved in music education throughout his current home, the state of Arizona. Including his own private studio of saxophone and clarinet students, he engages in outreach with Arizona Musicfest, Classical Revolution: Phoenix, Music Maker Workshops, and as a judge in the Arizona State Solo and Ensemble Festival. Mr. Murphy completed his Doctor of Musical Arts at Arizona State University in 2013 under the study of renowned saxophonist and pedagogue Timothy McAllister. He holds a Master of Music from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Music from the State University of New York at Potsdam s Crane School of Music. He currently serves as Artist Coordinator at the groundbreaking Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. 4
QMA s Newest Teacher Eddy Hackett joined QMA on the 15th of January as our new Western percussion teacher. Eddy is immensely excited about his new position with us and said I m delighted to have taken up this exciting and challenging position as Percussion Teacher at the Qatar Music Academy. Having been to Doha on a number of occasions in the past to perform with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, I m very excited to be living in this dynamic city, and look forward to exploring all it has to offer. I look forward to teaching the talented pupils at QMA, and I bring with me a wealth of pedagogical experience from my time in London - I can t wait to share all of this with my pupils!. Eddy Hackett is a freelance percussionist dividing his time between orchestral, chamber music, session work and music education projects. He is the Chairman of the Young Advisors Committee at English National Opera and is currently on trial for Principal Percussion with the Philharmonia Orchestra. Eddy has performed as Guest Principal Percussionist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (trial), Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra (trial), RTE Concert Orchestra (trial), Scottish Chamber Orchestra and was on trial as Sub Principal Percussionist at Scottish Ballet. Eddy has played Principal Timpani with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra of India. As a session musician, he has recorded with the London Telefilmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra (including The Hobbit ), and for adverts and West-End shows. He has performed with Duke Special, Van Dyke Parks, Curtis Stigers, Swingle Singers, John Dankworth and Clio Lane. As a member of the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble, he was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award, and has performed many times at the Lincoln Jazz Centre in New York. Eddy has given masterclasses for the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Tokushima Bunri (Japan), City of Edinburgh Council, Katerina Gurska School of Music (Madrid) and Feldkirch Conservatoire. Eddy has been involved in music education projects with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Opera House and has lead projects with the TAK Theatre Liechtenstein. Eddy was percussion teacher at Francis Holland School NW1 and Trinity Laban s pre-college department, Junior Trinity. He now teaches at the Qatar Music Academy. Eddy received his BMus from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and his MMus from the Manhattan School of Music in New York, for which he received several scholarships and awards. As a student, he was a member of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, European Union Youth Orchestra and was the percussionist for the 2008 Southbank Sinfonia season. He is married to the harpist Stephanie Beck Hackett. 5
Coming soon to QMA Western Department Ensemble Concerts The Western Music Department will be hosting two ensemble concerts at QMA on Thursday 12 March and Saturday 14 March. Ensemble Concert 1-Thursday 12th March Time: 5.30-6.30pm in the Assembly Hall at QMA Performance order: Junior String Ensemble Junior Symphonic Wind Orff Tuned Percussion Junior Choir Senior Choir QMA Annual Student Concert Date: Saturday March 28th Performance time: 4.00pm -6.00pm Venue: Qatar National Convention Centre, Auditorium 3 Ensemble Concert 2-Saturday 14 March Time 4.00-5.00pm in the Assembly Hall at QMA Performance Order: Symphonic Wind Ensemble Percussion Ensemble Youth Orchestra Performers are expected to wear concert attire for the two performances. Concert attire consists of a black long skirt or trousers, white shirt, no patterns and black socks and shoes. Congratulations to selected students below who will be performing from the Western Department: Anya Broad, Euan Lough, Sebastian Tia, Prama Soekanto, Craig Lough, Khalid Himmo, Milan Davida, Julia Salvaggio, Hema Bojja Charles, Anna Zaffagni, Tricia Ng and Jessica Butterworth. Please bring your friends and family to support this wonderful event. 6
Coming soon to the AMD Turkish Musicians to Collaborate with QMA The Arab Music Department is inviting three Turkish musicians from Istanbul Technical University, Traditional Music Conservatory for a residency at Qatar Music Academy from the 8th-11th of March. There will be a four days of intensive workshops and master classes for all ud, qanun and nay students from the Academic and the Music for all Programmes. All students are expected to attend the four days. There will be a closing performance given by the musicians which will be held on Wednesday, 11th of March at 5.30pm in QMA. The performance will be free of charge and all are welcome. Music Tech Classes Please note: Once advanced AMD students (grades 4 and 5) have successfully completed their ABRSM theory exam, they will start a new music technology course with Yassine Ayari commencing in April 2015 (dates TBC). 7