2025 Term 1 Newsletter
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 by Joanne Trewick | Uncategorized
Music With Joanne Trewick Music Studio
Term 1 Newsletter
Wow, we are already past the halfway mark of this term!
Our year has had a banging start, with so much going on in our music rooms that is exciting and wonderful.
Welcome
We have had many new families join us this term and I hope that all children are starting to feel settled and excited about the possibilities of their musical journey. We extend a very warm welcome to all new families and encourage you to get as involved as possible with home practice routines, performance opportunities and to feel comfortable asking any questions that you may have, if there is anything that you are not feeling sure about. Learning an instrument is a “Big Picture Project” not something that happens in a short timeframe, but the benefits to students are almost immediate as they create new pathways in their brain and carve out new ways of being effective learners.
Two Learning Spaces For Us
One of the biggest changes to our music studio this year has been given the opportunity of adding the music learning space at Saint Augustine’s primary school to our schedule of after school and weekend classes. We are beyond grateful to the school for allowing us to put their space to such great use and look forward to showing our appreciation of that by respecting the safety rules in place for the school grounds outside of school hours. Please see below a letter from Saints principal Mrs Kym Bennett that details the expectations.
Dear Parents,
St Augustine's are excited to welcome all Music with Jo Trewick students to their school! Ensuring the safety and well-being of your children is our shared priority. With child safety in mind, we implement comprehensive safety protocols and maintain a low student-to-teacher ratio to ensure that every child receives the attention, instruction and care they deserve. We believe that a safe student is a happy student, and we are working together to support your child's musical educational journey every step of the way.
Because the lessons are happening on school premises and outside of school hours, the children attending lessons will be supervised in the music room at all times. Ideally parents, carers and siblings will then leave school grounds until pickup time. Students will be supervised in the Music room until the responsible adult arrives for pickup. If leaving the school grounds is not possible or practical for the parent/carer, all children (i.e. siblings) not involved in music classes must be fully and actively supervised by their parent in the undercover area. Please be aware, Outside of School Hours Care use the playground equipment as part of their program. This means we are not able to use this equipment at any time outside of school hours.
Thank you for your understanding and your ongoing support.
Kind Regards,
Kym Bennett
Principal
E: kbennett@cns.catholic.edu.au
Term 1 Showcase Change of Plans
As many of you may have realised by now (since no email addressing registration or providing further details has been sent out) the Term 1 Showcase, announced as taking place on Sunday March 9 in the January newsletter - is not this weekend! This was a typo, and the event is Saturday March 29. Instead of our usual Student Showcase we are providing entertainment at the Community Bush Dance Event between 4 and 6pm. Please plan to join us if your child has a performance, or just come along to support our students and enjoy the whole event. No registration is needed for this event.
Community Bush Dance hosted by Saint Augustines
The March 29 Bush Dance event will not involve every single student, but it will involve many. If your child’s class is among those invited to perform you can expect an email with details soon. I will need a prompt reply to confirm their availability to be there. Please check your diary now to see if this date will be workable for your family. Our performances will run between 4 and 6pm.
Term 2/3 Showcase dates
These events are optional and require registration if you wish to participate. Details will be in the next newsletter, but please save the following dates:
Term 2 Showcase is on Sunday June 8
Term 3 Showcase is on Sunday Aug 31
All students will be encouraged to register and events will start at 3pm.
For Term 2, registrations will open on Friday May 16 and close on Saturday May 31. This year I will not be able to accept late registrations so please mark your diary carefully.
RECITAL and AWARDS Night
Mark October 18 in bold highlight on your calendar as this is the event that involves all students from all classes, and is our biggest event of the year - the Annual Recital and Awards! Your family will need the whole day free to enjoy this spectacular event, as we do a stage rehearsal in the morning and have our performance late afternoon and into the evening. Unless there are extenuating circumstances we expect attendance by all students to this event, so please make every effort to keep this date free to celebrate the musician in your family!
Professional development
Time and costs involved in the pursuit of excellence are many, but I think it is well worth it to ensure that I maintain a fresh pedagogical approach. Therefore, I am continually and actively seeking out new input, as it is very important to me to keep learning. And to keep you informed regarding this aspect of lesson preparations, I like to share my current professional development course/s in each newsletter.
This month I have been exploring ideas around memorisation of musical works, both the benefits that can be achieved and also the blocks that some students can experience playing from memory - and how to overcome these.
All Instrumentalists Should Sing….
Singing is so impactful to our musical education to develop our inner hearing and sense of pitch. This skill called audiation, is a skill I want for all my students! Not all of us feel comfortable singing, but I strongly encourage everyone to sing at any opportunity to help develop a sense of comfort with the sound of our own voices. Our Monday voice class still has openings, it is our lowest cost class (because I really want it to be accessible to all students) and….if your family already pays for three or more classes a week it is completely FREE! Consider now if you can make 4-4:30pm on Mondays work for the students in your family.
Term Resource Fee
As you would be aware, the resources used in lessons (subscriptions to learning platforms, streaming services, downloadable music licenses, reference copies of books, instruments, printing etc. etc.) all come with a cost. The term resource fee charged to each family once a term goes a small way towards contributing to maintaining access to these things. I always try to apply it to invoices in a month that have a smaller number of lessons due to school holidays. For Term 1 - that will be the April invoices. Term 2 doesn’t have an ideal month as May and June are both 4 active lesson weeks each, so it will be added to the May invoice. Please be assured that it is a once a term charge, not a once a month one, but at times it may occur back to back, on consecutive monthly invoices.
Staff Introductions
Most of you have had the chance to meet or work with the lovely Miss Rebekah Ives, she aides in a good number of classes throughout the week , takes some classes on her own, as well as being our licensed Kinder Beat instructor. This is Miss Rebekah’s third year as part of our teaching team and her focus is early childhood music education.
Miss Rebecca Farraway has assisted with some classes in the past but is stepping into the assistant role in more classes this year. Miss Rebecca has been in lessons with me for ten years now, is a fine pianist and holds skills across various other instruments as well, she attends Mossman High.
Many of you receive lesson notes each week from either Miss Rebekah or Miss Rebecca who write about our lesson for you, check your child’s practice diary and theory books, help with tuning and set up of instruments, offer extra guidance to students who may be struggling with an activity or take on other tasks that allow the class to run smoothly and for me to concentrate on delivering a fast paced and full lesson of learning.
When either of these ladies are not able to be in class, I really miss them and notice the difference. For this reason, I will be training more of our advanced students over the coming months to be available for relief work when more teacher assistants are needed to cover our classes with me.
Also, in the pursuit of keeping my energy and focus on planning and teaching, I have employed the services of Mrs Deb Cockburn to take over some of the admin load for our studio. Here is a brief introduction from her.
Hi music students and parents, I am very pleased to be given the opportunity to help Joanne with the administrative side of her wonderful music studio and as such, provide support to her students and parents in that capacity. Over time I will be able to assist with your enquiries etc., at the moment I am learning Studio operations and working towards streamlining Studio admin processes, with the main goal of freeing up more of Joanne’s time for her passion projects, the important stuff – teaching music to your children.
Deb
Awards Since Last 2024 Newsletter
2024
Francesca Hughes - Grade 2 piano 10 pieces
Cody Hilton - 40pc guitar certificate
Haku Emmerson - 50pc piano trophy
Emma Coiutti - High Distinction PRELIMINARY GRADE PIANO EXAM
2025
Alianna Currie - 10pc piano certificate
Lennox Freitas - 20pc piano certificate
Etenia Chayenne Simon - 30pc piano medal
Bella Hawkes-Gabrielli - 20pc piano certificate
Marsden Smyth - Grade 2 piano 20 pieces
Louis Bengtsson - Preliminary Grade piano 20 pieces
Elina Bengtsson - Preliminary Grade piano 20 pieces
Neil Ekwanich - Distinction GRADE 4 PIANO EXAM
Neil Ekwanich - Credit GRADE 2 THEORY
Nakeisha Wellham - Distinction GRADE 3 PIANO EXAM
Nakeisha Wellham - Grade 3 piano 10 pieces
Aelita Moss - Distinction GRADE 3 PIANO EXAM
Aelita Moss - Grade 3 piano 10 pieces
Saxon Keech - High Distinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Saxon Keech - Grade 1 piano 20 pieces
Kieantae Salaam - 20pc piano certificate
Cora Mountford - 40 pc piano certificate
Moses Kavanagh - Grade 1 piano 10 pieces
Olive-Litsa Kavanagh - Grade 1 piano 10 pieces
Marsden Smyth- Credit GRADE 2 PIANO EXAM
Olive- Litsa Kavanagh- Distinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Moses Kavanagh- High Disctinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Madeline Morgan- Distinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Ava Axon - Credit GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Aadidev Padnakad - Distinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Anastasia Frahn - Credit GRADE 4 PIANO EXAM
Aadidev Padnakad - 40pc guitar certificate
Callum Moffat - Distinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Term 3 Newsletter
Friday, August 2, 2024 by Joanne Trewick | Uncategorized
Hello to all music families
Welcome to the Term 3 newsletter!
There is always so much information to put down in every newsletter, I know how busy parents are - so a big thank you for taking the time to read and make note of anything that pertains to your family. If per chance this email goes astray all past newsletters are easy to view within the student portal - check back anytime!
Thank you to all families who have expressed their support as I travelled this week to be with my family. As many of you would understand, I am in that season of my life where my parents (mum, dad and step mum) are all dealing with ill health. This particular trip was a very positive one though with a great outcome to the surgery. We are so very lucky to have our most capable Miss Rebekah and the support of senior students Nikita and Matilda who have allowed continuity of learning to take place for nearly all classes. This is essential so close to recital and I appreciate their efforts - and your support. Thank you.
This newsletter is pretty much all about recital. The benefits to our students or moving through the various processes of preparing for an event like this are way too many to list here. Every single year I feel daunted about the prospect of putting on another recital, and every single year, when it is done and I see in classes the jump in skills and confidence, the excitement and inspiration in the kids, the delight of the parents and the impetus that has moved everyone forward in their learning - I know why I do it!! It is only a month away, so please make sure your family is very much in the loop of what is happening.
So……
2024 Recital and Awards Event SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8 @ SAINT AUGUSTINE’S STAGE
The only non-negotiable event for all of our music students each year is our Annual Recital and Awards Event. Normally held in term 4 but this year we are trialling holding this major event in term 3. It is a group performance event, so all of your child’s performances will be as part of a group and it will be so much fun! (For those who have experienced previous recitals - we are not doing the solo concerts in the afternoon this year) Every student will be a part of the opening song, and then junior classes have two items each, with older students involved in a bit more as they have various ensembles happening. Please support frequent practice at home for maximum confidence on the day.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8th. Clear the whole day as we have numerous parts to the program and students need to be available for rehearsals during the day, then the big event begins at 5pm. If you haven’t participated in a recital before, feel free to ask any questions you need. If you have just joined our studio and are a brand new family, please let me know asap if your child can participate - I hope they can! To all of you who have not experienced a recital before, I promise you will be amazed at what the kids can do and what a wonderful event it is. Please do invite as many friends and family as you can, your child will be so proud to show what they can do to all the significant people in your life and everyone in the audience will thoroughly enjoy the performances.
No registration is required for this one as it is assumed that all families will participate, the significant costs of putting on an event of this magnitude is offset by a two part levy to families. This was applied to all accounts in June and July - and for new students who have just started, the levy will be charged in September. Levies were as follows:
$26 per student or $38 for families with more than one student, in June
$26 per student or $38 for families in July.
Please note there is no refund of recital levies if your child does not attend. Awards, costs for sound guys/stage equipment etc has all been done and paid well ahead of time - based on the number of students we have planned for (and we do plan to allow for all the new students joining us in recital term each year)
SENIOR STUDENTS HAVE AN ESSENTIAL STAGE REHEARSAL
ON SATURDAY MORNING AUG 17….you will be emailed separately if this rehearsal involves your child.
Also on the subject of keeping dates free for later in the year - our Celebration Lunch for families who have been with us for five years or more will be held on Nov 24 - if this is your family - highlight this date in you diary as well and await your invite at the start of term 4.
TERM SHOWCASES
Our Term 2 showcase was so very wonderful, we had some really great ensemble performances and lots of magnificent solos. Everyone was so well prepared and the audiences thoroughly enjoyed the performances - we had so many beautiful comment cards!
Lock in the date for the Term 4 Showcase now - a much more informal event than the upcoming Recital but a very important part of our learning program nonetheless. SUNDAY NOV 17 3pm.
CURRENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT that I have enjoyed since last newsletter
Online - High Impact Teaching Strategies in Action
Online -Differentiated Teaching
Online - Technology and Composition
Cairns AMEB workshop - Engaging Young Beginners with Lisa Bastien and Exam Preparation for the Modern Student with Paul Harris
AWARDS SINCE LAST NEWSLETTER
Rebecca Farraway - Credit GRADE 6 PIANO EXAM
Charlie Moffat - Distinction PRELIMINARY GRADE PIANO EXAM
Sabrina Osera - Distinction PRELIMINARY GRADE PIANO EXAM
Zac Williams - 50pc piano trophy
Dannielle Lake - 30pc drum medal
Ava Axon - High Distinction PRELIMINARY GRADE PIANO EXAM
Maddison - 10pc piano certificate
Willow Reilly - 30pc piano medal
Lucy Milford - High Distinction PRELIMINARY GRADE PIANO EXAM
Aadidev Padnakad - Distinction PRELIMINARY GRADE PIANO EXAM
Louis Begtsson - 30pc medal and 30pc medal and 50pc piano trophy
Elina Bengtsson - 50pc piano trophy
Aelita Moss - 10pc Grade 3 piano certificate
Etenia Simon - 10pc piano certificate
Elsie Morris - 10pc piano certificate
Nova Hilton - Distinction GRADE 1 PIANO EXAM
Ellie Scott - 20pc Preliminary Grade piano certificate
Parker Fapani - 10pc Preliminary Grade piano certificate
Lennox Freitas - 10pc piano certificate
Archer Scomazzon - 10pc guitar certificate
Cody Hilton - 20pc guitar certificate
Moses Kavanagh - 40pc piano certificate
Olive-Litsa Kavanagh - 40pc piano certificate
Sabrina Osera -10pc preliminary grade piano certificate
Oscar Hack - 40pc piano certificate
Lana Soltwedel - 10pc piano certificate
Nakeisha Wellham - 10pc grade 3 piano certificate
Tyler Morley - 10pc piano certificate
Sabrina Osera - 20pc guitar certificate
Khobi Arthurson - 10pc grade 5 piano certificate
Nate Hancock - 10pc grade 5 piano certificate
Eva Tunnock - 20pc piano certificate
Elena Rodriguez - 50pc guitar trophy
Mahli Goetze - 10pc piano certificate
SCHOLARSHIPS
My studio is here to support young people in our community becoming musicians for life. If your family budget is going through a particularly difficult time, and you need some fee relief to be able to keep your child in the music learning that they love, do request scholarship information.
I'm very much on the run, so hoping there aren't too many typos in this. Can't wait to see you all at recital, don't be afraid to email me with any questions, or just to check in on your child's progress. I might be a little hard to contact in early August but I will catch up on communications after that.
Biggest smiles :)
Ms Joanne
2023 Term 2 Newsletter
Friday, May 5, 2023 by Joanne Trewick | Uncategorized
How fast is the year going? Hope you are enjoying the ride and loving all the accomplishments your kids are making with their music.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and stay informed and involved. I appreciate it.
TERM 2 SHOWCASE
This is an optional and informal event for all students and their families. We would love to have your family join us!
Sunday May 28
Mossman Shire Hall
3pm
$6 registration through the student portal (appears on your account) plus gold coin at the door to offset hall hire costs.
Registrations firmly close on Friday May 12 - please register now so you don’t miss out.
How?
Log into student portal>calendar> may28>register your student. After May 12 you will then receive an email with the program, so you know what your child will be playing.
For your diary: TERM 3 SHOWCASE Aug 27
2023 ANNUAL RECITAL AND AWARDS NIGHT SATURDAY NOV 4
This is our big and very special event for the year. Unlike term showcases where families can register if the date suits them, the recital is the one event of the year when we have absolutely all students participate. The recital levy (non refundable - May 28 is deadline for letting me know your family can’t be involved) is charged to your account in June ($50 per student and $85 for families). Please block out the whole day in your calendar and consider that your young ones especially will need to be well rested for the big day. We can’t hire the hall and sound equipment for more than one day, so we rehearse in the morning, have solo sessions in the afternoon and finish with a big gala concert of group items and ensembles in the evening. It is a very exciting event for our families and a hugely important part of the learning program.
More details to follow in term 3 but for now make sure the date is firmly marked in your family calendar.
Also for your diary: SUNDAY NOV 5 will be a celebration lunch for families who have been part of our music families for five years or more.
OTHER UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
QMTA Concert: Matilda, Rebecca, Gemma, King and Ching are representing our studio at this event in Cairns on June 4 - we wish them the very best. It is a concert being put on by the combined music teachers of the Cairns region. If you would like to attend to enjoy the performances and support our students, then please contact me for details.
Cairns Classical Concert: October 14 we have King, Nikita and Gemma performing at this professional event in Cairns. If you wish to purchase tickets, again please contact me for details.
MFactor: Our Miallo students have their school talent show happening in term 2 this year, May 25. I’m sure our students will enjoy performing for their school, they always do a marvellous job.
Saint Augustine’s: Our students at Saints are extremely busy with a full load of performances at school this term for assemblies, liturgies and special occasions. We are also organising some aged care visits soon. Our school music program is bustling and exciting. Congratulations to those who have performed so well this term already.
Cairns and District Junior Eisteddfod: We look forward to hearing about how our performance team goes at this event in mid June. If you registered your child for this and did not send me a confirmation email, please do so ASAP.
Con Brio Exams: We have had some great results with our video instrumental exams already this year. Many more students are on track to complete exams during this term.
Trinity Theory Exams: These will be early Saturday morning on Nov 4 - the same day as recital - exam students will be scheduled later in the rehearsal schedule to accomodate this important event.
BRINGING TO YOUR ATTENTION
I’m hoping that all families kept a copy of the 2023 information brochure for their records, if you want another one emailed please just let me know. Please note the information in there (at end of policy section and clearly underlined) about ceasing enrolment. The last date available in 2023 for giving notice to withdraw from lessons is week 8 of this term.This policy is in place to support good continuity of learning for classes, stability of lesson planning and best outcomes for your child. If you don’t plan on your child finishing out the music year, now is the time to be in touch to discuss.
AWARDS since last newsletter
Well done to all of these student on their achievements!
Francesca Hughes - 100 piano pieces/ 10 drum pieces
Sabrina Osera - 40 piano pieces/ 30 piano pieces
Amelie Zonai - Distinction for grade 1 piano exam
Oliver Johnston - 30 piano pieces
Callum Moffat - 30 piano pieces
Zeth Birch - 30 piano pieces
Brock Milford - 10 piano piece
Mario Molinari - 20 piano pieces
Saxon Keech - 10 drum pieces
Ema Parker - 30 piano pieces
Lola Gonsalves - 50 piano pieces/ 10 pieces grade 1 piano
Scarlette Jack - 50 piano piece
Bailee Weier - completing her first piano book
Kasady Quaid - 50 piano pieces
Charlie Moffat - 30 piano pieces
Estella Spence - 30 drum pieces
Jasper Keech - Distinction Preliminary grade guitar exam/ 10 pieces grade 1 piano/ 30 pieces guitar
Emma Coiutti - 70 piano pieces
Indi Connor - 40 piano pieces
Nate Hancock - 10 Grade 3 piano pieces/ Distinction Grade 3 piano exam
Jaxon Ducker - 20 piano pieces
Matilda Muller - 10 Grade 5 piano pieces
Lucy Milford - 50 piano pieces
Quinn Kelleher - finished her first piano book
Callum Moffat - finished his first piano book
Jordi Keune - 30 piano pieces
Anastasia Frahn - 10 grade 3 pieces/ Distinction grade 2 piano exam
Nakeisha Wellham 10 Grade 1 piano pieces
Elena Rodriguez - 30 guitar pieces
Khobi Arthurson - 20 Grade 3 piano pieces
Ava Dwyer - 70 piano pieces
Rosie Perry - Distinction Preliminary grade piano exam
Lucia Hughes - Credit for grade 2 piano exam
Nova Hilton - 10 preliminary grade piano pieces
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A few weeks ago I was able to attend a teachers workshop from AMEB on the new flute syllabus for grades prelim to 4. I have also attended three zoom sessions on the changing face of musicology and the future of classical music from the Australian Guild of Music.
CHARITY INCENTIVE PROGRAM
Our Saints students are collecting all of the stamps they earn (for recording practice, completing theory, playing pieces by memory, writing compositions, teamwork in lessons etc.) as a fundraiser for the Caritas charity. Our home studio students are doing the same for the Mossman Hospital Foundation. We have passed $50 so far between the two teams and hope to increase that further during term 2.
That’s it for now, more details to follow on various events throughout the year. Thanks for your continued support in everything we do to make learning music successful for your child :)
Ms Joanne ♫☺
