Tertiary Music Ensembles

Students who want to perform in our tertiary music ensembles enroll into a suite of core courses called Collaborative Music Making. Ensemble performance involves many skills, the two most important being the ability to listen and collaborate with fellow musicians. This is why we call our ensemble performance courses Collaborative Music Making. Ensemble technique today underpins many group music making situations. These include playing in a string quartet, jazz ensemble, DJ ensemble, orchestra, pop band, recording project with a producer and composer, etc.

The School's Tertiary music program has many music ensembles involving staff and students. These ensembles normally rehearse weekly during semester time and often give concerts in the Conservatorium Concert Hall as well as at local, national and (occasionally) international venues.

Not only will you learn to develop your performance and musicianship skills and collaborate with musicians, the Collaborative Music Making courses will teach you other skills required in the music industry. These include skills in communication, direction, organisation, and working with technology. One valuable approach to developing an esemble musicianship is improvisation. All students in first year participate in small improvisation groups in which they learn to be creative through performing in real time using their instrument, percussion, voice or found sounds such as metal cans, cardboard boxes, etc.

Our ensembles cover a broad spectra of instruments and musical styles ranging from small instrumental/vocal ensembles, through to bands and orchestras. These ensembles include large choirs, the Echology (formerly the University of Newcastle Chamber Choir), Jazz and popular vocal ensembles, pop bands, string orchestra, percussion ensembles, small and large chamber music ensembles, technology ensembles, wind orchestra, world music and improvisation ensembles.

For find out when the ensembles are performing, visit the Events page.