Regional students band together for unique performance

For instrumental music students in regional and remote areas, the opportunities to practice their craft with a full ensemble can be few and far between.

However, a group of music teachers in rural South Australia has found a way to make it happen.

Music students from 14 schools across the Mid North and Southern Flinders Ranges have converged at the Peterborough Town Hall for an annual concert with members of the Adelaide Youth Orchestra (AYO).

The first iteration in 2023 saw 50 students performing. 

This year, there were 100. 

For some it was their first time playing as part of an ensemble of that scale, with most of them honing their craft in remote classrooms.

The concert is the brainchild of music teacher Kate Mawson, who previously taught instrumental music online to students at nine different schools in the region.

“Learning instruments in such a remote way, what better way to come with a common interest in one central location,” Ms Mawson said.

Striking a chord

Ms Mawson said music was a hard subject to translate online, but she made it work with some "creative ways of communicating".

"I would put colourful dots on their instruments and say, 'You need to press the red dot or the pink dot,'" she said.

For the first time in a few years, students at Orroroo Area School have had access to in-person music lessons this year.

Student Lucas Wood said it made learning trumpet much easier.

"[Online is] a bit trickier than in person because trumpets are pretty loud, so sometimes it doesn't cross through but it's still fun," Lucas said.

This year he had a solo at the concert.

"I can be a bit nervous, but I've been doing it for a while so it's not that bad," he said.

"It feels really good playing with all the different kinds of instruments. It's a lot different to just trumpets."

Another student performer, Toby Nutt, "sometimes" practices his trumpet at home, to varying reactions from his family. 

"They say I have to be in a different room every time I practice," he said. 

This was his second year taking part in the concert. 

"It's not too bad since there's so many instruments, if you mess up you can't really be heard," he said.

Taking centre stage

Orroroo Area School is one of several that have access to in-person instrumental music education again this year, through the Department for Education's Instrumental Music program.

"There was a period where we couldn't staff it at all … It was only the end of last year that we found two in-person staff to actually deliver weekly lessons," program leader David Hopgood said.

The program brings music teachers to schools across regional South Australia for weekly classes, but only once a year are they all in the same room. 

"They play together at their school, and then they come here and they've got a huge room full of peers who are doing the same thing as they are, so that's really important,"

Mr Hopgood said.

The concert also gives students the chance to see the Adelaide Youth Orchestra at work.

"We talk about pathways, which is, you take up an instrument … where does it go?" Mr Hopgood said.

"If you just have the joy of playing the instrument, that's fine as well, but also going into an ensemble is so important. We really believe in that."