Classes

Learn from an experienced professional - Jonathan, is a singer, pianist, songwriter, arranger, director and actor. He has played roles in 50 or so professional productions touring here and in Australia, as well as 1000s of piano man, rock, pop, jazz, funk, symphony, music direction and cabaret gigs. 

Emma has a degree in performance music (BMus
Performance Violin with piano as her second instrument) and started her paid music career with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra
(CSO) and playing in small ensembles when she was just 15. She continued with the Symphony until
she and Jonathan left for Australia 12 years later to peruse their careers. Emma has played
professionally here and in Australia in a variety of genres – classical, musicals, pop/rock, latin, and
jazz. Her main instrument is violin, but she is very comfortable teaching violin, piano and guitar to
advanced levels.

Rangiora Glee Club (Youth) is vocal group, pop choir for youngsters right here in North Canterbury.
It is a great opportunity to sing some amazing music with other like-minded youngsters and along
the way make fabulous friends: from Hamilton (the Musical!) to Les Misérables, from Adele to Ed
Sheeran, John Legend to the Beatles, from P!nk to Elton John.
In addition to having lots of fun, youngsters will also learn vocal skills and technique from the best.
And if past experiences are anything to go by, they may well find their tribe and make lifelong
friends. There will be opportunities to perform (for those who want to). They will also learn how to
follow along with the actual music! (Don’t stress – it’s not that hard).

Rangiora Glee Club (Adults) is vocal group, pop choir for adults right here in North Canterbury.
It is a great opportunity to sing some amazing music with other like-minded people - from Hamilton
to the Beatles, from Adele to Ed Sheeran, John Legend to Les Mis, from Pink to Elton John.
Participants will strengthen their voices, gain technique, learn to harmonise, gain skill, have the
opportunity to perform (if you want to), all under the guidance of a professional vocal teacher,
performer, and arranger. You will also learn some basic note reading skills as we go – but don’t
stress about this - it’ll happen quite easily and naturally.
All experience levels welcomed although as a minimum you will need to be able to sing in tune.
*wink emoji*

Group work enables students to apply their knowledge and to experience the joy of playing with
others - it really is a blast - and the students grow hugely during this process.
In Advanced Band we leverage off the skills the students have learnt and are learning in their private
lessons and apply them in the band context. The learning in Advanced Band is hugely rich – from
paring back the chosen songs and listening to individual stems in Jonathan’s studio, to exploring new
genres, to analysing complex rhythmic structures and learning to play them, exploring what works
when and why, exploring different voicings and ways of playing various chords, experimenting with
what to play when, exploring structure, volume and layer balance, developing their own parts in the
process. The skills developed by the students are spectacular to witness.
We believe our band is a unique offering. Band action is of course available for students at many
high schools. However, it is very rare for high school classroom music teachers to be experienced
performers. It is rarer still for that teacher to play in the band with students regularly. Some schools
may offer the opportunity to play by learning a pre-existing part, but we offer the chance to create
your part along with us.

Group work really enables students to apply their knowledge and get the joy of playing with others -
it really is a blast - and the students grow hugely during the process.
In Emerging Band, we leverage off the skills the students have learnt in their private lessons and
apply them in the band context. This band context consolidates their existing skills but more
importantly, develops new ones. Playing with others – being in time with others, ensuring you can
hear yourself and others – are all skills that need to be developed. Through this, students hone their
skills faster and to a much higher skill level, than purely having private lessons.
We believe our band is a unique offering. Band action is of course available for students at many
high schools. However, it is very rare for high school music teachers to be experienced performers.
It is rarer still for a teacher to play in band with students regularly. We will be creating (as opposed
to copying) the work which our students experience.
And it is SO much FUN! We wish we’d had this opportunity when we were kids LOL!