We always seek to provide students with opportunities to broaden their understanding of mastery and expertise. To do this, they must be skilled in understanding how something is produced, rather than the product itself. Evaluation and reflection are a key part of this process. At St Catherine’s, we ask students to take on feedback in order to develop greater proficiency and skill. This is not so that their A grade moves to an A+, it is so this mastery and expertise is realised.

Any musician will tell you that to perform a work to an audience is to be exposed. There is no mask, no character, nor costume to transform the adrenaline and nerves. You cannot ensure that your interpretation is perfectly set and then can remain on display for a period of time like a framed artwork. It can change on any day, in any setting, to any audience. And yet, this is how a musician is judged. On one final product, for one moment in time.

In Music Performance, we seek to ensure that our young musicians can develop their own voice through performance. That they understand the journey and best practice that results in their final product. It was a delight to watch six of our Year 10 Music students open themselves up, to delight in the learning journey and receive and act on feedback to further their artistry through a masterclass with Mr Michael Dahlenburg.

Stella Heidenreich liaising with Mr Michael Dahlenburg during the Year 10 Music Masterclass.

To many, Michael may be a Cello teacher at St Catherine’s, however, less known to some in the community is his national and international success as an award winning solo and chamber performer and conductor. Not only has he received the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s (ACO) Emerging Artist Award in 2008, but he has been a founding member of the Hamer Quartet, going on to win first prize at the 2009 Asia Pacific Chamber Competition and then named in The Age Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential. He is also a regular guest conductor of the ACO and has conducted the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. He is the perfect candidate to reflect artistry and expertise for any musician.

To take on critique can be confronting in that the musician needs to acknowledge that it could be done better. It was so pleasing to note that Kai Wen (Karen) Cao, Allison Duong, Stella Heidenreich, Isabelle Musson, Sophie Williams and Anita Yang approached this experience in their musical journey with open-mindedness, curiosity and honesty. It was a wonderful thing to watch the eloquence and expertise of Michael in partnership with the students to develop their inner musician.

Anita Yang working in partnership with Mr Michael Dahlenburg during the Year 10 Music Masterclass.

Though it is impossible to have captured this magic, I thought it important to share some highlights.

On Interpretation

Michael helped students identify the relevance of rhetoric in works to develop greater coherence in a performance explaining, “Say it, say it again, then you really say it to make a point.” In furthering their interpretation of works, he urged students to think about phrasing, “Every phrase has to go away from and go to somewhere.” He highlighted the importance of lyrics in vocal works as “The words are like poetry, they need cadence. If this is poetry, then this is the climax.” He shed light on the background of several works and helped students make meaning in their performances through sharing his astute knowledge and historical meanings of terms and symbols on the page. In particular ‘mezzo di voce’ – the placing of the voice and ‘appassionato’. Though regularly translated as ‘with passion and emotion in music’, he put it more eloquently saying “what he really means here is – stuff time, do what you want!”

Allison Duong working in partnership with Mr Michael Dahlenburg during the Year 10 Music Masterclass.

On Chopin and Romantic Works

“Chopin is all drama. He thinks he is literally the centre of the universe.”
“Romantic music is like a stew that has been on for 12 hours, reduced down to its essence.”

On Performance and Musicianship

Some days for our students at St Catherine’s, it is hard to be the ‘fearless girl’. Taking a risk can leave us so vulnerable, and it means we have to experience some level of discomfort. For our musicians, this is often the case. When discussing the anxiety of performance, Michael said, “So performing can be slightly terrifying? Is it that it is important to you, or the audience?” He went on to explain, “Pressure is not such a bad thing. In order for you to be here, your ancestors had to run away from a woolly mammoth. It can push you to do things you never thought you could do!”

To understand expression within music he explained, “You have performed this a million times. In five seconds, make your audience feel the same way you do about the song.”

But it was his final advice which was perhaps most pertinent for any musician in any place.

“By having this class, by me teaching you, you think that you will somehow be a better performer. The truth is, you will not. Only practice will make you a better performer. If you know stuff, you can do stuff. You will understand it and you have to understand it.”

Kai Wen (Karen) Cao and Mr Michael Dahlenburg experimenting with phrases during the Year 10 Music Masterclass.

Ms Liv Cher, Deputy Head of Music