Macarthur Music Academy in Smeaton Grange | School

Macarthur Music Academy

Locality: Smeaton Grange

Phone: +61 2 4610 2109

Address: 3/6 Blackmore Road 2567 Smeaton Grange, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.macarthurmusicacademy.com

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25.01.2022 Good morning students, parents and friends. Term two starts today, and all regular lessons recommence in their usual time slots unless arrangements have been made with your teacher. We hope you had a good Easter break and look forward to making music with all of you soon.

25.01.2022 Come say hi to some of the team at Narellan Town Centre today! Bailey, Josh, Sarah and Reece have some tables set up in front of Lowes, spreading the word about the music tuition work that we do.

22.01.2022 Its Reeces sixth anniversary teaching drums (and guitar, bass, vocals, piano, ukulele and other stuff) with us today. Happy anniversary, Reece. Thank you for all that you continue to give all of Macs students.

22.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends. Its our pleasure to introduce you to a new teaching team member - Dan Mckittrick. Dan was a member of the retail team while we were still Somerset Music and he is now rejoining us as a fully fledged Bachelor of Music having completed his studies and graduated recently. Dan is available to teach guitar, bass - and hes also a great mandolin player (demand isnt high for mandolin teachers, if Im honest).... Dan also plays guitar alongside Reece in Pixels and Sound. He is a close friend to many of the teaching team here at Mac, and is an inventive and accomplished guitarist. He is taking classes on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Were excited to have him join us. Welcome (back?) to the family, Dan. Dave and the teaching team.

22.01.2022 Hello Everyone. I hope you had a safe, well and quiet Easter. Its lovely to re-emerge from the Easter holidays with a greater sense of optimism that our normal lives dont feel quite as far from reach as they may have done at the end of last month.... So its with tremendous pleasure that we reopen for term two on Monday and we look forward to making music with you all. The regulations on social distancing that we implemented in the final two weeks of term will remain in place. We will continue to review the advice of NSW Health and we remain committed to the daily environmental cleaning of the Academy and the terminal cleaning after each student as we have been since week 6 of last term. We have reviewed NESAs guidelines for the updated Music HSC and in consultation with music faculties of the high schools are helping prepare our Y11 and 12 students for a very different looking HSC in 2020. At this stage it is highly unlikely we will be holding a mid-year performance. But we will hold one as soon as its safe to do so. For parents who wish to continue term two online, please contact your teachers or message us. Were happy to adapt. FaceTime, Zoom and Skype are all possible. However, the campus is clean and the strict distancing and limiting of tuition spaces to two persons means weve taken every possible precaution to eliminate risk in order that our students feel safe while learning with us. See you soon! David and team.

21.01.2022 Justin was one of a standout student from our 2017 HSC Y12 group and one of the most gifted young songwriters, guitarists and vocalists Ive ever been lucky enough to work with. This beautiful piece was self-produced, written and arranged. Well done, Justin!

20.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, Tomorrow marks the return of rostered classes for Term 3. I’d like to thank all students and parents for their continued support in Term 2 - especially given the challenges all service providers have been up against during the ongoing COVID pandemic. I’d also like to recognise my teaching team who’ve been working hard behind the scenes to deliver their lessons without disruption whilst also shouldering the additional responsibility for their stu...dents safety and well-being whilst at our facility. Thanks, guys. I’d like to reassure all students and parents of the ongoing additional cleaning and sanitising of the environment and equipment - we are still using hospital grade disinfectant on all the frequently touched surfaces between each student. The academy has been bleached daily since March and this too will continue throughout term 3. As all contact data is already on file and classes are scheduled, contact tracing - a vital part of our CovidSafe plan - is automatically taken care of. As some communities in South Western Sydney are areas of concern, we continue to request students who are feeling unwell to either arrange an online lesson or not attend classes, and that social distancing continue to be applied on campus. Hand sanitizer is provided at the front desk and we request all students wash their hands before classes. We look forward to resuming classes this week. With HSC practical exams this term it is bound to be a busy one. Again, thank you for your support. Have a good Term 3 - and stay safe. David

20.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, On July 5th and 6th 2019 were holding two end of semester concerts for student performances. The concerts are a great way for students to showcase their work, get performance experience and to share the joy of live performance. As teachers, were proud of each student and the opportunity to perform alongside them is a thrill for each of us. As we did last Christmas, well be holding the shows on site at the Academy in Smeaton Grange in the form...er Somerset Music shop space. In order to accommodate more guests comfortably, weve split the concert over two nights. The younger students will perform on the Friday night and the High School, Senior and Mature Aged students will be performing on the Saturday evening. The Friday concert will begin at 6:30pm and the Saturday concert will begin at 6pm. Adult tickets will be $25 and child tickets are $15. All currently enrolled students are free entry. The admission fee goes toward cost of staging the events and the upkeep of the academy during the upcoming holiday period. One ticket will provide access to both performances, so parents with students in both events do not need to purchase separate or additional tickets. Tickets can be acquired through trybooking: www.trybooking.com/517766 We hope some of you can join us for what is always a joyful event. Weve worked hard to include all the students who wished to participate and performers from each part of their musical journey, beginner through to advanced will be in the spotlight. We look forward to your company in July. David and Reece On behalf of the teaching team.

20.01.2022 Dear Students, Parents and Friends, Congratulations to all of our current HSC students in completing their trials. They’ve all worked and practiced very hard to bring their craft up to such a high calibre, despite the additional challenges and current circumstances that this year has presented. The technical and musical ability that has been on display bodes well for both the upcoming final exams and their matriculation to university. Huge congratulations to Jaala, Ethan, Chr...is, and Tiahna who have recieved early entry to Western Sydney University to study music in 2021. We’re very proud of you. A couple of auditions still to go, and good luck to those of you undertaking those. We have further cause for celebration as today marks our second year anniversary as Macarthur Music Academy. Thank you to all of the students, parents and friends for their support over the last two years, without which we could not have continued, nor grown at the rate that we have. Since becoming Macarthur Music Academy, our student numbers have more than doubled, and I attribute that to not only the hard work and dedication of my teaching staff, but also to the community that has built up around the academy and the positive word of mouth that has been spread by all. I cannot begin to express my appreciation to you all. This academy is more than just the music education that happens here and is built upon the strong foundation that our community provides us. Onwards to our tenth anniversary as a school - which comes up next year. Best wishes, Dave

20.01.2022 Turns out Social Distancing and one-on-one education are still quite compatible! Thanks everyone for adjusting to the new (hopefully very temporary) regulations regarding hand washing and the use of the waiting room. Your co-operation keeps our doors open. Thank you again for all of your support.

20.01.2022 Due to an upgrade to our NBN service, our phone number is offline for 48 hours. Please contact us on 0410 595 184 for urgent enquiries, send a Facebook message or email us at [email protected] Sorry for the inconvenience.

20.01.2022 Dylan is an 11 year old piano student and a budding young composer. During lockdown Dylan learned about functional harmony and how to create melodies from his chord progressions creating this lovely piece. Its a pleasure to share this. Creativity in primary aged students is always incredibly exciting. Well done, Dylan.

19.01.2022 Hi Everyone, It brings me tremendous pleasure to welcome Renee Ciappara to our teaching team at Macarthur Music Academy. Renee is taking on classes for voice and for piano. Renee originally studied voice under the same vocal coach as Sarah did and has studied through her AMEB Grades for Vocal. She is particularly good with children having been a childrens entertainer for some time.... Renee is currently taking bookings for Thursdays. Welcome to the family, Renee. Dave and team.

19.01.2022 Congratulations to our former student Jacob Elliott for releasing this beautiful EP. Were very proud of you, Jake.

19.01.2022 Josh and Bailey out in Oran Park in February 2020 giving lessons to young local children. Awesome photo courtesy of Oran Park Town.

19.01.2022 Students, Parents and friends, We return for Term 1 from Tuesday* this week which means scheduled lessons return to normal from then. * Monday is Australia Day public holiday. It is at the teachers discretion if they are teaching on this day, and it remains optional for students.... We hope youve all had a nice break. The teaching staff and I look forward to welcoming you back for another year. Best Wishes, Dave

19.01.2022 What a wonderful weekend! Thank you so much to all the students for their excellent performances. The standard was particularly high this time around and its heartening to see so many students making exceptional debuts. On behalf of the team, Id like to thank everybody who supported the students and the academy as a whole.... Were exceptionally proud of each and every single one of all our students. Have a safe holiday and we will see you when we return on July 22nd. Holiday lessons are continuing for those whove made arrangements with their teachers to do so, and the HSC Aural workshop is on Thursday 18/7/19 from 1:00 pm for those students whove expressed interest.

18.01.2022 It brings me great pleasure to introduce the debut EP by my former HSC student Tom Evans. The work is entitled Commence and is ambient/electronica released under the moniker T63. Tom worked with us here in 2017 in preparation for his HSC in Music in which he was a standout student. I still have tremendously fond memories of teaching Tom and his year group. He is currently undertaking his third year of a degree in film at UTS.... Congratulations, Tom. I remain very proud of all your achievements. David

16.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, Classes resume tomorrow for 2021. The academy has been having issues with emails for the past few days and with our website for some time.... Our new web address is www.macarthurmusicacademy.com Our emails remain the same for now. We are still taking enrolments for 2021. If you have emailed us in the past few days we may not have received it, so please make contact with us if so. Looking forward to seeing you all. David and team.

15.01.2022 Hi Everyone, Concerts are at 6:30pm on Friday December 20th, 2pm Saturday 21st December and finally 6:30pm on Saturday 21st December. You can purchase concert tickets at the following link:... www.trybooking.com/BHCVS Tickets are valid for all three shows. Please check with your teacher which performance youre in. We look so forward to welcoming everyone back to send out the 2019 Academic year in style! As a correction to our last note, adult tickets cost $27.50 but children are only $15. Our apologies for the inconvenience. Students are, as ever, free of charge. See you next week! Best Wishes, Reece and Dave Concert Co-ordinators

15.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, I wanted to address the COVID-19 risk and what we are doing to mitigate this. Scheduled lessons are continuing unless mandated otherwise by the NSW Government. We have however taken precautions to ensure the safety of everyone who visits Macarthur Music Academy.... I wish to assure everyone that the safety of our students, their families, my team and the community at large remains our highest priority right now. I am fortunate myself to have trained in terminal cleaning for nosocomial infection during my time working for NSW Health - which I did during the 2009 H1N1 (Swine) Flu epidemic. So the team and I have undertaken the same precautions with environmental cleaning at the academy as was done in the hospital back then. Today, weve done a complete terminal clean on the academy, which has been a full two-step clean and disinfect using both disinfectant and bleach. That includes floors, walls, skirting boards, all doors, handles, light switches, public lavatories and sinks and all the hard surfaces including musical instruments. In terms of the environment, we we will continue this level of cleaning daily throughout the period of concern. Please let me know if you have any queries. Alcohol-based hand santitizer is available in the foyer for all patrons to use. Please wash hands thorughly after using the bathroom. Whilst we will clean the equipment between students, its recommended that students wash their hands after lessons and avoid touching their face. If a student is unwell, please do not send them to the academy. We will offer make ups during the upcoming holiday period. If any staff member or student tests positive to COVID-19, the academy will observe all directions from the Government to protect our students, teachers and the community. Including temporary closure and self-isolation. A policy is in place for this unlikely event. Weve undertaken all these precautions for the safety and the peace of mind of our community here. Whilst its advisable not to be overly anxious, this vigilance should provide adequate peace of mind that were taking the risk seriously. Now, back to teaching! Stay safe, everyone. Dave and Team.

15.01.2022 Hope this brings you all joy and holiday cheer; Isla Camilleri has blessed us with her amazing singing at the Saturday matinee concert! Isla is a standout performer every year and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

14.01.2022 Hi everyone. Thanks for your support for the first night of the concerts. We have released additional tickets for the shows tomorrow, so if you want to book online, you can.... Tickets are available at the door tomorrow Show 2 starts at 2pm and show 3 starts at 6:30. See you then! Dave + team

14.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, Its come to our attention that the try booking site for the end of term concert is showing tickets for the Friday only. This is causing confusion for some people. There is only one ticket and it will admit you to either or both concerts. We didnt feel it was acceptable people having to buy tickets to two nights if they had students in both concerts. ... Friday night we kick off at 6:30pm, and Saturday at 6pm. Hope to see some of you then. David

12.01.2022 Our job is just too much fun. Proud of you, Ethan

11.01.2022 Dylan has been practicing his cross-rhythms! Who says learning piano has to be dull? Nintendo music wins every time! #soproud

10.01.2022 Its officially a year ago today that we re-opened the doors as MacMusic after 7 years teaching out of Somerset Music. Thank you to all of you for your support, for being a part of our family and advocating for our work with our students. It truly is an honour to serve this amazing community.... Dave and the Mac teaching team

10.01.2022 Were proud to work with some pretty committed students of all ages, and by far some of the most rewarding projects we get to take on is getting our students original music recorded and out into the world. This particular project is the brainchild of a student and long standing friend of mine and its been a pleasure to help bring this to fruition. Phil and I have collaborated musically, off and on going back a number of years and Im very happy to have helped him out on keyb...oards, moral support and nagging for this EP. If youve ever had ambitions to make your own music, we can certainly help you reach those goals. Most importantly, congratulations on the release, Phil. In and of itself, its a massive milestone. Hope you all enjoy it. Dave

10.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends. Following the advice of the Government, the academy will remain open for scheduled lessons this week. We have been taking things extremely seriously with regards to the environmental health and cleaning, and we thank you for your continued support. We encourage any students who do not feel well to not attend classes. We are considering online and remote options for students who are unwell or uncomfortable going out. We understand the majority of... our students wish to continue lessons and we of course wish to teach them. We have not taken this decision lightly but as with all extended absences (such as school holidays), the long term survival of the business is dependent on us doing the thing we do best. We will continue to review the situation closely and as soon as any change to the advice happens we will adjust our policy accordingly. We will continue to be vigilant with hygiene and will be requesting all students wash their hands prior to lessons. During this period, we request parents either wait in their vehicles or accompany their child into the teaching rooms in order to minimise people in the foyer. Wed also appreciate the amount of non-student siblings be kept to a minimum during this time. The tuition rooms are mostly rehearsal spaces, designed for bands, are very large and social distancing of 2 arms length is not a problem even in the smaller spaces. A student and a parent and a teacher is not remotely an issue. Any parent electing to not send their child to lessons is welcome to do so, and we respect your decision. Please give us notice the day prior so we can adjust direct debits accordingly. We will continue to update our family here promptly should any change in policy need to come into effect. I thank you for those whove reached out to us with support and warmth and I can assure you that as ever the safety of my team, our students and their families remain my primary concern. Please contact me on (02) 4610 2109 if you have any queries or wish to discuss anything. The line is directed to my personal mobile. Warmest wishes to all, David Eaton Head Teacher March 22, 2020

10.01.2022 HSC Practical Music Exams began across NSW yesterday with our first two of 14 candidates undertaking their examinations tomorrow morning. Our 2020 cohort is indeed a strong one. Perhaps the strongest we’ve yet had and every student has worked incredibly hard to exceed our expectations of them. 2020 has thrown challenges at them that no student has ever been dealt before - and I certainly hope that no student will not have to again. These guys have risen to and overcome these ...hurdles and are each on track for extraordinary success. However, academic attainment is still very much secondary to the humans involved. I know I speak for Reece, Lachie, Anton and Sarah when I say we have loved teaching this group - individually and collectively. Cohorts that collectively give back to their teachers are hard to come by and are treasured when they do. I’d like to wish the very best luck to all our Year 12 HSC group for 2020. I, and indeed all of us, are behind you and are very proud of you all. Dave

09.01.2022 Its with tremendous pleasure that the team at Mac and I welcome Bailey Starkey who has joined us as a drum tutor from this week. Bailey is a standout former HSC student of Reeces who is now undertaking his Bachelor of Music degree. Bailey has availabilities on Tuesday afternoon.... Welcome aboard, Bailey. Dave

09.01.2022 Hi Everyone. Id like to thank you all for your support and trust over the last few weeks. The support of the parents and students has kept us functioning and the academy alive and viable. The team and I decided to close for Easter a week earlier in order to do our bit and stay home. We intend - assuming the regulations do not change - to reopen with Term 2 on April 27th and that will hopefully provide us all with a welcome path back toward some degree of normality.... Students whove arranged HSC and additional tuition with their teachers - these arrangements will remain in place with the same social distancing precautions weve had in place the last three weeks. Please have a safe Easter. Warmest wishes all, David

08.01.2022 Its with tremendous pleasure Id like to welcome our new sax tutor Jack Franklin to the teaching team at Macarthur Music Academy. Jack is an alumnus of Macarthur Music Academy having been a previous standout HSC band 6 candidate. He studied for his HSC at Macarthur Anglican College under the tuition of our academys co-founder Dr. Rebecca Bennison. He is currently studying for his Bachelor of Arts (Music) at the University of Wollongong.... Jack has played the sax for many years, as well as being a gifted guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter. Jacks appointment is exciting as it marks the beginning of our expansion into tuition for concert band and orchestral instruments. This is an avenue Im excited to see us continue. Jack is currently tutoring on Thursday afternoons at the academy. If anyone knows of anybody looking for saxophone tuition, remember that discounts still apply for students recommended to us by existing students, and that discount will be passed on to the recommending student if it already hasnt been. Welcome to the team, Jack. Dave

07.01.2022 Best of luck to the Year 12 students who take their written exams today. We believe in you. You got this. As a bonus, youll also never have to hear John Farnhams version of Help ever again.

05.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, Tomorrow marks the return of rostered classes for Term 3. Id like to thank all students and parents for their continued support in Term 2 - especially given the challenges all service providers have been up against during the ongoing COVID pandemic. Id also like to recognise my teaching team whove been working hard behind the scenes to deliver their lessons without disruption whilst also shouldering the additional responsibility for their stu...dents safety and well-being whilst at our facility. Thanks, guys. Id like to reassure all students and parents of the ongoing additional cleaning and sanitising of the environment and equipment - we are still using hospital grade disinfectant on all the frequently touched surfaces between each student. The academy has been bleached daily since March and this too will continue throughout term 3. As all contact data is already on file and classes are scheduled, contact tracing - a vital part of our CovidSafe plan - is automatically taken care of. As some communities in South Western Sydney are areas of concern, we continue to request students who are feeling unwell to either arrange an online lesson or not attend classes, and that social distancing continue to be applied on campus. Hand sanitizer is provided at the front desk and we request all students wash their hands before classes. We look forward to resuming classes this week. With HSC practical exams this term it is bound to be a busy one. Again, thank you for your support. Have a good Term 3 - and stay safe. David

05.01.2022 Its the HSC Music Practical Exams this week and Dave, Reece and Lachlan are out at schools accompanying their Year 12 students with their final music performance and musicology exams. Were proud of the achievements of all of our Year 12s this year and there are some incredibly sophisticated programs being performed. Its the summation of two years preparation and hard work. Good luck to all the Year 12 students. ... You got this! See more

05.01.2022 Hello everybody! Hope the holidays were fun. Term four lessons resume as normal today. Looking forward to seeing you all.

04.01.2022 Students, Parents and Friends, Weve watched the advice of the government and are subsequently implementing further restrictions in accordance with the advice. All lesson spaces are now restricted to a teacher, a student and a parent should they wish to accompany their child (as they belong to the same household). This doesnt represent any significant change to our normal lesson policy as they are primarily one-on-one but it does limit ensemble performance, on-campus ensembl...e sessions and recording sessions, school examinations or rehearsals. One on one lessons in person will continue for this week for students who wish to do so and all precautions and Government advice continues to be followed. This includes strict social distancing marked out in lesson spaces, disinfection and environmental cleaning of tuition studios and equipment. This means that there is no risk posed to the student and the community due to the continued observation of strict social distancing standards and infection control requirements. Online lessons over the last week have been a great success and the teaching staff are happy to continue to teach remotely for any student wishing to do so via Skype or Facetime if theyd prefer instead of in-person attendance. Its certainly a very viable temporary solution where music can continue to happen. Stay well and healthy everyone. Dave and team

02.01.2022 Round two of spreading the word about Mac Music. Come down to Julia Reserve Youth Precinct/Oran Park Skate Park to talk to Bailey, Josh and Reece about music lessons and also get a free on-the-spot guitar or drum lesson! Massive thanks to Karren and Greenfields Development Company for giving us the opportunity to do this today.

02.01.2022 I am enormously proud to show everyone this single, recorded by one of my lovely just-graduated HSC students. Weve been working on his composition for a while in lessons and recorded this song here at the academy. Congratulations, Sam! First of many, I hope. He is performing this song on Saturday at our end of year concert. David... https://youtu.be/jJDZru_q3YU