The Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB), Australia’s leading provider of examinations for music, speech and drama, has launched an entirely new syllabus in Musical Theatre, at an event at Arts Centre Melbourne attended by one of Australia’s best loved musical theatre performers, Lisa McCune, fellow WAAPA graduate Drew Weston and the star of the upcoming musical Jerry’s Girls, Silvie Paladino.
In launching the new program, McCune said “Even the most naturally gifted performers need solid foundations. They need passion, self-confidence, stamina, diligence, tenacity, resilience, they need mentors, and they need knowledge.”
“So in offering this program, the AMEB is providing aspiring performers, or simply those who are just interested in the discipline of musical theatre, a great opportunity to develop technique and to hone their theatre craft. It provides a structure to study carefully, the components of this very wide and diverse genre.”
The brand new program of study will be introduced along with a series of music publications designed to support musical theatre education from beginner to diploma levels. The launch of the syllabus comes in response to public demand and will be music to the ears of Australia’s next crop of star performers and their teachers.
To help guide the syllabus writing process, AMEB engaged a committee of musical theatre experts from around the country, as well as teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary levels; performers; and academics.
The project is being undertaken in response to public demand from students and teachers whose particular passion is musical theatre. The graded publications showcase the best musical theatre repertoire internationally and features Australian compositions at every grade level.
Custom-composed vocalises in typical musical theatre styles allow students to demonstrate a variety of technical skills in a musically satisfying and efficient way, while short dedicated exercises further encourage the accrual of a variety of vocal techniques, with an emphasis on vocal safety and an appropriate rate of development.
AMEB has been supporting music education in Australia for over 100 years through graded examinations and syllabuses providing 100,000 examinations each year for young up and coming musicians, and envisages the new syllabus will serve a range of Australian students and teachers, including those wishing to perform in amateur and school musicals, compete in eisteddfods, attend youth music academies and those preparing to be professional performers.
For more information, visit: www.musical-theatre.ameb.edu.au for details.
Image: Silvie Paladino, Drew Weston, Lisa McCune – photo by Sarah Walker