Woodwind Workshop with Jennie and Shing

Woodwind Workshop with Jennie MacDonald and Shing Leung

Join AMEB Examiner and woodwind specialists, Jennie MacDonald (flute) and Shing Leung (clarinet), for this free event.

This guided and interactive workshop will help you to develop tone, work on intonation, and provide general help with the development of technical aspects of playing your instrument.

We'll begin with a group session to look at breathing techniques and common woodwind skills before breaking into groups led by our fabulous facilitators.

Jennie and Shing will bring some great tools and exercises for you to integrate into your practice at home. You'll get to try them out in the workshop, along with developing your understanding of how to get the best out of those exercises.

Workshop details

Saturday 23 August
11:00am - 12:30pm
Launceston Church Grammar School
36 Button Street, Mowbray
Brock room (Music department)

FREE admission but registrations essential.

The focus for this workshop will be on flute, clarinet, and saxophone but everyone is welcome. In fact, the double reeders will be personally taken care of by our State Manager, Michelle Forbes (who happens to be an oboe specialist herself!). All attendees are expected to bring their instrument - this is a hands-on workshop where you'll gain technique and ideas through actually playing.  Our workshop mentors will work with attendees to improve aspects of their playing, before opening up to questions and discussion, focussing on the development of essential techniques in flute, clarinet, and woodwind playing.

Huge thanks to our friends at Launceston Church Grammar School for supporting this event!

Read about Jennie MacDonald

Jennie has been a leader in music education in Tasmania, holding positions in the north east, north, and south of the state. She is an enthusiastic woodwind teacher and school music educator who, through her career, has worked with students of all ages.

Jennie strives to extend every student to be the very best they can. Within this context she frequently networks to provide exciting workshop opportunities. As a committed lifelong learner, she is very involved in professional learning, both as an active participant as well as providing resources and opportunities for others. Over the course of her career, she has held various positions on state and regional committees such as TASME, Musica North, AMEB and TMTA. Further, she has worked on numerous state and national conferences as an organiser, presenter and participant. Jennie was a selected presenter for the 2022 International Society for Music Education 35th World Conference.

Many of Jennie's students have moved on to successful careers in music as performers, composers, teachers, educational leaders, and music therapists throughout Australia as well as in Europe and the USA. Some are specialists in classical music, whilst others major in jazz or contemporary music styles. The common thread through their many varying careers comes from the holistic training they received as students to be autonomous, motivated, hardworking, considerate, compassionate, generous, inclusive, and committed to lifelong learning.

In 2006 Jennie was the inaugural recipient of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Jetstar Music Educators Award, for her outstanding contribution to educating young Tasmanians in orchestral music, and in 2021 she received the Australian Society for Music Education Music Educating for Life Award, Tasmania. She continues to work for the best music education outcomes for all Tasmanian students.

Read about Shing Leung

Shing was born in Hong Kong and graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He started to be a Trainee Examiner with the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) Tasmania in 2023. Shing is currently teaching at Scotch Oakburn College and the conductor of SOC Wind Band.

Before he moved to Tasmania, in 2018, Shing made significant contributions to the music scene in Hong Kong. He served as the conductor of the Chung Chi Wind Orchestra at CUHK from 2009, Additionally, his role as a core member of the Hong Kong New Music Ensemble cemented his reputation as a prominent figure in contemporary music. For the decade he worked with HKNME, during which time he worked closely with both Hong Kong and international composers, touring to the UK, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Iceland, Australia and premiering over 100 pieces of new composition.

Renowned for his active participation in the modern music circuit, Shing has performed in several prestigious international music festivals, such as the ISCM World Music Days, Mona Foma, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and the ASEAN Music Festival. His recent performances include Satoshi Yagisawa's Clarinet Concerto with the Chung Chi Wind Orchestra, and a clarinet trio recital with two other renowned clarinettists (Martin Choy and Anthony Wong) in Hong Kong last April.