Schola Musica Chamber Orchestra

Details

Schola Musica is a string chamber orchestra in which young string players learn some of the beautiful string repertoire written by great composers .
The rewards for young musicians playing in such a group are numerous. They learn about leadership, they learn to communicate within a musical setting, how to coordinate bowing and sound and how to develop the music imaginatively.

The orchestra also features young soloists, and these roles are shared as the students gain confidence. Schola is tutored by Margarita Jackson and Lissa Cowie. All students study through NCMA and range in age from about 11 to 17 years. There is no conductor and the students take turns leading their sections.

Schola perform concerts at NCMA and various schools and venues in the region and meets to rehearse at 4 until 5.30 every Thursday afternoon at NCMA. Schola is an ideal environment to prepare students for university.

A string orchestra is an extension of the string quartet and requires the same disciplines. It provides an opportunity for the string players to measure and refine their bowing technique, play perfectly in tune with each other and to work together on interpretation. They learn about different musical styles and determining and understanding the composers’ intention.

Young people develop enormous confidence playing in a group like Schola. We try to rotate the leadership roles for the advanced players and we encourage the students to share their thoughts on interpretation. Obviously as teachers we have our own ideas on interpretation but we step back when possible to allow the young people to develop independently, encouraging them to feel the music and identify with the composer and the specific period in history.

Students must be a member of NCMA before joining this class.