This five-day series of workshops, masterclasses, and music clinics was hosted by the Wits Music Department (University of the Witswatersrand, Johannesburg) as well as two associated and prominent South African music academies: the CAFCA School (The University of Pretoria, Mamelodi) and the Music Academy of Gauteng, founded by Dr Johnny Mekoa (Benoni). Clinics were hosted at two Wits Music venues (Braaimfontein, Johannesburg CBD) for two further consecutive days. Wits Music also hosted the project-based MIAGI music workshops (also supported in attendance by Wits Music students) on alternate days.

Clinics were attended by students, teachers, and professional peers of beginner to advanced levels, and the teaching formats included

•ensembles

•instrumentation teaching

•orchestration and composition clinics

•rhythm and percussion, and

•open-ended discussions.

The clinics were well attended and student presentations were held at each music clinic.

Furthermore, students and/or peers in attendance encompassed tertiary to secondary-level candidates and included the directors of bands/sections or peers. These clinics were all facilitated by us in a creative, imaginative, technical, practical, and effective manner.

The masterclasses were interactive and diverse, and each one embraced a uniquely nurturing and sharing environment. Content taught in the music clinics included music-specific proficiency around technical and stylistic aspects of diverse music genres and improvisation, including current applied techniques and best-practice/colleague-based research methodologies.

This workshop tour not only gave us the great opportunity to share our knowledge about music, but also afforded us a memorable insight into South African history, the still-existing social difficulties, and the impact of the past on today’s music scene.

Text and pictures by Chantal Willie-Petersen, Markus Geiselhart, David Panzl

Markus Geiselhart has been teaching at the Institute for Popular Music (ipop) since 2013 and conducts the Big Band of the mdw. He conducts the “Don Ellis Tribute Orchestra” as well as his own “Markus Geiselhart Orchestra”, with which he released the album “My Instrument is the Orchestra”. As a composer and arranger, he has written big band compositions and has created works for “Art of Brass Vienna” and “Salaputia Brass”. As a trombonist, he can be heard with his own various formations.

David Panzl is currently a senior lecturer at the Leonard Bernstein Department of Wind and Percussion Instruments. He is an internationally active soloist and chamber musician, judges in international competitions, and leads master classes worldwide. His works are published by Doblinger Vienna and Pulsa Musica USA. He appears on Paraty Records (Harmonia Mundi), Wergo (Schott Music), and Edel Records Germany, and endorses Yamaha, Vic Firth, Zildjian, Mike Balter, and Loyal Drums.