International School Manila was excited to host IASAS Music 2022 from March 2nd to 4th, 2022. IASAS Music CC brings together approximately 162 music students (48 Band, 48 Strings, 48 Choral and 18 Piano musicians) to participate in workshops and share artistic works. The selection process for this convention is quite competitive within the schools and the students who attend are very committed to their respective art forms. The convention hopes to provide experiences that enrich and inspire these students’ artistic understandings and practice. To add to the excitement, IASAS celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, so we celebrated being part of such a wonderful legacy by joining a joint Zoom celebration with IASAS Dance/ Drama/ Tech  and IASAS Debate and Forensics, which was hosted by International School Bangkok. 

For IASAS Music, the Band, Choir and Strings students from each school prepare an Octet performance. Every student also prepares  a solo for adjudication, with piano students supporting as accompanists where needed. While the convention is not competitive, some students are selected to have their work featured in showcases, which are used to enhance the learning of all delegates.  One of the highlights of the convention is when students from all schools join together to present shared music performances under the direction of guest conductors. 

An additional element added for the virtual event this year was a convention meet up. As our Music team discussed how we might modify the event to keep it an engaging experience for the 160 students involved, we had the idea of bringing all schools together earlier so as to work on collaborative aspects of music making and to connect students socially across the IASAS network with our Guest conductors:

• Frank Troyka from Texas, U.S.A led the Band students in a workshop entitled De-Mystifying the Art of Practice: Efficient and Effective Strategies for Student Musicians and Musical Leaders. This session explored how to approach learning a piece of music, such as an etude, and focuses heavily on peer teaching and student leadership.

• Jonathan Mann from the United Kingdom led a masterclass on playing the Enigma Variations, which is the large ensemble music piece all IASAS Strings students are working on virtually playing together for IASAS Music 2022. Working with the clicker track, all students gained a shared vision of the piece, which will no doubt make the final virtual performance more cohesive. 

• Dinah Helgeson from Seattle, U.S.A. lso worked on developing a cohesive interpretation of the IASAS Choir large ensemble piece Let the Music Fill Your Soul. Her work helped students focus on blending voices, look at the specific demands of the various voice parts, and prepared students  for recording. 

• Chi-Ying Hung, an experienced piano accompanist (and ISM parent!), joined forces with Jovianney Cruz, a Manila-based concert pianist. The pair explored the challenges of accompanying different types of performers before answering troubleshooting questions from IASAS piano delegates about their accompanying assignments for the convention. 

In addition to these wonderful music professionals, students gained from experience of 12 other music adjudicators. You can read about all these wonderful musicians and sample some of the music created for the convention by browsing the dedicated website for the event, by clicking the image below: