Jazz Combo Inspirational in Port Augusta for OMA Tour

Mark Ferguson, Head of Jazz, and students, Victoria Katsoulis, Daisy Davidson, Emily Dennis, James Ho and James Nisbet spent three days and two nights in Port Augusta (Monday 23–Wednesday 25 September) for the final Open Music Academy tour of the year. The group's packed schedule saw them providing inspirational performances and bespoke workshops for over 700 students from reception to Year 12 across three schools.

The group also gave a community performance with repertoire ranging from standards to compositions by Mark Ferguson and a piece about the local Jacaranda trees by Daisy Davidson, herself originally from Port Augusta. The concert, hosted by Port Augusta Performing Arts, finished with a standing ovation and loud calls for encores.

We subsequently received some glowing feedback from Damien Bachmann, Music Teacher at Caritas College:

'The students got to discover a genre of music that they are not familiar with. The combination of live music, enthusiasm from the performers, and interactive performance made the workshops very engaging, and many students told me later that they wanted to know more about jazz. They have also applied some techniques learnt on the day in their class ensemble (for example the improvisation tool based on the smiley face).

The workshop was of very high quality and also benefited me as a teacher by providing me with greater knowledge and additional teaching strategies. The session with the choir was also very valuable, with the students being able to sing different parts of a new song in just a lesson. This also provided us with additional teaching strategies.

It is not often that students in regional towns like ours have the opportunity to participate in workshops like this one or listen to live performances of that quality. Thank you, I hope we can do this again!'

Special thanks again to tour coordinator Sara Lambert, Head of Jazz Mark Ferguson, and students Victoria Katsoulis, Daisy Davidson, Emily Dennis, James Ho and James Nisbet for their inspiring efforts!