SE Music Conference 2022

MTA CONFERENCE 2022 | ST EDWARD’S, OXFORD

Welcome from St Edward’s

‘Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness, and life to everything.’ There has been much debate about who penned these words, widely attributed to Plato, but what has not been contested is the truth found within them. Music can allow us to express, explore and interpret our feelings in a nuanced way. It can provide adventure and escapism, motivation and

solace. We are lucky, here at St Edward’s, to have a thriving Music Department teaching our pupils the universal language of music – how to play it, listen to it and search for meaning within it. The Ogston Music School, opened in 2017, encourages and facilitates musical ambition and our Olivier Hall frequently reverberates to the sound of one of our orchestras, bands or choirs, bringing our school community together to celebrate

the passion and talent of our pupils. We are thrilled to be welcoming you, a community of music educators, to the School for the annual Music Teachers’ Association Conference. I hope you enjoy your time here. Alastair Chirnside, Warden

Welcome from Alex Tester It’s a real pleasure to host so many MTA delegates over what should be an amazing weekend. I’ve always been astonished what you can gain from a conference like this – the inspiration you can take from lectures, the practical skills from workshops, the debates you can enter into within panel discussions, and the ideas you can gain from visiting a school in the middle of their Summer Term. We’re delighted to welcome you here and hope that you enjoy the huge number of sessions, performances and events. We love being a school with a strong boarding model, situated within a fantastic university city, and I’m proud of how this inspires our students to react to challenges – often with madcap musical events and performances! I hope you are able to sense the spirit of our School while you are here. But above all this weekend, there is the chance for all of us to network and meet with other teachers from a whole range of different schools and this is, I think, invaluable. I’m looking forward to both hosting you and getting my own new ideas from the wonderful group of people we have coming. I hope you also find it useful, exciting and inspiring in equal measure. Alex Tester, Director of Music and the Arts

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