We asked our students and their parents what they thought about the Summer Music Academy and here is what they said:
Ian loved singing and spending time with his friends
Mrs. Phua recalls how taken she was by the progress the students made within only a week of classes. “It is really thanks to the Teachers and how they run the Academy, I couldn’t believe the outcome.”
Ian pointed out that the main difference between the SMA and his regular school music classes was the higher quality and proactivity of the teachers during the Summer Music Academy. “All teachers were flown in from Austria. We thought that was really amazing.” Ian still fondly remembers his favourite teacher, Mr. Oliver Stech who has made the programme so much fun for him and spending time with his friends during lunch breaks in the beautiful campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
All in all, both Ian and Mrs. Phua enjoyed the experience of participating in the SMA and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys music and singing.
Andrew overcame his shyness when performing on stage
Mr. and Mrs. Li agree that the high quality of teachers and the programme are the most important, and they found it here in SMA, „We found out about the Academy through a friend. We thought it was a good opportunity for Andrew because the teachers are coming from Vienna just for this programme“.
Andrew’s fondest memory was performing the mini-concert at the end of the week: “I used to be very shy but after one week at the SMA I started to enjoy performing“. Andrew’s parents recall that every day after class he was looking forward to the next day. „this is how we knew we made the right decision“.
Ryan discovered his passion for composing
Mrs. Lo believes that experienced music teachers are the most important aspect of choosing a music programme and it seems like they came to the right place since Ryan shares with us that SMA head-teacher Mr. Andy Icochea-Icochea is his favourite music teacher of all time. “I love the way he teaches and makes learning music so much fun”
Mrs. Lo also tells us that she could see a big change in Ryan after having joined the SMA. “Ryan started composing. He must have learned some good techniques since he now spends a lot of time on composition.” Other than composing, Ryan says, he also learned a lot about sight reading from the different scores used during SMA. He and his mother would definitely recommend SMA to anyone who enjoys music and singing.
Jeffrey improved his singing technique and became a soloist
To Mrs Lam, fun, professional teachers as well as plenty of performance opportunities are important when choosing a music programme. After just one week of SMA she could see improvements in Jeffrey’s pitch, sensibility and breathing techniques in singing.
Jeffrey recalls head teacher Mr Andy Icochea-Icochea taking him aside one afternoon, asking him whether he would like to sing a solo-piece at the end-of-week mini concert. Jeffrey was very excited about this opportunity. Other than that, he also mentions the effort and enthusiasm of the teachers and the songs in so many different languages. “It is very different to music lessons in school because we are not using textbooks at SMA and we sing music from so many different countries.”
Click here to find out more about the Summer Music Academy.