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Hello. This is my final entry for the YWJI Workshops of 2012 as eight fantastic weeks culminated in the course concert on Thursday, September 20.

For those of you who attended the concert in Sydney, thank you!  It was great to have the support of so many family and friends and to share our achievements with you.  Thursday was a celebration.  All groups were able to show the hard work they had done and for some it was their first ever solo in front of an audience!

Personally, I had a killer night.  I was on the go all night long as Zoe (bass), Zela (piano) and I accompanied all the vocalists and also played our own group items.

One of my personal favourites from the concert was 'Stompin’ at the Savoy', where it’s just me to bring in a double time section.  I went totally nuts!  Also, listening to the accapela, duo version of 'All Of Me' was mesmerising.   Then my own group played and it was an amazing atmosphere.  It’s been so much fun playing with these girls over the past eight weeks and when we ended with 'Whip the Mule', the vibe was infectious. 

Then, to top it off was the tutor item 'Perdido', with Elana Stone on vocals, Zoe Hauptman on bass, Monique Lysiak on piano, guitarist Jess Green and Alex Silver as trombonist and with a special guest ‘tutor’....me!  They didn’t have a permanent drum tutor at the course so I was asked to play.  It was so cool to play with this incredible group of professional female musicians.  I was so glad about how the night had gone, but I must admit I was exhausted afterwards!

Sandy Evans spoke briefly and one phrase she mentioned really resonated with me, and reflected what I felt of the concert.  She said “The only thing you can do wrong in regards to music, is not to try.  Never give up!”  I really believe this passion for music and fighting spirit was in full force at the concert.  It doesn’t matter what background you’re from, be it classical or rock or whatever, everyone embraced the chance to try something new and extend the passion they have for music.

Before I end I would like to say big congratulations to the JRMA winners for 2012; to the private tutelage recipients, Danica Hobden, Mary May Horton and Isabel Stewart-Kasimba and Elizabeth Jigalin, Abi McCunn.

A huge thank you to this year’s tutors also - Jess Green, Zoe Hauptman, Elana Stone, Alex Silver and Monique Lysiak plus Toby Hall who came in and worked with all this year’s drummers.  Amy Curl from SIMA and Justin Ankus from The Con deserve a special mention as they do all the behind the scenes work to get this course to run smoothly!

So, if all this sounds like your kind of thing, or you know someone who’d be interested, please check out the website.  You can go onto the SIMA mailing list to receive info about their other programs and be the first to hear when applications open for the YWJI Course for 2013.

Thanks for reading, and that’s me.  Bye!
-Holly.

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• SIMA
• Young Women's Jazz Workshops

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• Holly Conner

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