The opening line of Orsino in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night could easily reflect the role of music in U3AHealesville’s course offerings.
Most people love their music in all its forms and some even play. The range of courses offered by U3AHealesville covers a wide range of interests and instruments.
For most, the interest focuses on string instruments such as guitar, banjo and ukulele and a small group of enthusiasts also enjoy the recorder.
If singing is what you enjoy then the Healesville Community Choir, now operating as a U3AHealesville activity, meets once a week on Monday nights.
There is also the Theatre Group which rehearses during the year with the goal of performing in a musical production at the Memo Theatre at the end of the year.
Strings n Things also meets twice a month on Thursday evenings where up to 35 string enthusiasts, as well as some percussionists – not to mention the harpist – gather to ‘have a sing and a play’ to words and chord structures of well-known songs projected onto a screen – it is a chance to play and sing your heart out.
U3A Healesville courses cater for people of all abilities who are interested in learning and playing, from the rank beginner to the more experienced.
Opportunities to perform to a live audience are arranged throughout the year.
These including Aged Care Homes, U3A afternoon teas, Fridays at 5, selected music events in Healesville, the occasional pop-up performance outside the Memo as well as the very popular Theatre Group’s end-of-year musical performance.
If your interest is more about listening to music you can join the My Music course where members listen to presentations from each other over the course of the year on whatever music they happen to enjoy, be it classical, jazz, folk music, screen music or even ‘pop’.
Some presentations have focussed on a particular composer such as Franz Liszt, others on music forms such as the History of the Concerto, while on a more popular note, one presentation took members down memory lane listening to Protest Songs of the 60s.
The presentation on screen music explored how the role of music in movies had evolved since the first silent movies.
The emphasis is on having fun – playing, listening, learning and performing. If you have a love of music and would like to share that love with others then you should ‘play on’ and contact U3AHealesville by going to the website at www.healesvilleu3a.org.au or emailing the organisation on Healesville.u3a@bigpond.com.
