About Lyn Williams

Since establishing the Sydney Children’s Choir in 1989, Lyn has completely transformed the choral landscape in Australia by harnessing the incredible musical and expressive power of young voices through her world-renowned children’s choirs: The Sydney Children’s Choir, Gondwana Voices and the Gondwana Indigenous Choir. This has grown into the organisation, Gondwana Choirs, which puts the vocal power of young voices at the centre of its impressive and wide-reaching artistic program.

As a conductor, Lyn could have easily chosen to pursue a career working exclusively with the nation’s symphony orchestras. Instead, she forged her path to create the instrument of a children’s choir in Australia like no one had done before. Her approach was, and remains, premised on treating young people with complete respect as musicians. This is reciprocated by her singers being willing and able, through her choral training, to charter previously unknown artistic territory.

Lyn is in constant pursuit of the new and the exciting and draws interesting and meaningful connections between artists. In addition to her ongoing work with the Sydney Children’s Choir and Gondwana Voices, for the past ten years Lyn has been devoted to the creation and evolution of the Gondwana Indigenous Choir (GIC). Through Lyn’s support, the singers see choral music as an ideal vehicle for the preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island languages and cultures. Lyn has developed strong relationships with Indigenous elders and cultural custodians across Australia and has brought together these cultural custodians with composers to create new works for the choir. This work would not be possible without Lyn’s artistic vision, cultural respect and integrity and this remarkable ensemble makes a unique contribution to Australia’s cultural life.

Recently, Lyn’s work with singer-songwriter Felix Riebl and the singers of Marliya (present and past members of the GIC) has resulted in the critically-acclaimed festival show Spinifex Gum, which has featured at almost every Australian arts festival, since its premiere at the Adelaide Festival in 2018. This work is political, challenging, and uplifting and evinces that our young Australians should be at the centre of our national discourse. Lyn conducts Marliya on their two albums – Spinifex Gum (2017) and Sisters (2019).

Lyn continues to maintain connections with professional orchestras as Music Director of several significant national events and as a trusted chorus master. She is frequently engaged to speak and lead workshops at international events such as Europa Cantat (2018) and Africa Cantat (2020).

Lyn’s choirs have shaped the course of thousands of lives, with alumni now performing in opera houses and concert halls across the world, completing ground-breaking medical research or as skilled and passionate leaders of non-profit organisations.

Lyn’s dedication and contribution to the Arts has been acknowledged on multiple occasions: with the Excellence by an Individual at the 2019 Art Music Awards; the Australia Council for the Arts’ prestigious Don Banks Music Award in 2017 for outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia in recognition of her lifework as founder and director of Gondwana Choirs; the Medal of the Order of Australia (2004); Member of the Order of Australia (2019) and most recently on being named recipient of the prestigious Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Australian music. She is also a composer, winning the 2009 APRA-Australian Music Centre Vocal/Choral Work of the Year for her work A Flock of Stars.

Each course consists of 24 lessons, given across three school terms, comprising sight singing, melodic and rhythmic dictation. There are 9 levels to the program:

Level 1:

• Keys: C, G and F Major
• Intervals: Major 2^nd and 3^rd, Perfect 4^th & 5^th
• Time signatures: 2/4 – 3/4 – 4/4
• Rhythm: minim, crotchet, quaver, semiquaver and corresponding rests

 

Level 2: all material learnt in Level 1 +

• Keys: A harmonic minor
• Intervals: Major 6^th, Perfect 8ve, minor 3^rd & 6^th, raised 7^th
• Time signature: introduction to 6/8
• Rhythm: semibreve, dotted minim, dotted crotchet and corresponding rests

 

Level 3: all material learnt in lower levels +

• Keys: E harmonic minor
• Intervals: all Major intervals, consolidation of intervals found in a harmonic minor scale
• Time signature: 6/8 – 9/8
• Rhythm: syncopation, triplet, quaver-2 semiquavers, 2 semiquavers-quaver, ties

 

Level 4: all material learnt in lower levels +

• Keys: D Major, D harmonic minor
• Intervals: all intervals found in Major and harmonic minor scales
• Time signature: 2/2 & 3/2
• Rhythm: consolidation of all rhythms known so far, rhythm duets

 

Level 5: all material learnt in lower levels +

• Keys: Bb & Eb Major, introduction to Mixolydian mode
• Intervals: all intervals found in Major and minor scales and in Mixolydian mode
• Time signature: 3/8, reading in mixed meter
• Rhythm: more complex rhythms
• Sight-singing duets

 

Level 6: all material learnt in lower levels +

• Keys: A & Eb Major, G minor
• Intervals and scales: melodic minor scale, triads in root position and 1^st inversion
• Time signature: 7/8, mixed meter
• Rhythm: more complex rhythms (crotchet triplet…)
• Sight singing duets, sing in both treble and bass clefs

 

Level 7: all material learnt in lower levels +

• Keys and Modes: learning all 7 modes (covered in 10 weeks), all Major and minor keys
• Intervals: augmented and diminished intervals
• Time signature: 5/8
• Cadences: Perfect and Imperfect cadences
• Sight singing in trios, in treble and bass clefs

 

Level 8:

• Keys and Modes: learning all 7 modes (covered in 10 weeks), all Major and minor scales
• Intervals: all intervals
• Time signature: 6/16 & 9/16
• Rhythm: duplet, triplet in 5/8
• Cadences: Plagal cadences
• Sight singing: Modulations, atonal melodies

 

Level 9:

• Keys and Modes: all keys and Modes
• Modulating melodies, atonal melodies
• Sight singing with text
• Chordal dictation
• Dictation in 2, 3 and 4 parts
• Complex syncopation