Cooma School of Music Information

Cooma School of Music was established in 1984. Its primary focus has been to develop the music culture in the Monaro/Snowy Mountains region. For over 30 years Allan and Leslie have endeavored to bring the sense of achievement and joy of making music, to people of all ages and levels of expertise. To achieve this, they have concentrated on four primary areas: Allan & Leslie Spencer graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1982, majoring in the classical guitar. They also undertook postgraduate studies with Peter Calvo at the Sydney School of Guitar. After teaching for several years in private schools and colleges they decided, with Peter Calvos encouragement, to move to Cooma and start up their own music school as a husband and wife team. After initially offering classical guitar tuition, the school now offers, besides the guitar, tuition in piano, keyboard, woodwind, brass, strings. singing, songwriting, music theory and musicianship. There are now 8 music teachers teaching over 100 students. The school has inspired many young musicians to pursue careers in music. Many of these past students are now players and teachers in their own right. T Allan and Leslie are still passionate classical guitar players and perform regularly in solo, duo, trio, and ensembles such as the Canberra Guitar Ensemble and the Cooma Guitar Ensemble. Leslie has also conducted the Cooma Harmony Chorus, a community-based choir for over 18 years. Over the years, Cooma School of Music, in association with the Snowy Monaro Arts Council, has presented many concerts and workshops. Besides our regular student concerts, we have promoted many visiting performers of the piano, strings, voice, woodwind, and brass. These events have covered a variety of formats including solos, small and large ensembles, and orchestras. And, not surprisingly, we have had many wonderful visiting guitarists including: Slava and Leonard Grigoryan, Guitar Trek, Karen Schaupp, Minh Le Hoang, Jacob Cordoba, Rupert Boyd, John Couch, Anthony Garcia, Tony ...