MARGARET BRANDMAN

To date, Margaret has had a good deal of experience in many aspects of the music industry:

 

Performer – Margaret has had international stage experience. In the past few years, she performed at her ‘Rhapsodies to Rhumbas’ concerts, which were two-hour events featuring only Brandman compositions played and sung by a team of 10 musicians and 2 singers. Over the years she has also performed her own compositions at concerts and festivals in New York, Australia, Hawaii and in the UK.

 

"I have to admit I am new to your music and had no idea what a treat I was in for tonight. I loved every minute of it; incredibly varied compositions played and sung with great talent and passion.” Jill Anderson

 

In 2015 Margaret composed two new song cycles for Baritone Martin Cooke, who has been a permanent member of the Bavarian State Opera for over 25 years. These will be performed by Margaret and Martin Cooke in Australia in 2016.

 

Composer – Apart from her immediate family, composing is her absolute passion in life. The creative process is a form of meditation in which she can become totally absorbed. She has been composing since the age of 15. Margaret is a represented composer at the Australian Music Centre. Her works are published in Australia and Germany. Her compositions show evidence of her European heritage as well as her love of the Australian landscape and traditions. Her works have been performed and have received airplay in many countries including: Australia (since 1977), USA (since 1981), Switzerland (1996), Germany (since 1996), Italy (Donne in Musica Festival 1997), UK (since 1996), Czech Republic and more recently in Cuba.

 

Following the concert in 2013, Jennifer Comino commented “Just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU for a beautiful concert performance las Saturday evening. In fact every piece, every singer & every instrumentalist had their own unique brilliance. Your compositions are brilliant! “

 

Professional – Arranger and member of the Music Arrangers Guild of Australia for over 40 years, Margaret has arranged many pieces for various ensembles and voice.  These arranging skills are also applied during the composition process for her original works.

 

Music Educator – Margaret has endeavoured to combine her interests in music education with her passion for composing. She has taught piano for over 45 years, and has devised a unique teaching system and a complete series of music education materials, many of which contain her original compositions for piano and other instruments. Margaret also conducts Professional Development courses for Music Teachers in Australia and internationally.

 

“I would like to thank you for the recent Professional Development Course for Piano Teachers. You make everything seem so uncomplicated and easy to follow. I came away with so many new ideas.” Kathryn Fallas (Sydney Piano Teacher)

 

Margaret has produced a DVD titled The Geometry of the Piano and the Symmetry of the Hands, outlining her music teaching concepts for piano for which she received a Diploma of Excellence in Piano Teaching from the World Piano Teachers Association (WPTA) in Serbia. The DVD was shown at the WPTA Conference in Serbia in 2011 and 2013 and to a packed audience at the Australian Piano Pedagogy Conference in Melbourne in July 2015.

 

Click here to see Margart Brandman's Piano Teaching Concepts.

 

Published Author – Among the collection of materials Margaret has devised are: a high school music text book, Accent on Music, a set of ear-training materials, the Contemporary Aural Course, her comprehensive Contemporary Piano Method, a recorder method - How to play the Recorder, which is published in the USA, and several music theory and harmony texts and workbooks which are available world-wide.

 

“I am enjoying your books....I'm really intrigued by all the patterns, and so glad I found out about your balanced right/left brain approach - Thanks for writing these books!” Cynthia Lowe, Flagstaff, Arizona.

 

Selected Honours and Awards – In 2003 Margaret was awarded ‘International Woman of the Year for services to Music’, by the International Biographical Society (Cambridge England). After speaking and performing at the World Forum held in Oxford England in 2012, she was awarded the World Forum’s Distinguished Intellectual Contribution Award, for the Continent of Australia. Also in 2012 she received the World Piano Teachers Association Diploma of Excellence in Piano Pedagogy for her presentation The Geometry of the Piano and the Symmetry of the Hands, which in addition to her teaching concepts, also showcases many of her compositions. In 2014 Margaret also received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the IBC for her many contributions to the worldwide academic community in the field of music composition, performance and education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret Brandman standing alongside a book shelf holding many of her published works.

Photo Credit. Roger Dilernia

Margaret Brandman composing at the piano.

Photo Credit. Roger Dilernia

Final bows at the Rhapsodies to Rhumbas Concert 2013

Photo Credit : Linda Jocelyn

Margaret Brandman aged 7 playing a duet with her mother Else Brandman at the Brandman Music Studio concert.

Photo Credit: Margaret Brandman family archive photo.