Beyond the Page; Developing Ensemble Musicianship through Aural Pathways

Dale Pointon is the Program Coordinator: Ensembles with Instrumental Music School Services (Education Department of WA) where he also works as an ensemble director. Dale also lectures in pedagogy and music education at the University of Western Australia and WAAPA at Edith Cowan University. Dale earned his Masters of Music in Conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA), a Bachelor of Music Performance (UWA) and a Graduate Diploma of Education majoring in Music (ECU).

Dale is an active community ensemble director, clinician and adjudicator. He offers various conducting and ensemble related workshops and Professional Development opportunities. Dale adjudicates at various Australian festivals and eisteddfods, including the National Band Championships. He also serves on the panel of the Advisory Committee for the AMEB WA where he is an examiner. Dale is a conductor with the West Australian Youth Orchestras Association, is the past director of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at WAAPA and has served as the Vice President of the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association (WA). Dale has toured extensively with ensembles to China, USA, New Zealand and throughout Australia.

NSSWE’s Senior Wind Ensemble (SWE) is the organisation's flagship ensemble and is well recognised for its high level of musicianship and its excellence in performance. They play a wide range of professional grade repertoire and challenges its musicians to develop their sound and ensemble techniques. It features over 50 talented musicians from the Northern Sydney region many of whom go on to study music at a tertiary level.

In 2016 NSSWE commissioned The Magic of This Dawn by Christopher Sainsbury, an Australian composer, which premiered at our Spring Festival and was  performed whilst on tour in Japan.

The Senior ensemble is open to students from Years 10 through to 12 and school leavers who are continuing their music studies.