Musical Director – Tracy Videon (M.A., Dip. Ed., A.Mus.A)

In March 2016 the MRB appointed Tracy Videon to the role of Musical Director.

Tracy Videon (M.A., Dip. Ed., A.Mus.A) has been an instrumental music teacher in schools throughout Melbourne and in the Riverina for over thirty years, and has many years’ experience conducting bands. Her love affair with community music began when she joined her local concert band in 1978 and has also included choirs, orchestras, brass bands and musical theatre.

A Life Member of the Southern Area Concert Band, she was a concert band representative in the Victorian Bands’ League Music Advisory Board. Twenty-three years’ service as a musician in the Army Reserve provided many varied performance opportunities; participating in band competitions at the highest levels, both here and overseas, proved valuable in shaping her approach to rehearsal and performance.

For many years Tracy helped foster the development of the Instrumental Music program throughout the South-Eastern Victoria region by running music events for students to extend their experience, acted as a consultant and advocate for school music programs, and planned and facilitated professional development opportunities for other music teachers. Currently, Tracy teaches tuba, euphonium, trombone and horn at McKinnon Secondary College. She is also musical director of the McKinnon Orchestra and Wind Symphony.

Tracy studied and completed her teacher training at the University of Melbourne, but has never stopped learning. She has been a long term member of ABODA Victoria, served on their committee and edited their journal ‘Interlude’ for many years. Conductors who mentored her as a young teacher included Craig Seymour, Laurie Hicks, John Browning and Roland Yeung. Since then she has studied with James Croft, Dale Lonis, John Lynch, Craig Kirchhoff, Mallory Thompson and Peter Bandy.

Always a glutton for punishment, she completed a Master of Arts degree in Public History at Monash University, wherein her main research topic was band rotundas and their significance in Victoria’s landscape and social history. She recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Music at the University of Melbourne, focusing on Wind Band conducting under the supervision of A/Prof Nicholas Williams, and has started on a PhD in Music Performance (Conducting).