“…Ms Gillan’s teaching style is highly theatrical and animated, qualities that are highly conducive to class engagement. What I particularly like about her teaching is that she incites passion regarding the content that is being studied, almost to the point where one forgets that the end goal is to produce good scores and results. This is particularly
important for me as I felt like year 12 undermined the value and enjoyment of knowledge due to the fixation on achieving good scores. Ms Gillan’s teaching counteracted this however, as in her classes I gained active interest in the repertoire, especially in the compositional structure of Carl Vine’s percussion symphony.

Additionally, I particularly liked her instruction regarding the composition tasks, which was very much tailored to each student; with me her approach to teaching composition was subtle – giving advice mostly on how polish compositions to make them more coherent, and on how to tailor the composition to the examiners’ requirements – and otherwise letting my creative drives run free, which I absolutely loved. Ms Gillan was highly
dedicated to her students, providing comprehensive online resources and practice tasks that were very useful, however I didn’t feel too much pressure to complete all of them – especially in busy parts of the year – which was brilliant as on many occasions I only had time available to complete the SACs and she was very considerate of this. Ms Gillan’s
approach was also highly personal as she was always happy to speak with students individually, as well as having a great sense of humour – not being afraid to make lame music teacher jokes – which promoted a generally jovial atmosphere, making classes enjoyable and preventing us from all going insane from the pressure of year 12 styles!…”

“Up until the end of term 3, I had no chance of passing the written Music Solo Performance VCE exam. I had not learnt any more than 10% of the content, and only half of that was from what I had learnt in music class, so we decided to get a tutor in an attempt to get a decent study score. My first lesson with Jen was so encouraging because she acknowledged the things that I already knew and helped me to stay positive. Jen is also patient, and genuinely cares about her students. Throughout our lessons, she would help with whatever I chose to do, and more; she introduced me to a new concept called ‘Solfa’ which helps learn not only the modes required, but the chords, melodic transcription and some interval work. I ended up getting an A+ on the written; a far cry from the fail I was headed for before Jen and got an overall score of 40. I learnt more in my 6 weeks with Jen than I had learnt in my school music classes, and I would recommend her to any student who is studying music.”

VCE Music Student

Dear Jenny,

VCE Music Student

Ms. Jenny Gillan is one of the most dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable teachers I have ever had.

To give you some background on myself, I came to vcass in year 11 with almost no prior knowledge of Music theory or Music analysis. Music Performance (VCE) was my 3/4 subject and anyone who is familiar with this subject can appreciate that my limited knowledge was a crucial component to passing the unit.

Ms. Gillan was not my teacher for this subject, however, without her I can say with confidence that without all her help, I would not have passed the end of year exam.

Ms. Gillan’s approach to teaching is practical, methodical and motivating – she provided me with resources I wasn’t otherwise familiar with, these included: The Deb Smith Facebook Page, Jenny Gillan’s Guide to Music Analysis, Practice Exam Textbooks, Online programs, the list goes on. Providing me with these materials was only the beginning of my learning with Ms. Gillan. She acknowledged that my rhythmic dictation was a weakness and she allowed me to record ‘Clever Echoes’ and Practice Dictations on my phone so that I could practice outside of school. Whether it was walking around on yard duty to practice rhythms, coming in before school, before 7am to practice chord progressions, or staying after school to refine melodic dictations – Ms. Gillan was there and willing.

In addition to all of this theory work, Ms. Gillan gave me the knowledge I needed to achieve more than 20% on the analytical component of the exam. She gave me a few short ideas to keep in mind while analysing a piece of music and as well as this, I was encouraged to scan through practice analyses to her and late on a study night I would within the hour, have a return email with thorough feedback. I can acknowledge also, that while I was better prepared for the exam – I have consequently developed such a wealth of knowledge and appreciation for music and how it is composed. Just a few months ago I went to see a Musical, and being a singer myself my primary focus were of course the performers. But surprising to me, something I noticed and enjoyed was the recurring motif in the bassoon – fancy that. Before Ms. Gillan’s help I would never have known that a bassoon could even do that, let alone to listen for it!

As I have made clear, Ms. Gillan is incredibly generous with both her time and knowledge – admirably, this is not limited to her students. Every year through vcass Ms. Gillan runs ‘A Guide to Music Analysis’ course for any school that wishes to attend. Giving staff and students around Victoria the opportunity to hear from another teacher with such a wealth of knowledge, how to best approach Music Analysis. In addition to these workshops, Ms. Gillan also makes videos of her students performing theory games, rounds and canons. Once these videos have been edited, they are made public on Vimeo for the use of other music teachers internationally. While these games can be described, it is much easier to understand after seeing them in person.

As with anything, Ms. Gillan puts the time aside to provide everyone she can with an extra push of knowledge.

I would personally like to thank you, Ms. Gillan for all of your knowledge, support and kindness, as I said earlier, I am adamant I would not have passed my 3/4 subject without all of the knowledge and help you gave me.

VCE Music Student