Thank you again for your phenomenal work at our Instrumental Music Professional Development Day... Thank you for the care that you put into the preparation of your sessions, they were thoroughly engaging and tailored to the professional development needs of the teacher cohort in our region. You have provided us with thought provoking insights as well as valuable practical strategies that can immediately be applied to our repertoire preparation and in our rehearsals with our ensembles. More than that, you have left us feeling empowered and energised to start an exciting year of music making with our students.

(Head of Department Enrichment Programs for PD Workshop - Queensland 2026)

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Rob has a fantastic ability to convey complex concepts and ideas in an easy to digest and understandable fashion for the everyday bandleader...Rob was able to ensure that even an absolute novice such as myself, was able to walk away from the event armed with effective techniques to draw not just emotion from written music, but in prompting band members to develop the “why we do what we do”.

(Community Band Director & Participant in PD Workshop - Tasmania 2025)

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I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for your inspiring sessions at the ABODA Summer School. Your insights and approach to music education were incredibly valuable, and I hugely appreciate the knowledge you shared. Thank you again for your time and expertise—I appreciate it!

(Participant in ABODA VIC conducting summer school - Melbourne 2025)

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Rob's leadership and guidance throughout rehearsals really made us all feel like we were on a musical journey with him!  His knowledge is outstanding.  As a mentee conductor, it was brilliant to get live-action feedback from Rob and the ensemble and be allowed the opportunity to finesse and improve on areas of feedback.

(Participant in "Yamaha Wind Orchestra - Professional Development Project" - Melbourne 2024)

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Your depth of knowledge, expertise and experience in both the training of conductors and the leadership of school, tertiary, and community-based ensembles is outstanding.  Your ability to build an instant rapport with nervous conductors and to deliver structured, scaffolded feedback for improvement was appreciated by all.  The seminars and accompanying 'mini-lectures' were hugely successful in providing rich and valuable experiences for all involved.

(Lecturer, Melbourne University Faculty of Education - Guest Lecture Series - Melbourne 2024)

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I would like to say a massive thank you for making this festival as incredible as it has been.  Watching the students in awe of your work and seeing first hand how effective your techniques are has been beyond amazing!

(Festival Organiser - Teaching Services Australia - Sydney 2024)

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Thank you very much for such an engaging, rewarding and fun year in QYO Wind Symphony.  I feel so privileged to have been under your guidance and part of your ensemble.  I take such inspiration from your musicianship and passion for what you do.

(Member of Queensland Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony - Brisbane 2024)

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Your approach and style of teaching meant everyone was confident to participate in the practical conducting session, and it has been remarked this was the most useful PD day we have ever had!!!

(Organiser of professional development event - Bendigo, VIC 2023)

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Thank you for such an amazing PD over the two weekends.  I certainly will be working my way to attend the next one.  There was so much valuable information that I have taken away from the weekend that I will be able to use at school.

(Participant in "Yamaha Wind Orchestra - Professional Development Project" - Melbourne 2022)

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I wanted to sincerely thank you all, for the opportunity to participate in the Yamaha Wind Orchestra 2022. This was such a fantastic experience and I am very Grateful to have been involved. I can honestly say that this was some of the best PL I have attended. I have walked away with so much that I can use in my rehearsals and classroom. Rehearsal momentum, techniques, player accountability, score preparation,  aural skills, internal pulse, culture and language are just a few of the things for me to consider.

(Participant in "Yamaha Wind Orchestra - Professional Development Project" - Melbourne 2022)

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Rob, I have taken so many of your tips and tricks and already incorporated them in my teaching in the final few weeks this term, with immediate results!  When reflecting about the two weekends afterwards, I made many connections with your rehearsal style and the Ron Ritchart / Harvard 'Making thinking visable' that one my schools uses a lot. It was so great to experience the practical application of these ideas and concepts in a band rehearsal situation

(Participant in "Yamaha Wind Orchestra - Professional Development Project" - Melbourne 2022)

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"I was at your conductor and repertoire workshops last Wednesday, and I have to thank you for the best piece of professional development I've ever had the pleasure of learning from. I am a primary trained teacher and have sat through A LOT of PD, and this was just fantastic. I thought you hit the nail on the head with the balance between practical and explanation, and I can't thank you enough. "

(Music teacher participant in PD workshop - Sydney, 2022)

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"Thanks again for what was a brilliant, engaging and inspiring workshop with our young musicians. The students found your tips and techniques to be super helpful and the confidence in their music making is already evident for those who’ve already performed since your workshop. The level of expertise and advice for balancing ensembles was brilliant and inspiring."

(Music coordinator/ensemble director at high school music camp - Brisbane, 2022)

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"Thank you so much Rob for sharing your PD session which I attended. I think you do incredible work and love attending. I look forward to the next PD!"

(Music teacher participant in PD Workshop - Tasmania, 2020)

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"You recently did a clinic down here for TASME, thanks.  I have had a couple of teachers in that attended it, and loved it – again. One teacher said to me that she picked up a couple of things to do with engaging kids, she implemented them at school, and instantly has seen amazing results in gaining the kids attention, and them being attentive to their own playing and the music going on around them – she’s stoked, well done again, and thanks"

(Music dealer in Tasmania - Professional Development workshop, 2020)

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"Excellent. Thank you. I really enjoyed this workshop and found it very relevant to my needs.  Very informative and down to earth, useful information and a humble presenter.  Very clear presentation full of practical tips for better conducting technique."

(Participant in PD Workshop - Darwin, 2019)

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"Thank you so much for coming and working with our groups.  Your manner is outstanding and staff and students learned so much and had a great time.  Thank you for sending me such detailed feedback. It is difficult to get feedback about our conducting from music education specialists and there aren’t many in New Zealand at all so having you share your experience and expertise is treasured"

(Ensemble director in New Zealand school, 2018)

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"I was astounded to hear the Symphonic Wind Band under your conducting last Saturday afternoon. It was such a brilliant performance by all. Your selections for the program were wondrous. Please let me know when you will be in Melbourne next. Best wishes and many many thanks to all, A revelation!!!"

(Unsolicited email from audience member, MYO Summer Camp performance, January 2017)

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"This year, our guest clinician was the amazing and inspirational conductor, composer, arranger, adjudicator and music educator, Professor Rob McWilliams...Prof. McWilliams skilfully guided thirty-three participants of all levels of ability and conducting experience to become more effective musical directors."

"Over the course of the six days of workshops, Prof. McWilliams shared a great many of his personal experiences, anecdotes, expert tips, techniques, approaches and solutions to help overcome some of the challenges that musical directors face with ensembles."

(Participant, ABODA Western Australia "Swing Into Summer" event, December 2016)

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"I have been meaning to email you for a while now to thank you for the amazing experience at conducting camp in April....I’m not an overly outgoing person so it was really great to get such valuable feedback in a relatively relaxed environment."

"I just wanted to say thank you so much for you work with us at the ABODAQ conducting camp. As a podium participant I gained so much out of it! "

"I was very fortunate to be one of twelve podium participants at a recent Conducting camp run by ABODA  featuring Dr Rob McWilliams as the conducting clinician. The lecture sessions that Rob presented such as Repertoire selection, Ensemble Intonation, Recruiting etc. were very valuable for me to take back to my school music program as well as the conducting technique from the 3 days of podium conducting time. Not only did I personally gain a lot from the conducting camp but I also gained knowledge that I can share with other Instrumental Music Teachers in my regional area of Cairns.

(Unsolicited emails from participants, ABODA QLD Conducting School, 2016)

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"We had a great afternoon on Wednesday with Rob, looking at our resources and set up, and we also had a very successful meeting with the leadership team.  They were very grateful of Rob's suggestions and think he is an outstanding music mentor for me - I am also so grateful for all the advice Rob has given me and I feel like I now have a plan that I can follow through, which will lead to successful outcomes."

(2016 Email to Yamaha Music Australia from an instrumental music teacher charged with setting up brand new program in 2017)

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