Allan & Leslie Spencer

Cooma School of Music was established in 1984. Its primary focus has been to develop the music culture in the Monaro/Snowy Mountains region. To achieve this, we have concentrated on four primary areas:

1. Music Tuition

2. Concerts and Workshops

3. Competitions and Eisteddfods

4. Musical Instrument Sales and Service

Music Tuition

We (Allan & Leslie Spencer) graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1982, majoring in the classical guitar. After teaching for a several years in private schools and colleges we decided to move to the country and start up our  own music school as a husband and wife team. After initially offering only classical guitar tuition, the school now offers tuition in many instruments, including piano, keyboard, woodwind, brass and the many styles of guitar and bass guitar.

The school has inspired many young musicians to pursue careers in music. Many of these past students are now players and teachers in their own right. This is particularly so of many of the our guitar students. Adrian Reichenback, one of our first guitar students, now teaches in the school. He is an excellent teacher of rock and contemporary styles in acoustic, electric and bass guitar. David Perrett, Emilia Schiavo and Luke Tierney are all past students that have gone to further studies with Tim Kain at the Canberra School of Music, ANU.

In 2006, Judith Marriott moved to Cooma with her son Ben to enjoy a country lifestyle. Judith is music teacher with over 30 years of experience. She is a graduate from the NSW Consevatorium of Music and she is currently teaching music at Cooma School of Music. Her specialities include clarinet, flute, saxophone, oboe, trumpet, piano, composition, musicianship and theory of music.

Concerts and Workshops

Over the years, Cooma School of Music, in association with the Snowy Monaro Arts Council, has presented many concerts and workshops. Besides our regular student concerts, we have promoted many visiting performers of the piano, strings, voice, woodwind and brass. These events have covered a variety of formats including solos, small and large ensembles, and orchestras. And, not surprisingly, we have had many wonderful visiting guitarists including:

Competitions and Eisteddfods

Cooma School of Music conducts an annual music festival called the Cooma Music Competition. This has proved to be a very popular and rewarding event. It has helped showcase the many fine musicians in the region. We also sponsor the annual Snowy River Country Music Talent Quest.

Musical Instrument Sales and Service

The retail aspect of the Cooma School of Music is a very important part of our operation. The music shop offers a complete music service to the community and we have strived to provide this service not only to our own students but also to schools, community groups and the general public. The music shop is often praised for its wide range of quality and affordable musical instruments and accessories. We also have a very large range of print music.