Examiner 132
PhD, BA (Hons), AMusTCL, GradCertDistEd, FMusicolASMC, HonFNMSM, DipMus, FMusA
Rita Crews has taught piano, musicology, pedagogy and written subjects for over 40 years. She has conducted professional development courses for the Wollongong Conservatorium and the Music Teachers’ Associations of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. Dr Crews has been an external piano tutor and writer at UNSW and a lecturer in musicology and pedagogy courses for studio teachers with the Department of Continuing Education at the University of New England. She is a former Head of Professional Development and a lecturer in Research and Critical Method at the Australian International Conservatorium of Music (AICM) and an occasional lecturer for the Sydney Conservatorium Access Centre.
While at AICM, Dr Crews was the writer of the pedagogy stream of the BMus degree. She later wrote pedagogy units for the Advanced Diploma in Music at the Wollongong Conservatorium. She is the composer of Kanon Kapers in the AMEB piano syllabus and the author of handbooks for AMEB’s Piano Series 17.
Dr Crews researched and wrote A Centenary Celebration: The Australian Music Examinations Board 1918 to 2018 and Past, Present and Future: One Hundred Years of AMEB NSW 1918 to 2018. She co-authored 100 Years, the Music Teachers’ Association of NSW 1912 to 2012.
In 2014, Dr Crews was awarded the OAM for services to the performing arts as a teacher, examiner and composer. The following year, she received the Distinguished Alumni Award of the University of New England for her career in music education and for her longstanding connections with student and teacher musicians.
Positions held
- Chief Examiner – Written Subjects AMEB (NSW)
- Chief Examiner – AMEB Online
- Former AMEB Federal Written Examiner
- Patron, former Vice-President and President, former council member (1987–2018) of the Music Teachers’ Association of NSW
- Deputy Chair of the AMEB (NSW) Board (1998–2018)
- President of the Composing Women’s Festival (1997)
- Former committee member of the Young Organists’ Association, the Australasian Piano Pedagogy Conference and the Review Panel for Wirripang