GiselaScriba – President

Gisela Scriba received her high school education at Gelofte Hoërskool,Pinetown and was a member of both the Natal Youth Orchestra and Choir. She obtained her BMus in Piano Performance, the Diploma in Church Music and BMus(Hons) in Piano Method at Pretoria University as well as the Higher Education Diploma at the University of South Africa, all Cum Laude. A strong interest in the teaching of the young beginner and in ensemble work culminated in a MMus on ‘The piano duet as a teaching medium’ which was conferred Cum Laude in 2010. Several articles on this topic have been published in South African music journals.
She teaches piano and music theory at her private studio in Pretoria, with her pupils frequently winning awards on national level. An active member of the South African Society of Music Teachers, she is Chairperson of the Pretoria Centre as well as the Pretoria Eisteddfod, has served on the Standing Committee of the SASMT and has been Vice-President for the Gauteng region since 2014. She has taken over as President of the SASMT in April 2021.
On her initiative the Pretoria centre hosted the first National SASMT Pretoria Ensemble Competition in September 2017. The competition is now hosted annually. She regularly presents workshops, adjudicates at music festivals and national music competitions, and has been a national examiner for practical classical music and marker for the theory exams of the Music Examinations Department of the University of South Africa since 2011. She was a member of a panel of five compiling the 2016 piano syllabus for UNISA and the piano duet examination syllabus was also compiled by her. She is also Vice-President Pre-Tertiary of the South African chapter of the World Piano Teachers Association WPTA , established in 2018.

She has been the pianist of the Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool choir since 1996, as well as the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool choir from 1998, and has travelled with them both nationally and internationally, winning many top awards. Additionally, she regularly accompanies instrumentalists at concerts, festivals, examinations and national competitions,