December 2009
Welcome to the Music. Play for Life campaign newsletter, issued to campaign supporters on a regular basis to bring new achievements, updates and stories from around the country. More about the campaign at www.musicplayforlife.org
In this Issue
ASME Awards for Excellence in School Music Education
Sax and the City – Sydney sax players wanted
Thank you Play for Life supporters
Have you checked out the 2009 winning Flames schools? These are pro-singing schools in which most, if not all, students sing, sing, sing - and often! Details on all the State and Territory winners and the winners of special judges' awards here.
And check out the winners' concert, featuring Melbourne High School and the Eltham East Primary School choir, hosted beautifully by Emma Ayres on ABC Classic FM last month. Visit ABC Classic FM
Principal Jeremy Ludowyke spoke passionately about the impact of music in his school. Here's some of what he said:
"I can't think of a more central program that captures the real spirit and essence of our school than our singing... I think that singing creates in the spirit of young men an exceptional warmth and humanity.
"When we talk to year 12 about what elements in our program best prepare them for the rigours of exams one which they refer to almost universally is the singing: I think that's because it gives them an inner feeling of spirit, camaraderie, catharsis and then there's the sheer physical action of singing which is a wonderful release of stress and tension."
Music For Everyone (ACT) and Ambient Orchestras (VIC) take top honours in the campaign's wellbeing-themed Music in Communities Awards.
Check out the winners and runners-up.
ASME Awards for Excellence in School Music Education
Just as the Flame Awards recognise whole school communities where music is centre-stage, the ASME Awards for Excellence in School Music Education go to individual music teachers and school leaders. In 2010 there will be up to eleven teacher Awards and up to two school leader Awards. Each recipient of an Award will receive a certificate and a cheque for $5,000, can be used to further their professional learning related to music education.
More on the Awards at www.musicawards.asme.edu.au
Congratulations to Accessible Arts for its Highly Commended certificate in the 2009 Human Rights Awards, in recognition of its work promoting the cultural rights of people with disabilities.
Check out the work of Accessible Arts at www.aarts.net.au
Get yourself a copy of Music of the Brain, a new 55 minute documentary which looks at the role music plays in our lives from womb to tomb. It's a powerful advocacy tool and features interviews by leading neuropsychologists and music psychologists. It's fantastic! Contact the distributor at www.gilscrinefilms.com.au or on 07 3391 0124.
Campaign supporter, Professor Huib Schippers' new book, 'Facing the Music' is a resource for professionals interested in learning and teaching music in culturally diverse environments, from those working in classrooms and studios to those involved in leadership and policy. He unpacks the complexities and potential of learning and teaching music 'out of context' and offers a way to approach musical diversity with sense and sensitivity. It's out on Oxford University Press, at www.oup.com.
Campaign Ambassador and Freedman Fellow, Joseph Tawadros, has come up with a match made in heaven: his own sublime oud playing inspired by the poetry of Kahlil Gibran. The CD and book package is out now on Birdland. www.birdland.com.au. Check it out!
Sax and the City - Sydney sax players wanted
Want to to blow your own horn in the company of hundreds of others? Then dust off your sax for a Sydney Festival opening event which needs you! Acclaimed Sydney saxophonist Sandy Evans will lead a massed ensemble in a series of performances around the city on Saturday January 9, 2010. Sign yourself up and download the charts, video support materials and lots of online help.
Thank you Play for Life supporters
Thanks to all the many Play for Life supporters around Australia who helped make 2009 such a big year for the campaign: the Flame Awards, the Music in Communities Awards, Music Count Us In, the launch of the Australian-first Music in Communities Network and more and more people signing up as supporters. Whether you stuck campaign stickers somewhere, put up posters, entered an Award, counted yourself in, organised events or spread the word in other ways: thanks! We're looking forward to keeping up the encouragement to Australians to get more musically active in 2010, with you by our side. Don't forget to share your stories and successes with us at musicplayforlife.org.
Music. Play for Life
Tel: 02 4454 3887
admin.mpfl@mca.org.au
www.musicplayforlife.org
'Music. Play for Life', the Music Council of Australia's grassroots campaign to get more Australians making music: in schools, communities, everywhere.
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