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Don't Stop the Music - ABC TV Documentary

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Don't Stop the Music - ABC TV Documentary

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A school principal joins forces with musical experts and a singing superstar on a mission, to transform the lives of disadvantaged Aussie kids through the power of music.

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Dr Rob McWilliams

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Following on from the highly successful "Yamaha Wind Orchestra - Professional Development Project" events in 2018 and 2019, (2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic), we are delighted to announce that the event is scheduled to run again in 2021 in Melbourne on 29th & 30th May (Wesley College, St Kilda Road campus) and 19th & 20th June (PLC Burwood). We are also excited to announce that there are plans to run the event for the first time in Sydney in 2021. The objectives of the Yamaha Wind Orchestra event are manyfold:

1. Provide an opportunity for instrumental teachers who still play at a high level to rehearse and perform high quality repertoire in a group of like-minded musician/educators.

2. To incorporate extensive Professional Development aspects within the rehearsal framework and in special PD sessions to address repertoire selection, score preparation, rehearsal and conducting issues, etc.

3. to give a limited number of participants an opportunity to work with the ensemble from rehearsal to performance and be mentored by Dr. McWilliams throughout this process.

Further information on Yamaha Wind Orchestra is available on its , or email at robert.mcwilliams@music.yamaha.com

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Following on from the highly successful "Yamaha Wind Orchestra - Professional Development Project" events in 2018 and 2019, (2020 event was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic), we are delighted to announce that the event is scheduled to run again in 2021 in Melbourne on 29th & 30th May (Wesley College, St Kilda Road campus) and 19th & 20th June (PLC Burwood).

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ONE SONG.
YOUR SCHOOL.
MORE MUSIC.

Celebrating music education in Australian schools

Music: Count Us In exists to advocate for and celebrate music in Australian schools. Celebration Day 2018 will be Thursday 1 November - save the date!
REGISTER FOR THE 2018 MCUI PROGRAM ACCESS 2018 MCUI PROGRAM RESOURCES Watch the Lyric Video for the 2018 Program Song 'One Song'

Follow us:
Like on Facebook Follow on Twitter Follow on Instagram

About Music Count Us In

Music: Count Us In is built around a unique program song. The writing of the program song each year begins with our National Songwriting Competition, open to all students from across Australia. The finalists of the Songwriting Competition the n gather together to write the program song, with the assistance of Program Ambassador John Foreman and a guest celebrity Program Mentor. The song is then recorded by students and released to all registered schools. The program song forms the basis of extensive resources for teachers. Available resources include lesson plans, videos, arrangements for musical ensembles, Auslan and Braille resources and more.

Music: Count Us In is for all schools - primary and secondary, State and independent, metropolitan, regional and remote. Registration is FREE, offering access to professional development workshops and resources, including song charts and arrangements, classroom activity kits, special education resources and demonstration videos.

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Celebrating music education in Australian schools Music: Count Us In exists to advocate for and celebrate music in Australian schools. Celebration Day 2018 will be Thursday 1 November - save the date!

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Jack Stamp

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Benjamin Zander

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Victorian DET Quality Music Education Framework

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Victorian DET Quality Music Education Framework

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Currently rested on the Department of Education website.

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A letter to Principals - Why/how to have a music program in your school | The Music Trust

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A letter to Principals - Why/how to have a music program in your school | The Music Trust

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The Music Trust | Advocacy for Music in Education

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To principals:Why/how to have a music program in your school | The Music Trust

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Reasons to have a school music program and how to go about creating one

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A letter to principals: Why and how to have a music program in your school

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Yamaha Great Start Resources - videos for Principals, Parents and Students

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Yamaha Great Start Resources - videos for Principals, Parents and Students

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Great Start - Yamaha - Music - Australia

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Hopkins Medicine

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Aging Well Age-Related Depression, Mood and Stress Maintaining a Healthy Mind as You Age

If you want to firm up your body, head to the gym. If you want to exercise your brain, listen to music.

"There are few things that stimulate the brain the way music does," says one Johns Hopkins otolaryngologist. "If you want to keep your brain engaged throughout the aging process, listening to or playing music is a great tool. It provides a total brain workout."

Research has shown that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain as well as improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory.

The Brain-Music Connection

Experts are trying to understand how our brains can hear and play music. A stereo system puts out vibrations that travel through the air and somehow get inside the ear canal. These vibrations tickle the eardrum and are transmitted into an electrical signal that travels through the auditory nerve to the brain stem, where it is reassembled into something we perceive as music.

Johns Hopkins researchers have had dozens of jazz performers and rappers improvise music while lying down inside an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine to watch and see which areas of their brains light up.

"Music is structural, mathematical and architectural. It's based on relationships between one note and the next. You may not be aware of it, but your brain has to do a lot of computing to make sense of it," notes one otolaryngologist.

Learn an Instrument

When 13 older adults took piano lessons, their attention, memory and problem-solving abilities improved, along with their moods and quality of life. You don't have to become a pro, just take a few lessons.

Everyday Brain Boosts from Music

The power of music isn't limited to interesting research. Try these methods of bringing more music-and brain benefits-into your life.

Jump-start your creativity.

Listen to what your kids or grandkids listen to, experts suggest. Often we continue to listen to the same songs and genre of music that we did during our teens and 20s, and we generally avoid hearing anything that's not from that era.

New music challenges the brain in a way that old music doesn't. It might not feel pleasurable at first, but that unfamiliarity forces the brain to struggle to understand the new sound.

Recall a memory from long ago.

Reach for familiar music, especially if it stems from the same time period that you are trying to recall. Listening to the Beatles might bring you back to the first moment you laid eyes on your spouse, for instance.

Listen to your body.

Pay attention to how you react to different forms of music, and pick the kind that works for you. What helps one person concentrate might be distracting to someone else, and what helps one person unwind might make another person jumpy.

Definitions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): A large machine that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to see inside your body. Unlike an X-ray, MRI testing does not use radiation. If you undergo this test, you'll lie on a narrow table that slides inside a tunnel-shaped scanner for about 30 to 60 minutes while health-care professionals watch from another room. If you feel anxious in small, enclosed spaces, ask your physician about an open MRI that is not as close to the body.

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Aging Well Age-Related Depression, Mood and Stress Maintaining a Healthy Mind as You Age If you want to firm up your body, head to the gym. If you want to exercise your brain, listen to music. "There are few things that stimulate the brain the way music does," says one Johns Hopkins otolaryngologist.

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MENC

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The official opening of the Ian Potter Southbank Centre featured performances from the undergraduate students. The full orchestra performed Carinal Overture by Dvorak, Concerto for Orchestra (Mvts 4 &5) by Bartok, and Hungarian Dance No 5 by Brahms. The performance was outstanding and received a standing ovation!

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Richard Gill

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TEDxSydney - Richard Gill - The Value of Music Education

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This new resource has been developed by the ASME Queensland Chapter. Rachael Dwyer, Chairperson of the ASME Qld Chapter, reported that many secondary school teachers had been telling them that there was a lot of confusion and anxiety about the recent changes to higher education fees, so the Old Chapter did some research and prepared a fact-check. As this issue extends beyond Queensland, this resource is being shared for teachers and high school students across Australia. Download the leaflet here.

Posters - here for download!

These posters outlining the benefits of music education have been developed by ASME National Vice President, Dr Leon de Bruin.

Poster 1 - we benefit from music education in many ways

Poster 2 - executive production; sound encoding; well-being, identity, belonging; whole brain, whole body; reading development and coding

Poster 3 - benefits to overall development; why music education matters

ASME published a booklet in 1999 presenting the "Principles, Policy and Guidelines for Music Education" advocated by the Society.

This publication may be obtained through Informit - www.informit.com.au.This booklet provides the music educator with essential information concerning:

Principles of Music Education

The Contribution of Music Education

Learning In and Through Music

Research Findings

Music in Your School (including curriculum content, curriculum provision, teacher expertise, the requirements for a music program, resources checklist and curriculum checklist)

Promoting the School Music Program

Music Educators are Professional

Useful Website Addresses

ASME is a member of the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE). Other members:

NAAE Music Audit and Statement

ASME is a member of the Australian Alliance of Associations in Education (AAAE) which is an alliance of national professional teacher associations.

The AAAE:

represents member national professional teacher associations, so that the voice of the teachers and educators they represent are heard by the appropriate statutory authorities and governments for the improvement of quality Australian educational policy and practice. There are currently 24 member associations with AAAE.

has the mission to explore possible consultative and collaborative structures beyond the current 'adhoc' status of relationships between teacher associations and education entities

considers that strategic and formalised partnerships between teacher associations and education entities are a compelling value-add proposition for governments to continue to improve the quality of student learning and teaching excellence in Australia.

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Advocacy and Policy | Australian Society for Music Education

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Leaflet - Why Study Music? This new resource has been developed by the ASME Queensland Chapter. Rachael Dwyer, Chairperson of the ASME Qld Chapter, reported that many secondary school teachers had been telling them that there was a lot of confusion and anxiety about the recent changes to higher education fees, so the Old Chapter did some [...]

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A growing body of Australian and international research demonstrates the enormous benefits that participating in The Arts can have on students' academic and non-academic success. There is a strong relationship between the cognitive capacities developed through learning and communicating in dance, drama, music and the visual arts, and students' academic and social skills.

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USA

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Music education advocacy articles & videos about the importance of school music education including resources to present positive arguments for music.

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USA

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Music for All's advocacy programs and resources are key elements in our vision to be a catalyst to ensure that every child across America has access and opportunity to active music making in his or her scholastic environment. Our educational programs and events are just one way we deliver our advocacy efforts and message: We lead with music.

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The young person's guide to the orchestra ... is lacking

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The young person's guide to the orchestra ... is lacking

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Richard Gill

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Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra - Is Lacking ~ Richard Gill

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Patricia K. Shehan

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What If Every Child Had Access to Music Education from Birth

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What If Every Child Had Access to Music Education from Birth

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Anita Collins

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What if every child had access to music education from birth? | Anita Collins | TEDxCanberra

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1. Music is good. An education inclusive of music maximises student opportunity.

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2. Australian parents value music and want their kids to be involved in music.

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3. Music improves confidence, self-expression and fosters creativity.

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Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Extent, Benefits and Potential 

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Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Extent, Benefits and Potential 

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4. Music promotes teamwork and collaboration.

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5. Music aids the development of neural pathways and enhances brain function.

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6. Australia lags behind other countries in the provision of music in schools.

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7. Too many kids miss out on quality music education at school.

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8. Music is good for Australia's social, cultural and economic growth.

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The transformative power of classical music

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The transformative power of classical music

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Benjamin Zander

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Benjamin Zander: The transformative power of classical music

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Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it -- and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.

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How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain

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How Playing an Instrument Benefits Your Brain

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Anita Collins

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How playing an instrument benefits your brain - Anita Collins

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VCAA

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Albert Music/The Tony Foundation Executive Summary

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Research into the Benefits of Music Education 

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Research into the Benefits of Music Education 

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The Music Trust

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The Music Trust | Advocacy for Music in Education

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[PLEASE NOTE: Information about the new Music Trust Award for Research Demonstrating the Benefits of Music Education can be found on this site under PROJECTS on the menu bar.]
From an international survey of the research, Mandy Stefanakis and Robin Stevens identified these benefits:

Music contributes to students' personal wellbeing through developing self- image, self-confidence, self-esteem, etc.

'Music primes the brain for learning'. Musical activity activates and integrates activity across many parts of the brain and this may account for its broad developmental benefits.

There is special benefit from beginning to learn a musical instrument as a young child. There is a more pervasive effect on the development of the brain (brain plasticity) than with learning that takes place as an adolescent or adult; however, there is still plasticity in the adult brain. Sustained, structured practice with delineated outcomes enhances this plasticity.

Music contributes to students' cognitive development including abstract thinking, aural and spatial awareness, verbal understanding.

Music contributes to students' kinetic / motor skill development.

Although the reasons are not fully understood there is a great deal of evidence to show that there is a correlation between music learning and enhanced abilities in a range of areas:

Music contributes to students' rational thinking - reasoning, critical thinking, logistical thinking and interpretive skills

Music contributes to learning in other knowledge and skill areas such as numeracy, literacy

Music contributes to students' concentration, memory, time management.

Music contributes to students' creativity when engaged with composing, arranging, improvising tasks which call upon the individual or group to imagine, plan, organise, experiment with and develop sound in an abstract way

Music through performance and creative experiences provides a means for personal expression, communication, and personal, social and cultural identity formation

Social cohesion and skills: music connects people through sound, so that there is a sense of physical and emotional camaraderie and shared experience. It is what is most unique about the musical experience. This 'shared sound' leads to a greater sense of communication with others, team cooperation and enhances social confidence

Music provides the opportunity for aesthetic experiences. An aesthetic knowledge can be described as a deep perceptual understanding in which the senses, the emotions and cognition are combined to make meaning through the experiences of creating, making and interpreting aesthetic forms such as music or paintings.

In some circumstances, music programs reduce truancy, increase retention of students, build school spirit and reputation

Here are some more articles.

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Research into the benefits of music education | The Music Trust

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Research into the benefits of music education [PLEASE NOTE: Information about the new Music Trust Award for Research Demonstrating the Benefits of Music Education can be found on this site under PROJECTS on the menu bar.] From an international survey of the research, Mandy Stefanakis and Robin Stevens identified these benefits: Music contributes to students'...

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The Orff Approach - Contributions to best practice in Australian music education

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The Orff Approach - Contributions to best practice in Australian music education

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Orff Schulwerk Submission - Aust Natl Music Review

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What School Leaders Can Do to Increase the Arts

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What School Leaders Can Do to Increase the Arts

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A+: A "Precise" Prelude and An "Excellent" March
(1998) 2:30 or so

(212 acl bcl 1, 2atb sx/121 euph, 1, elec. Bass, 5 perc)
Commissioned by the American Composers Forum
Level: 2nd year band through college/ professional
There is much debate about the value of the performing arts in the pre-college curriculum. This debate rages most furiously when budget considerations make cut-backs inevitable, and the academic money-managers propose to snip away at the non-core curricular "activities" such as art and music performance and, in some cases, athletics. This short piece makes the case for the unique importance of music performance curricular or non-curricular in every academic program.

Grades allege to represent achievement. There is a quantitative correlation between grades and performance, with grades often being assigned to reflect the percentage of correct or appropriate responses or behaviors. Average grading scales include the grades A, B, C, D, and F, with gradations of these levels being subdivided by pluses and minuses. Roughly, F corresponds to grades of 59% and lower; D corresponds to 60 to 69%; C corresponds to 70 to 79%; B corresponds to 80 to 89%; and A corresponds to 90 to 100%. The higher and lower areas of the grading ranges are reflected by + and -. The unique grade of A+ is awarded for achievement in the area of 97 to 100%. This means that, in the sciences and humanities for example, the highest possible grade can be awarded to work or achievement that contains up to 3% error! A+ = 97%; 3% short of perfection! Can you imagine a musical performance with even 1% error, never mind 3%? Most musical performances are flawless in execution in certain domains (pitch, rhythm, dynamics). Think how greatly one wrong note sticks out of an orchestral or band or choral performance! Music performance routinely demands one hundred percent accuracy in execution. Music performance is unique in that regard. Is there another discipline in the academic curriculum that makes such high demands on students?

A+: A "Precise" Prelude and An "Excellent" March makes a case for the high quality of music performance. The Prelude, if performed well, is precisely imprecise, with tendrils of harmonic material floating around at the whim and fancy of the woodwinds. The March is a simple little Commencement-like processional (feel free to use it as a real march!) which is repeated. The ensemble players are instructed to make one mistake in the repetition a mistake of pitch or dynamic or rhythm or articulation; it's their choice. There are 8665 notes in this piece. If the ensemble consists of 60 players, all of whom make one pitch mistake, the percent of error is .69 of 1 %, that is not even 1%! If one considers that each note has a dynamic, articulation and rhythm component (all of which can be mutilated!), the possible execution opportunities become 8665 pitches x 3 (dynamics, rhythm, articulation) for a total of 25,995! One mistake by each member of a sixty-piece ensemble now represents only .023 of 1%! In fact, 3 % error in this case would equal 779 mistakesa rate of performance that would qualify for an A+ in the academic world but would probably result in the conductor of the ensemble receiving a pink slip or the request for career counseling before the last notes' reverberations ceased!

Nevertheless, by all academic standards, the performance of this march, with anything less than 779 mistakes, will be "excellent."

(Available from American Composers Forum)

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A+: A "Precise" Prelude and An "Excellent" March

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A+: A "Precise" Prelude and An "Excellent" March (1998) 2:30 or so (212 acl bcl 1, 2atb sx/121 euph, 1, elec. Bass, 5 perc)Commissioned by the American Composers ForumLevel: 2nd year band through college/ professional There is much debate about the value of the performing arts in the pre-college curriculum.