Music Forum, Volume 15, Number 2

Selected articles from Music Forum Volume 17, Number 2

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Music Skills at Remote Schools

by Christopher Klopper

Since the establishment of Regional Conservatoriums in NSW in the late 1970s a network of conservatoriums providing extensive music education services to almost 20,000 students in NSW regional communities has developed. These services encompass specialist instrumental and vocal training with a special emphasis on the music education training of school aged students and curriculum support for schools. In most cases, Regional Conservatoriums are the principal provider of music education services for their region servicing schools, individuals and the wider community’s musical needs.

Chooks Fly the Coop

by Kate Conyngham

Sooner or later, most community music ensembles confront their first public performance. Will there be humiliation, exhilaration, adoration or perhaps even inebriation? In the village of Milton on the South Coast of NSW, the Chooks on a Hot Tin Roof get ready to strut, ukes at the ready. Chief Chook, Kate Conyngham, tells us more.

The Sing & Grow Program

Young parents bonding with their children through music

by Lorna Sherwin & Lisa Freeman

The following article was inspired by a group of fifteen young mums in the community who were referred to a government-funded music therapy project called Sing & Grow. Sing & Grow is a national early intervention project which uses music as a means to help families whith young children interact in positive ways that promotes optimal child development. Families are referred by community organisations to Sing & Grow. Groups meet for an hour a week for ten weeks, where families participate in musical activities aimed at strengthening their relationships, empowering parents to increase parenting skills and promote child development and encouraging social connections.

Together A Cappella

by Catherine Flitcroft

Although a cappella singing is alive and well in Sydney, performance opportunities for choirs are thin on the ground. This prompted Sydney choir, The Cleftomaniacs, to put its money where its heart is and launch the Sydney A Cappella Festival. It went so well the choir is now looking for other singers to help share the organisational load. “Cleffie” and festival committee member, Catherine Flitcroft, gives us the blueprint for the event.

Winning Goals in Community Music

by Jocelyn Wolfe

"Currently in Australia up to 3 out of 4 children in Government Primary Schools have no music teachers. That equates to over 700,000 children missing out, and often those are the ones who need it most.” [1] No statistic could highlight more the need for community music organisations to exist, but why is music important, what do community organisations do, and what does music do for the community?