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Monday, July 27, 2009

Who Stopped the Music?

Last Sunday there was an excellent program on ABC Radio National, which reported on the sorry state of music in our public schools in Australia, compared to the situation in many other countries.

Hosted by Stephen Crittenden, the program explores the many reasons for including music in the primary school curriculum, the way this was done in the past, and the way it has been eroded. It also includes some inspirational interviews from people such as Deborah Nicholson from The Song Room.

School music has fared badly in the wake of the recent "back to basics" movement in Australia. This is a seriously backward step. The radio program includes details of recent research which shows that if children do not have music before the age of 7, a critical period for learning is missed.

A hundred years ago our teachers were better equipped in this area than they are today.

You can read the transcript or play back the audio from here.

Image: 'So happy =)'
www.flickr.com/photos/97831130@N00/1066368855

Thursday, July 2, 2009

PS22 - Forever Young

Check this out - these guys use contemporary songs, but have avoided all the usual pitfalls (eg inappropriate lyrics for kids, singing too low or too loud). They sing from the heart and they sing in tune with harmonies.