St Michael's Collegiate School Principal, Mrs Judith Tudball Formal Address as Master of Ceremonies for Richard Gill ’ s Public Forum titled ‘Why we need to teach the world to sing’. Wednesday 23 March 2016, Town Hall, Hobart, Tasmania. Good Afternoon. I also extend my warm welcome to you this afternoon and my thanks to Mr Aaron Powell and the Collegiate Singers for their stunning performance just now. It’s a busy time for the Singers, having performed at the Ordination and Installation of the 12 th Bishop of Tasmania last weekend, and shortly in April they will be supporting two major community events – the official Hobart Anzac Day Ceremony and the ceremony to mark the 20 Year Anniversary of Port Arthur. Well done, girls, and thank you for this broader community contribution. My name is Judith Tudball, and I am the very proud Principal of St Michael’s Collegiate School. I am also a very proud Music Educator. As Principal of Collegiate, I have a great responsibility to prepare my girls for the challenges of the 21 st Century. There is no denying the spotlight on NAPLAN results, PISA testing and academic league tables. The test score accountability movement and conventional educational approaches tend to focus on intellectual aspects of success, such as content knowledge. However, educationalists have realised that this alone is not sufficient. If students are to achieve their potential, they must have opportunities to engage and develop a much richer set of skills. In fact, we already know that some of the big multi-nationals such as Ernst Young in the UK are looking past academic results in isolation when they are hiring, rather they are looking to students who have life-wide experiences and well developed, transferable 21 st Century skills such as creativity, collaboration, confidence, critical thinking, communication, cooperation, and teamwork. Carolyn Phillips, author of The 12 Benefits of a Music Education , lends weight to this argument by stating ‘Children of the arts learn to think creatively and to solve problems by imagining various solutions and rejecting outdated rules and assumptions because questions about the arts do not have only one right answer’. So why study Music? Because all of these necessary 21 st Century skills can be easily acquired through engagement in a Music program. Let me explain: When students become aware that their sound is heard above the others and they begin to blend their sound, they learn teamwork ; When they follow a conductor’s baton through a series of metre changes, they learn accuracy ; When they audition to perform a solo but they are not selected and have to wait for another opportunity, they learn patience ; When they keep plugging away at that challenging piece of music, they learn perseverance ; When they perform a solo, they learn risk-taking ; When they learn to express themselves through music, they learn self-esteem ; When they question the way to shape a phrase, they learn creativity ; When they are on time for rehearsals, they learn responsibility ; 1
When they refrain from talking during rehearsals they learn respect ; When they choose to commit to a performance over a personal event, they learn commitment … I could go on and on, but I am sure you get the message! We know that early musical training develops the brain. We also know, that students who study music and the arts are more successful on standardised tests and achieve higher academic grades. You only have to take a look at the prizewinners on the Collegiate Speech Night to get a sense of how many students arise from the orchestra, band or choir to receive their award. Quite simply, if we wish to lift the literacy and numeracy rates in this country, we need to look to improving access to a quality music education. Music is a Science – it is exact, specific and requires precise acoustics Music is Mathematical - it is rhythmically based on subdividing time into exact fractions Music is a Foreign Language – most of the terms are in Latin, German, French or Italian… and then there is the language of the notation itself! Music is History – is reflects the environment, culture and national pride of the time Music is Physical Education – It requires extraordinary coordination of the fingers, hands, arms, lips, tongue, facial muscles, diaphra gm and the list goes on… Music is all of these things, but most of all, Music is Art . It allows us to take all these technical elements and create emotion, and that is one thing Science can’t duplicate! Finally, an arts education exposes children to the incomparable . To use Richard Gill’s own words “ Until we genuinely value arts education, especially music education, we will remain in danger of being a dull, unimaginative nation”. And that leads me to Richard. Richard Gill is one of Australia's pre-eminent conductors and has worked with every major Australian orchestra, including our very own Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He is respected and recognised internationally for his extensive work as a music educator. Throughout his career of over fifty years, Richard has demonstrated a true commitment to the musical development of young musicians. He started out as a high school music teacher, and has since held numerous educational positions including Dean of the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music, Music Director of the Victorian Opera, Artistic Director of Sydney Symphony's Education Program and Artistic Adviser of Musica Viva In Schools. Richard has performed with Opera Queensland, Opera Australia and the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Festivals. He has conducted numerous Australian works, including many world premieres and has been decorated with many awards for his services to music, including the Order of Australia Medal. And, of course, Richard you do know that you were the real reason we were all fixated on Spicks and Specks! I first came across Richard when I was in Year 9 and he was conducting a massed schools choral concert in the Sydney Opera House. I was playing in the orchestra that accompanied the massed choir. Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember much about my life in Y ear 9, thirty three years ago, but do I have a crystal clear lightbulb memory of this event, and meeting Richard for the first time… It was 1983, Australia had just won the America’s Cup the very day of the concert, and I 2
can even remember our repertoire included the Pilgrim’s Chorus, an arrangement of the Choral Finale from Beethoven Nine, plus an orchestral arrangement of Handel’s March from Scipio. The Sisters had put the fear of God into us about pl aying well for ‘Mr Gill’ and we were terrified about what to expect from ‘Mr Gill’ . But all I remember is the kindness, encouragement and nurturing way Richard worked with us. It was a life changing moment, and possibly the very reason I decided to take my music seriously, and study music at a tertiary level. Fast forward a generation, and my own son James had the very same experience when he was in Year 9 and performing in a similar Combined Grammar Schools Concert in Brisbane with Richard conducting movements from Holst’s The Planets and Nigel Westlake’s ‘Missa Solis – Requiem for Eli’. It was a combination of working with Richard, followed by a moving choral performance in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which led to James dismissing his dreams of playing water polo for Australia (he was in the Australian age squad at the time) and make the decision that he too, wanted to follow a musical pathway. So Richard, that’s two generations of musicians from my family that you can take responsibility for! My original dream, of course, was to lead a Bo hemian’s musician life playing oboe in an o pera/ballet orchestra in Europe, but I dutifully completed a Graduate Diploma in Education in Secondary Music Teaching, just to be on the ‘ safe side ’… and that is where I had another life-changing moment and truly realised the power of music education, something that we all know Richard is completely passionate about. Richard, we music educators are indebted to you for your tireless work in promoting the benefits of a music education. I ask you to please join with me in welcoming Richard Gill to the stage so we can hear more of his magic about ‘why we need to teach the world to sing’ . Thank you References: Gill, R. (2013). Music holds the key to providing a quality education system, retrieved 22 March 2016 from, http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/music-holds-key-to-providing-a-quality- education-system-20130811-2rpym.html Phillips, C. (n.d.). Twelve Benefits of Music Education, retrieved 22 March 2016 from http://www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/twelve-benefits-of-music-education/ 3
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