Sunshine Coast Junior Eisteddfod
Recently a couple of our student competed in the Sunshine Coast Junior Eisteddfod participating in the Music and Speech categories. Both Erin Holland and Andrea Little took out places in their categories:
Erin Holland:
Dialogue category – 1st
Andrea Little:
Sacred and Gospel singing – 1st
Musical Theatre – 2nd
Set piece – 2nd
Contemporary song – 2nd
Woodwind solo (flute) – 3rd
15-18 year Championship – Highly Commended
Andrea also won the Music Teachers Association of Qld bursary. The bursary is awarded to a performer who participates in the Sacred & Gospel, Musical Theatre and Set piece categories and earns the most amount of points across all three sections.
Year 11 Excursion to see the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (QSO) perform
This term Year 11 Music students have been studying the music for small ensemble throughout history. Part of their study was to visit QSO perform three musical works by Mozart, JS Bach and Tchaikovsky. This was a wonderful day out for students to experience a professional symphonic orchestra.
New Australian research has revealed school kids who play music are better learners.
The research shows learning an instrument by 12 years of age makes the left side of the brain bigger, which has been linked to improved vocal, vocabulary and memory skills by the time kids become adults.
“Worldwide, the research is unmistakable and unrelenting that participation in music education improves outcomes in all sorts of other areas of schooling,” former Dean of Education at Melbourne university Professor Brian Caldwell said.
Professor Caldwell’s research involved some of the most disadvantaged schools in Australia in western Sydney, finding students studying in the arts, particularly music, gained a year in literacy scores, compared to students who were not studying music or the arts.
Experts say that when we play music, both sides of the brain light up simultaneously, creating neural pathways for learning.
(Eccleston, D. 2014 7News sourced: https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/24807190/why-learning-music-makes-kids-smarter/?cmp=fb)
Ebony Hilton, Head of Music