Music Education &
Performing Arts Consultant
Barry Sydney Philharmonia Chamber Singers & Band Created by Sally Whitwell and Daniel Walker Featuring Rob Mills and Bobby Fox City Recital Hall, Angel Place Saturday, 25 August 2012 The timelessness of John Lennon’s and Paul McCartney’s songs was evident in the Sydney Philharmonia Chambers Singers’ foray into the realm of popular music. This select choral … Read more
LEARN ROCK & POP (Reproduced with permission from Australian Musician) Music is supposed to be enjoyed. Why, then, have traditional music education methods been so… well… tedious? Finally the penny has dropped for a learning institution. Trinity College London, which has been operating in Australia since the late 1800s, now offers a ground-breaking syllabus which … Read more
This appeared on the UK’s Daily Mail website and provokes thought about the adequacy of some educational systems and what can be done to make improvements. British pupils have slipped down international league tables in key subjects over the past decade. The most authoritative comparison is the Programme for International Student Assessment carried out by … Read more
Australian Chamber Orchestra Directed by Richard Tognetti, with soprano Danielle de Niese City Recital Hall, Angel Place Saturday, June 9 Reviewed by Barry Walmsley Full of wondrous surprises, the Australian Chamber Orchestra never fails to impress. Its programming choices along with guest artists keeps audiences enthralled. No less was Saturday’s performance by the ACO, with … Read more
Patrick Thomas MBE has been a conductor of international repute, but many do not know him as a writer. Several books have been authored by this great maestro showing an intellect of great capacity and a spirit of true imagination. In this publication, Thomas reveals himself as a consumate poet with 71 poems ranging on … Read more
The author, known to many as one of Australia’s finest conductors, can really tell a story, not only through music-making with orchestras on a stage, but in written form. This book is in two parts: the first comprising the bulk of the book with recollections of his life and career dating back to the mid-1940s … Read more
Dear members, Here is an update on a number of important (if slow!) developments in the music world, along with my cheery, optimistic comments. The National Curriculum. This has quietly been renamed the Australian Curriculum. Maybe the PM’s continuing references to ‘our nation‘ made change desirable. The first draft of the curriculum for music and the … Read more
Reflection on the Finnish education system: More questions than answers #SCIL Retreived from http://anneknock.com/2012/03/07/reflection-on-the-finnish-education-system-more-questions-than-answers-scil/ Having spent a little time in Finland I have gained an impression of the educational culture and the system’s achievements. Educators from all over the world are travelling to Finland to learn from their PISA success. Some to try and improve their own … Read more
A Scandinavian country is achieving great results in its schools by focusing not on competition but on co-operation, writes Mark Sparvell. The international benchmarking convention in Winnipeg, Canada, on March 2 bought together educators from countries whose students do well on international measures of achievement, such as the Program for International Student Achievement (PISA) and … Read more