A Decade In: Music Aus’ Clare Kenny on the country’s biggest school initiative

Back in 2007, Music Australia identified a need for increased musical awareness, involvement, and participation in Australian schools.

This was brought to the attention of Music Australia following the National School Music review conducted earlier that year, which indicated glaring inadequacies in music education in schools.

The result was a new program, Music: Count Us In, an initiative developed by Music Australia, intending to raise the profile of music in schools across the country. The program is both a resource tool and an advocacy agent, providing teachers with practical learning opportunities while raising the profile of music in schools.

2016 marks Music: Count Us In’s 10th anniversary. TMN spoke with Clare Kenny, Program Manager of Education at Music Australia, about the program, its history and plans for the next 10 years.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Music Australia’sMusic: Count Us Inprogram. How has the program developed and/or adapted over the past decade?

It’s amazing to think that Music: Count Us In has ben around for 10 years. It has flourished through the passion of teachers and the enthusiasm of students all around the country. Music: Count Us In now involves over 560,000 young people around the country and unities over 7,000 registered teachers and 2,100 schools in song.

The program has changed a great deal over the last 10 years, although the core remains the same as we offer resources and support for more than half a million students to sing the same song, on the same day, at the same time – to connect and celebrate music as one. In 2015, Music: Count Us In is most proud of its development of Indigenous Resources. These Indigenous Resources and an Indigenous translation of the 2016 program song have been developed in partnership with Arts Empower Foundation Limited (Arts Empower!) in the Northern Territory.

The chorus of ‘Let It Play’ has been translated into Walpiri language by the students, staff and community of Yuendumu in the Northern Territory. In our 10 year history, Music: Count Us In has grown and strengthen to the stage where we can offer quality support to some of the most regional remote areas of Australia. Music: Count Us In offers sequential lesson plans and digital resources to assist teachers and students in the learning of music in their classrooms and provides free professional development opportunities, sheet music and other resources to all involved.

In what ways has theMusic: Count UsInprogram succeeded in making music a more prominent part of the education curriculum in schools?

Music: Count Us In is Australia biggest schools initiative. Not just Australia’s biggest school music initiative – but the country’s most wide-reaching program for schools. All schools are welcome and encouraged to get involved. The participation of schools from every corner of the country and the positive spectacle of half a million voices singing simultaneously has helped us attract the interest of media, community, policy-makers and the arts world. Our message remains that every Australian child has the right to experience and benefit from an education in music. Our annual program reminds the Australian community that music is good and that more should to ensure that all young people have access to quality music opportunities through their school.

Has there been a change in the way the education system in Australia has treated the study of music in recent years?

The National Curriculum (The Arts) is gradually being rolled out across Australia with different states introducing it at different times. The Arts Curriculum places music within the curriculum, in conjunction with other arts subjects like dance, drama and visual art. This is a fantastic move towards ensuring all Australian children are receiving an education in music at school but the problem remains that many teachers lack the skills or confidence to teach music in the classroom. Pre-service teacher training often puts little to no emphasis on preparing teachers for delivering arts education in their classrooms.

The system relies on teachers having some coincidental background in one or more arts subjects and does not, therefore, ensure the quality, consistency or suitability of music education in many schools. A recent focus on STEM over STEAM education provides a further challenge to many schools in delivering music. I have heard heartbreaking stories of school music teachers who have lost the financial support of their schools in the wake of a focus on STEM subjects.

This year will see over half a million students sing the same song at the same time on the same day. What’s the significance of such an endeavour?

Through Music: Count Us In Celebration Day, we literally have a day when more than half a million voices are united in song – united in saying the music and music education is important, worthwhile and fundamentally good. This very public event helps us raise the profile of music and music education and sees school music gain the attention of local and national media.

Program mentors in the past have included Josh Pyke, Marcia Hines and Katie Noonan, to name a few. How does the support of esteemed artists impact the program?

We have been very fortunate to have had John Foreman OAM as the Music: Count Us In Ambassador since the very beginning. John’s personality, skills, reputation and profile are essential to the success of Music: Count Us In. He strengthens and contributes to the program at every stage – from songwriting to recording to Celebration Day and everything in between. Past mentors also contribute their skill, talent and profile to the program. Every mentor has something different to bring to the program and to the program song.

At the songwriting stage, each artist has worked with John and the student songwriters to create a unique song. This gives a new feel to the program song each year and helps us bring new people to the Music: Count Us In community. In 2016, our mentor has been the wonderful Jay Laga’aia. Jay’s particular passion lies with music and music education for young people. This passion helped create one of the most popular songs in Music: Count Us In’s 10 years.

What’s in store for Music Australia and the program over the next 10 years?

We’re certainly excited for the next 10 years of Music: Count Us In! We hope that there comes a time in the not too distant future that Music: Count Us In is purely a celebratory program – where every school in the country is able and willing to offer quality music education opportunities to its students and Music: Count Us In becomes an additional activity that joins every single Australian school together in one day of celebrating music.

In the meantime, we will continue to work with schools, teachers and students to help bring more music to the lives of Australia’s young people. We will continue to provide free resources and professional development opportunities to teachers wishing to improve their skills and build their confidence in teaching music and will continue to advocate for music and music education.

Registration is still open.Register for free atwww.musicaustralia.org.au