SOUTH West schools will be participating in the national school event Music: Count Us In.
Held on October 30, Music: Count Us In is a government funded music initiative that will see over 500,000 students from over 2,100 schools sing the same song at the same time.
The aim of the event is to highlight the important role music plays in educational development.
Music Specialist from Capel Primary School Keryn Hastie said that the program had really grown in the past two years the school has been involved, with the students participating in every element of the initiative.
“The students have a band with drums, saxophones, etc that has been rehearsing the song for the entire semester,” Ms Hastie said.
“The rest of the school have been learning the lyrics, with some of the students rehearsing in Auslan so that everyone may be included in the music process,” she said.
“The year seven students in particular are excited as it is their last chance to perform together as a group.”
Music Specialist at Dunsborough Primary School Melanie Smoker said the school had been participating in the program for over eight years as it was a great opportunity to highlight the ties between music and overall learning.
“We tend to think music is only for appearance sake when there is a clear link between music and academic success,” Ms Smoker said.
“It’s very well supported and always a lot of fun.”
Harry James Angus from The Cat Empire has been the most recent musician involved in the program, mentoring five high school students from across Australia as they collaborate to write this year’s program piece ‘Paint You a Song’.
Involvement with the program has shown increased provision of music by teachers, principals and school communities across the nation.
Through this involvement more students are encouraged to join existing musical programmes within the schools and more time and resources become available to the students.
Registrations are now open for schools to gain access to free support materials and classroom activity resources.
Schools can register at www.musiccountusin.org.au/register.
