TINA Broad believes more people should be making music and she is spreading the word far and wide, as far afield as Estonia in fact - where she recently accepted an award from the International Music Council (IMC).
The Narrawallee songstress and director of the Music Council of Australia’s Music: Play for Life campaign was thrilled when the music advocacy program was announced the Overall Winner of the IMC Musical Rights Awards for 2011.
Tina joined more than 200 delegates from music organisations all over the world at the IMC’s fourth World Forum on Music in Estonia last month to accept the award and said she was thrilled the program was receiving world-wide attention.
“It feels really wonderful to be doing something that can change people’s attitudes towards music and hopefully their behaviour,” she said.
“Our program is aimed at encouraging people to make music in schools and in the community and to be ambassadors for music.
“Music is such a powerful tool – it’s good for individuals and for our society.””
The Music: Play for Life program includes a number of campaigns involving schools, community groups and seniors all over Australia.
One of the largest events is the annual Music: Count Us In simultaneous sing-a-long involving more than 560,000 students including those at Ulladulla and Milton schools.
Over the past seven years, Tina and her assistant Emma Unsworth from Milton have also launched a series of Play for Life campaigns including the national community music mentoring program, the Music in Communities Network, the annual FLAME Awards for music education in schools and Making Music Being Well, a music and health program.
“We are trying to find ways for the general community, and especially schools, to accept and embrace music of any kind,” Tina said.
“Music is so important from the womb to the tomb.
“Music can make a contribution to kids’ development that no other subject can match - it can help underperforming students, improves concentration and can help children express their feelings.
“As people get older, making music can help keep the brain active and in dementia patients it is one of the last surviving memories.””
But Tina said, in Australia particularly, it is difficult to get people turned on to be musically active.”
“Music stimulates the mind, body and spirit,” she said.
“Yet most Australians are not music makers.
“We are working to change that.
“We want everyone at any age, in any city, country town or remote area of Australia to believe in the importance and benefits of making music.”
Tina’s passion for music has a far-reaching influence, but closer to home she is encouraging people to enrich their lives with song as the musical director of the MUD Singers choir.
“Running a choir you see people come along carrying so much baggage from their past about music.
“They are often afraid to sing out, but when they are provided with a safe, encouraging environment people will often unlock the music inside them.”
Tina said it was important for people to act as ambassadors for music and to lobby politicians and help their schools to provide meaningful musical education.
She said from a very young age Australian children were being deprived of musical influence both in the home and in schools.
“Research shows many mothers don’t sing lullabies to their children any more,” Tina explained.
“It’s a domino effect and children start school and they’re not musically confident.
“The primary school years are crucial, yet most primary teachers receive only 17 hours training in music teaching over a three year degree course.””
Tina said people are listening more, but playing less.
“We need to get music into the public consciousness as a must-have part of every Australian’s life - that’s what Music: Play for Life is all about.”
An IMC award was also presented to Spain’s Hearts in Harmony program to encourage and train choir leaders to provide more musical opportunities for disabled people and an initiative of the Hong Kong Institute of Education to preserve an important musical tradition by teaching Cantonese Opera in Hong Kong Schools.
A program to develop new choral music in Africa and a German-based initiative to provide music training and mentoring to young people disadvantaged by war were also commended as well as the Polifonio Network for Music, hosted by the European Association of Conservatoires, for a high impact resource-sharing program which has enhanced tertiary music education in Europe and beyond.
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