Music, Mind and Wellbeing
by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Published in Music Forum magazine, Vol 19 Issue 1 (November 2012)
Music, Mind and Wellbeing: Expanding the understanding and practice of music in the 21st Century
We call it the entertainment industry, but musicians and performing artists know that music, dance and theatre are much more than that. They are integral to the very core of our identity, they shape the way we think, how we relate to others, and how we cope with the stresses of life.
A Voice from the Trenches: making noise about diverse programming
by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Published in Music Forum magazine, Vol 19 Issue 1 (November 2012)
Frank Madrid presented this address at the Multicultural Arts Forum organised in Sydney last April by Groundswell, a small organisation that sees the need for a major revitalisation of multicultural arts in NSW.
I would like firstly to thank the organisers of the Forum for bringing the issue of artistic programming to the forefront at this wonderful gathering. It is a much needed discussion in the Australia of the 21st century. Today, I would like to speak to you from the perspective of the independent producer working in the trenches, and share some of the challenges that I have to face every time my team and I choose to embark upon the roller coaster that offering diverse cultural product to Australian audiences can be.
MCA Freedman Classical Fellow 2012
by Dr Richard Letts. Published in Music Forum magazine, Vol 19 Issue 1 (November 2012)
Contemporary Music Champion
The winner of the Freedman Classical Fellowship 2012 is clarinettist Ashley Smith.
This is the most recent in a succession of important competitions in which Ashley has been a winner. Among them are two at Yale University, where he is currently undertaking post-graduate studies.
Music in a Multicultural Australia: Introduction
by Dr Richard Letts. Published in Music Forum magazine, Vol 19 Issue 1 (November 2012)
Australia is a multicultural society. Like global warming, that is a fact. In the case of global warming, in the matter of factuality, almost all of us have to trust the experts. To know whether Australia is multicultural, we can do our own science. Just step into the street.
Australia is multicultural. So what’s next?
To regret or resist is futile. There is little practical opposition to an immigration program. And the days seem to be long past when anyone at all suggests that all immigrants should be of the same ethnicity.
So what’s next should be the most positive response possible. Nothing else makes sense.
The writers for this special section of Music Forum all see the potential of a culturally diverse population to drive a new vitality and creativity in music and the arts. Their views come from their interests and circumstances. Put together, they present an array of possibilities and actions that we hope, will suggest possibilities for you.
This is a cultural treasure trove for Australia. But it largely is buried treasure. The Samoans can keep their music alive in their own communities, but for economic viability and to contribute to the larger culture, Samoan music has to be easily found by the rest of the population and presented with production values that are expected for ‘mainstream’ genres. It’s not; it’s mostly invisible.
Government support, with the possible exception of Victoria, has been half-hearted and an enormous opportunity passes us by. For that also, regret is futile. Many Music Forum readers are leaders, in a position to take some positive action.
What’s next
Richard Letts
See the index for this issue for the full listing of articles
Jennifer Condon Records Sappho
by Dr Richard Letts. Published in Music Forum magazine, Vol 19 Issue 1 (November 2012)
Richard Letts: Were you able to make the recording and if so, when and where and with what orchestra?
Jennifer Condon: Absolutely! Our small but dedicated team flew into Lisbon in the first few days of July. Australian soprano and language coach Eilene Hannan, currently based in the UK and France, set immediately to work with the singers as they arrived – working to achieve homogenous sung English from an a array of accents. Hamburg based repetiteur Moshe Landsberg willingly chained himself to the piano when not in the sound box. Australian composer Paul Castles, acting as our orchestral librarian, didn’t leave the sound box at all and PA extraordinaire Ellen Ehrhardt made sure everyone was in the right place at the right time.
