Music Reconnect Program - ASME Queensland State Conference - ASME

FRIDAY 13 SEPTEMBER

	Auditorium – G.23	G.30	2.47
12:00-1:00pm	Registration + Lunch (included)
1:00-2:30pm	Keynote: The rhythm of life: Beat, movement, and synchrony for development and wellbeing Professor Kate Williams
2:30-3:00pm	Afternoon Tea (included)
3:00-4:00pm Session 1	What’s new in General Music: Tips for working with the revised syllabus Bec Howe, QCAA	Sandwiches and Singing – the best way to spend lunchbreak Adele King	Getting a Year 5 Immersion Program ‘Off the Hook’ Belinda Dolan and Sam Smith
4:00-5:00pm Session 2	Revamp your Rep Alex Van den Broek, The Little Red Company	Taylor for President: Swift techniques for swift success Andrew Pennay	Musica Viva Australia: Intro to MVA Digital Resources Mara Kiek and Llew Kiek, Musica Viva Australia

SATURDAY 14 SEPTEMBER

	Auditorium – G.23	G.30	G.31
8:00-8:45am	Coffee and trade displays
8:45-10:15am Keynote	Keynote: Telling Our Stories in Music Education Dr Anita Collins
10:15-10:45am	Morning Tea (included)
10:45-11:45 Session 3	Rhythms Reimagined: Fusing Traditional African Rhythms with Modern Music John Hodder, MusicEDU	*Class music and culture club: What’s at play in your* classroom?** Andrew Pennay	Managing General Music and Music in Practice combined classes Renae Battle, QCAA
11:45-12:45 Session 4	Teaching your students about their music advantage Anita Collins	QTAC ATAR Scaling Q&A Shane Tooley
12:45-1:15pm	Lunch (included)
1:15–2:15 Session 5	Yarrabil Girrebbah Singing Indigenous Language Alive Candace Kruger	Exploring Australian Identity Allan Melville and Miranda Myers, e-lr	Building music literacy & creativity through pop and film music Peter Lee, Rising Software
2:15 -3:15pm Session 6	V9. Help or Hinderance? Deb Brydon and Debbie O’Shea	Mapping the journey: The use of digital folios in the middle school music classroom Cade Bonar	More than music: Exploring the potential for social change through our teaching practice Rachel Howley
3:15-4:15pm	ASME Queensland AGM
3:15-4:15pm	Panel discussion: Music Teachers Connect – how can music teachers work together through their professional association?

The rhythm of life: Beat, movement, and synchrony for development and wellbeing

Kate Williams

Keynote

To be human is to be rhythmic. The first sense of sound we experience is our mothers’ rhythmic heartbeat, and at the end of life, as our other senses fade, our hearing is the one that remains – our own heartbeat perhaps soothing us with its slowing rhythm. Across the lifespan, beat and rhythm play an incredibly important role in brain, motor, and social-emotional development, and social cohesion. In this keynote, Associate Professor Kate Williams will provide an overview of how the human brain and body perceive rhythm, and the intersection between beat, movement, and development. Kate will argue that rhythmic movement is an untapped resource for supporting learning and wellbeing. She will use a range of examples of how we might understand and utilise rhythm in different settings, including her own program of work, Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR). Primary music educators are in a unique position to use their skills and their own research, to unlock a window to brain functioning with wide implications for assessment, treatment, screening, education, and wellbeing more broadly. The future of research and practice in this area is exciting with many avenues yet to be understood and explored.

Kate Williams is a developmental scientist, intervention designer, evaluator, and leader, working at the intersection of health and education to address inequities that often arise from early childhood. Kate’s primary research focusses on children’s development of self-regulation, the parenting, educational, and intervention contexts that support such, and associated longitudinal outcomes. She has also been a Registered Music Therapist for 20 years, spending seven years as a leader of the Australian government funded national Sing & Grow program. Kate is the founder and lead researcher of the Rhythm and Movement for Self-Regulation (RAMSR) program, which brings together her loves of developmental psychology and the benefits of rhythm participation. Kate is currently a Professor of Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast and holds and Adjunct Position at the Queensland University of Technology. She has previously held executive roles on the Australian Music Therapy Association board, and is currently Chair of Play Matters Australia.

What’s new in General Music: Tips for working with the revised syllabus

Bec Howe, QCAA

Audience: Secondary

Next year, teachers will implement the 2025 General Music syllabus with their year 11 cohort. This workshop will unpack the revisions and provide practical strategies for working with the changes to assessment. Participants will be engaging with student samples to enhance their understanding of the revised assessment specifications and ISMGs.

Bec is a passionate Arts educator and curriculum leader with an extensive career in Queensland education. She is currently a Principal Education Officer (The Arts) at QCAA and has had a long history of involvement with QCAA as a Panel Chair for Senior Music, Panellist for Music Extension and State Review Panellist for Music. She takes pride in her ability to design and deliver innovative curriculum, learning and assessment focused on contemporary pedagogy frameworks. She currently lectures at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology in Music education, and in her spare time, she enjoys ushering front of house at QPAC.

Sandwiches and Singing – the best way to spend lunchbreak

Adele King

Audience: Primary choral

In this session Brisbane music educator, Adele King, will provide tips and tricks to running an effective choral program in the primary school setting. She will share conducting techniques and some of her favourite repertoire that has been tried and tested over her 20-year career.

Adele King was born and raised in Tasmania where she completed her BMus. In 2000 she moved to Brisbane to complete a Graduate Diploma in Vocal Performance at the Queensland Conservatorium, after which she was cast by Opera Queensland in a touring show for primary school students. This experience prompted her to complete her BEd and become a a qualified Classroom Music Specialist. Throughout her career Adele has worked in various pre-school, school and community settings and is currently Coordinator of Performance and upper primary Music Specialist at Northside Christian College. She runs two school choirs (upper primary and secondary) and recently completed a choral conducting internship with Voices of Birralee, under the guidance of Paul Holley and Jenny Moon. Adele still sings regularly for Opera Queensland.

Getting a Year 5 Immersion Program ‘Off the Hook’

Belinda Dolan and Sam Smith

Audience: Primary, Instrumental

The benefits of learning music, in particular an instrument, have been well documented by researchers over the past decade. Anita Collins (Australia) has researched the neurological benefits and cognitive development of the child which occur when learning a musical instrument. Similarly, Sue Hallam (United Kingdom) has researched the instrumental benefits of music making in education. With research at the centre of our Year 5 Music immersion program, students are not just learning an instrument, but are setting themselves up with skills such as socialisation, auditory processing, language development, literacy skills, creativity, achieving shared goals and executive function – but to name a few, all whilst having fun.

Belinda is the Curriculum Coordinator, Music at St Joseph’s Nudgee College. She enjoys teaching in the middle phase of education (Years 5 – 9) music), and has an interest in instrumental immersion and using technology to support learning in the music classroom. Belinda also tutors in Arts Education and Pre-Service Teacher Education at the University of Sunshine Coast. She is co-coordinator of the Young Composers Competition of ASME Queensland, and in 2021 was the winner of the Music Educating for Life Award (Queensland). Outside of the classroom Belinda enjoys umpiring netball and swimming.

Sam is the Director of Performing Arts at St Joseph’s Nudgee College. As Director, Sam oversees a number of co-curricular activities which contribute to the life of the college. Sam teaches Senior Music, Senior Music Extension and Year 5 Immersion Music. He is a Music Extension Endorser and Music Confirmer for the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Sam is also the co-coordinator of the Young Composers Competition of ASME Queensland. Over the years Sam’s students have won the ASME QLD Young Composer’s Competition multiple times in both primary and secondary categories. Outside of the classroom Sam sings bass in his Barbershop Quartet “The Late Shift’ who were the 2021 Queensland Regional Barbershop Champions.

Revamp your Rep

Alex Van den Broek, The Little Red Company

Audience: Secondary choral

Finding fresh and exciting repertoire for your singers has never been easier – with the whole world at your fingertips via the power of social media, choirs and singers all over the world are connecting through warm ups, viral singing challenges, new arrangements and more. This session will see us dive into how (and where) you can find new and engaging repertoire (and warm ups) to take back to your rehearsal room.

With her roots in choral and vocal harmony ensembles, Alex Van den Broek is a versatile vocalist, arranger, choral director and singer-songwriter from Brisbane. A highly sought after arranger, Alex has written for countless choral and vocal ensembles both here in Australia and abroad, and has a great love of directing choirs of all ages and styles. She also leads a double life as a TikTok harmony superstar, creating short form content full of gorgeous vocal harmonies for an audience of over 200,000 followers. As a vocalist, Alex has worked with artists such as Kate Miller-Heidke, Naomi Price, Luke Kennedy, Tim Gaze, Emma Dean and many more. In 2021 Alex began working with The Little Red Company creating stunning musical moments for their shows Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves, There’s Something About Music, Golden and the Matilda Award-wining Your Song, as well as arranging and conducting Christmas musical magic for the Lord Mayor’s Christmas Carols. When she’s not arranging or performing, Alex is often visiting many schools across Brisbane facilitating music workshops with students or conducting her new choral project the Little Red Choir.

Taylor for President: Swift techniques for swift success

Andrew Pennay

Audience: Secondary

This rapid-fire exploration of Taylor Swift’s unique compositional voice provides a doorway into creative composing projects for lower and upper secondary students.

Andrew Pennay is Director of Creative Futures at Brisbane Girls Grammar School. He has lectured in creative music education at a tertiary level and has presented internationally on school-based composition. Andrew received an Award for Excellence in Australian Kodály-inspired Music Education (Innovation) in 2022. He is currently undertaking doctoral studies in songwriting pedagogy.

Musica Viva Australia: Intro to MVA Digital Resources

Mara Kiek and Llew Kiek, Musica Viva Australia

Audience: Primary

We love resources that are accessible, curriculum aligned, interactive, easy to use and promote creativity in the classroom. Discover MVAIS digital resources that you can use in your classroom immediately.

IN THIS WORKSHOP YOU WILL:

Engage with a range of musical activities from MVAIS digital resources
Learn how to log in and navigate the MVAIS resources
Engage in creative and interactive activities involving singing, playing, moving and listening
Scaffold activities from simple to more complex

Mara Kiek is recognised as one of Australia’s leading authorities on Bulgarian traditional singing and music, completing her Masters by research into the Bulgarian Singing technique in 2008, at the Centre for Applied Research, Conservatorium of Music, Sydney University (M.App.Sci Music Performance). Best known for her work with internationally acclaimed world/jazz ensemble Mara!, Mara is acclaimed as a leading light in Australian world music,
winning the Best Female Artist in the Australian World Music Awards 2000. As the founder director of Sydney’s Bulgarian style choir Martenitsa, she has toured Australia with Bulgarian superstars Trio Bulgarka, performed and recorded with Mara!, Clarion Fracture Zone, David Hobson and David Hirschfelder and recorded three CDs in their own right. Mara has over 30 years performing for Musica Viva In Schools with Mara!, Girls In Your Town,
Humming Birds and Eastwinds, touring throughout Australia, Singapore, Brunei & Hong Kong.

Llew Kiek is regarded as one of the key contributors to “world music” in Australia and his career has encompassed rock, folk and medieval music. Winner of World Music instrumentalist of the year 1999 at the inaugural Australian World Music Awards, Llew’s work has won two Australian Recording Industry Awards (ARIAs) for the Mara! CDs “Ruino Vino” and “Mara! Live in Europe”, and 7 ARIA nominations for other CDs on which he performs or has produced. Llew began his study on piano and became musical director of the Student Theatre while studying drama at Flinders University, Adelaide. From 1976-8 he studied guitar under Don Andrews and George Golla, and in 1987-8 and 1995-6 Turkish lute with Sabahattin Akdağcık. In 2013 Llew began a Master of Music (Composition) degree at Sydney Conservatorium of Music and graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts in 2022. Since 1982, Llew has performed extensively with acclaimed Australian folk/jazz ensemble Mara!, having toured in 21 countries on the group’s many international tours. Key performances with them have included WOMAD Festivals in Singapore, Auckland, Adelaide, Reading, Morecambe and Hannover; folk festivals across UK, Europe, Canada and Asia, two WDR Radio festivals (Germany), the 2000 European Broadcasting Union Festival in the Czech Republic, touring in China for Radio Australia; and tours to Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong and Laos for Musica Viva Australia.

Telling Our Stories in Music Education

Anita Collins

Keynote

How do we tell our story in music education and does it impact how we are seen, valued and treated. Anita will delve into the transformative power of storytelling, urging music educators to rethink how they share their professional narratives. By drawing on diverse resources that highlight the hidden depths and impacts behind every story, Anita will challenge educators to present their roles in a way that transcends traditional descriptions. The aim is to elevate the perception of music teaching by showcasing its profound influence on personal development and community building, without being confined to the typical labels of “music” and “teacher.”

Dr. Anita Collins is renowned for her research into the neurological effects of music education, demonstrating how music learning can enhance brain development and improve various cognitive skills. She explores the connection between music engagement and increased neural activity, suggesting that playing and learning music can boost academic and social performance for children. Anita effectively communicates her findings through various platforms, aiming to influence educational policies and practices by emphasising the benefits of music in schools.

Rhythms Reimagined: Fusing Traditional African Rhythms with Modern Music

John Hodder, MusicEDU

Audience: Secondary

Connect the rich history of African music to current industry trends as we take you on a Global Grooves adventure. Discover how contemporary backing tracks combined with clapping (and drumming) activities create a classroom showcase that will not be forgotten.We’ll demonstrate how teaching traditional African rhythms and concepts using music technology, such as step-sequencing and creating polyrhythms with MIDI Grid Controllers, will make your Friday afternoon music class the most engaging subject on the school timetable!

Following a successful career as a Music, Drama and Media Arts teacher and Coordinator of Music Curriculum at St Joseph’s Nudgee College, John now leads the Curriculum Development Team at MusicEDU. With a deep passion for music, technology, and relevant curriculum, John loves leveraging his experience to help teachers expand their capacity and advance music technology pedagogy.

Class music and culture club: What’s at play in your classroom?

Andrew Pennay

Audience: Primary, Secondary

Project Zero’s Cultures of Thinking research provides a launchpad for this session, where we take a deep dive into the cultural forces that are at play in our music classrooms, whether we recognise them or not! Our physical environment, our interactions, our use of time, and our chosen learning opportunities reveal much about what we value as teachers, especially as we turn to creative music making.

Managing General Music and Music in Practice combined classes

Renae Battle, QCAA

Audience: Secondary

Managing combined senior classes of both General and Applied Music syllabuses can be a challenge, one that teachers are facing more frequently. This workshop will explore strategies for developing curriculum and managing teaching and learning with a combined class, and assist teachers to form communities of practice.

Renae is a Music and Drama teacher with well over a decade’s experience in the classroom and time as a head of department. Her interest in curriculum design and involvement in both internal moderation and external QCAA processes over the years led to a shift out of the classroom to working as a QCAA Principal Education Officer (The Arts).

QTAC ATAR Scaling Q&A

Led by Shane Tooley

Teaching your students about their music advantage

Anita Collins

Audience: Instrumental

Neuromusical research uses the term Musician Advantage to describe how music learning can enhance brain development. When we teach instruments, including voice, we are developing this musician advantage in each of our students, but how do we teach them what is changing and enhancing in their brains? This workshop will give you quick phrases, diagnostic tools and student centred language that you can take straight into your studio, rehearsal room or classroom, to grow little music advocactes of your own.

Yarrabil Girrebbah Singing Indigenous Language Alive

Candace Kruger

Audience: Primary

Yarrabil Girrebbah Singing Indigenous Language Alive illustrates one way in which an Aboriginal community, in South-East Queensland is reconstructing Aboriginal knowledges for sustainability and legacy outcomes. Moreover, the Songwoman demonstrates how the performativity of living culture can be articulated as a modernity of Aboriginal music.

Candace is a Yugambeh yarrabilginngunn (song woman) and proud Kombumerri (Gold Coast) and Ngugi (Moreton Island) Aboriginal woman. She is an author, musician, composer, as well as educator, and is the founder and director of the Yugambeh Youth Choir. Candace’s Doctoral studies and research interests are investigations in the fields of Indigenous musicology, Indigenous studies and Anthropology. Candace’s research captures the songwoman’s work, contributes to the development of Indigenous methodologies, and demonstrates one way in which an Aboriginal community are reconstructing Aboriginal knowledge for sustainability and legacy outcomes.

Exploring Australian Identity

Allan Melville and Miranda Myers, e-lr

Audience: Secondary

The Australian Curriculum V9 and the Senior ATAR unit Identities both have a strong focus on Australian identity. The e-lr website features five contemporary compositions with unique perspectives on Australian identity. Styles include an EDM reimagining of traditional didgeridoo and clapstick samples in dubstep, a traditional First Nations voice and didgeridoo solo song, a choral song exploring issues of the Stolen Generation, and two fusion compositions using First Nations instruments and language to explore their narrative. The compositions are then linked to a developmental series of responding questions using the cognitive verbs: identify, explain, analyse, compare, evaluate and justify. These questions are suitable for all secondary year levels.

Allan has been a music educator for over 40 years in New South Wales and Queensland. Along with teaching, his experience includes composing, arranging, and performing in rock and jazz genres. As a teacher, Allan incorporated technology into the music classroom and his creative approach was the focus of demonstrations to music teachers, university students, politicians and international educators. Since 2003 he has pioneered the development of e-lr, focusing on secondary Music curriculum resources for schools around Australia.

Miranda began her secondary music teaching career in 1982. Her interest in the use of technology in teaching dates back to 1989 when she was successful in applying for one of Queensland’s first grants to establish an Electronic Learning Centre for music. Along with contributing to e-lr, she has been an Arts Head of Department, participated in syllabus writing, District Review Panel Chair for Music, State Panel member for Music, and Lead Confirmer for Music.

Building music literacy & creativity through pop and film music

Peter Lee, Rising Software

Audience: Instrumental

Early years of high school often feature diverse student cohorts that present with a wide range of musical experience and competency. Many teachers find it challenging and extremely time consuming to prepare materials that engage their students and build key skills. We’ll look at how to assist students in instrumental programs and creative composition tasks, using the new Auralia and Musition to provide learning support for the essential musical elements. Our new content allows you to easily “teach through Pop & Film”, using these accessible musical genres when working on core concepts including dynamics, tempo, texture, form, contour, instruments and ensembles. Notation based activities covering notes, chords, intervals, rhythm and instruments are also provided, using the classic repertoire. Australian Curriculum support with levels for various years allow you to easily differentiate in your classroom. Importantly, these apps are specifically designed for school use; easily assign quizzes, worksheets and assessments, with automatically graded questions. Integrate with school systems, and provide real time data to parents & administration.

V9. Help or Hinderance?

Deb Brydon and Debbie O’Shea

Audience: Primary

This session looks at how Deb and Debbie (Full time Primary Classroom Music Teachers) make The Australian Curriculum Version 9 work for them. Join them as they have a practical look at not only the curriculum itself, but also see some specific examples of ways they have audited their program to align with Version 9 while still maintaining what they believe is best practice.

Deb Brydon is a primary music specialist who returned to music teaching after working as a Senior Project Writer with Education Queensland’s Curriculum into the Classroom project, writing for Music and The Arts. In 2020 she earned national accreditation as a Highly Accomplished Teacher. She has taught primary school music for 30 years in both Charters Towers and Brisbane. Deb has been an accredited do-re-mi teacher and has also taught Classroom Music at Griffith University. She has been on the Kodály Qld committee for 20 years and was recently awarded Honorary Life Membership. Deb has been the project co-ordinator for Kodály QLD’s DVD Projects including Musical Beginnings, Middle Years Music Education and Step Up With Music. She holds an Australian Kodály Certificate (Early Childhood) and is currently Vice-President of Kodály QLD. She lives in Mugan-djin (Brisbane), on Yagara Country with her husband and 3 children.

Debbie O’Shea is an enthusiastic and experienced music educator. Her qualifications include a Masters of Music Studies, a Graduate Diploma of Music Education, a Bachelor of Education, and the Holy Names Kodaly Summer Certificate (California – held in Brisbane). In 2020 Debbie earned national accreditation as a Highly Accomplished Teacher. Debbie is passionate about supporting music educators through Crescendo Music Education. She has worked as a classroom teacher, primary music specialist, early childhood music teacher, curriculum writer, lecturer, workshop presenter, massed choir conductor and composer. Debbie is currently a Kodály Queensland Committee Member and has the Kodály Philosophy in the heart of her teaching. She has had the honour of working with, Catholic Education, KMEIA Qld, Musica Viva in Schools, Music Count Us In, UQ and Griffith University. Currently, she works as a Primary Music Specialist for the Department of Education Queensland. Debbie lives North of Brisbane on Turbul Land with her husband and has two children, now lovely young men.

Mapping the journey: The use of digital folios in the middle school music classroom

Cade Bonar

Audience: Secondary

This session focuses on the construction and use of digital folios in the middle school music classroom, highlighting their role in supporting teaching, learning and assessment. Digital folios offer a transparent learning pathway, support formative conversations based on continuous demonstration of learning, and informs a greater summative profile of student capability across an assessment instrument. Samples of practice and student work will be shared with the intent to supporting participants construct their own folios for their students.

Cade is currently the Head of Music at Matthew Flinders Anglican College. He is passionate about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in Music, especially in the middle years. His doctoral research focused on identifying conditions that best provoke meaningful music education, and these findings continue to inform his practice.

More than music: Exploring the potential for social change through our teaching practice

Rachel Howley

Audience: Instrumental

We know that music makes a difference in the lives of our students, but what if we could supercharge that and impact our broader community? This session explores the potential that we have as music educators for social transformation in the lives of our students, their families, our community and beyond.

Rachel Howley is a conductor, music educator and researcher. She completed a Doctor of Musical Arts (Conducting) at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and is the conductor of The University of Queensland Wind Symphony and the Young Conservatorium Wind Ensemble. In 2022, Rachel was named as one of Australia’s Most Influential Educators and, in 2023, became a Reynolds Conducting Institute Fellow.

ASME Queensland AGM

Panel discussion: Music Teachers Connect

Music Reconnect Program – ASME Queensland State Conference

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