900 ACT kids raise the roof in national song

ACT students at full voice during the ANU Music Education Program's annual Big Gig.

900 young Canberrans will join with hundreds of thousands of others around the nation in a giant synchronised singing event tomorrow, to promote music education.

The ACT massed choir, drawn from 11 local schools, will this year gather at The Australian National University as part of the nation-wide ‘Music. Count Us In’ initiative. Now in its fourth year, the event encourages students, teachers and communities all around Australia to simultaneously sing and play the same song.

Dr Susan West, from the ANU Music Education Program, is this year’s ACT music director and coordinator.

Dr West says: ’The yearly event is a wonderful way of proclaiming the importance of music education in Australian schools.

?This year young students from Canberra have the chance to sing and play simultaneously with school children from 1500 different schools as far away as Perth and Darwin.

?It is a fantastic opportunity to showcase music education by sharing music with each other and the broader community.

‘It is an event which encourages everyone to engage, regardless of skill levels,’ she says.

The ACT leg of this year’s event will be hosted by multi-award winning songstress, Melinda Schneider and is one of four to be ‘live streamed’ to audiences across Australia. It will also feature the Band of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, led by Major Geoff Grey.

?Music: Count Us In? is Australia’s biggest annual school music event and highlights the value of music education in Australian schools.

For interviews: Dr Susan West - 02 6125 5776 / 0409 286 284

For media assistance: James Giggacher, ANU Media - 02 6125 7988 / 0416 249 241