Merry Christmas
December 23rd, 2009 § Leave a Comment
My Canadian uncle sent me an ecard for Christmas so I searched youtube for an appropriate response.
Found these little gems on a channel called “The Omniscient Mussel” Many thanks Miss Mussel!
An Australian Christmas Carol – The Three Drovers. (1948 by John Wheeler and William G. James)
Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir.
Photographs from Flickr.
Across the plains one Christmas night
Three drovers riding blithe and gay,
Looked up and saw a starry light
More radiant than the Milky Way;
And on their hearts such wonder fell,
They sang with joy. ‘Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!’
The air was dry with summer heat,
And smoke was on the yellow moon;
But from the heavens, faint and sweet,
Came floating down a wond’rous turn;
And as they heard, they sang full well
Those drovers three. ‘Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!’
The black swans flew across the sky,
The wild dog called across the plain,
The starry lustre blazed on high,
Still echoed on the heavenly strain;
And still they sang, ‘Noel! Noel!’
Those drovers three. ‘Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!’
The other Canadian carol on this channel is exquisite!
‘Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled
That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim and wondering hunters heard the hymn,
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.
Within a lodge of broken bark the tender babe was found;
A ragged robe of rabbit skin enwrapped his beauty round
But as the hunter braves drew nigh the angel song rang loud and high
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.
O children of the forest free, O seed of Manitou
The holy Child of earth and heaven is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant boy who brings you beauty peace and joy.
Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria.
A Canadian Christmas Carol – The Huron Carol or ‘Twas In The Moon Of Wintertime. Photographs from Flickr. Choir is the Elora Festival Singers. Text composed in 1643 by Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf and set to a French folk tune called Une Jeune Pucelle.
Brébeuf wrote the text in the native language of the Huron/Wendat people.
It was translated into English in 1926 by Jesse Edgar Middleton
Music Tuition in Australia
April 15th, 2009 § 1 Comment
I received the following in an email today from Chris Nicholls about the formation of a brilliant organization in promoting the accessibility of music tuition in disadvantaged communities in Australia.
Visionary works like this need support from all sectors of the community if they’re to work. The benefits of the Venezuelan model speak for themselves.
An article in The Australian (17/4/09) is very much in keeping with these sentiments. Let’s hope they can deliver in these tough economic times.
Richard Tognetti has some strongly worded things to say about the state of Australian music education in The Australian.
Christopher’s message follows
“Dear Friends,
Yesterday we established a working relationship with a major music foundation and a prominent professional orchestra both of which (separately up until now) currently deliver enriched music programmes to schools and communities across Australia, to work with us to develop and deliver and Australian music education programme based upon Venezuela’s El Sistema!
The programmes are to be developed specifically around social action through music by using the Orchestra and choir, for children of all ages. It is about learning through playing and singing in an orchestra and choir – learning by doing. It is about improving the lives of children by instilling self-awareness, self-reliance and empowerment through music and its performance.
Our particular focus, initially, will be those disadvantaged school communities in Australia who have less access and availability to music and who in live less privileged communities. We will extend this out to as many communities and children that we can as the organisation grows and gathers its resources and capabilities.
We will be working over the next few months to establish the mechanisms necessary for this to happen; these include:
1. Establishment of specific funding (some is available already, but more will be needed).
2. Tutors and musicians to help work with the schools and children. Actually volunteer musicians and coordinators too.
3. Young musicians who would be interested in forming advocacy orchestras to play to schools and their communities, to encourage the establishment of their own school orchestras and choirs.
4. Instruments, music and music stands.
5. Commitment from Australian music institutions across Australia to help with outreach programmes to identified school communities.
6. Establishing relationships with other organisations and groups to deliver our programmes across Australia. A bit like a non-commercial franchise system – endorsed providers of Sistema programmes.
Our first school orchestras will be established as soon as possible and we have already identified a number of suitable and willing sites in the Sydney area.
If you think that you would like to be involved directly with this please get in touch with me via FaceBook or alternatively, via e-mail at Christopher.Nicholls@gmail.com – also I can be reached on my mobile: 0418487322 (+61 418 487322 overseas). As soon as possible would be good.
Best regards
Christopher Nicholls”
