Category: Articles
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ISME’s First Social Media Campaign!
Dear ISME Leadership, We are excited to announce ISME’s inaugural social media campaign, and we need your help to get it started! This campaign has two key objectives: The second […]
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Beat Back Burnout
Sir, does it matter if I get a Not Achieved on the practice exam?” “No. Nothing matters.” “….ok thanks, Sir. See you tomorrow!” It’s hard to trace the exact point where my Year 11 Music class began morphing into the existential -nihilstic grumblings of a sad old man, but there was a very clear moment…
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Integrating music
It is my belief that a musically enriched classroom deepens and forms connections of one’s internal and external world. Music grows the developing brain. Can we teach a mainstream class […]
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Creativity & Inclusivity: Lessons from “To The Front”
Term 1, Week 1. A fresh batch of students enters your music department with wildly different experiences, musical backgrounds, abilities and tastes. Imagine you had just one week to organise […]
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Empowering Students Through Product Design at Pāpāmoa College
At Pāpāmoa College, Product Design Technology isn’t just about crafting projects for the sake of it; it’s about empowering students to become real-world inventors and designers who can solve tangible […]
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Unearthing Talent and Tradition: Far North Got Talent 5-day Wananga
Hapaitia te ara tika, pumau ai te rangatiratanga, mo nga uri whakatipu Foster the pathway of knowledge to strength, independence and growth for future generations. In the rugged, picturesque landscapes […]
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Band & Orchestral Programmes In Schools
As brass and wind specialists, we have had the pleasure of working with Band and Orchestral Programmes in Auckland schools over the last 6 years. We have both taught classroom […]
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Students’ Independent Song Release
As a teacher at Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, a trend I had noticed is the increase in music ākonga submitting release – quality songs for assessment purposes. It […]
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Producing “Stairway to Heaven”
The Prizegiving finale for St Andrew’s College in 2023 was a musical performance of “Stairway to Heaven”. While we often video and record our Prizegivings, this is the first time […]
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Tips For The Sound Industry – Future Pathways
Embarking on my career as an audio engineer, little did I know that the journey would be a myriad of challenges and growth…
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Musical play: The Art Of Following The Child
Musical Play is a universal, sensory, relationship-based language of the emotions. It is the first language of children. It is an intuitive part of our humanity based on physical and […]
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Māori Principles Into our Teaching Practice
Article written by Benjamin Lau As a kaiako tauiwi, (non-Māori teacher), I am manuhiri (a visitor) to Te ao Māori. At our recent MENZA conference, I presented on the topic […]
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Using NZ Music to Support Teaching
Article written by: Brenda Oakley MENZA MAG NOV v8 SinglePg 16.11 Music teachers are already doing an amazing job of using New Zealand music to support their teaching and link […]
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Nurturing Musical & Expressive Musicians
Article written by Edith Poon
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A Taste of Orff – Hayley Hunter
MUSIC & MOVEMENT LESSON: “Wonderful Weather” Here are some simple ideas integrating music, dance /movement, literacy and science concepts using the Orff Approach. Students will use speech, singing, instrumental music […]
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Catch a Song – Maria Winder
A summary of how we can support beat keeping experiences from 0 to 3 and why it is important, particularly in regard to language. Zoltan Kodály stressed the importance of […]
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Sound Investigation in an Infant & Toddler ECE Setting – Greta Bull
A great body of New Zealand and international early years musical learning literature is focused on singing or instrumental play, within early years musical learning with less discussing the importance […]
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Advocacy for Music Education in Aotearoa
Article by Jeremy Winter, Linda Webb, Helen Willberg & Catherine Gibbs We must advocate for music education because it matters. This article is an abridgement of a more comprehensive paper […]
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The Remedy Project: Exploring First Nations Music
Article by: Glenn Barry Presenters Naomi Sunderland (Griffith University), Kristy Apps (Griffith University), and Glen Barry (Griffith University) are sharing about The Remedy Project: Exploring First Nations music as a […]
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Arts Funding in Aotearoa – Annie Hill
As those working in the arts sector know, it’s difficult to raise money for creative projects and the small pool of funding means that sometimes very worthwhile initiatives lose out. […]
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Connecting Within & Across – Anita Collins
I like and hate conference themes. I think they are great anchors for me to build their thoughts around, and they can also be so broad that I struggle to […]
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MENZA CONFERENCE 2023 – Overview
From 1-4 October 2023 around 130 teachers from Early Childhood up to Tertiary spent time together at the MENZA conference 2023.
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The Tool of a Musical Mind
Often you hear about students having different tools in their kit or skills to cope with different situations, but I first heard this phrase at the Kodály Course in Christchurch […]
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Ear Training for the ‘Tech’ kids
I have to start with an apology for this ‘click-baity’ title. As much as possible I don’t try to differentiate my students between those that are ‘techy’ and those that […]
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Intergenerational Musical Play
BILL OF RIGHTS FOR PLAY All players are equal or can be made so. Novelty is more fun than repetition. Rules are negotiable from moment to moment. Risk in pursuit […]
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Music that heals: Trauma-informed practice
Watching the devastation after Cyclone Gabrielle and the impact on people and place, reminds me of life after the Christchurch earthquakes. In the early days, we were unaware of the […]
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Tai Orooro Tai Auaha
E Tipu e rea mo nga ra o tou ao“Grow up in the days destined to you” – Sir Apirana T. Ngata In 2023, in the Far North, taonga puoro […]
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Help, I can’t buy music for that combination of instruments!
Turning an unlikely combination of instruments into a performance group. Have you ever been in a situation where you have an unlikely combination of instrumentalists at school? Perhaps a beginner […]
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Review: KIWICORDER
Resource: Kiwicorder Resource: Kiwicorder
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Tips for Directing a Musical
In the 13 years I’ve been at St Andrew’s College, I have been involved with 23 musicals and have musically directed 21 of those (with another two we’re working on […]
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Article: THE POWER OF SINGING
When I opened Facebook this morning, I was greeted with the following post: Singing. The power of singing. From the youngest child to the wisest soul, singing is simply amazing. […]
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Article: Tongan Phrases you can use in your Classroom
Talofa lava, Mālō e lelei and Warm Pasifika greetings to you all. The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is the Crown’s principal advisor on policies and interventions aimed at improving outcomes […]
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A Chat with Doug Kelly
A chat with 100 year old Doug Kelly – an influential music educator, musician and arranger with a passion for instrumental and jazz music by Judith Bell April 2022 Doug […]
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Article: New Home for Christchurch School of Music, Te Kura Puoro
After years of a nomadic existence, the Christchurch School of Music , Te Kura Puoro, (CSM) has been given the opportunity to build a $15 million facility in the city’s […]
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Article: Te Hiku Music Academy – Change Doesn’t Come Easily
What a tough time for musicians and music in general! As society emerges from Covid restrictions and the world regains a sense of normality, we musicians are now getting those […]
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Article: Whakaaro Tahi Community Trust – Serving the Far North for 17 Years
“Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest; heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul.” The genesis of the Whakaaro […]
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Article: Accelerated Learning Through Toi Māori Wānanga Pūoro
Ko te piko te māhuri, Koia te tipu o te rākau. He rito tangata, he mauri reo, he mauri oro, he mauri ora. KA TŪ TAHI TĀTOU KI TE KOHIKOHI […]
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Article: NCEA Accord Day – Canterbury
With the NCEA change imminently upon us there has been a growing realisation among secondary teachers that at some stage soon, we won’t be able to delay the inevitable any […]
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NCEA & External Moderation Update
Kia ora koutou. Haere mai to the NCEA and External Moderation Update. Amongst the terrible weather events and surging Covid-19 cases over winter, it is gratifying that we have been able […]
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Major NZ Music Artists & Industry Professionals Join Forces with ‘Passion to Profession’
In my first article for the ‘Tune Me In’ magazine series, I felt it was only right to not only share the story and kaupapa of my platform ‘Beat Whānau,’ but […]
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What Do We Teach Our Future Songwriters?
Recently I listened to mega-popstar Beyoncé’s latest studio album Renaissance, a collection of well-crafted pop bangers featuring a vast litany of musical offerings from some of the hottest songwriters and […]
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Lessons From Lockdown
I’m writing this in August and I’m sitting at a desk at school – not the most exciting introduction, however, this would have been extraordinary last year. This time last […]
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Burnside’s Specialist Music Programme
The Specialist Music Programme was established in 1996. It was the brainchild of Hugh Stevenson, Burnside HOD Music at the time, supported by colleagues from Westburn Primary School and the […]
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NZQA Scholarship Music
Rangi Ruru Girls’ School in Christchurch has a vibrant, well-resourced music department with a wide range of learners, from those starting out on their musical journey through discovery and exploration […]
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Don’t Forget the Part About Play
Many of us have memories of sitting at a piano or other instrument in tears, feeling frustrated and inept and wishing away the lesson or practise. Or hours spent learning […]
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But We’re Not Ready to Perform Yet!
A new year, a new band, new players and the experienced players have all moved on! It’s only March, and you’ve been asked if the jazz band will play for […]
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The Nature of Transformative Experience in Early Childhood Contexts
By Helen Pritchard Dr. Helen Pritchard is an early childhood practitioner, lecturer with Manukau Institute of Technology/Te Pūkenga and academic researcher with Workforce Development. My doctoral research identifies and theorises the nature […]
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Creating Beat-making Learning Experiences in ECE Settings
By Greta Bull-Crossan Within children’s everyday experiences, listening, dancing, and singing to waiata, children grow familiar with musical elements such as the beat and rhythm. Beat-making is of great benefit to […]
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Songwriting: Diatonic Distancing in Composition – a method to move beyond diatonic harmony
By Dr Mark Baynes Drawing inspiration from current trends in popular music, it is probably fair to say that songwriters, including students at MAINZ, often gravitate towards diatonic-based composition. Who […]
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Nurturing songwriting talent through ‘Play it Strange’
If we could SEE songs, they would be luminous trails in the breath of space. And from there, they drift down to us, and we absorb them. We respond emotionally […]
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Creating a Creative Career in the Music Industry
It goes without saying that to forge a successful career in the music industry you need to be technically and creatively competent. It’s difficult to develop a career as a […]
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Integrating Radio into a Secondary School Music Course
It was 2006, and I had recently moved to Hutt International Boys’ School from a school that had gone through the rigorous process of becoming accredited to teach a National […]
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Changing the Narrative: Re-Stor(y)ing Silenced Voices
Like many of you I have felt the absence of singing keenly over the months since Covid arrived on our shores. Not being able to sing with my choral colleagues, […]
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Wellbeing: Music is the Space Between Notes
The Britannica Dictionary includes within the definition of the word space, the concept that space is to separate (things) by particular periods of time. While the space between notes is a […]
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How to Teach Piano to Preschoolers: Our Experience & Top Tips for Teachers & Parents
When to start lessons, and what to focus on when beginning piano at a very young age are questions we receive all the time from parents who have children interested […]
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10 Ways to use the Winning Hook, Line and Sing-Along Song
Each April/May the winning Hook, Line and Sing-along Song is released after a national competition that students can enter in March (however as of 2023 this competition has been discontinued […]
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Music Acquisition starts before birth: Sing to your unborn baby
My daughter Sarah sang a loving little song to her unborn baby Toby every day as she patted the steady beat of the song on her stomach. Inside the womb, surrounded by […]
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BIG FAN: The story behind a big-hearted gift to Aotearoa
Joel and Gemma Little to open not-for-profit music facility in Morningside. Nine years on since the album Pure Heroine was made by Joel Little with Lorde, the Grammy-Award winning songwriter […]
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A Chat with Doug Kelly 2022
A chat with 100 year old Doug Kelly – an influential music educator, musician and arranger with a passion for instrumental and jazz music Judith Bell April 2022 […]
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MENZA response to inappropriate and harmful behaviour
Click here for the Safer Spaces in Music Education website. The recent stories of the inappropriate and harmful behaviour in schools and universities in Music Education spaces are simply unacceptable. […]
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Congratulations Celia Stewart for Queen’s Birthday Honours MNZM
Congratulations to Celia Stewart on being made a Member of New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for her outstanding services to Music Education over many years. For services to […]
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Tribute to Ian Dando
life-story-ian-dando-one-of-nzs-top-music-critics Obituary: Ian Dando 1934-2019 worked for the Ministry of Education as the Otago music advisor in Dunedin. In Christchurch he worked as a senior music lecturer at the College of Education. […]
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Stop Defending Music Education
Today I ran across one more xeroxed handout touting the test-taking benefits of music education, defending music as a great tool for raising test scores and making students smarter. It […]
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Musical Literacy: a skill of some note
In 2015 a story ran in the UK press which revealed that it was Heather Mills who taught her daughter music, not her ex-husband, Sir Paul McCartney, because he […]