Lucky music students from in and around Dubbo have participated in a series of singing workshops this week thanks to the Moorambilla Voices outreach program and the Macquarie Conservatorium.
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The program is said to give remote and regional children in both primary and high school “an amazingly rich experience”.
According to Moorambilla Education consultant Margie Moore, the Moorambilla Voices program is designed to create pathways for talented children from all walks of life.
Moorambilla Voices holds auditions for regional primary school students to participate in their boys and girls choirs.
The children’s choir attracted more than 130 students last year and continues to grow.
A high school choir later developed as students wanted to continue their participation in the choir after they had moved on to high school.
Mrs Moore believes performing in the year 7 to 10 Maxed Out Company has gone a long way in keeping some students in school system longer.
Moorambilla’s artistic director Michelle Leonard led the workshops in Dubbo this week after recently leading an 1800-strong student choir at the Sydney Opera House in the documentary Mrs Carey’s Concert.
Private and public school students from Dubbo worked alongside students visiting from Narromine, Orange, Wellington and other regional towns.
They were led through a series of singing and composing exercises that saw them create their own piece.
Mrs Moore said the workshops were a fantastic thing for both regional students and their
teachers who travelled from surrounding regional towns to participate in professional development.
Having increased their skills, the teachers took home ideas to create their own school choirs.
Students chosen to participate in the choir will attend training camps in Coonamble, Baradine and Gulagambone.
“At the camps the students will learn an amazing Australian repertoire about the landscape, a composition will also be written around the kids ideas,” she said.
After training at the camps the students will perform at the Moorambilla Festival at Coonamble in September.
She said the students will also have the opportunity to work with Indigenous weavers from north-west NSW as well as participating in drumming workshops.
An Austrian movement specialist will also travel from Salzburg to guide students in dance and self expression.
For more information on Moorambilla go to www.moorambilla.com.