Music: Count Us In shines a light across Australia

Music: Count Us In is an in-school initiative taking place today.

650,000 students from a record 3,400 schools across the country will at 12.30 pm ADST sing the same song

According to organisers, “Music: Count Us In exists to engage teachers, principals, school communities, and families, and to provide quality music participation opportunities to all.

“(It raises) the profile of music education on the national stage, and provides hundreds of thousands of students with practical music learning.”

Five students songwriters worked on the program song ’Shine Together’ in collaboration with Program Ambassador John Foreman OAM and Program Mentor, X Factor Australia finalist Taylor Henderson.

’Shine Together’ can be heard here.

Music: Count Us In was set up by Music Australia and partners for schools that had music education and for those that didn’t.

Resources are provided to support teachers in the classroom, including lesson plans, videos, arrangements for musical ensembles, Auslan and Braille resources and more.

MCUI culminates in Celebration Day this day.

Music Australia points out, “Decades of research shows that learning music can help students’ self-confidence, self-discipline and teamwork.

“It can help students engage in school, can improve school attendance and can even help students make healthy life choices.

“There are also strong links between music learning and academic skills in literacy and numeracy.

“Research shows that music is unique in its flow-on benefits to students who learn it.”

However, in late 2005, the Federally-funded National Review of School Music Education found that most students miss out on meaningful music education in schools.

It said that the status of music in schools needed to be raised, to remind teachers, parents, principals, kids and the community about the value and benefits of learning music.

As few as 23% of government schools are able to offer their students a music education, citing a lack of resources. The number leaps up to 88% at private schools.

The numbers vary greatly from state to state.