From St Andrews College in Western Sydney, Mr Chiappetta has created a music program that inspires students, and the school’s other teachers, to try new things with their musical education.
A former student at the school, Mr Chiappetta’s own musical journey shouldn’t be overlooked. He toured Australia as a drummer and lead vocalist with his rock and hip-hop-inspired band King Farook, and has also supported some of music’s biggest international names acts, including Van Halen, Billy Joel and Aerosmith.
But it was his love of
teaching and wanting to share his passion that brought him back to his old
school.
He initiated the inaugural
Creative Arts Night for the school, which has now grown to involve a music
festival hosting 2000 people inside the school grounds – featuring his students
up on stage performing, and students from other parts of the school helping
backstage, with catering, logo design and event organisation.
We’ve sponsored this award
for four years and when he received the award from Guy Sebastian, Mr Chiappetta
knew it was recognition for a lot of hard work and a love for music.
“It’s such an honour to
have the acknowledgment and to be here at an industry-recognised awards show,”
Mr Chiappetta said at the awards. “We do so much for our kids. This kind of
thing is really special.”
Kerry (KL) Lambert is a writer at Telstra Exchange, sharing stories about our people and their impact on our business. Before Telstra, KL worked in print, radio and TV for 18 years. As a producer at Today Tonight she covered a wide variety of stories from tech, to sport, to legal and more. KL spent nine years at Melbourne sport radio station SEN as a program producer, so she’s always happy to chat about sport.
Meet the nominees for the 2019 Telstra ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award
As a sponsor of the Telstra ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award, now in its third year, we’re proud to support Australia’s music teachers in their mission to provide children with a better education and the chance to play and enjoy music.
The Telstra ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award has become a highlight of the ARIA Awards ceremony, because it holds such special meaning to musicians and music lovers across Australia. The award recognises music teachers for their passion and hard work in providing Australian children with a better education and the chance to play and enjoy music. There is growing recognition worldwide of the value of creativity and the arts to improve education standards, and build a better connection for students to their school life in general.
Here are the four nominees for this year’s Telstra ARIA
Music Teacher of the Year Award.
Julia Rennick – Gunnedah Public School, NSW
Julia is a long-serving music teacher working in the NSW
community of Gunnedah. For many, Julia was their first ever music teacher: she
brings the joy of musical education into her early childhood and learning
programs for over 20 years. As a result of her many years of music teaching,
her impact in the local community can only be described as generational. Julia
also works with Parkinson’s patients to ensure that the benefits of music are
brought to all ages in the local community.
Julia’s passion and contribution makes her a rock star in her community. She started 25 years ago developing the cutting-edge music education program she teaches today. Julia believes musical language can be learned alongside literacy for young children, and has spend decades seeing the benefits musical education has on young children. Watch the video where Emma Wiggle surprises Mrs Rennick’s young class and shares insights from the local community on why she’s been nominated for the Tesltra ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award.
Antonio Chiappetta – St. Andrews College, Sydney, NSW
Antonio is recognised as the driving force behind stellar
musical opportunities for students at Sydney’s St. Andrews College. Years ago,
he pioneered the school’s Creative Arts Night (CAN) which has grown
exponentially each year. It has now involved into a music festival inside the
school grounds for over 2000 people each year. It brings in students from all
over the school to contribute and get hands on in their education.
Antonio has inspired students from St. Andrews College to
become music teachers themselves, and inspires others to try new things with
their musical education.
Conrad Sewell travelled to Mr Chiappetta’s school to learn more about his work, why he was nominated, and even sing a song with the kids from the music class who already knew one of his songs.
Lee Strickland – Narbethong State Special School, Woolloongabba, Queensland
Narbethong State Special School provides specialised
education for children with vision impairment and other disabilities. Lee goes
above and beyond to make sure her kids get dedicated musical education. She
customises her teaching and vernacular to each individual student to make sure
that they get the best education to suit them.
Lee has developed programs via music that aim to develop
translatable skills. There’s a piano program to help develop fine motor skills
to aid in reading Braille; music communication to help students to learn how to
say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ if they’re unable to say it verbally, and music movement
session to help develop balance and coordination. She even customises
instruments to make sure that students get access to help them learn.
Katie Noonan travelled to Brisbane to experience Ms
Strickland’s incredible music room, and see the changes that music is making in
the lives of kids.
Bel Skinner – Broome, NSW and Pilbara/Kimberley, WA
Based in Broome, Bel teaches music throughout the Pilbara
and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. Driving tens of thousands of
kilometres for her students in remote communities, Bel’s classroom is one of
the biggest in the world.
Sometimes in small communities, Bel doesn’t even teach in a
classroom at all. She works against the odds with a lack of resources in these
communities to make sure that her students get the best education possible.
Musician Montaigne travelled to Broome to find out about
Bel’s incredible work to bring music education to remote communities.
Voting has opened in the ARIA Music Teacher of the Year award, sponsored by Telstra. The four nominees use music to inspire children from different backgrounds and personal struggles.
Becky Hall, Royal Children’s Hospital Education Institute – Victoria
Becky Hall teaches music to kids at the Royal Children’s Hospital Education Institute in Melbourne.
The children have serious and chronic health conditions.
“I absolutely love being a music teacher and to be able to share that with kids and help them learn to express themselves I think is really special,” Ms Hall said.
Becky started the integrated music program. If the patients are too unwell to make it to the dedicated music room, Becky goes bedside and takes the music to them.
She’s even developed and published ‘The Song Book’. It’s a book and CD together and is a compilation of songs the kids have helped to write as well as their page illustrations.
Deborah Skelton, Caladenia Primary School – Western Australia
The current face of Telstra’s advertising campaigns, Thelma Plum, travelled to Western Australia to meet nominee Deborah Skelton from Caladenia Primary School.
Mrs Skelton combines Auslan and Aboriginal languages into her music teaching.
“I get to spend my day making music with amazing young individuals,” Mrs Skelton said.
Since joining the school she has created a rock band, two choirs and an orchestra.
Scott Maxwell, Grant High School – South Australia
Scott Maxwell is the music teacher at Grant High School in Mt Gambier. Located five hours drive from Melbourne and five hours drive from Adelaide, the students at Grant High have embraced the musical enthusiasm brought by Mr Maxwell.
His nomination reflects the work he’s put in to bring the school’s music program back from the brink. The students are now cramming into his classes and desperate to be involved in the musicals that he writes.
He’s also implemented a song writing program.
“I think songwriting is really important for kids to engage on a different level. Where they’re not being told what to do, where they have the freedom to create,” Mr Maxwell said.
Dean Harawira, Nerang State High School – Queensland
Nerang State High School on the Gold Coast is where Dean Harawira brings his passion for music and education together to inspire the kids.
There’s a funk band that regularly performs outside the school and a school drum line. He’s taken them overseas to perform and have won national and international awards.
“The drum line and the funk band have benefited the school. I believe that when disengaged kids are mixing with high achieving kids it actually gives them a goal to strive for,” Mr Harawira said.
A positive and inspiring music teacher can mean so much to kids and can make a difference to their school experience.
Public voting for the ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award is live and concludes 21 November 2018 at 11:59pm.
Kerry (KL) Lambert is a writer at Telstra Exchange, sharing stories about our people and their impact on our business. Before Telstra, KL worked in print, radio and TV for 18 years. As a producer at Today Tonight she covered a wide variety of stories from tech, to sport, to legal and more. KL spent nine years at Melbourne sport radio station SEN as a program producer, so she’s always happy to chat about sport.
Meet the winner of the first ever ARIA Music Teacher of the Year award
ARIA Award winner Josh Pyke last night announced the winner of the inaugural ARIA Music Teacher of the Year award, sponsored by Telstra.
Renee McCarthy from Woodcroft College in South Australia was the proud recipient of this award. This new category has been introduced to recognise music teachers from across the country who use their talents to inspire the next generation of Aussie musicians.
At Telstra, we believe music is integral to connecting people in the digital world. Research shows that children who are involved in music at school are more likely to achieve better grades, attend school more often, improve their self-esteem and confidence and experience less depression and loneliness. This speaks to our commitment to empower young Australians to thrive in a connected world and we’re very proud to be recognising Renee as a standout music teacher who is inspiring the next generation of Aussie musicians.
One of Renee’s students is quoted in her nomination video saying, “I don’t think that the music program would be as successful, and everyone would be as inspired as what they are without her, because we see her hard work and we think ‘wow’ – we just have to live our best!”
It’s easy to see the passion that Renee has for music, and passes onto her students. In Josh Pyke’s words, Renee’s energy is completely contagious.
Congratulations Renee, we can’t wait to see you go on and inspire many more generations to come to thrive, through the magic of music and the connection it creates.
Telstra is proud to be the Official Technology Partner for the 2017 ARIAs, with Apple Music, and the inaugural sponsor of the ARIA Music Teacher of the Year Award.
Director Strategy, Commercial and Go-To-Market -
Telstra Media
Music is an integral part of connecting people in the digital world. That is why this year at the ARIA awards we are the technology partner. As part of our partnership, ARIA invited the leading voices in music technology in Australia to our Sydney Customer Insights Centre, to discuss how technology is disrupting the future of the music industry.
For the first time in a long time, the Australian Music Industry is in a growth period. Since the early 2000s and the rise of MP3s, the industry had struggled to control pirating and create a model which would both meet the appetite of listeners, and continue to support artists.
Telstra has been an advocate for legal digital music access, with the launch of the MOG music streaming service back in 2012, and has since partnered with Apple Music to provide extended Apple Music trials to our customers.
According to ARIA CEO Dan Rosen, 2017 has seen a 10% growth in the Australian Music Industry, the largest since the early 2000s. Fuelled by technology, Dan says modern measures of success including the amount of international royalties accrued by ARIA have risen by 13%, the third straight year of double-digit growth.
Another interesting fact raised during the ARIA Masterclass was that most of Australia’s most successful artists now make between 70 and 80% of their revenue outside of Australia, where streaming and globalisation has brought fans closer than ever before.
The on-demand generation has long demanded to be able to listen to music whenever they like, which has driven the rise of music streaming. At the forefront of this new wave, is Apple Music’s Creative Director and Head of Beats1 Radio, Zane Lowe.
A long-time host of BBC One in London, Zane’s transition from traditional radio to Apple music’s Beats 1 24/7 streaming service is a paradigm for the changing landscape of the music industry. At the heart of Zane’s keynote speech from the workshop was progress, summed up by his quote, “You can’t get in the way of change, you need to embrace it and the impact on the music industry.”
Here are four themes that inspired us from the masterclass:
Director Strategy, Commercial and Go-To-Market -
Telstra Media
Andrew leads the team responsible for taking Telstra’s suite of media products to market including Foxtel from Telstra, Telstra TV, AFL, NRL, Netball, Foxtel Now and Apple Music as well as strategy and deal activity. Prior to joining Telstra Andrew worked for PwC across assurance, mergers and acquisitions and strategy focusing on technology, telecommunications, media and entertainment industries.
