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We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which the ACTF is based and pay our respect to their Elders past and present.

We are honoured to have the opportunity to learn from the oldest cultural storytellers in the world and seek to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners to share their rich culture and perspectives with children in Australia and around the world via stories on screen.

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ACTF Virtual Learning: Music for Everyone Webinar

The ACTF regularly holds virtual learning events which connect us with schools all over the country, including those in remote and regional areas. These workshops and webinars enable teachers and students Australia-wide to access industry professionals and expertise, regardless of their school’s location. Our recent Lah-Lah’s Adventures: Music for Everyone webinar was unique, however, in that it was specially planned for some of our youngest learners: enthusiastic and energetic F-2 students!

The engaging live event was held on 24 October, and was hosted by Tina and Mark Harris – two of the lead creatives behind the popular Lah-Lah’s Adventures television series. The pair drew on content from our F-2 music education resource, Lah-Lah’s Adventures: Music for Everyone, to introduce students to musical concepts including pitch, tempo, and expression.

Through singing and by listening to the double bass, violin and slide whistle, children learnt more about high and low sounds. Swanbourne Primary School (WA) students were among those who answered questions about the materials instruments are made of, how these instruments produce sounds, and how their size relates to pitch.

Mark and Tina then sang their popular song ‘Brush Your Teeth’ to demonstrate how tempo changes the feeling of a song. Students from schools including Stanhope Primary School (VIC) responded to the music by moving slowly and quickly, based on what they were hearing. They also considered how different occasions call for different tempos – we often like slow music at bedtime and fast music at parties.

In our final learning task, children learnt about changing their voices and expressions when singing to express different emotions. Tina and Mark sang ‘Happy Birthday’ in a happy voice, and then experimented with other emotions. Students and teachers from Wandina Primary School (WA) rose to the challenge and gave an angry performance of the song.

Our live webinar wrapped up with Mark and Tina performing their upbeat song, ‘Shake It Like This’. All teachers and students all enjoyed dancing along, but the small class from Warruwi School (NT) might have been the most enthusiastic!

Thank you to each class who joined us for this special live event, both through video conference and through our Facebook Live stream. Thanks also to the additional teachers who joined us in the session, eager to learn more about getting started with F-2 music education. The webinar provided a great professional learning opportunity, with Tina and Mark explaining musical concepts, and demonstrating learning tasks and classroom management strategies for the music classroom.

If you missed our webinar, or would like to enjoy the fun all over again, head to the ACTF YouTube channel to watch a recording of the live event.