By CASEY NEILL
BERWICK Youth Choir will see in its 30th birthday next year with a new name.
It became the Melbourne Youth Chorale at the Berwick Youth Choir Showcase at Nossal High School in Berwick on Saturday 12 September.
Choir manager Louise Phillips said members now came from a much wider area than Berwick.
“We wanted to reflect that,” she said.
The choir is also planning an international tour.
“When you’re marketing for an overseas audience – even an interstate audience – people don’t really know where Berwick is,” Ms Phillips said.
“It helps to identify us and who we are and where we’re really from.”
She said the decision came from the whole choir community.
“We agonised over it because we have such a wonderful history,” she said.
“It’s been very much supported by the choir’s founder, Jean Heriot.”
Ms Phillips said the new name also offered the possibility of branches in different parts of Melbourne.
The non-profit association teaches musicianship to people aged five to 20 years.
Jean Heriot founded the choir in 1986 after travelling to Hungary to study the Kodaly Music Education method as a Churchill Fellowship recipient.
While developing the St Margaret’s School music department she formed a vision to provide all children in the community with access to high quality music education.
Ms Heriot was made Casey Citizen of the Year in 1998 and received an Order of Australia Medal in 2006 for her contribution as one of the pioneers of Kodaly Music Education in Australia.
The choir’s music reading and aural program are based on Hungarian composer and educator Zoltan Kodaly’s philosophies on music education.
He said that music was a prime necessity of life, that only the highest quality music is good enough for children, that music education should begin as early as possible, that music instruction should be part of education for everyone, and that the ear, the eye, the hand and the heart must all be trained together.
Visit www.youthchoir.com.au or email Ms Phillips at admin@berwickyouthchoir.com.au for more information.
