Music teachers recognised for their impact The four nominees for the 2020 Telstra ARIA Music Teacher Award. Image supplied. The annual Telstra ARIA Music Teacher Award recognises the substantial value and impact of music teachers from across the country. Each year, four nominees are named to be in the running for the award, and the 2020 line-up has just been announced.

Sarah Donnelley from Wilcannia Central School in Wilcannia, New South Wales; Dr Thomas Fienberg from Evans High School in Sydney; Kathryn McLennan from Virginia State School in Brisbane; and CJ Shaw from Palmerston District Primary School in Canberra are the finalists chosen from hundreds of nominations.

‘… Every musician knows how important it is to have inspiring, passionate teachers,’ Dan Rosen, CEO of ARIA, says. ‘But we also know exposing children to making music helps them become the best that they can be. I am moved by the stories of our four nominees this year, and I look forward to awarding one teacher with an ARIA Award this November.’

The award is now in its fourth year and has already seen Antonio Chiappetta from New South Wales, and Scott Maxwell and Renee McCarthy from South Australia named winners. Here, we take a closer look at the work the 2020 finalists have done to improve music education in their school contexts.

Music as a tool to foster connectedness

Sarah Donnelley. Image supplied.

Working through required learning from home periods with students presented a challenge for nominee Sarah Donnelley, particularly because most didn’t have access to internet at home.

Donnelley has taught music at Wilcannia Central School in Wilcannia, a remote Indigenous community in New South Wales, since 2019. In that time she has built a music program to better engage students and build stronger connections between the school and its families.

Continuing this feeling of connectedness was important for Donnelley in the face of the challenges posed by COVID-19. She was able to involve students in a collaborative music project by organising for their local radio station to broadcast a particular song at specific times during the day, so children could have the opportunity to film themselves singing along. The individual pieces of footage were then combined to show students they could still sing together even though they were physically apart.

‘A love of music is something we share, it provides an opportunity for family and community to engage meaningfully with the school,’ Donnelley says.