Finishing School - where to from here with music?

It's rolled around again - today hundreds of thousands of Victorian Year 12 students begin the final stretch of their secondary schooling when they sit the VCE English exam.

Thousands of these students play a musical instrument or sing. They and their parents have invested hundreds of dollars, hours, litres of petrol and tears into becoming the best musicians they can be:

Lessons, concerts, camps, festivals, competitions, recitals, master-classes, eisteddfods, extended rehearsals, excursions, recordings, sheet music and practice, practice, practice.

For the majority of students music is not their career of choice. Whilst some may continue to formally study as an adjunct to something else for most the lessons are over. They have been cast into the musical world to fend for themselves. This begs two questions: -

1) Will they sink or swim?

2) What opportunities can they grab onto?

I've long been a staunch advocate for the power of community music - and NOW is the time to let leaving students know what opportunities exist for them beyond the school music department. There are dozens of community groups of every shape and size out there in just about every community. Whether you play clarinet, kazoo or sing contralto there is something for everyone.

We need more publicity, support and resources available for those who wish to continue their music and we should encourage all students to make use of the talents in which they have invested so much. A great start is the "Music. Play for Life" campaign, a national initiative of the Music Council of Australia. They can put people in touch with just about any music activity going on anywhere:

www.musicplayforlife.org

Another site with lots of links (particularly to choral and orchestral groups) is the Community Music Victoria website:

http://cmv.customer.netspace.net.au/

Finally, the Manningham Concert Band, a community-based wind ensemble in North-Eastern Melbourne maintains an excellent list of links to community bands in Victoria:

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mannband/9links.htm

We owe it to our students, as a parting gift, to guide them toward opportunities where they can continue to express themselves and discover the unending joys of music.