2011 Awards
Special Commendation, Teacher Award
Mr Andrew Butt
Head of Music
Marist College Ashgrove, Ashgrove, QLD
In his role as Head of Music at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane, Andrew Butt co-ordinates both the curricular and co-curricular music programs from Year 5 to Year 12, and is active as both a classroom teacher and director of many ensembles, including the college’s Symphony Orchestra and Big Band 1. Andrew developed the music program from humble beginnings over twenty years ago, when there used to be a dominant co-curricular sports culture of rugby and cricket. Now over one-third of the students take music to Year 12, and over 500 students participate in the college’s extensive co-curricular music program. Andrew has organised various touring experiences, including a combined Big Band 1 and 1st Fifteen Rugby tour to rural Fiji and far north and outback Queensland.
The success of the college’s music program is due to Andrew’s development of innovative curriculum with a focus on student centred learning, students’ diverse musical interests and the incorporation of multiple technologies in both classroom and co-curricular environments; for example, students explore the music of Mozart, Stravinsky and Coldplay while also working through instructional resources for score and audio production and the latest DJ turntable performance techniques. Andrew remains active as a performer and is regularly invited to act as a guest lecturer at tertiary institutions.