Activities

2023 ASME XXIV National Young Composers Project, 3-5 July, Sydney

Submission deadline Monday May 15 2023

As part of the 2023 ASME Conference in Sydney, student composers are invited to submit a composition to ASME Vic. One student composer will be selected to travel to the 2023 Conference in Sydney, to participate in a series of composition workshops with Holly Harrison and Ensemble Offspring, as well as attend some of the conference sessions.

Compositions will be:

  • for flute, clarinet, cello, and piano
  • performed by Ensemble Offspring
  • 4-6 minutes in length
  • embrace the conference theme Music Unleashed

All student compositions will be performed by Ensemble Offspring during the Young Composers Concert on Wednesday, July 5.

The deadline for submission is Monday 15 MAY 2023. Young composers are to email a short online entry form, pdf versions of the full score and parts of the composition, along with an mp3 recording. Midi versions are fine, and you can submit recordings with live instruments if you wish.

The selected student should be either in the last 2 years of high school or the first 2 years of an undergraduate course. The cost of students attending the conference, including registration, airfares, and accommodation, will be covered by ASME Vic. Any student under 18 at the time of the conference, must have an accompanying adult, who will travel at their own expense.

For more information, contact asmevic@asme.edu.au with the subject heading Young Composers Project.

ASME Vic Annual Prize 

The Australian Society for Music Education (Victorian Chapter) will offer an annual prize for the best student completing Music Education Method Studies at each Victorian University.

Prize

  • ASME membership for one year
  • An opportunity to serve as a new graduate representative on the Victorian Chapter Council
  • An opportunity to present a paper at a research forum

Candidate
The candidate in each university must be a full-time student in their final year of study undertaking double music education method studies. If there is no suitable candidate undertaking double music education studies, a graduating student who shows outstanding potential as a music teacher may receive the prize. This will be at the discretion of the Head of Music Education at the relevant university.

ASME will be responsible for the provision of the prize and will not be involved in the selection. The criteria for selection, based on academic results, will be at the discretion of the university. Closing date for nominations: December each year.

Purpose
The purpose of such a prize is to increase awareness of ASME and to include newly qualified music teacher graduates in the membership with the hope that these high-achieving graduates will be encouraged to take on a leadership role in the profession. By awarding these prizes, ASME will be promoting music education as a profession and seen to be a resource to new graduates in Victoria.

Contact: asmevic@asme.edu.au

Congratulations to our 2021 winners:

Jake Muir – The University of Melbourne

Anna Jones – Deakin University

Rainbowline

ASME Music Educating for Life Awards

These Awards, provided biennially, are in recognition of exceptional contributions to the provision of quality music education, in order to improve learning outcomes for students through innovation in teaching approaches.

In 2017 the ASME (Victoria) Award was presented to Michael Travers, the music teacher at St Matthew’s Primary School, Fawkner North. Michael’s classroom music program, which has student composition as its basis, supports to a high degree the school’s diverse population, one that includes many Iraqi refugees.

Michael’s triennial musical productions, involving every student and teacher, have become legendary. He has written and produced many productions for school students over the past two decades, including ‘An Act of Parliament’, filmed in the Legislative Assembly Chamber of the Victorian Parliament in 2004. A DVD of this was distributed by the Federal Department of Immigration to all Federal MPs and subsequently distributed by the Federal Government to over 5000 schools.

Michael’s song ‘The Last ANZAC’ was composed in 2005 and performed at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the AFL Anzac Day match of that year, marking the 90th anniversary of the Gallipoli landing.

Other major works include:

* ‘Eureka: the Musical’, first written for St Matthew’s PS and featured in many community projects celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade in 2005.

* ‘Albert Einstein: the Boy who moved the Stars’ (2005), performed at Melbourne’s Scienceworks.

* ‘Over the Water’ (2010), based on Vietnamese immigrants’ stories. Excerpts from a DVD of the performance were screened at the Victorian Immigration Museum for six weeks in 2010.

* ‘Called to Bring Hope: the Mary McKillop Story’ (2010), selected for presentation at McKillop’s Canonisation Celebrations in the Royal Exhibition Buildings, Carlton.

* ‘Coates’ Cube’, written for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, an initiative of the Environment Protection Authority.

Michael’s latest project – the Student Composition Project – has been developed for ASME (Victoria), details of which can be found on this website under Resources.