“When the principal of Auburn’s St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Primary School wanted photos to commemorate the first day of the school’s string program, she asked students to pose with their new instruments. But none knew how to hold them,” writes Jordan Baker in Wednesday’s (11/17) Sydney Morning Herald (Australia). “And when the school’s new cello tutor played a few bars of classical music, they listened with their mouths open, spellbound…. The students at St. Joseph’s were among the first to benefit from the Amadeus program at Sydney Catholic Schools, in which every student between years 3 and 8 will be given the opportunity to play an instrument [and] learn to play in weekly, small-group sessions during class time. They will also play in ensembles…. The program … has the backing of Opera Australia, the Sydney Conservatorium of Music … and Sydney Youth Orchestras…. At St. Joseph’s, the children are learning the violin, viola or cello. At other schools … which piloted the program this year, they’ve learned brass or woodwind instruments…. The program will be rolled out to 33,000 students across 150 Sydney Catholic Schools by region … this year. It will begin in the remaining regions in 2023.”
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