Top Up Joins Mt Isa School of the Air Online
Monday 30 March 2021
Topology Provides Music Education Online to Mt Isa School of the Air (MISOTA), amidst the self-isolation/lockdown, travel restrictions in place during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
John Babbage, our Saxophonist, composer, and Top Up Education Manager, is set to bring his unique composition expertise online for MISOTA student musicians in Cloncurry today (Monday 30 March) and Julia Creek tomorrow (Tuesday 31 March).
Delivery of the full day Top Up workshops has shifted online, to ensure students do not miss this valuable skills sharing opportunity. Students of the MISOTA will work with John Babbage in these workshops, to create new compositions that they will aim to present at a performance in September 2020. The workshops will engage 17 MISOTA students ranging from Grades 4-6, with nine students of the air from Cloncurry and eight from Julia Creek.
These proposed MISOTA Top Up Online workshops are important educational avenues providing opportunities to harness how to bring creativity into the lives of individuals during this difficult time.
MISOTA’s Instrumental Music Teacher, Cara Taggart, teaches students across a large geographical area, from Hughenden to the Northern Territory, and up into the Gulf. When speaking to the Top Up Online composition and education program, Cara said,”Through the wonders of modern technology, MISOTA students are able to access music lessons and we are able to run an ensemble.”
"I am grateful for Topology’s ‘out of the box’ thinking when I suggested we run the workshops online instead." - Cara Taggart, MISOTA Teacher
“We all know how music education has been proven to foster creativity, offer unique ways of understanding and interpreting the world, and promote school engagement. It is also linked to a number of wellbeing and social justice benefits, such as increased inclusion and connectedness at a time when many people are struggling with social distancing and isolation. Congratulations to Topology for their flexibility and willingness to continue to run these workshops!”
To hear an ABC radio interview about this project with Topology members, John Babbage and Christa Powell, and Cara Taggart, music teacher at Mount Isa School of the Air, click the button below.
