The Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival (ASBOF) is pleased to announce that Dr Anita Collins, Australia’s leading music researcher and consulting academic for the ABC documentary, Don’t Stop the Music, is taking up the role of ASBOF Patron, previously held by the late and great Richard Gill.
Dr Collins is an award-winning educator, researcher, and writer in the field of brain development and music learning.
Collins is internationally recognized for her unique work in understanding how the brain processes music and why music learning seems to be such a cognitively unique activity.
‘Musically trained children have better language and communication skills’ says Collins. ‘They can focus for longer and are more likely to stick with difficult problems and solve them.’
‘The research is now starting to reveal why music learning is so effective at enhancing brain function’ says Collins.
This is great news for the parents of more than 10,500 students who perform at the Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival, held in Sydney each year.
The Australian School Band and Orchestra Festival commenced in 1962 with just eight brass bands. The Festival now regularly plays host to more than 340 concert bands, big bands, string ensembles, and orchestras of all ability levels.
Schools from a broad cross section of the education community perform at the ASBOF, coming from Sydney, regional NSW, interstate, and internationally, with 2019 seeing the first school from China taking the stage.
Dr Collins will be available in Sydney
