Woodridge High visit
 |
Woodridge High Music Teacher Dave Stuart and some of his students |
 |
Some of the multi-talented Woodridge High School students |
 | The assembled group - Woodridge High, CMSOE and AICM students |
Staff and students from AICM recently (14/5/09) hosted a visit of students from Woodridge State High School (south of Brisbane), and students from Gympie High's CMSOE program. Teacher Dave Stuart, together with approximately 20 students from the Certificate III program at Woodridge High hired a bus and braved the Bruce highway to spend several hours exchanging music with AICM students.
Woodridge High's music program doesn't include country music, and many of the students had never seen a banjo or a mandolin, but they liked what they heard. The two groups had a productive and enjoyable day performing their music for one another. The day culminated in a jam in which each group taught the other group a song.
The contemporary music program at WSHS reflects the music styles that the kids listen to, and included hip hop, heavy rock and featured instrumental music, from pink floyd to percussion.
We even had a visit from the police station next door, asking us to turn the music down....
A return visit to Woodridge High is planned for later in the year.
Click here for more photos from the day
Meet our staff
Since the newsletter started, it often includes the advice to contact Debra at the AICM building. So who is she? Debra moved to the area approximately 7 years ago and currently lives at Kin Kin south of Gympie, which was recently featured in the news when two floods swept through town, spectacularly
flooding the local pub.
Debra originally hails from the far north coast of NSW, but has spent many years living in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. During her time in Sydney she worked for the Australian Institute of Music (a larger version of the AICM). In Melbourne she worked in public radio (on-air as well as in production) and as a sound recordist and production manager for a video production house.
"Music has always been important to me" says Debra. "I started learning piano at age 7 from the Nuns, and continued through to year 12, and I still play from time to time. In primary school I had a teacher that taught us guitar, and I've played ever since. Where ever I've moved the guitar has gone with me. Over the years I've been a member of a range of choirs. These days I still sing, and my current instrument is the electric ukulele, which is a great instrument as it's really portable."
Debra is the AICM admin officer and if you have any queries about courses or anything else to do with the AICM, please contact her on 5481 2355.
 |
Debra and her 1967 valiant |
Hello from Nashville Tennessee
 |
Dr Geoff Walden speaking with ICMC attendees at Belmont University |
Sections of this newsletter are coming to you from Nashville Tennessee. Geoff Walden has been attending the International Country Music Conference held at Belmont University. The conference attracts a good percentage of the academics and writers from North America who are doing research in the field of Country Music.
Geoff was provided with the opportunity of making a presentation to the assembled gathering in Association with Prof James Akenson. They spoke about "Teaching Country Music in Australia: Teaching Australian Country Music" in a session that was introduced by Dr Don Cusic who heads up the music program at Belmont University.
The conference ran for almost three days and in that time, many papers were presented. While none could be directly connected with the Australian country music scene, they all provided an indication of what is possible. Click here to view the conference program.
Country Music History from Nashville
The two evening sessions of the ICMC were given over to providing attendees with the opportunity to meet some of the really significant players in the country music industry. The ICMC Keynote was held at the Quonset Hut, one of the first recording studios set up in Nashville and a venue presently run by Belmont University. While the building was historic, what was really exciting was the fact that 3 members of the Keynote Panel were directly involved with recordings that happened in the very early days of the CM industry.
Jerry Kennedy was a producer and guitarist, Bob Moore was an A-Team Guitarist and Shelby Singleton was a record producer. Each of these men shared memories of actually recording large number of number one hits. They recalled making three number 1 hits in one day. Singleton, for instance, produced artists such as Roger Miller, Ray Stevens, Jerry Lee Lewis and Charlie Rich. He also described the session in which he recorded Harper Valley PTA that went on to make enough money for him to buy Sun Records from Sam Phillips.
On Friday evening, the conference attendees assembled at RCA Studio B which is also run by Belmont University through an endowment from the Mike Curb organisation. The evening was entitled "Home of 1000 hits: RCA Studio B". Panelists were Fred Foster, founder of Monument Records, Ray Edenton, A-Team Guitarist and Harold Bradley, A-Team Guitarist. The evening was held in the actual studio where many hits were recorded. Many stories were shared. Fred Foster explained how he set up the 40 musicians for the recording of an Elvis session. Harold Bradley demonstrated exactly how he played the guitar part for the Roy Orbison hit "Crying" on the same guitar he used over 40 years ago.
 |
ICMC Keynote Panel at the Quonset Hut. Panelists include Shelby Singleton (left), Jerry Kennedy and Bob Moore. Moderator for the evening was Dr Don Cusic (on the far right) |
 |
ICMC Panel Presentation "Home of 1000 hits: RCA Studio B". Held in RCA Studio B it featured Fred Foster (left), Ray Edenton (second from left), and Harold Bradley (far right). The session was moderated by Dr John Rumble (second from right), Senior Historian at the Country Music Hall of Fame. |
 |
Geoff Walden talking with Harold Bradley about his faithful guitar. |
 |
Lorraine Walden at the front entry to the RCA Studio B |
 |
Dr James Akenson and his wife Mickie outside the RCA Studio B |