MUSIC has been Graham Sattler’s lifelong passion, a joy he loves to share with others.
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The newly-appointed Mitchell Conservatorium executive director says the best part about his job is helping others discover the joy of music.
“Music is really all I’ve ever done, to tell you the truth,” he said.
“I grew up in music as a classical trombone player, then became a professional singer and did everything from opera through to musical theatre, cabaret and jazz, which I still do.”
Graham, who started his new job last month, worked as the Orange Regional Conservatorium director for more than a decade.
He is also the vice-president of the Association of NSW Regional Conservatoriums.
“In my job now I perform, I teach, obviously there are administration things, I look after all of those things that CEOs look after, but playing music is a great part of it,” he said.
“It’s a very powerful thing to be in a position to inform people and get people involved. That’s the biggest buzz, that’s the best part.”
Through the Mitchell Conservatorium branches in Bathurst, Lithgow and Forbes, Graham hopes to strengthen relationships with schools and strengthen the conservatorium’s early childhood programs.
“Part of our business is working with schools,” he said.
“What I’d like to do and what we will do is really increase that focus and actually upgrade that as a priority and really work very hard on building new relationships, but also enhancing existing relationships with schools in our region.”
Graham said while all schools had a responsibility to deliver a strong music curriculum, some did not have the resources or the time to do so.
“We’re ideally positioned to be able to add to those resources through curricula and extra-curricula things like bands, ensembles and orchestras,” he said.
“But also, particularly in smaller schools, often we can provide the curriculum.”
Graham said music could provide people with lots of joy and a range of other benefits.
“There is a lot of research, a lot of findings available, a lot of literature that now points to the benefits of music activity in community and all of the non-musical benefits it has,” he said.
“Music helps develop team- work, it helps develop skills for numeracy and literacy, and then there are all those social skills that come from working together in a music ensemble.”
Graham is involved in PhD research that looks at the socio-cultural development that group music provides in marginalised communities.
He has also presented at international music education and arts health conferences and has carried out fieldwork in Australia, the US, Canada and Bolivia.
“I took last year off to focus on PhD research and push it along. I haven’t finished yet, but that gave me more time to attend to it,” he said.
Graham said he would love to see more people in the community get involved in music.
“It is not that difficult to get involved in music and the thing with regional conservatoriums, particularly this one, is that we provide a whole range of different activities with entry points for beginners through to advanced musicians,” he said.
“We are committed to lifelong learning. We do provide everything from early childhood music for those as young as three months old all the way to music for adult learners.”
He said there are so many musical styles, there is one to suit everyone.
“As far as type of music goes I’m very enthusiastic about everything from rock through world music through to classical and even some obscure forms, because it’s not about genre, it’s not about the type of the music, it’s about the quality of the experience,” he said.
Graham said the Mitchell Conservatorium was very lucky because staff came from a wide range of musical backgrounds.