UNE > News and Events > Browse by article > Music academic scores international award

Next Student’s research backs “consumer is always right” theory June 30, 2005  

Previous Japanese students enjoy UNE, and some hope to return June 29, 2005 

Music academic scores international award

June 29, 2005

Dr Terrence HAYS (3).jpgPioneering a music festival which promotes positive ageing has helped an academic from The University of New England secure a prestigious Churchill Fellowship.
Dr Terrence Hays, a lecturer in UNE’s Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies (FEHPS) plans to use the Fellowship to develop “an innovative festival which uses music to improve the experience of ageing”.
The Fellowships are awarded annually by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to Australians from all walks of life to study overseas.
Thousands of people apply each year for such a chance, with only a fraction of that number successful in their bid; last year, just 83 awards were given to talented and deserving Australians.
“I am delighted with the award and will ensure my findings from the Fellowship go towards making the bi-annual festival a great success,” Dr Hays said.
Central to securing the Churchill Fellowship was Dr Hays’ efforts in establishing an inaugural, bi-annual National Choral Festival for Older People.
This will be held at the Conservatorium School of Music and Drama at Newcastle University mid-next year and is a collaborative venture between the two educational institutions.
“The festival is unique to Australia and my aim is to ultimately make it a festival of creative arts for older people,” Dr Hays said.
Up to 120 older people from across Australia are expected to attend the festival. Leading Australian composer Dr Peter Sculthorpe has agreed to be patron of the festival and a number of key Australians have also lent their expertise, including Dr Ruth Bright, Secretary of the Australian Gerontology Association, Mr Neil Tucker, Executive Director of the Council of the Aged (NSW) and Mrs Merle Everrad, representative for the NSW Council of the University of the Third Age (U3A).

As part of the Fellowship, Dr Hays will embark on a seven-week, fact-finding mission in February next year, visiting the UK and the US before returning to Australia and writing a report on his journey for the Trust.
In the US, he will be visiting the Centre for Creative Ageing in New York and Miami, then traveling to Winchester, in the UK to visit a special centre for music therapy and older people and then on to Aberdeen to see how a specialist arts festival is administered.
Dr Hays’ academic career has focused on music and its meaning and importance for older people. He has worked closely with colleagues such as Dr Bright, who is also an Adjunct Lecturer at UNE, to show how music for the older generations should be an engaging and active rather than a passive experience. Music for many older people is about connection, spirituality, psychological and physiological well-being For more information phone Lydia Roberts on 6773 2779 or Dr Terrence Hays on 6773 3649.

Posted by Lydia Roberts at June 29, 2005 03:19 PM