Singfest: The Literacy of Music (2017)

This inspirational multi-award winning documentary film takes us on a journey into the world of music and how music, as a literacy in schools, unlocks student's full potential and transforms their learning. Emerson School, a special needs school situated in Dandenong, Victoria, Australia, invites nine local schools to its grounds for the purpose of sharing its' love of singing and music making. Whilst each school brings its own unique strengths and talents to the day, Emerson School shares insights on the vital role of Music and Music Education in the special needs educational setting. The students from the invited schools come together as strangers but when united through their voices and choral singing for the day, that strangeness and unfamiliarity is taken away. Thus the literacy embedded within Music as an art form has the power to bond people of all different cultures and engender learning that is multimodal and transformational. The embodied cognition in Music Education is a potent tool that humans use to give meaning in both linguistic and non-linguistic ways. Most importantly, music draws people together and helps make their learning journey socially-directed and purposeful. The power that music has to transcend a wide range of learning, cultural and social barriers is demonstrated in this unique and uplifting educational film.