Hello, fellow music lovers! It’s a real honour and joy for me to be Patron of this fantastic celebration of all things music, the Wimmera Music Eisteddfod, again in 2024. 

Thank you to the wonderful committee for welcoming me onboard in this capacity, and I would also like to express a big thanks on behalf of everyone participating and attending to the committee, and all the other wonderful volunteers, as well as all the supportive and encouraging teachers, for the incredible work you do to facilitate and foster this great event. 

Music plays an enormous - if not infinite - range of roles in our lives. We listen to music to motivate us, to relax us, to keep us company... We listen to music to fire us up, to cool us down, and to keep us on an even keel... We listen to music to transport us away to new places, to make us feel something different, and to make us feel something familiar… We listen to music to focus on a task or activity, and to stimulate an activity like dancing or socialising or other artform. For almost everyone, the many ways we interact with music, whether we’re listening actively or passively, are vast and varied. Listening to music is, it’s safe to say, even more central to our lives than we realise. 

Then, for those of us who enjoy doing it, there’s the music we make ourselves. Whether it’s using an external instrument, or the instruments of the body like singing, whistling, or even hand-drumming, there are whole other worlds to explore when we give ourselves permission to create our own music… in real life, and harnessing the moment. 

As we use our body and our breath to create sound waves, those vibrations move through and around us, propelling us forward. It’s a kind of conversation that’s taking place between ourselves and the sound itself as we’re making it. It’s instantaneous and ongoing. The sound vibrations we’re making evoke moment-by-moment responses within us which then determine how we breathe life into the next note, and the next, in an incredibly rapid back-and-forth dialogue faster than… well, the speed of sound! It’s this intangible, unquantifiable, extraordinary sensation that keeps us engaging with music-making time and time again, as we continue to explore and push the boundaries of what we can create. No matter the instrument, there really is nothing on earth quite like that sense of tuning into one’s own sound and seeing where it can take you… and where you can take it. 

Which is (part of) why I’m so deeply grateful I was given such an invaluable and important introduction to my own exploration of music all those years ago when I participated in the Wimmera Music Eisteddfod, and also why I’m so excited to continue supporting the musical exploration of others, both the performers on stage across these two great days of events, and those in attendance supporting and enjoying the music they make. 

After everything I’ve experienced in life so far, my belief in the power of music could not be stronger. Music makes each and every day resoundingly better, and ultimately makes the world a much more exciting, compelling and connected place to be… as you all, of course, already know!

So, here’s to a sensational couple of days, whether you’re on stage or in the audience - I hope you enjoy your time and your role in this year’s Wimmera Music Eisteddfod!