So said musician and education manager for the Australian Children’s Music Foundation Rachel Scott who arrived in Taree on Monday in the lead-up to two performances of the Rotary Manning Valley Schools Spectacular on Thursday (October 27).

She is one of a number of high profile special guests who will be joining students from 15 schools across the Manning for the concerts, which are aimed at raising money for the ACMF programs in this area.

Rachel is spending Tuesday and Wednesday of this week working with students from Manning Gardens, Chatham Public and Taree Public schools in preparation for the concerts.

The 19 Manning Gardens children have formed a percussion group and she will lead the 16 Taree Public students djembe drum group.

Rachel will also conduct the 25 member choir from Chatham Public who will be the backing singers for Don Spencer, who is singing three songs.

“It’s a great honour to be here and being part of the concert.”

Rachel very much enjoyed her time visiting local students. “The schools and the children have been so gorgeous. It’s so lovely to be teaching with these little ones.”

Rachel said the children are very excited to get on stage and perform for their community.

ACMF programs running in five schools across the Manning.

“It’s really terrific,” she said of the ACMF. “I believe in what it does with every fibre of my being – I wouldn’t do anything else.”

Two performances of the Schools Spectacular will take place at the Manning Entertainment Centre on Thursday, a matinee at 11am and an evening show at 7pm.

“It’s nice to have a celebration of all sorts of music,” said Rachel.

“It’s really important for kids to be able to do something like this – they will remember it.”

Rachel said that with a society focused on sport and academia, sometimes the value of the arts gets lost.

She pointed out statistics stating that 70 per cent of primary schools don’t have a dedicated music teacher and often the ones that do are private schools.

“Children who need music the most are often children who don’t get it. That is where the ACMF comes in.”

Founder Don Spencer has a belief that all children should have access to music education, and Rachel agrees. “All children in Australia should have access to music and all the benefits of music education.”

These include creativity, joy, motor skills, speech patterns, brain development, self esteem and more.

Tickets are available from www.themec.com.au.