Upon release of his 2016 album Let Love Rule, Archie Roach said “I wanted to write about love, or a willingness to love all people. We are closing ourselves off and not letting people in. And not just in the sense of not letting them into the country, but not letting them into our hearts, into our minds. Many of the songs on the album are really a call for understanding.” The song Let Love Rule is the title track from this album. Recorded just a couple of years before he died, the melody and the lyrics combine to state a clear truth: that ‘Love’s the only thing that will keep us safe from harm’. This song encompasses all that Archie stood for and shared through his music: the power of love to overcome hate and darkness, and the need for mutual respect and compassion. As we approach NAIDOC week, we will continue to learn about Archie Roach’s legacy and we look forward to singing this song with all our school community.
Many thanks to everyone for contributing to, and attending, our Reconciliation assembly. As adults, we have our own growing understandings of what Reconciliation means, but when I hear our students share their thoughts and feelings about what they are learning, I am moved by a greater sense of hope as their perspective broadens mine. Thank you to everyone for singing From Little Things Big Things Grow, and thanks to John, Nick and the 5/6 uke Club for accompanying us. My thanks too, to those parents who expressed how meaningful it was for them to have sung the whole song, and for some folk – for the first time, and to have had the opportunity to add their voice to their children’s voices in the retelling of the Wave Hill Walk Off story. Also, the song was not just shared by our students with their parents and carers at home, but also with their grand parents who remember this land mark event from 1966. As we look forward to NAIDOC week, our students will touch on many aspects of Indigenous history as expressed through the music of Archie Roach.
In addition to learning Let Love Rule, we have been (just quietly now as this is a secret…), learning a song to farewell a very special teacher. ‘Lovely Lisa’, as the song goes (Lisa Chambers), who has been a Home Group teacher, or a Neighbourhood teacher, to almost every student in the school. So, all our community is welcome to sing along with Lisa’s farewell song at the Junior School Inquiry Assembly next Friday 23rd June. I invite you to warm up your inner ‘Judy Garland vocals’ by singing octave scales in readiness for the tune we have borrowed for Lisa’s song: ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. Oh, and the Yr 1/2s recommend that The Wizard of Oz makes for a delightful family ‘movie night’ if you haven’t already seen it!
Many thanks to everyone for another fulfilling term of music making with memorable community singing and fabulous student performances. Bravo everyone, have a lovely winter break, and I look forward to more ‘musical adventures’ in Term 3. Cheerio, Deb.