Music: The Medicine of the Mind

What does music do for you?

Music optimises learning

Helps you retain information better and musical training, particularly for children under seven, benefits brain function for a lifetime.  

Listening to music activates especially the areas of the brain that process sounds as well as the wide networks responsible for motor actions, emotions, and creativity.

“Music is also an effective, almost magical medium for learning and retaining information, [because] it activates three different centers of the brain at the same time: language, hearing, and rhythmic motor control. By inducing emotions, it also creates a heightened condition of awareness and mental acuity. Words paired with music are far easier to retain. As an example, most of us can remember the words and meanings of songs we haven’t heard for years. Isn’t it interesting how you still remember your ABCs

A new branch of research, Neuromusicology, explores how our nervous systems react to music. … Continue Reading

Youth Jazz to Receive Ongoing Support

Jazz in Martinborough will again be supporting youth jazz in the Wairarapa by sponsoring scholarships for college students to attend the Summer Jazz School in Wellington in January 2020.

“Proceeds from last year’s festival went towards the Summer Jazz School fees for five young female students from Makoura College, St Matthews Collegiate and Kuranui College,” says festival college liaison Mary Quayle.  “It was our contribution to the 125th anniversary celebrations of women’s suffrage in New Zealand.” she added.

This year proceeds from the festival will again be directed towards suitable students from the Wairarapa. However, the scholarships will be open to both male and female students.  “We have a College Jazz Showcase  (Fresh Jam) each year as part of the festival activities which gives participating secondary school teachers and festival Patron Rodger Fox an opportunity to view and select students for the jazz school,” says Mary.  Students from Fresh Jam are also given the opportunity to play at the festival proper.

“The success of the festival each year, supported by our patrons and partners, means that we are able to fulfil one of our long-term goals, that of sponsoring and promoting youth jazz in the Wairarapa,’ she added.

Jazz in Martinborough with be held on the first weekend in Spring, starting Thursday August 29th.  Tickets are expected to go on sale late June.

Ventana workshops on the move

Ventana Creative Collective has moved and is now at 20 Jellicoe Street 

Invest in your creativity for the first month of winter!  Four workshops on hand and all bookable online.  June brings in the change of season, shorter days and the opportunity to invest in your creative health.  Spend the time and find the right workshop for you!

On Saturday the first of June we learned the art of portraiture from well known local artist Joya De Geus.  Back by popular demand, learn how to set up the composition of a portrait study using different illustration methods.

Coming Woirkshops:
SUNDAY – 9TH – PERSONALISED JOURNAL

Writing can do wonders for your health. Beyond keeping your creative juices flowing, regular writing can give you a safe, cathartic release valve for the stresses of your daily life.
FRIDAY – 14TH – GLASS TERRARIUM
Just because we don’t exactly have green thumbs doesn’t mean we can’t see the benefits of living with plants!
SATURDAY 29TH – BAD ART NIGHT

“I’m not creative”. “I can’t paint”. If you’ve ever uttered these words, this night is for you! Have a laugh, have a drink, and vote on the worst piece of the night to win a prize!
SUNDAY 30TH – NAKED LADY SOCIAL EVENT

Ventana will be at your monthly Nake Lady Social meet at Thunderpants headquarters, on Naples Street. Bring all those bits and bobs from your wardrobe to swap, and stay for a surprise fabric centered art workshop!

TRIPLE TUESDAYs for Locals

Two sessions to create your own cement succulent planter. $30 / session. 4th – 11th – 18th.

KIDS’ WORKSHOPS

Our first kids’ workshop went off with a bang! Martinborough’s talented youngun’s created Paper Mache Bowls, with the help of some amazing parents! Jump online to book your kids in for some art and craft magic amongst friends. $10 per session, evert Thursday 4-5pm.

Here’s to many more creative adventures!

Becs

Ninety years in South Wairarapa

Charmaine the Guide.

Charmaine Alpe (née Davidson) owes her name to the 1926 silent movie What Price Glory.   Her mother, an English war bride, decided that if she had a daughter she would give her the name of the heroine of the film.  That was 90 years ago and Charmaine is still living here in Martinborough and still in her own home although she’s had to give up mowing the lawns herself!

She’s spent most of her life in the South Wairarapa, apart from a year in Wellington after she left school.  She was keen to become a shorthand typist and trained by correspondence but never really got to realise that dream.   

It took a blind date back home at one of the local dances to set her life on a different path.  That date was a tall fellow named Norman (Ned) Alpe and that’s how he and Charmaine started an under-the-radar courtship.  It didn’t escape one perceptive friend though.  ”That dancing partner’s lasting a long time”, she said.  

At 20 she married Norman and went to live on one of the six dairy farms then on the Backwater Road.   They had 36 cows, all pedigree jerseys, and in those days that was enough for a family to make a comfortable living especially if you were a good farmer like Norman.   Every cow had a name and he insisted they were used.   He told the herd tester “I’ll give you the names. You can work out the numbers!”  In those days Charmaine, like many farm wives, made her own butter, didn’t have a fridge and washed clothes in the copper.  Norman died in 1999 and Charmaine moved into town in 2001 after nearly 50 years on the farm. … Continue Reading