Hunter Valley Music Festival

ProposalGeorgina Reichel

OverviewHunter Valley Tourism has called on Applicants for ideas on activities and events to:

• Celebrate The Hunter Region • Create community engagement• Reflect the Hunter geographic, social and cultural

environment. The following proposal will highlight how a Music festival is the ideal event to achieve all these things and more. The presentation will emphasise the importance and significance of music and its ability to bring people together before suggesting the final proposal for a Music Festival.

The Importance of Music

• In order to understand the proposed idea of the Music festival as an event to create togetherness in the hunter valley, we must first look at how music is utilised and its importance in society.

• Music plays an important role in society and everyday life. People spend a vast amount of time listening to music for a variety of reasons.

• Scholars have theorized and discussed that music serves as several functions for individuals in their everyday lives and is a significant part of society and culture. In a study by Lonsdale and North they identified the main reasons music is used in everyday life. They found a significant link in music and using it.

The Importance of Music

• Music for mood management- music has the ability to act as a vehicle of feeling for people to emotionally express themselves as well as manage their mood.

• Music as background- the study found that individuals used music in the background to enhance experiences and make other activities more enjoyable.

• Musical participation- in order to participate in musical behaviours such as singing and dancing

The Importance of Music

• To reflect- just like sight and scent music has the ability to trigger memories and allows people to reflect on certain memories

• As an enjoyable experience- the study found that for no logical reason, people just enjoy listening to music!

• Social interaction- as a topic of discussion to socialise with friends and new people

• Music as a distraction- in many cases people use music as a distraction from the stress of everyday life as well as to pass time.

Music and Emotion

The most striking feature of music is its ability to evoke emotions. When individuals involve themselves with music, the areas of the brain linked to emotional responses are affected. This causes the arousal of emotions within a person. Music can arouse many or several emotions from sadness, to happiness, energised to relaxed or anger to contentedness. It is for this reason that music events are often so successful. They choose to use music that emotionally connects with people so they have an arousal of emotions.

The Music Experience at Festivals

So how is the experience of listening to music at a festival different to that of a person listening to music in the comfort of their own home? • Authenticity is the main reason people go to see

music live. Listening to music performed live is the truest form of musical expression. As listeners are physically present whilst music is performed they become involved in the music experience. A connection is made between listeners and the performer/s. Participants take on an active role in the listening experience, and feel they play a central role creating a more meaningful and memorable experience.

The Festival Experience• Music is an integral part of Music festivals and is the

main reason people flock together. However, Music festivals offer so much more than just the musical experience.

• The atmosphere present at festivals contributes to the experience of participants. This includes all the other activities and stalls made available to people. This includes the setting, food, drinks, games and surrounding people that all influence how the festival is perceived and experienced.

The Social Experience

• Music festivals offer a social experience like no other. People at music festivals live by a whole other set of social rules compared to the outside world.

- Social integration- people feel a sense of belonging because of common ground with others- Social acceptance- feeling comfortable with others- Social actualization- faith in the condition of human nature- Interpersonal relationships- music festivals are an environment in which people feel free to mingle with others and develop relationships with people outside of their friendship circle

The Separation Experience• All musical emotions occur

in a complex interplay between the listener, the music, and the situation.

• As mentioned earlier music has the ability to distract people from their everyday lives. Festivals take this a step further by allowing individuals to separate themselves from their everyday lives, worries and responsibilities.

The Hunter Valley

• The challenge from here is to create a music festival that effectively mirrors the culture and feel of the Hunter Valley, that brings the community together.

• Each area of the Hunter Valley has its own qualities, attractions and personality. The Hunter Valley as a whole is very much based around the wine industry, local produce, and good food. The Hunter Valley has a relaxing country feel about it, which is what attracts many tourists and residents. It’s about taking the time to enjoy the simpler things in life.

• In addition, cities like Maitland and Newcastle offer more of an urban and beach feel to the Hunter Valley whilst still being within close proximity to the quiet country which people crave.

The Hunter Valley

The Proposal: The Music

• The music at the festival will include a variety of music, mainly from the Soul and Jazz genre. These genres will help to create a relaxing yet upbeat atmosphere that satisfies the musical tastes of a wide variety of people. As we are celebrating all things Hunter, local musicians will be invited to perform at the festival as well as well- known musicians.

The Proposal: The Location• The festival will be held on the

picturesque foreshore of Newcastle. The foreshore will offer stunning views, fresh air and plenty of room for the events of the day to be held.

• A benefit of having it in Newcastle is that it is within close proximity to other areas of the Hunter Valley, which will assist to increase tourism across the region.

• Newcastle also offers a wider range of accommodation to cater for different people and with different finances and tastes.

The Proposal: More than Music• There have been many studies

done to reinforce the necessity of offering more than just music in order to create a holistic environment and positive atmosphere.

• In order to compliment the music being played and enhance the experience of participants a variety of other activities and events will be available.

• Local produce, food and wine will be a major contributing factor to the festival to effectively reflect the Hunter Valley.

Target Group

• The beauty of music festivals is that they attract a variety of people of different ages, back round's, cultures and locations.

• The festival will not be directly targeted at any one group.

• Instead, the festival will be suitable for a variety of people- including families.

• One of the aims of this proposal is to bring different parts of the Hunter Valley community together so it is important not to indirectly segregate the people.

Valley Music Festival

A music festival to celebrate all things in the Hunter Valley!

Captures the essence of the Hunter Valley

Australian soul and Jazz musicians

Quality food and wine from the Hunter Valley

A great day out for all

References

• Frith, S., 2007. Live Music Matters. Scottish Review, 1(1), pp. 1-17.

• Juslin, P. N., 2011. Music and emotions: seven questions, seven answers. In: Music and the mind: Essays in honour of John Sloboda. s.l.:s.n., pp. 113-135.

• Lonsdale, A. J. & North, A. C., 2011. Why do we listen to music? A uses and gratifcations analysis. British Journal of Psychology, 102(1), pp. 108-134.

• Packer, J. & Ballantyne, J., 2011. The impact of music festival attendance on young people's psychological and social well-beign. Psychology of Music, 39(2), pp. 164-181.

Images Sourced from:

• http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/hunter/hunter-valley/gallery

• http://cdn.eventfinder.com.au/uploads/events/transformed/242062-70545-34.jpg

• http://www.lindsaydynan.com/SiteFiles/lindsaydynancomau/img-newcastle23.jpg

• http://blog.boost.com.au/author/danielle/