Mark McCormack

Mark retired from the Department of Education (2020) after 41 years of teaching, the last 22 of these as a Music Specialist with primary and special needs students.

Mark’s music teaching still revolves around Orff principles, now with private guitar students and Mountain Echoes, a vocal ensemble of children of all ages (1 – approx 80 years old!).

Mark’s first Orff experience was at TOSA’s Summer School Level Courses in Jan 1999 and that formed the basis of his Music Teacher training. A handful of National Conferences led to finally sharing some of his Music at REMIX, Adelaide 2023.

Mark’s best student endorsement was from a prep student who pointed him out to his mother when being collected after school.

It was something like this:

“Mum, look! There’s Mr McC, the Music Teacher. We don’t do any work in his class. We just play!”

Mark feels that as teachers, we know of the benefits and educational outcomes from Music. More than ever, we need involvement in making Music for our mental health and for building community. Come and Sing!