Recently Cobar High School students, their music teacher Laura Andrews and composer Elizabeth Jigalin won an 2023 APRA AMCOS Art Music Award for Excellence in Music Education for the Cobar High School's Silver Tank Sounds and Stories project. 

The 18 minute sound installation that celebrates community, creativity and history through sound, which was the result of Cobar High School's Silver Tank Sounds and Stories project, was also featured at the Outback Arts Gallery in Coonamble in May of this year. 

The annual Art Music Awards are presented by APRA AMCOS in conjunction with the Australian Music Centre (AMC), to recognise the exceptional talent and innovation of Australian musicians in the world of art music. Art music includes things like contemporary classical music, contemporary jazz and improvised music, experimental music and sound art. 

PHOTO: Laura Andrew and Elizabeth Jigalin with their APRA Art Award for Excellence in Music Education for Cobar High School’s Silver Tank Sounds & Stories. [Supplied] 

Ms Laura Andrew, Cobar High School's music teacher, told the Western Plains App that the Silver Tank Sounds and Stories project, was started back in August 2022, when students engaged in a week-long workshop facilitated by herself and composer Elizabeth Jigalin.

They embarked on a project to create a sound installation that celebrates the Cobar Silver Tank – now the location of Georges Lentz’s permanent artwork, the Cobar Sound Chapel. 

"Five local community members shared their memories of the Silver Tank and growing up in Cobar," Ms Andrew said.

"Kay Stingemore, the Curator at the Great Cobar Museum, also helped brought history to life by sharing photos and stories connected to water and music in Cobar, with the students.

"Each storyteller brought their own unique and individual narrative, yet there was one common theme, the Silver Tank. This unassuming but necessary structure brought people together and highlighted the importance of community and connection."

PHOTO: The back of the Cobar Sound Chapel, what was the Silver Tank, the first permanent water source in Cobar and the subject of the Cobar High School's Silver Tank Stories and Sounds project [Image: E. Datson] 

"Inspired by the stories and their own musical sketches, students composed and performed original works that evoke the mood of each story told by local community members," Ms Andrew said.

"Students also created field recordings to be included in the sound installation, generating compelling sound effects to accompany the stories.

"It is an honour for Cobar High School to be recognised at a national level for this “grassroots” project that was a success through the dedication of the students and generosity of the community."

If you want to read more and listen to the students' work take a look at Elizabeth Jigalin's page.

To know more about the Cobar Sound Chapel, you can read the Western Plains App story 'Sounds of the outback of the immortalised in Cobar', published just before the Cobar Sound Chapel was opened, in April 2022.