On the podcast today we have our first international guest! I am so excited for you to hear this conversation with Hendrik Marais about music education and character development, as well as his experience hosting the 2021 Creative Arts Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

Hendrik Marais was appointed as Head of Music and Specialist Subjects at RGJS in January 2005. He served as President of the South African Choral Society from 2009 - 2014 and got appointed as Executive Board member of the International Federation of Choral Music in 2016.

In the same year, Marais was selected by the British Council to visit the UK as part of the Connecting Classroom Program, with the special task to present a series of workshops, demonstrating the correlation between Music and Maths.

He completed his B Ed (Hons) degree Cum Laude at the end of that year and his research, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A CHOIR CURRICULUM IN THE JUNIOR SCHOOL TO ENHANCE, SUPPORT and CONTRIBUTE to the linguistic development of the primary school learner, received outstanding reviews on the international platform.

With his passion and positive energy towards choral singing, he receives regular invitations to serve as adjudicator at eisteddfods and music competitions and has presented a number of choral conducting workshops around South Africa.

He is known for his campaign to ensure quality arts education to every child in every

school and live his life by the proverb, 'If you can WALK, you can DANCE. If you can

TALK, you CAN SING!'

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