MAL Hewitt has the voice of a foghorn, an indelicate sound in anyone's ears, and he knows how to amplify and send it into the inner brain space of children across NSW.
What's more, he proudly wears lairy t-shirts, and tells the youngsters the story of how they were given to him by a music group in Armidale or nearby Duval High School in 1976 - so far back in dinosaur age that even most of the kids' parents weren't even born.
Mal has a passion to see music in every state school - primary and high school - as an essential part of the curriculum. As a musician, composer, music teacher and conductor, Mal rarely uses a baton during rehearsals: he waves his stumpy forefinger to the beat and the youngsters sit fascinated as he tells how he lost his finger poking it into the engine of his truck, with the motor going.
He tells them he was conducting at the Sydney Opera House the night of the accident so he asked the surgeon operating to please hurry so he could be on the podium in time.
This is the mettle of a man with a mission; a man who, while he has breath in his body, uses his energies to encourage children to sing.
"Music helps children to develop a sense of beauty and brings hope and joy; it develops all areas of their brain so that they learn faster," he says.
"Children who sing become more outgoing and it not only develops confidence, it creates strength and balance.
"Studies have been done of people who sing or play an instrument. They respond more positively to the frustrations and challenges of life and have a more optimistic attitude.
"Music, especially singing, helps with depression and mental health."
This is why for 26 years Mal has been involved in organising and running Celebration Sing Out, a once-a-year event held in Sydney Town Hall.
He underwrites the costs and then begins the hard slog of organising school music teachers to foster enthusiasm and begin rehearsals within their own schools, then come together in Sydney on the morning of the concert for one combined final rehearsal.
When Mal picks up the baton on the big night, the 76-year-old hippy will morph from his tatty t-shirts to emerge, chrysalis-style, into a sophisticate in evening suit and bow tie - the complete professional conductor who would be at home in any of the great music halls of the world.
Every year, his voice mellows with the oil of his enthusiasm as he tells the audience why the concert is so important - for not only the 600 children and 200 adults who are about to sing, but also music therapy program at The Children's Hospital, Westmead, which is the recipient of all proceeds from the event.
While Mal speaks, the audience sees on-screen images of white-faced children in wheelchairs, with oxygen masks or lying flat on their back in a hospital bed, showing the progression from being locked into the trauma of their medical scene to being energised for a while as trained music therapists bring them that intangible quality - happiness and joy - through music.
The energy rises; every heart is touched.
"Music turns people around; it gives them a reason for living," he says.
"Not everyone can play an instrument but everyone can sing."
He tells one of his famous yarns of his childhood, his early adult years as a teacher at Merrylands and Ashcroft high schools, as deputy principal at Riverstone High where he was head of the Department of Creative Arts for 10 years.
He hammers his point that in Europe and Asia, music is a normal part of school life, often with the first hour of the day given to music, raising the brain power and morale of students.
"Music in all its forms is life giving," he says.
He bows and turns to the volunteer orchestra, violin bows poised, trumpets raised, drums roll, tympani and bells tinkle, a flute gives a haunting call.
Mal morphs from just another conductor to a magician as children from the drought areas forget the worries of farming life. Children from outlying areas as far away as Coonabarabran and Tamworth, or from nearby Wyong and Glenorie, hear for the first time the sounds of orchestra and huge choir with the historic Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ thundering to life.
It takes an army of like-minded people to help, all volunteers, from world-renowned organist Peter Kneeshaw, to the ever-calm stage manager John Pickering and secretarial skills supremo Ruth Hales. Together this army hase helped raise more than $500,000 for music therapy and children's charities.
Mal is aware that in time his role must pass to someone with similar passion.
His co-conductor, head of choral music at Knox College, Warren Fisher, has been nominated to fill this role.
Warren firmly believes everyone should sing. A professional tenor, he has 36 operas to his credit with the Opera Australia Chorus, but love of teaching music recently led him to become a music educator.
Mind you, Mal's retirement isn't imminent: he's just stepping back a little and sharing the load.
The children would miss Uncle Mal, as they call him, urging them on, telling them why it is so important to learn to sing, telling his stories of growing up in Griffith and Tamworth.
"Mal's greatest reward is to see the great pleasure of audience and choirs alike as they join to sing the final numbers and to know that Celebration Sing Out has been a success once again," said his hard-working secretary Ruth Hales.
"Last year (2018) we made $30,000 and a cheque was presented to the Collegiate of Specialist Music Educators to continue their work bringing happiness through music to sick kids."
Mal estimates that more than 50,000 children have learnt to sing under his baton.
"Some return as adults to sing every year with the adult choir," he said.
"It becomes such an important event on their calendar that they fly from interstate or overseas to take part. We've even had three generations of the one family singing."
In dusty outback NSW towns, small school halls ring with the sounds of children rehearsing for the 2019 end-of-school-year Celebration Sing Out.
Undoubtedly Mal Hewitt OAM will continue training young instrumentalists and singers through workshops, music camps and festivals. From podium, or booming through the mists from his home in the Blue Mountains, Uncle Mal will continue his campaign to make singing and music education compulsory in every school in Australia.
Celebration Sing Out, Sydney Town Hall, October 27, 6.30pm. Registrations for participating schools and individual singers close July 31. Information HERE
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