Hunter Valley Music Proposal

1. Hunter Valley Music Festival
Proposal
Georgina Reichel

2. Overview
Hunter 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. The Hunter Valley

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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

18. 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.

19. 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/lindsay
dynancomau/img-newcastle23.jpg
• http://blog.boost.com.au/author/danielle/