Eight-year-old Ballarat singer-songwriter Chloe Yeluri has wowed classmates by winning second place in a national songwriting competition held by The Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF).
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The ACMF holds the biggest songwriting competition for school kids in Australia, with Chloe competing against students from all corners of the country.
Chloe’s song titled The ANZACs, was written after she visited the ANZAC Avenue of Honour.
“After the visit I had a feeling of what they went through,” she told The Courier.
Her composition is slow, sweet and slightly melancholic.
She composed the piece herself on the guitar, which she has been playing since the age of five.
Her lyrics pay tribute to those who sacrificed their life for a national cause.
A topic most eight year olds wouldn’t spend much of their spare time contemplating.
WATCH CHLOE SING HER SONG HERE
“They shaped the world,” she says in her song.
Other entrants wrote songs about the weather, their family, the Australian landscape, animals, cars and of course the most popular musical topic of all – love.
The ANZACs is the first song Chloe has written, but hopefully not the last.
She is a confident performer, having played in front of her classmates at Ballarat Clarendon College on numerous occasions.
Neither of Chloe’s parents play music so they were pleasantly surprised by her musical knack.
“She was really keen to play guitar, very enthusiastic” her father said.
Unlike most young guitarists she doesn’t dream of growing up to be a rock-star, she’s not even sure if she wants to be a musician.
Chloe simply enjoys playing music and will see where it takes her.
The ACMF is a non-for-profit organisation which runs the national songwriting competition to inspire creativity and self-expression in children.
There are four competition categories for each primary and secondary school students, with the winners sharing in $15,000 worth of music tuition and equipment prizes each year.
The ACMF was started by Don Spencer OAM, an Australian singer-songwriter who has toured with the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Hollies and The Four Seasons.
Spencer was also a long-serving host of ABC children's show Play School and top rating BBC music program Pop-Inn.
Spencer says the national songwriting competition is designed to make learning fun for kids.
“Music can give kids really positive self expression and is a great tool for improving literacy levels" he says.
The ACMF is also involved in promoting music as an outlet for children in youth detention centers, holding weekly music tutorials for detainees.
It also hosts music therapy sessions in the Sydney Children’s Hospital.
The ACMF promotes music as an important platform for not only children's education but also their emotional well-being.