Sight-reading is frequently viewed as a special talent which is divinely gifted to a select few. Dohnányi’s first emphasis is that this is not the case and that sight-reading is “a matter of mere practice and can be acquired by anyone who has musical sense”. Interestingly, he points out that better sight-readers are regularly to be found among amateur musicians who, in their desire for variety, play through many pieces for their own private enjoyment, as opposed to diligently spending hours polishing a program of fewer pieces in preparation for the concert hall. This can mean that an amateur, albeit less refined in their own playing, can have a broader knowledge of repertoire.

I have created a calendar and listening guide for you, reader, to create your own AusMusic Month playlist. I have deliberately selected composers whose works are infrequently broadcast so that you either become acquainted or reacquainted with some truly wonderful Australian composers who are either lesser-known or forgotten by time. For ease of finding recordings and listening, all works mentioned on the calendar are available on YouTube. While I could have listed numerous works per composer, I have only listed one work for the sake of brevity and ease of publishing (though I would love to occupy the following twenty pages). Please do explore the composers further.

Should The Sydney return to commissioning set Australian works, by different composers each time, as a means of not only engaging more Australian composers, but also of promoting Australian composers internationally? Or, in fact, is The Sydney first and foremost a piano competition, and thus is it counterproductive to mandate the inclusion of any works—Australian or otherwise—if the chief qualification of those works is their composer’s nationality?