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Lorraine Milne : Associate Artist

Random Audio Sample: Maiden voyage : arranged for mezzo-soprano, 3-part female choir and piano by Lorraine Milne, from the CD Maiden voyage


Photo of Lorraine Milne

Photo: Jean-Pierre Chabrol

Born in Ballarat, Victoria, on 26 July 1946, Lorraine Milne enjoyed great success as a young pianist at the famous South Street Competitions held there every year. She attended Ballarat Teachers' College, gaining her TPTC (Trained Primary Teacher's Certificate), and was granted an extended studentship to the Conservatorium of Music at Melbourne University.

For 15 years Milne was a member of Music Branch (Education Department of Victoria) teaching music in inner suburban schools, and producing many new resource materials (Sounds Magic 1-4, Sounds Fun 1-6, Sounds Great 1-6) and curriculum documents (A Guide to Music in the Primary School).

She has worked extensively as a composer, arranger and musical director for various Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio programs and publications (Free to Move, Storyworld, Struggletown, Listen) and was the Musical Director of the ABC SING series from 1986 to 1992.

In addition to two published song collections (The Fix-It Man - Macmillan, 1979 and The Right Way Round - Bilarm Music, 1985), Milne has also written and produced Good Timing (resource kit for schools), Jazzamatazz (jazz-style piano solos), The Whole Suite and Kaleidoscope (10 pieces for piano), Maiden Voyage (song cycle) and The Emerging Pianist (24 piecees for young players).

She has had extensive experience in the theatre as both a composer and stage manager. A founding member of the APG (Pram Factory) and Melbourne Writers Theatre, she has also worked at Playbox, La Mama, The Church, Organ Factory, VCA Drama School, Theatreworks, Athenaeum, Universal Theatre, Handspan, Polyglot, Perth, Flinders and Deakin Universities, Rusden Drama Department.

Milne has worked in the Artist in Schools program (song writing workshops), taught on the Experimental Teaching Program established by Max Cooke at the Faculty of Music (Melbourne University), produced an album of Australian folk songs with Denis Gibbons, toured with the Victorian Arts Council, been commissioned as a composer/lyricist by both the Yamaha Foundation and AMEB and played keyboard in various function bands.

Since the early 1990s Milne has been writing curriculum materials and presenting Professional Development courses for Musica Viva In Schools, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Opera House, Opera Australia, Australian Socoety for Music Education, aMuse and the National Gallery of Victoria. She also teaches on a casual basis at Melbourne University.

She considers the main influences on her musical life to be:

  • having Keith Humble as a teacher (what a privilege!)
  • her love of jazz along with Ravel, Debussy, Milhaud, Poulenc, etc.
  • being there at the beginning of the Pram Factory, and
  • attempting to teach music in inner suburban schools.

Lorraine Milne — current to July 2018

Awards & Prizes

Year Award Placing Awarded for
2015 Art Music Awards: Award for Excellence in Music Education Winner for sustained contribution to music education