Music Education and the Next Generation of Composers and Performers

Equity Diversity Inclusion and Decolonization Committee and the Canadian Music Centre’s Accountability for Change and Indigenous Advisory Councils. In 2019 he was awarded the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship for his research on Indigenous culture which encompasses aspects of Cree storytelling, ceremony and song as inspiration for a new creative work. J. Alex Young feels to reflect a musical unity between his Indigenous Cree and Western heritage that a unity of self, community, land and spirit must be maintained. His compositions are combinatory sonic and narrative explorations of his personal connection to home, family, story and spirituality.

By Dr. Eric Favaro

Dr. Eric Favaro is a passionate education advocate who has devoted his entire career to helping teachers gain a better understanding of the importance of an education in and through the arts. Trained as a music educator, he is respected nationally and internationally as an innovator for effective programs in Arts Education and is considered to be a leader in his field. In this article he writes about the future of music education and creation.

When we reflect on the positive and negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on public school music programs, we realize that the recovery from limitations placed on group music-making will be challenging. After two years of uncertainty that included the “backand-forth” between in-person and virtual learning, restrictions on singing and playing wind instruments, and no large ensemble performances, finding the silver lining will be difficult for music educators as they attempt to recover some semblance of their pre-COVID programs. As someone who has just marked fifty years in music education, I tend to promote an optimistic view of the possibilities for reimagining and innovating

music programs that truly are more relevant for 21st century learners.

The Coalition for Music Education in Canada has heard from several music teachers across the country who describe the creativity that their students displayed as they discovered ways to make music while complying with public health guidelines. Not only did they organize and perform in virtual ensembles, they also began to compose their own music, demonstrating their passion for a range of musical genres while meeting curriculum outcomes. This has highlighted the need for a total review of music programs as they existed before the pandemic, and to find new ways to meet curriculum outcomes in collaborative settings using a more creative approach to learning, teaching, and assessment.

In 2019, just prior to the pandemic, the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development updated its Music 12 curriculum. In describing the nature of Music 12, it stated: "Music is rooted in creative exploration and problem solving using a range of experiential processes including rehearsing, performing, composing, and arranging, listening and responding, improvising, and linking music to other arts disciplines and areas of study. Music 12 emphasizes a holistic learning process that involves the understanding of contexts and critical reflection, in addition to the development of and synthesizing of music-making skills. Through sound and symbol, students will be required to solve problems and express and communicate imaginatively their developing understanding of self, others, and the environment."

While the implementation of that document was curtailed when schools went to online learning, the curriculum became a valuable resource for those high school music educators in Nova Scotia who found in it a treasure of activities that students could do virtually with limited guidance.

The findings of Everything is Connected: A Landscape of Music Education in Canada (2021), a national study led by the Coalition for Music Education, indicate the inequalities in music education curriculum requirements across the country, inconsistent access to music education and resources including relevant and current curriculum, and discrepancies in programming based on urban vs rural access. As we rebuild music programs in schools across Canada, Ministries of Education, with guidance and support from music education leaders, must review their curriculum based on the challenges of the past two years while focusing on a resource that builds the creative capacity of music learners.

In keeping with the theme of this edition of CMC Résonance – “Creating New Legacies” – I invite you to check out the Coalition for Music Education website: coalitioncanada.ca