FEATURE / BROKER EDUCATION FEATURE
MUSIC EDUCATION
THE RIGHT NOTE Almost a decade after a damning report into the state of Australia’s music education, not a lot has changed. However, the passion of dedicated music educators is ensuring that more children will be given the gift of music
“THERE IS a purpose to life, and it’s music.” This is the answer that Musica Viva’s artistic adviser, Richard Gill, gave to ABC Q&A host Tony Jones last year when asked on live television – alongside the likes of fellow panellist and scientist Brian Cox – what he thought was the purpose of life. While the answer reveals Gill’s slight bias, there is a strong case emerging that quality music education can have very positive effects on children’s education outcomes. If true, Australia has a lot to improve on. A comprehensive National Review of School Music Education produced 10 years ago found the system lacking. Since then, not much has changed, with only 25% of students receiving a ‘quality’ music education. But because music, in the words of Music Australia CEO Chris Bowen, is a “marvellous” thing that has positive effects on children’s lives and wellbeing, passionate schools and other bodies are making incremental moves towards improvement.
Not wasted on the young To give students a quality music education, experts agree, you have to start early. The Australian Society for Music Education’s Judith Haldane says that, although each state has a solid music education program in most secondary schools, research shows the most
14
benefit is to be gained by starting before the age of seven. The Review of the Australian Curriculum recommended that the arts curriculum should be available to all students throughout all the years of schooling; it should be formally introduced in Year 3 but provide a rich source of resource material for Foundational to Year 2. “Students are at a huge disadvantage if they don’t start formal music until Year 3,” Haldane reiterates. “That is a huge opportunity lost.” Gill says an ideal scenario is for schools to have children learning music right from kindergarten to Year 2, which would all be singing based. “Instruments don’t happen until kids can sing in tune and read and write music properly, and when they get hold of an instrument, that part is already done. A good program would see kids getting regular lessons in singing and how to read and write music, improving their vocabulary of songs and language to use when composing.” One of the challenges to this taking place is the lack of specialist primary school music teachers – or interest in engaging them. Schools in most states are populated by generalist teachers, many of whom have little or no training in music or teaching music. The Victorian review found a lack of music education for pre-service teachers meant teachers were often finding music’s
www.educatoronline.com.au
14-17_Music Education_SUBBED_2.indd 14
15/05/2015 7:55:04 AM