Gary Spruce

Aspects of Teaching Secondary Music: Perspectives on Practice

Aspects of Teaching Secondary Musicprovides a practical illustration of the skills, knowledge and understanding required to teach music in the secondary classroom. Musical concepts and ideas are discussed and a critical examination of key issues is given. This encourages the reader to engage with these thoughts and consider their views and beliefs in terms of how they will influence their potential to teach music in an inspired and effective manner. Gary Spruce draws on his long experience as a practitioner for the good of this book, with can be used along side the reader:Teaching Music in the Secondary Schoolto form a comprehensive resource for those studying for the PGCE. These combinations of practical and theoretical books are available in a range of subjects to accommodate all on the course.

Singing in Primary Schools: Case Studies of Good Practice in Whole Class Vocal Tuition.

Within the context of British initiatives in music education such as the Wider Opportunities programme in England and the recommendations of the Music Manifesto emphasising the importance of singing in primary schools, the current paper explores examples of good practice in whole-class vocal tuition. The research included seven different primary schools in England and combined observational methods and semi-structured interviews with musicians, teachers and headteachers. Results indicate a variety of successful approaches to promoting singing in primary schools. Essential motivators for developing singing include an enthusiastic staff member, a supportive headteacher and support from other school staff. Additional motivators include access to musical expertise within and beyond the school, and a singing leader with keyboard skills. Challenges to good practice centre on the issue of confidence and skill in singing from both teachers and pupils, individually and in groups, recognising and rewarding quality in singing, and the sustainability of externally funded initiatives as pupils move through their schooling and particularly from primary to secondary school. Good-quality support from specialists and external organisations can facilitate good practice in schools, but it seems to be important to integrate singing into childrens wider musical learning and development within the curriculum, in the extended curriculum and beyond school in order to help sustain a lifelong interest in singing.

“The National Music Plan” and the Taming of English Music Education

In late 2011, the Department for Education in England published The Importance of Music: A National Plan for Music Education. Ostensibly, its purpose is to carry forward in a more coherent and equitable manner the work hitherto carried out by locally based, publicly funded music services organizations that provide instrumental lessons to schools within their area. However, the new plan goes much further, setting out a wide-ranging policy vision for music education in England for the next eight years, a policy vision that is arguably at odds with the values and beliefs that have underpinned music education in England over the past thirty years. In this article, I explore the language and rhetoric of the plan and the musical values that it enshrines. I argue that although it draws superficially on the language of inclusivity, the plan has the potential to alienate many young people from formal music education and to be used as the means of sustaining social and educational inequalities.

Teacher research: Making a difference in music education. A one-day symposium to celebrate 25 years of the British Journal of Music Education

On 1st November 2008, more than 50 people gathered in the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the BJME. The attendees represented the whole spectrum of the music education community including teachers, researchers, students and teacher-educators as well as BJME past editors. We were delighted to welcome colleagues not only from the UK but also from Ireland, Norway, Italy and the USA.

Musicianship in the 21st Century: Issues, Trends and Possibilities edited by Sam Leong. Sydney: Australian Music Centre, 2003. 336 pp, no price given, paperback

This book comprises 25 chapters all written to the same brief, which is to ‘examine diverse perspectives of what a musician should/might be in the twenty-first century’ and to ‘offer your assessment of and perspective/s on the notion of musicianship that you consider to be relevant . . . to the music education of children and youths, and in tomorrow’s schools, conservatoires and universities’ (p. 7). Although over half of the authors are from North America and Australia, there are also contributions from the Far East, Europe, South Africa and South America. As might be expected from so many writers writing on the same theme, there is some repetition of content and the quality of the writing is variable. However, most chapters repay the time invested in reading them. The organisation of the book, however, is not very reader-friendly. The chapters appear in alphabetical order by author, which is a system that might have worked had there been fewer chapters. However, with this large number of chapters, the reader would have benefited from some kind of thematic grouping. For example, the authors tend to tackle the brief from one of three broad perspectives – philosophical, geographical or musical genre/culture – and these themes could, perhaps, have provided an organisational template for the book. From a music education perspective, most authors’ writing is underpinned by a philosophy of inclusiveness in terms of both musical genres and participation. Fundamental to such inclusivity, so it is argued, is the need for teachers to: forge strong links between music in the classroom and music in the outside world; understand that musical meaning is dependent upon context; avoid evaluating all music from a Western art music perspective; and recognise that the increasing use of music technology means that traditional ideas about music and musical experience need to be revisited and redefined. The chapter that most effectively crystallises these themes is Victor Fung’s ‘Possibilities for Music Education as a Result of an Expanded Musicianship’. Fung begins by arguing for cultural sensitivity when engaging with music of other cultures. He contends that whereas it is critically important to be aware of the culturally different ways in which music is experienced, it is impossible ‘to achieve comprehensive knowledge, skills, practices and insights in all world music cultures’ (p. 71). By studying just a few contrasting musical traditions he suggests that we can develop an understanding of ‘the divergence of musical possibilities and differences’ and gain a respect for music of other cultures. He concludes that having a more than superficial knowledge of musical differences leads inevitably to ‘a new breed of knowledge, skills, practice and insight’ and to a ‘deeper understanding and adaptation of varied aesthetic values’. Following a perceptive analysis of the impact of music technologies on music and music-making, he suggests that what can occur is an expansion of musicianship which includes ‘four new breeds of musical knowledge, skills practices and insights’ (p. 73): broadened musical content; musical sensibility to a range of musical traditions; the ability to select music technology which enhances music-making; and digital literacy. Michael Hannan’s ‘Future Musicianship and Training for Popular Musicians’