Jane Southcott

Engaging, Exploring, and Experiencing Multicultural Music in Australian Music Teacher Education: The Changing Landscape of Multicultural Music Education

In multicultural Australia, the development of positive intercultural attitudes is essential in the creation of a harmonious society. Music education is a powerful medium to address cultural inclusivity. The 2005 National Review of School Music Education challenges Australian higher education institutions to prepare programs that explore multiculturalism to engender tolerance. This research explored how final year teacher education students at Monash University and Deakin University (Victoria, Australia) engage with music of other cultures and how this affects their understanding of cultural diversity in school music. From 2005 to 2008, teacher education students undertaking music methodologies were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The data collected from the interviews were transcribed and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, and from these data, we developed patterns of meaning that are reported thematically: student teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and understandings of multiculturalism and the classroom realities of multiculturalism.The findings contribute to how we, as tertiary educators, evaluate our role and programs.

‘Opening the doors to multiculturalism’: Australian pre-service music teacher education students’ understandings of cultural diversity

Educational reform in Australia has urged teachers and tertiary institutions to prepare students for multicultural classrooms. Engagement with multicultural music by teachers and students promotes understanding of difference and diversity as music has both global and cross-cultural manifestations. This article reports on a research project undertaken at both Deakin University and Monash University (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) with final year music specialist students (2005–2007). Students participated in an online, anonymous survey (2005) regarding their understandings of multiculturalism. By in-depth analysis of four semi-structured interviews undertaken with volunteers from the 2006 to 2007 cohort, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, emergent themes and construct understandings of participant experiences were identified. Two significant themes are discussed: representations of multicultural music in Victorian schools and cultural context. Music education can be an effective platform to ‘opening the doors to multiculturalism and cultural understanding’. Pre-service teacher education courses should reflect the changing societies in which they are situated.

Singing and Companionship in the Hawthorn University of the Third-Age Choir, Australia.

The international University of the Third Age (U3A) embodies the principles of lifelong learning and personal fulfilment amongst members. The research reported in this article focused on the Choir of the U3A Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia and the benefits perceived by members undertaking this active music engagement in non-competitive choral singing. This small-scale phenomenological qualitative case study is part of a wider study of active arts engagement by older people that began in 2008. This study was undertaken in 2013 and revealed that participants decided to join the group for a range of factors including a positive attitude to singing, convenience and a desire for social connectedness. Those interviewed considered ongoing choir membership an effective use of leisure time that also provided opportunities for shared learning and personal validation. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and are reported under two themes: music engagement and social connections. Membership of the Hawthorn U3A choir provided participants opportunities for friendship, companionship, happiness, a sense of belonging and acceptance.

Seeing the Big Picture: Experiential Education in Tertiary Music Education.

Experiential education is defined by Luckman (1996) as a “process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill and value from direct experience” (p. 7). Such a process of practical engagement, with concepts and skills in selected and guided experiences, supported by reflection, critical analysis and synthesis, is applicable to any discipline. This article considers an experiential program in music education at postgraduate level. As part of the Master of Education (Music Education) degree, offered by Monash University (Australia) by flexible mode, students could take a European Perspectives on Music Education (EPME) course, the final assignment of which could take the form of a reflective journal compiled during a three-week European tour. This demonstrates that experiential programs are appropriate at all levels of education and disciplines.

Singing in La Voce Della Luna Italian women’s choir in Melbourne, Australia:

Australia is a country of ongoing migration that embraces diversity, creative expression and cultural activity. Membership of community music groups by older people can enhance life quality, and may provide a space through which cultural and linguistic identity may be shared and celebrated. This qualitative phenomenological case study explores engagement by older members of La Voce Della Luna, an Italian women’s community choir based in Melbourne, Victoria. This article presents one case study from a larger ongoing research project, Well-being and ageing: community, diversity and the arts in Victoria. In this study, data were gathered from documentary sources and by individual and focus group semi-structured interviews in 2013. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis two significant themes emerged: Social connection and combatting isolation; and New horizons: music-making and social justice. This article describes how active music for older women provides opportunities to learn new skills, new ideas, and create for themselves a resilient community.

RETAINING A FRISSON OF THE 'OTHER': IMPERIALISM, ASSIMILATION, INTEGRATION AND MULTICULTURALISM IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS

In Australia, the 1960s saw a broadening of music offerings from other cultures in school materials from the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). This is a useful indicator for changing perceptions. Since then, increasingly ‘authentic’ materials have become available but how far have we really come? Blacking (How musical is man? University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1973) identified the difficulty of acquiring and understanding, skill and authenticity in the music of another culture. He stressed that musical acquisition should occur in a cultural context. Removing music from one culture and presenting it in the symbolic gestures of another may strip its meaning. This is particularly true for musics from cultures removed from the Western paradigm. The further we move from our cultural norm, the harder it is to produce authentic experiences for students. By considering the African music resources offered to schools by the ABC, we can explore the attempts we have made to move from colonialism to multiculturalism.

A juggling act: Supervisor/candidate partnership in a doctoral thesis by publication

Increasingly doctoral candidates are attempting to complete a thesis by publication. This format varies between universities but there are common issues particularly in terms of progression, planning and timing. There are both advantages and difficulties involved in undertaking a thesis in this format. Our discussion of the supervisor/candidate partnership is framed within the requirements of a tight journal publishing agenda. Different universities have different requirements about the number of published papers to be included, the extent of candidates contribution as sole or joint author, the framing of the research as a unified thesis, presentation, and examination. The decision to attempt a thesis by publication must be taken early and data collection may need to be completed early. Articles then need to be written, polished, submitted, reviewed, revised and, hopefully, accepted. The thesis by publication is a juggling act between maintaining coherence and focusing on publishable segments. It is also a dialogue between supervisor and candidate involving the resolution of sometimes conflicting demands. Employing Cognitive Apprenticeship theory we present a shared autophenomenography that chronicles our doctoral journey that led to a successful thesis by publication. The findings are discussed under thematic headings: Logistics, Cognitive Apprenticeship in Action, and Building Trust.

So Much More than Just the Music: Australian Pre-Service Music Teacher Education Students' Attitudes to Artists-in-Schools.

Contemporary Australia is a country of ongoing migration and increasing cultural diversity which is reflected in its arts practices. This article considers the views held by Australian pre-service music education student teachers and their tertiary music educators about their perceptions concerning artists-in-schools programs in school music. This discussion reports on data collected for a study undertaken in Melbourne, Victoria, Intercultural Understandings of Pre-Service Music Education Students (2005–2009). Fifty-three interviews were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings provide insight into teachers’ recognition of the need for artists-in-schools programs. In particular the ways in which teachers can link theory to practice, fill in omissions in their own knowledge, skills and understandings, and heighten student understandings of multicultural musics. The promotion and provision of multicultural music education is essential at all levels of education. This can be achieved by the inclusion of diverse culture bearers, artists-in-schools, and community engagement to work with both teachers and their students.

Early 19 th century music pedagogy - German and English connections

Calls to improve congregational psalmody in 18 th century England strongly influenced early music pedagogy. In the first decades of the 19 th century English music educators, concerned with psalmody and music in charitable schools, looked to Germany for models of successful practice. The Musikalisches Schulgesangbuch (1826) by Carl Gotthelf Glaser (1784–1829) influenced the music materials designed by Sarah Anna Glover (1786–1867). These, in turn, directly influenced John Turner (dates unknown), William Hickson (1803–1870) and, indirectly, John Curwen (1816–1880). It is illuminating to explore how influential a small collection of German didactic songs could be during an early and very active phase of the development of English school music curricula.

The First Tonic Sol-fa Missionary: Reverend Robert Toy In Madagascar

It is important that we, as a profession, are conversant with our pedagogical history. Too often we reinvent and reassess that which has been established past practices. As Fonder suggests, “knowledge of past successes and failures can clarify decisions for future policy — and possibly spark innovative new ideas and strategies”.1 It is hoped that music educators today will find in this exploration a consideration of the use of music as a part of an evangelical and imperial drive. Music is still used in this way — to evoke ideas of religion and patriotism in children. In mid-nineteenth century England, John Curwen (1816-1880) developed the Tonic Sol-fa method. This pedagogy was, from the outset, intended as both a systematic method of class instruction in music and an aid to worship. Sarah Glover (1786-1867), the originator of the system Curwen modified, began her educational experiments in music to improve the singing of psalms (or psalmody). The Tonic Sol-fa system was taken up by various missionary societies, the first being the London Missionary Society (LMS). In 1862 this society sent the Reverend Robert Toy to meet Curwen to learn the method of teaching singing. Toy then travelled to Madagascar where the method became part of the evangelising, worship and teaching undertaken by the missionaries. The nineteenth century history of Madagascar is outlined to contextualise the discussion of the use of the Tonic Sol-fa method and Christian hymns in Malagasy society.