Sarah Keith

Linking Assessment Practices, Unit-Level Outcomes and Discipline-Specific Capabilities in Contemporary Music Studies

Adopting a non-traditional approach to musical learning at tertiary level, music at Macquarie University is offered as a Major pattern of study within a Bachelor of Arts program. Focusing on current assessment practices in the final third year music production unit and in the third year music capstone unit, this chapter discusses the ways in which music has been progressively aligned to its discipline-specific capabilities while reflecting the diversity of its student body. The discipline-specific capabilities are also discussed in relation to the Australian Creative and Performing Arts Threshold Learning Outcomes (CAPA TLOs) (Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Learning and Teaching Academic Standards Project: creative and performing arts, learning and teaching academic standards statement. Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Sydney, p. 12, 2010). While both the production unit and the capstone unit address musical creativities from multiple perspectives including compositional, collaborative, theoretical, technical and interpretative techniques, the challenge of designing appropriate assessment tasks and rubrics without limiting creative practices is discussed. Strategies for effective grading and validity measures are also outlined. The discussion concludes with implications for creative practices and offers suggestions for assessing musical creativities and associated creative processes.

Standing Out in the Crowd

While the opportunities for accessing and sharing music are now extensive, this chapter addresses the ability to be noticed or heard. This can pose significant challenges for artists. An analysis of career development within the new music industries suggests that tension between creativity and management roles dissipates when the artist becomes an artist-entrepreneur or is DIY. These options, however, require artists to be strategic in their individuality and branding. The branding options extend to online presentation and access, as well as merchandising and image. This chapter discusses various artist strategies including startups, online direct-to-fan services, and intermediaries, focusing on hard creativities in these areas.

The New Business of Music

This chapter outlines three career models—360, Entrepreneur and DIY—identified as being significant and viable models within the new industries. The functions and variations of each model are discussed, together with associated revenue streams and risk factors. The chapter discusses traditional linear career development and introduces the concept of new circular career development identified within the new music industries. The differences between traditional and non-traditional career models conclude the chapter.

Conclusion: The ‘New’ Artist

This chapter outlines possible futures for the music industries in light of what is determined as the ‘new’ artist. Cumulative research findings, the implications of those findings, and a ‘new’ artist definition and model are presented which raise considerations for future musical creativities and directions. The cumulative findings also raise considerations for policy-makers, education and advocacy. The chapter concludes with consideration for musical and artistic engagement that leads well beyond disruption.

Creativities, Production Technologies and Song Authorship

This chapter addresses new concepts of musical creativities, collaborations and contemporary forms of musical authorship. It therefore focuses on diverse creativities and challenges the traditional notion of ‘creativity’. In this context, the crafting of songs, the authorship of songs and the use of technologies that assist in the crafting process are outlined. The ways in which the democratisation of technologies (such as recording software) has resulted in a range of artistic options and practices in music production is also discussed, and new options in networked creativity, co-writing and collaborations are considered. The chapter concludes with discussion of the fusion of narratives.

The Realities of Practice

The realities of practice can prove extremely challenging for some artists and can lead to issues of health, safety and wellbeing. The realities discussed in this chapter include the relevance of image and branding, the significance of a support network, contractual obligations and fiduciary aspects of associated individuals or organisations. It is essential to identify and discuss the realities of practice so that consideration may be given as to how these issues might be addressed in both practice and in education. The chapter concludes with considerations for career sustainability.

The State of Play

The democratisation of music technologies and the digitisation of music practices have resulted in the development and fragmentation of related industries. No longer a label-centric industry, these new music industries facilitate increased opportunities for twenty-first century musicians to collaborate, to communicate and to interact with others interested in their music. This chapter introduces and identifies the new music industries, offers related definitions and outlines our research design and method.

Popular Music Education

Teaching popular music in higher education is multidimensional. This chapter considers how best to train students for sustainable career trajectories within the new music industries. To date, business education, particularly in tertiary settings, has tended to be treated in isolation from the ‘music’ component. This chapter will show how contemporary music education needs to reflect the convergence between the artist and ‘business’, and address the management of expectations. Multiple creativities underpin the integrated model for popular music education presented in this chapter. The relevance of artistry, individuality and entrepreneurship to music education is discussed. The chapter concludes with the ways in which education can address and prepare popular music students for the realities of practice that they may encounter.

Creating Space for Where Ancestors Once Walked The Singer–Songwriter as Cultural Identity

Using music and voice to express cultural identity is a tradition inherent in musical communities throughout the world. Today, while traditions can be affected by popular culture and modern technologies, contemporary practices in music production and aesthetics can aid in communicating and sustaining cultural heritage. Taiwan has a diverse cultural makeup being a former colonial territory and now home to descendants of mainland Chinese immigrants together with its own indigenous peoples. This article explores the music of contemporary Taiwanese indigenous singers of Amis heritage. Specifically, the music and production techniques in recordings of two female singer–songwriters, Ado Kaliting Pacidal and Ilid Kaolo, are explored. Pacidal and Kaolo combine the Amis language and themes of aboriginal identity with a range of contemporary musical styles, narratives and production techniques. For our analysis, we draw on cultural musicology in terms of lyrical and musical expression, and focus on how production techniques and aesthetics (including processing and treatment of the voice, effects and mixing) are used to enhance that expression. In doing so, we draw attention to the relationship between contemporary music production and cultural significance. We conclude by determining how space is created for ‘where the ancestors once walked’ (Pacidal 2012a).