Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T23:12:47.114Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Illiterate’ musicians: an historic review of curriculum and practice for student popular musicians in Australian senior secondary classrooms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2019

Christine Carroll
Christine Carroll*
Affiliation:
Australian Catholic University, Strathfield, NSW, 2135, Australia
*
Corresponding author. Email: Christine.carroll@acu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines curriculum and practice in Australian secondary classroom music education, in order to trace the inclusion of, and provision for, students with learning orientations based on popular music forms. A 60-year period of curriculum reform, matriculation statistics and literature is surveyed with a focus on the state of New South Wales (NSW), where the ‘non-literate’ student musician was first acknowledged in curriculum documents dating from the late 1970s at the senior secondary level (Music Syllabus Year 11 and 12: New 2 Unit A Course. Draft Document). Three overlapping eras frame discussion. The first discusses the original post–World War II school curriculum established for Western art music (WAM); the second discusses the period of curriculum reform beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, which leads to the inclusion of popular music at junior secondary levels; and the third is the present era from roughly 1980 onwards, where separate pathways of instruction are maintained for WAM and students with interests in popular and contemporary musics. Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) from the sociology of education is employed, with analysis unveiling a series of historic code shifts and clashes with implications for present practice. An unveiling of these codes explains the cause of ongoing tensions surrounding the inclusion of popular music and musicians in Australian music classrooms and provides foundation for much-needed curriculum development in the NSW context, and potentially elsewhere, where similar dynamics underpin practice in secondary classrooms.

Keywords

Student popular musicianscurriculummusic literacyLegitimation Code Theory
Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , July 2019 , pp. 155 - 171
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ARROW, M. (2009). Friday on Our Minds: Popular Culture in Australia Since 1945. Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
AUSTRALIAN MUSIC EXAMINATIONS BOARD. (1956). Manual of Syllabuses for Public Examinations in Music and Art of Speech. Melbourne, Australia: The Board.Google Scholar
BERNSTEIN, B. (2000). Pedagogy, Symbolic Control and Identity: Theory, Research, Critique. Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
BESTON, P. (2005). Creative Programming in a Comprehensive Music Classroom. Paper presented to the Celebration of Voices: XV National Conference, Australian Society for Music Education, Melbourne.Google Scholar
BJORNBERG, A. (1993). ‘Teach you to rock’? Popular music in the university music department. Popular Music, 12(1), 69–77. doi: 10.1017/S0261143000005365 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BLAIR, D., & WIGGINS, J. (2010). Teaching for musical understanding: A constructivist approach. In Ballantyne, J. & Bartleet, B. (eds.), Navigating Music and Sound Education (pp. 16–30). Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (1993a). Music 2 Unit (Common) 3 Unit Course: Preliminary and HSC Courses. Sydney, Australia: Board of Studies.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (1993b). Music 2 Unit Course 1: Preliminary and HSC Courses. Sydney, Australia: Board of Studies.Google Scholar
BOARD OF SENIOR SCHOOL STUDIES. (1977). Music Syllabus Year 11 and 12: New 2 Unit A Course. Draft Document. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education.Google Scholar
BOARD OF SENIOR SCHOOL STUDIES. (1983a). 2 Unit Music Course 1. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education.Google Scholar
BOARD OF SENIOR SCHOOL STUDIES. (1983b). Music Syllabus: 2 Unit (Related) and 3 Unit Course for Years 11 and 12. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (2003). Music Years 7–10 Syllabus. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_sc/music.html.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (2009a). Assessment and Reporting in Music 2 Stage 6. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/music-2.html-assessment-exam.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (2009b). Assessment and Reporting in Music Extension Stage 6. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/music-2.html-assessment-exam.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (2009c). Music 1 Stage 6 Syllabus. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/music-1.html.Google Scholar
BOARD OF STUDIES. (2009d). Music 2 and Extension Syllabus. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/music-2.html.Google Scholar
BOURDIEU, P., & WACQUANT, L. J. D. (1992). An invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
BRUNER, J. (1963). The Process of Education. New York, NY: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
BURKE, H. (2014). Marching backwards into the future: The introduction of the English creative music movement in state secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. British Journal of Music Education, 31(1), 41–54. doi: 10.1017/S0265051713000235 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CARROLL, C. (2017). Playing the Field: An Australian Case Study of Student Popular Musicians’ Informal Learning in Senior Secondary Classroom Music Education. PhD thesis, The University of Sydney, Sydney Digital Theses (Open Access). Retrieved from https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/17232.Google Scholar
CARRUTHERS, G. (2005). Universities’ Role in Articulating Diverse Music-Learner Populations. Paper presented to the Celebration of Voices: XV National Conference, Australian Society for Music Education, Melbourne.Google Scholar
CHOKSKY, L., ABRAMSON, R. M., GILLESPIE, A. E., & WOODS, D. (2001). Comprehensive musicianship: An American technique and philosophy for teaching music. In Choksky, L., Abramson, R. M., Gillespie, A. E. & Woods, D. (eds.), Teaching Music in the Twenty First Century (pp. 115–123). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
CLEAVER, D., & BALLANTYNE, J. (2013). Teachers’ views of constructivist theory: A qualitative study illuminating relationships between epistemological understanding and music teaching practice. International Journal of Music Education, 32(2), 228–241. doi:10.1177/0255761413508066 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COMTE, M. (1988). The arts in Australian schools: The past fifty years. Australian Journal of Music Education, 1, 102–120.Google Scholar
DUNBAR-HALL, P. (1991). Semiotics as a method for the study of popular music. International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 22(2), 127–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DUNBAR-HALL, P. (1999). Analysis and popular music: A challenge for music education. Research Studies in Music Education, 13(1), 40–55. doi: 10.1177/1321103X9901300105 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DUNBAR-HALL, P., & WEMYSS, K. (2000). The effects of the study of popular music on music education. International Journal of Music Education, 36, 23–35. doi: 10.1177/025576140003600104 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FINNEGAN, R. (1989). The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
FISKE, J. (2010). Understanding Popular Culture. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FOX, R. (2001). Constructivism examined. Oxford Review of Education, 27(1), 23–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FRITH, S. (1987). Towards and aesthetic of popular music. In Leppart, R. & McClary, S. (eds.), Music and Society: The Politics of Performance, Composition and Reception (pp. 133–149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
FRITH, S., & GOODWIN, A. (eds.). (1990). On Record: Rock, Pop, and the Written Word. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
GOODMAN, J., & JACOBS, A. (2008). Musical literacies in the English inter-war secondary-school classroom. Paedagogica Historica, 44(1–2), 153–166. doi: 10.1080/00309230701865538 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GORDON, E. (1992). Advanced Measures of Music Audiation. Chicago, IL: Gia Publications.Google Scholar
GREEN, L. (2002). How Popular Musicians Learn. A Way Ahead for Music Education. London, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
GREEN, L. (2008). Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy. London, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
HALLAM, S., CREECH, A., & Mc QUEEN, H. (2017). Can the adoption of informal approaches to learning music in school music lessons promote musical progression? British Journal of Music Education, 34(2), 127–151. doi: 10.1017/S0265051716000486 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HANNAN, M. (2005). Towards the Development of a Curriculum for Contemporary Musicianship. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Music Education (27th) Annual Conference; Reviewing the Future, Melbourne, Victoria.Google Scholar
HEAVNER, T. (2005). The applied music lesson: Teaching gifted and talented students utilising the principles of comprehensive musicianship. International Education Journal, 6(2), 170–174.Google Scholar
HESMONDHALGH, D. (2013). Why Music Matters. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
JEANNERET, N. (1993). The preparation of secondary music teachers in New South Wales: Is it out of step? British Journal of Music Education, 10(1), 47–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JEANNERET, N. (2010). Musical futures in Victoria. Australian Journal of Music Education, 2, 148–164.Google Scholar
JEANNERET, N., & Mc PHERSON, J. (2005). Connections and Curriculum Development: Foundations of the NSW K-12 Music Curriculum. Paper presented at the Celebration of Voices: XV National Conference, Australian Society for Music Education, Melbourne, Australia.Google Scholar
JEANNERET, N., Mc PHERSON, J., DUNBAR-HALL, P., & FORREST, D. (2003). Beyond Manhattenville, Paynter and Cultural Identity: The Evolution of the NSW Music Curriculum. Paper Presented at the 4th Asia Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong.Google Scholar
JEANNERET, N, STEVENS-BALLENGER, J., & Mc LELLAN, R. (2014). Teachers’ Application of Arts Rich Practice: Musical Futures Professional Learning and Online Mentorship Program. Retrieved from http://www.musicalfuturesaustralia.org/uploads/1/2/0/1/12012511/cassmusicreport_final.pdf.Google Scholar
KARLSEN, S. (2010). Boomtown Music Education and the Need for Authenticity – Informal Learning Put into Practice in Swedish Post-Compulsory Music Education. British Journal of Music Education, 37(1), 35–46. doi: 10.1017/S0265051709990180 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LAMONT, A., & MATON, K. (2008). Choosing music: Exploratory studies into the low uptake of music GCSE. British Journal of Music Education, 25(3), 267–282. doi: 10.1017/S0265051708008103 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LAMONT, A., & MATON, K. (2010). Unpopular music: Beliefs and behaviours towards music in education. In Wright, R. (ed.), Sociology and Music Education (pp. 63–80). Basingstoke, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
MARK, M. (1986). Contemporary Music Education. New York, NY: Schirmer Books.Google Scholar
MARTIN, J. L. (2016). Musicality and musicianship: Specialisation in jazz studies. In Maton, K., Hood, S. & Shay, S. (eds.), Knowledge-Building: Educational Studies in Legitimation Code Theory (pp. 193–213). London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
MATON, K. (2009). Cumulative and segmented learning: Exploring the role of curriculum structures in knowledge-building. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 30(1), 43–57. doi: 10.1080/01425690802514342 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MATON, K. (2014). Knowledge and Knowers: TOWARDS a Realist Sociology of Education. London, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mc CLARY, S., & WALSER, R. (1988). Start making sense. In Frith, S. & Goodwin, A. (eds.), On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word (pp. 275–292). New York, NY: Random House.Google Scholar
Mc PHAIL, G. (2012). From singular to over-crowded region: Curriculum change in senior secondary school music in New Zealand. British Journal of Music Education, 29(3), 317–330. doi: 10.1017/S0265051712000058 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MIDDLETON, R. (1993). Popular music analysis and musicology: Bridging the gap. Popular Music, 12(2), 177–190. doi: 10.1017/S0261143000005547 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MOORE, A. F. (2007). Rock: The Primary Text. London, UK.Google Scholar
PITTS, S. (2000). A Century of Change in Music Education: Historical Perspectives in Contemporary Practice in British Secondary Schools. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Google Scholar
POWELL, B., KRIKUN, A., & PIGNATO, J. M. (2015). ‘Something’s happening here!’: Popular music education in the United States. Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 5(1), 4–22. doi: 10.5429/2079-3871 Google Scholar
RAINBOW, B. (2006). Music in Educational Thought and Practice. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell & Brewer.Google Scholar
ROSE, L. S., & COUNTRYMAN, J. (2013). Repositioning ‘The Elements’: How students talk about music. Action, Criticism & Theory for Music Education, 12(3), 44–64. Retrieved from http://act.maydaygroup.org/articles/RoseCountryman12_3.pdf.Google Scholar
SECONDARY SCHOOL BOARD. (1962). Syllabus in Music. Sydney, Australia: New South Wales Department of Education.Google Scholar
SECONDARY SCHOOL BOARD. (1956). Syllabus in Music. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education.Google Scholar
SECONDARY SCHOOL BOARD. (1957). Theory and Practice of Music. Sydney, Australia: New South Wales Department of Education.Google Scholar
SECONDARY SCHOOL BOARD. (1981). Music Non-Elective Syllabus Years 7-10. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education.Google Scholar
SECONDARY SCHOOL BOARD. (1986). Syllabus in Music – Elective. Sydney, Australia: NSW Department of Education.Google Scholar
SWANWICK, K. (1968). Popular Music and the Teacher. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
SWANWICK, K. (1999). Music education: Closed or open? The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 33(4), 127–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TOBIAS, E. S. (2013). Composing, songwriting, and producing: Informing popular music pedagogy. Research Studies in Music Education, 35(2), 213–237. doi: 10.1177/1321103X13487466 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TURINO, T. (2008). Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
VULLIAMY, G. & LEE, E. (eds.). (1976). Pop Music in School. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
VULLIAMY, G., & SHEPHERD, J. (1983). A comparative sociology of school knowledge. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 4(1), 3–18.Google Scholar
WALLER, D. (2010). Language literacy and music literacy: A pedagogical asymmetry. Philosophy of Music Education Review, 18(1), 26–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WEBB, M. (2007). Music analysis down the (You) tube? Exploring the potential of cross-media listening for the music classroom. British Journal of Music Education, 24(2), 147–164. doi: 10.1017/S0265051707007401 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
WEMYSS, K. (2004). Reciprocity and exchange: Popular music in Australian secondary schools. In Rodriguez, C. X. (ed.), Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education (pp. 141–155). Reston, VA: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar