Thankyou with you help with this.
It is along term project that has been bubbling at the back of my mind for some time and I need to convince Career Politicians
( all we have now, the Radical have joined the Greens; the Idealists the Democrats the rest the Marijuana Party) to part with money to help music education.
I don't listen to music, go to concerts or play. My father and grandfather played a few instuments
In fact I don't think I like music. But I know it has been very important to the rest of my family and helped a lot with bringing up my kids (No time to get into trouble too busy).
They really know HOW to listen. The intellectual gymnastics and hoops I saw them go though were astounding. Astounding too that a teacher passes on what he was taught by his /her teacher , who passes on. . ad infinitum
It is the closest think to an "oral" tradition or shaman- craft that I know. I have seen, an been amazed, how the teacher's suggestion of moving a finger or slightly changing a bow stoke can suddenly make the violin sing.
However I feel it has become an elitist subject.
I could (then) afford $1,500- $5,000 violins violas etc, music lessons weekly, music camps etc. However I think it has become an elitist, middle class thing. Even a few sheets of music can cost $20-$50. A good bow can cost many, many thousands.
It seems to me that it would be easy to get disadvantaged or "Sensory Deprived" children into studding music
IF they could afford it. It could turn a lot of kids lives around.
Local charities help keep kid in pencils and pens but there are "no-frills" -no enrichment activities. Not even enough money for a bus to take a school choir to a competition- even if there was an inspired teacher around to put in the time to make a choir.
I remember fondly the first teacher who took me to a
live Gilbart and Sullivan show. It changed my life like nothing else ever had. I was simply bowled over by it. I very nearly trained for the stage. But plays, ballet and now Opera ( forceably- a kid studying it!) have been a huge enrichment of my life.
I feel the lack of music like an autistic or Asperger's person might. It is just an empty hole. Music rarely, if ever, moves me.
I desperately wanted to learn as a kid by my parents were too dumb , poor or stupid to help. I resent that. I resent sitting home waiting for them to come home to take me to my first guitar lesson (You had to have a parent come on the first night) They never came home.
I came across this too. I hope the writer is after hearts and minds- and won't mind me re-posting it here.
Quote:
Let music lead Rudd's revolution
By Stephen Crabbe - posted Friday, 22 February 2008 Sign Up for free e-mail updates!
Quality teaching of music in all Australian schools must become a high priority in the education revolution Kevin Rudd promises. If it does not, he will disappoint a great many citizens and condemn the nation's children to a second-rate education.
Why is this so? And what is necessary to deliver universal, effective music education?
As the Prime Minister stands there at the helm and Julia Gillard formulates her education policy, the answers are right there under their noses. And the two previous Ministers for Education, now Leader and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, would do well to remind them of this.
National review of music education in schools
In 2004-05 the then Minister for Education, Brendan Nelson, initiated the National Review of Music Education in Schools. It attracted about 6,000 submissions - an unprecedented response to a government enquiry. There was obviously a lot of passion among the public about giving all school students access to quality music teaching.
The Government funded a report by Professor Margaret Seares based on the findings of the Review. In her introduction she wrote: "Raising the quality and status of music education will have a positive impact on the breadth and depth of aesthetic, cognitive, social and experiential learning for all Australian students and, ultimately, for our society at large."
The broad thrust of the report was summarised thus:
* music education is valuable and essential for all Australian school students;
* students miss out on effective music education;
* high priority action is needed in a number of particular areas;
* quality teaching is the key;
* effective teacher education is essential;
* the partners in effective music education need to take leadership and action roles; and
* raising the status of music in schools will improve the quality of music in schools.
For substantial reform along these lines to occur, Seares pointed out, required "collaborative action and a leadership role for the Australian government". The report made 99 recommendations in all.
The Seares' Report led to a national summit convention of music educators and organisations. The result was a blueprint for government action.
Coalition support fades
Not long after the music summit in 2006 a cabinet reshuffle replaced Nelson with Julie Bishop. She made a couple of very helpful but minor funding announcements and apparently did little more in response to the Seares' Report and the summit's recommendations.
Bishop did, however, proclaim (PDF 605KB):
The educational success of our children depends on our creating a society that is literate, creative, and imaginative. Music education is an integral part of developing these key skills.
This surely must be taken as testimony that music education is essential for all Australian schools.
Quality teaching of music must be in the core curriculum
As a musician and long-time music teacher I naturally have a keen interest in the issue. For me, music is real life. After all, evidence suggests that humans were singing and making music before they had language, and there is even a substantial argument that the ability to sing was the foundation for language.
But my advocacy for music in schools is based on a solid foundation of not only personal experience but also a growing body of educational research. Consider for example the following.
* Learning music enhances general memory and concentration.
* Children who learn music tend to handle stress more easily.
* Learning music significantly facilitates development in mathematics and English, both oral and written.
* Students who have regular music lessons are inclined to learn foreign languages much more easily.
* Children in a musical program tend to develop superior social skills and to manage their time more effectively.
Such findings provide a strong basis for including music in the core curriculum for all schools.
Yet most children in Australian schools do not have access to effective music education. A trained music specialist is essential to teach music properly in a school. The Music Council of Australia demonstrated that only 23 per cent of public school students had access to such a specialist, compared with 88 per cent of private school students. The same body also found that at least 74 per cent of the Australian public believes provision of music education should be mandatory in every school. (The figure was 87 per cent when the question was about "learning an instrument".)
Music education excluded from the national curriculum debate
So it is clear that music is essential to quality education, that most children aren't getting it, and that the Australian community wants it.
Yet the Federal and State governments do not propose to include it in the national curriculum. The four components are to be English, mathematics, science and history.
There is nothing surprising about the first three. More unexpected was the readiness to give history a guernsey ahead of all other possibilities. What, we might ask, does history have that makes it more important than music? For the evidence indicates that learning music could underpin students' progress in history as well as English, mathematics, science and much else.
In contrast with Australia, in the last couple of years the United Kingdom has taken great strides. Its Music Manifesto aims to ensure that all schoolchildren get involved with music-making.
The education game - a match of mixed doubles
Now that the Australian Government is in the hands of the Labor Party, it will be interesting to watch the education game played anew. It will be a peculiar match of mixed doubles. On one side the two former Ministers of Education, Nelson now Opposition Leader, with Bishop as his Deputy and Shadow Minister. On the other side Prime Minister Rudd himself with Julia Gillard as his Deputy and Minister for Education. So far the government pair seems, by its silence, to be relegating music to the margin of the school curriculum at best.
Will Nelson continue to champion music education as he did before 2006? Will Bishop's actions reflect her assertion that "music is integral" to our children's educational success?
The Opposition could win plenty of electoral support by putting pressure on the government to give high priority to effective music education in Australian schools. The main winners, though, would be the Australian community, particularly the children.
Before long Brendan Nelson and Julie Bishop should be settled into their new roles on the Opposition benches. Will they then face the music?
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Let music lead Rudd’s revolution - On Line Opinion - 22/2/2008
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Of course we need music in our class rooms. As we know most of us have trouble carrying a tune in a bucket, but, the opportunity to sing in a group, learn new songs, or types of music is something that should be available to all children.
I went to public schools in the US. From grade 4 every child was offered the opportunity to play a musical instrument in either the band or orchestra. We had two full time instrumental teachers. Those that chose to participate were given school instruments and of course there were always a zillion kids wanting to play flute or drums and nobody wanted to play oboe or French horn.
The 2 instrumental teachers worked with the kids giving all group lessons and twice weekly band and orchestra rehearsals.
Once we were in grade 8 through 12 we had daily band or orchestra rehearsals and only occasional sectional sessions as required.
At the high school level most kids had their own instruments but there were school instruments available for those that could not buy their own or in the case of large instruments such as drums/tuba/string base, it was not practical to carry to school every day.
Our band played at all high school football games including half time performances and pep rallies. Our orchestra was there for high school graduation ceremonies. And of course there always scheduled concerts for the school chorus, band and orchestra. We also marched in local parades (this I hated most).
However, these musical experiences were the best times of my childhood education. The musical skills I developed have stayed with me for my lifetime. 50 years on I continue to participate in chamber music. I have met some very interesting and fantastic people through my musical endeavors.
I think the Australian school children are missing out on a fantastic lifetime opportunity by not having the ability to learn to play musical instruments as a course of their schooling.
Posted by Bruce, Saturday, 23 February 2008 4:34:57 PM
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