Contemporary Music in NZ Secondary Schools

Dr Stuart Wise School of Teacher EducationCollege of Education

A wide range of music in the twenty first century uses digital technology in a wide range of applications. These

can include in performance, composition and in recording and publishing, particularly in the context of

contemporary music performance and recording.

This technology connected with a range of contemporary music practices is transforming music and the way people approach many traditional music

activities.

The adoption and implementation of these practices may have also challenged some of the basic conceptual

frameworks that have underpinned many of the approaches to music teaching common throughout the

world.

Introduction

This study examines practices in two NZ secondary schools where teachers have chosen to offer a music programme that is informed by contemporary music.

This presentation will focus on data from the second school where contemporary music has been taught for four years in conjunction with a more traditional programme

Description of study

What are the challenges and tensions teachers face introducing and running specific contemporary music courses in secondary schools?

Research question

• The role of Popular Music in music education has proved both challenging and problematic since the 1960s.

• Music educators around the world have been aware of the need to use popular music as a way of connecting with their students but often lack the skills and experience to be able to incorporate it effectively into what they offer in their classes (Cutietta, 2007; Davis, 2005; Dunbar-Hall & Wemyss, 2000; Emmons, 2004; Estrella, 2005; Lamont, Hargreaves, Marshall, & Tarrant, 2003; Odam, 2004; Rodriguez, 2004; Spruce, 2004).

Relevant literature

• Green (2006) describes the classroom as ‘a notorious site for the entanglement of musical meanings, values and experiences’ (p. 101).

• In some cases, she argues, popular music has been included in programmes to pander to students’ tastes, in a hope that they will develop an interest in something more worthwhile (classical music).

Perspective from UK

I would think that it is safe to say that the steadfast school music rituals of singing folk songs in unison, learning music notation, and playing an instrument in a marching band are quite removed from most students’ musical lives, not only in terms of genre and style but also in terms of defining what “music” is supposed to be about. If outside of school a student’s musical life mainly consists of trading MP3 files of obscure emo and grunge songs on his computer or dancing with friends at an all-ages club, then a music class where he studies how to play the clarinet is going to seem incredibly bizarre.

Daniel Cavicchi (1998).

Comment from USA

1. Are educational institutions able to study without distortion musical practices that can be rebellious, coarse, and at times deliberately offensive?

2. Can musical practices in which individuality, creativity and rapid change feature so strongly be accommodated in schools that are on many levels opposed to these concepts ?

Bowman (2004)

Questions

Music- Sound Arts in NZ curriculum 2007 ‘a curriculum of cultural transmission centred on classical traditions has largely given way to alternate relativist conceptions centred on popular music’ (McPhail, 2012 p.327),

NZ Context

• Independent girls school• Located in high social-economic

area (decile 10)• Student roll 621 (yrs7 – 13)• 60 staff• High level of academic and co-

curricular achievement

Description of the school

• Compulsory at Year 9 – core plus performance for .5 year

• Performance classes at Year 10 (option)whole year with two strands – classical and contemporary

• NCEA Level 1 – Level 3• Classical students do all NCEA standards• Contemporary students only internals

Music at the school

• Two staff – one with traditional classical qualifications, one with mix of contemporary and classical qualifications

• Clear division of skills in the programme – timetabled to be able to work together

• Teacher leading contemporary programme learnt piano and keyboard via the Yamaha method in Japan

Teacher details

• Teacher worked with a student who was a gifted singer/songwriter

• No traditional musical literacy skills• Keen to learn – “frustrated by theory”• Superb performance and song writing

skills• Didn’t get the academic reward for her

abilities other students with traditional backgrounds got

Introducing Contemporary Strand - catalyst

• Assistant teacher left to become HOD

• Opportunity to bring in a new staff member with contemporary music qualifications and experience

• Determination by HOD to become more inclusive – “too many girls missing out”

• Recognition of change

Change in staff

• Organisation in junior classes – multiple activities running

• Wide range of other co-curricular activities offered by school

• Fortunate to have both strands timetabled together from Yrs11 – 13

• Music as a subject not seen as academic – some students opting for contemporary for that very reason

Challenges - internal

• National qualification seen as designed for western classical tradition

• Some achievement standards appear not compatible with many contemporary music practices e.g. notation for composition etc

Challenges - external

• Technology is an enabler – allows gifted students without prior musical knowledge be creative

• Teachers can then build on these skills

• On-going tensions between western classical tradition and contemporary practices a barrier to achievement

Future of music

Future of music

Technology has the potential to transform music education if teachers are prepared to allow students to explore possible affordances, work in genres and styles often informed by the students’ experience of contemporary music and have freedom to use and build on the digital literacy skills they may possess.

New music teachers need to be able to ‘walk in both worlds’ – Western art music and contemporary music

It may be time to reconsider the position of Western art music as the dominant paradigm within music education.

The Implications

Would Ella have got Scholarship music if a portfolio of Performance and Composition were included?

Final thought

Bowman, W. (2004). "Pop" goes .....? Taking Popular Music seriously. In C. Rodriguez (Ed.), Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education (pp. 29-49). Reston: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.Cutietta, R. (2007). Content for music teacher education in this century. Arts Education Policy Review, 108(6), 11-18.Davis, S. G. (2005). "That Thing You Do!" Compositional Processes of a Rock Band. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 6(16), 1-19. Dunbar-Hall, P., & Wemyss, K. (2000). The effects of the study of popular music on music education. International Journal of Music Education, os-36(1), Green, L. (2006). Popular music education in and for itself, and "other" music: current research in the classroom. International Journal of Music Education, 24(2), 101-118. Lamont, A., Hargreaves, D., Marshall, N., & Tarrant, M. (2003). Young people's music in and out of school. British Journal of Music Education, 20(03),

References

McPhail, 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. Odam, G. (2004). Music education in the aquarian age: a transatlantic perspective. In C. Rodriguez (Ed.), Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education (pp. 127-139). Renton: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.Rodriguez, C. (2004). Bringing it all back home: the case for popular music in the schools. In C. Rodriguez (Ed.), Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education (pp. 3-9). Reston: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.Spruce, G. (2004). Key principles in teaching music through popular music in the UK. In C. Rodriguez (Ed.), Bridging the Gap: Popular Music and Music Education. Reston: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.

References