tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/music-education-8579/articlesMusic education – The Conversation2024-02-20T15:58:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2229472024-02-20T15:58:18Z2024-02-20T15:58:18ZLearning music the informal way some popular musicians do could inspire more school students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576588/original/file-20240219-30-ij8n11.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C7337%2C4902&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-boy-playing-acustic-guitar-660567223">LightField Studios/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Music is a school subject <a href="https://www.ism.org/music-in-peril/">facing difficult times</a>. In England, fewer students are taking the subject <a href="https://www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/news/article/sharp-decline-of-gcse-music-entries-labelled-a-great-concern-by-ism?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1658310885">at GCSE</a>, not enough people are training to become <a href="https://www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk/features/article/the-state-of-music-teacher-training">secondary music teachers</a>, and the subject is suffering from a <a href="https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/mu-challenges-government-on-music-education-funding-shortfall">lack of funding</a>.</p>
<p>One problem may be that the way music is taught in school has become increasingly formal. The current <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study">music national curriculum</a>, introduced in 2014, includes using <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/staff">staff notation</a>, learning music history, and listening to the music of “great composers and musicians”. This was a shift in comparison to the previous, more child-centred national curriculum. </p>
<p>Wider education policy on how future teachers should be trained places emphasis on <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6061eb9cd3bf7f5cde260984/ITT_core_content_framework_.pdf">teacher control and well-structured lessons</a> – again, perpetuating more formal, traditional approaches.</p>
<p>But this isn’t how many popular musicians – the artists students may be listening to on their way into school – learn how to <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/research-projects/2022/jan/adapting-popular-musicians-practices-classroom">play music</a>. Their approach is often more informal. Many learn to <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/famous-musicians-who-cant-read-music/">play by ear</a>, hearing a piece of music and figuring it out on an instrument. </p>
<p>Bringing this approach into the classroom to a greater extent could help both students and the subject of music itself. </p>
<h2>Freedom to play</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r8zoHT4ExY">Informal learning</a> can look and sound haphazard at times, but has close ties with more natural ways of engaging with music. In one example of the approach, pioneered by the professor of music education Lucy Green, students begin <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14613808.2022.2074383">“in at the deep end”</a> – tasked with copying a song of their choice, by ear, working together in groups. They are required to work out the various parts of the song, often building up to a performance.</p>
<p>This kind of learning gives students more freedom and independence in the classroom, and a more equal power balance with the teacher is encouraged. The role of the teacher is to set the task, then let the students choose how they approach it and help only when needed. The students can decide on their own pace of learning and the level of difficulty of the part they play within their group.</p>
<p>This can lead to increased student confidence in the music classroom. Although the teacher is still in control by default, this approach can prompt them to trust in the musical activity their students are engaging in, resisting the temptation to step in too soon. </p>
<p>Informal learning is linked with increased numbers of students choosing the <a href="https://www.musicalfutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Musical_Futures_2nd_Edition_Teacher_Resource_Pack.pdf">subject at GCSE</a>. This suggests it has the potential to capture the interest of some students who might have previously become disengaged with music lessons. </p>
<h2>Learn what you love</h2>
<p>Students are motivated by being able to choose what music they will play with their friends – often selecting popular music. By welcoming student choice of music into the classroom, increased links are forged between in- and out-of-school music. Students are engaging in a learning practice that exists beyond the confines of the classroom, and which has relevance to their musical interests and passions. </p>
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<img alt="Children singing together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/576591/original/file-20240219-20-ybdu9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Music at school is often formal and structured.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-school-children-singing-choir-268247162">SpeedKingz/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Also, this does not mean that informal learning cannot extend beyond popular music. While students often choose to bring popular music into the classroom, the underpinning research shows once they are motivated and engaged, the teacher can move beyond this genre and draw upon aspects of the approach to introduce <a href="https://www.musicalfutures.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Musical_Futures_2nd_Edition_Teacher_Resource_Pack.pdf">other types of music</a> into the classroom in later stages. </p>
<p>The non-profit <a href="https://www.musicalfutures.org/">Musical Futures</a> has contributed towards the development of informal learning and <a href="https://www.musicalfutures.org/our-approach/">continues to advocate and promote its ethos</a>. And although the approach is largely aimed at secondary school students, primary students can benefit from <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-music-education/article/exploring-the-potential-of-informal-music-learning-in-a-perceived-age-of-pedagogical-traditionalism-for-student-teachers-in-primary-music-education/1D1BD0C865372CE7D5BD11A1A5856C29#article">adapted versions</a> of informal learning.</p>
<p>Facilitating informal learning might feel risky for some teachers. They face a variety of pressures and requirements, and may feel this kind of learning does not align with wider education policy and the expectations of their role. </p>
<p>Informal music learning is not always easy to assess, either. And embracing learning that is informal and “haphazard” might lead to a fear of judgment – that the teacher lacks control of pupil behaviour.</p>
<p>However, informal learning offers a way to challenge thinking about how music is taught, and to consider alternative possibilities to enable the subject to flourish in school.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222947/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Mariguddi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Informal learning is linked with increased numbers of students choosing music at GCSE.Anna Mariguddi, Lecturer in Education (music specialist), Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182402023-11-29T01:38:36Z2023-11-29T01:38:36ZHallelujah, it’s school concert season. A music researcher explains why these performances are so important<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562067/original/file-20231128-23-vdspfo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C63%2C6074%2C3991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/boys-singing-as-a-choir-7568543/">Cottonbro Studio/ Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Who could have imagined how quickly we would return to pre-COVID routines?</p>
<p>Here we are again, juggling year-end stressors, wondering how we can squeeze everything in. If you have young children, you will likely also have several school concerts to mark the end of the year. </p>
<p>While we want to support our loved ones’ extracurricular activities, perhaps you secretly curse sitting through yet another performance or carols sing-along.</p>
<p>I am a researcher in music education and a conductor of community ensembles. Are these events important? Do they matter at all?</p>
<h2>Why music matters</h2>
<p>The first thing to remember is music really matters. Apart from the joy of making music and gaining a skill, there are many advantages for kids learning music. </p>
<p>Australian music educator and researcher Anita Collins <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Dr-Anita-Collins-Music-Advantage-9781760875886">has studied</a> how learning music helps children’s cognitive development. </p>
<p>As she <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_the_benefits_of_music_education/transcript">explains</a>, neuroscientists have found the brains of people who studied music look different from those who did not have music lessons: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>music education works three areas of the brain at once: the motor, visual and auditory cortices. If we think about it, it’s like a full-brain workout; it’s like our legs, our arms and our torso doing an exercise at the same time. Music education is exercise for the brain.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The long-term impact on the brain is also startling. Research <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3957486/">suggests</a> children who undergo music training have better verbal memory, second language pronunciation accuracy, reading ability, reasoning skills, auditory, motor and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/sensorimotor-integration#:%7E:text=Sensorimotor%20integration%20is%20a%20complex,sensory%20information%20from%20multiple%20sources.">sensorimotor integration</a>, and <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/what-is-executive-function-and-how-does-it-relate-to-child-development/#:%7E:text=The%20phrase%20%22executive%20function%22%20refers,focused%20despite%20distractions%2C%20among%20others.">executive function</a>.</p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/edu-edu0000376.pdf">research</a>, surveying more than 112,000 students, revealed those who learn music were more successful than non-musicians across maths, English and science.</p>
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<h2>Showcasing and building skills</h2>
<p>But these concerts also have a broader purpose. </p>
<p>At school concerts, students showcase their learning as individuals and in ensembles. This can motivate a child to practise and learn their instrument. The performance itself can build a student’s confidence and skills in other areas such as public speaking, presentation and managing nerves. </p>
<p>When they play in groups, students can often perform better than expected. As a music director of many school (and community) productions, I can attest that something magical happens in the couple of weeks leading to a performance. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/learning-music-early-can-make-your-child-a-better-reader-106066">Learning music early can make your child a better reader</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A sense of belonging</h2>
<p>We know people who play in music ensembles <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27125928">identify a feeling of belonging</a> as a benefit of playing with others. </p>
<p>This feeling can be amplified in year-end concerts where a school community and families gather together. Research shows feeling connected to others or a sense of belonging <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-13576-005">can reduce</a> feelings of loneliness, alienation or hopelessness. </p>
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<img alt="A child plays the piano." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562072/original/file-20231128-15-2yzmes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At school concerts, students showcase what they have learned.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Clare Tallamy/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Connection beyond schools</h2>
<p>In my broader work, I have also seen how end-of-year concerts can provide important connection and build community at a time of year many find really difficult. </p>
<p>For those who have lost or are separated from loved ones, the festive season can be <a href="https://www.suicideprograms.com.au/featured/christmas-isnt-always-merry-and-bright/">very stressful and lonely</a>. </p>
<p>But community music can provide a broader social purpose and support network. While conducting the <a href="https://www.sfgmc.org/">San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus</a>, I noticed some singers, who were estranged from their families, struggled each December. To help, we filled our schedule with appearances. Being together and connected lifted everyone’s spirits. </p>
<p>In the post-pandemic era, en masse community music-making has exploded with the <a href="https://www.pubchoir.com.au/media">Pub Choir</a> and <a href="https://spookymen.com/media/?v=6cc98ba2045f">Spooky Men’s Chorale</a> attracting thousands of participants. People of all ages buy tickets or volunteer to meet up and learn songs in low-pressure settings such as pubs, sports arenas or outdoors. Here, social and wellbeing factors are emphasised, rather than the quality or expertise of the performance. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-you-let-your-child-quit-music-lessons-try-these-5-things-125944">Before you let your child quit music lessons, try these 5 things</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>More than just a concert</h2>
<p>So yes, year-end concerts are another thing to do at an already busy time of year. But they are so important. They can enhance students’ learning and wellbeing and unite communities. </p>
<p>They are also hopefully fun and rewarding.</p>
<p>So let’s vote with our bums-on-seats. Knowing the essential benefits of music to children and society, let’s show up and clap and cheer. Better yet, participate! Your life will be the richer for it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathleen McGuire conducts various community choirs, including the Tudor Choristers. She is a teacher educator at Australian Catholic University, specialising in Secondary Music Education. </span></em></p>While we want to support our loved ones’ extracurricular activities, perhaps you secretly curse sitting through yet another concert or carols sing-along.Kathleen McGuire, Lecturer, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2134412023-09-26T12:24:42Z2023-09-26T12:24:42ZMicrophone check − 5 ways that music education is changing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549135/original/file-20230919-21-zc8txi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=244%2C38%2C1873%2C1336&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Music education has evolved and now includes more popular music genres, such as hip-hop.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/woman-adjusting-microphone-while-rappers-standing-royalty-free-image/1419800443?phrase=hip+hop+artists+students&adppopup=true">Maskot, Maskot Bildbyrå AB/Maskot via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Music education – which traditionally has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/002743210709400209">heavily reliant on large ensembles and classical music</a> – is changing with the times. Not since the introduction of the <a href="https://windbandhistory.neocities.org/rhodeswindband_09_americanschoolband">school wind ensemble in the 1920s</a> or the growth of <a href="https://www.savethemusic.org/blog/marching-band-music/">marching band in the 1950s</a> has music education undergone such a transformation.</p>
<p>The changes occurring now have been developed to bring more students into school and community music classes at all levels of education, from kindergarten to college.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WFwL1aMAAAAJ&hl=en">music education professor</a> – and as one who is <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/music-teacher-as-music-producer-9780197519462?lang=en&cc=us">conducting research on how to create new classes</a> that go above and beyond the traditional band, choir and orchestra offerings – I believe this is one of the most exciting times in the world of music education. Here are five ways that music education is changing in America’s schools:</p>
<h2>1. Students are making their own songs</h2>
<p>In 2021, Florida became the first state to offer an <a href="https://fmea.org/programs/all-state/popular-music-collective/">All-State Popular Music Collective</a> for students in high school. As members of the collective, the state’s best student pop singers, drummers, guitarists, DJs, bassists and keyboardists perform their original music in an auditioned group. They perform music from hip-hop to pop and rock.</p>
<p>In 2023, Missouri started <a href="https://sites.google.com/truman.edu/2022-2023-mmea-collective/the-set-list">The Collective</a> – its version of the Florida offering. Students send in an audition video. If selected, they become a member of a band of around 15 people who write songs together and perform at the state conference, along with the best concert band, concert choir and orchestra students in the state.</p>
<p>As of now, <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v2HuuR4tGvOM3OzGPcOT322eJvIZ30VWiXmCA2QgExo/edit">15 states are offering a similar type of experience</a> for their students. </p>
<p>There are a growing number of opportunities for students to study <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/music-genre-market-share-midyear-us-2023-report/">hip-hop</a> at the collegiate level. Schools like the <a href="https://catalog.usf.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=19&poid=10161">University of South Florida</a>, where I teach, have joined established programs at the <a href="https://music.usc.edu/departments/popular-music/">University of Southern California</a>, the <a href="https://musicindustry.frost.miami.edu/degrees/bachelor-of-music-in-music-industry/index.html">University of Miami</a> and <a href="https://www.belmont.edu/academics/majors-programs/commercial-music/index.html">Belmont University</a> as places where you can learn how to make hip-hop as well as pop, rock and country, among other styles.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Student singer and music producer record a song in professional music recording studio." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549134/original/file-20230919-23-nurfjh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More high schools offer opportunities for students to make and record hip-hop and rock.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/hipster-rock-music-singer-and-music-producer-royalty-free-image/1269878521?phrase=futuristic+recording+studio+high+school+students&adppopup=true">Witthaya Prasongsin/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Smaller ensembles</h2>
<p>In the middle of the 20th century, school music focused on <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40215205">large ensembles</a> performing primarily classical music arrangements. Since the 1990s, offerings like <a href="https://wgi.org/percussion/">winter drumline</a> – with marching percussion and color guard – and <a href="https://www.dci.org/">complex theatrical marching band shows</a>, which incorporate contemporary instrumentation, have extended those offerings and broadened the spectrum of acceptable styles.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ietaPZXlM">Modern bands</a> have popped up in schools all over <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-fUxcZPey8">North America</a>, featuring smaller, more <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XILnveLvuCs">contemporary instrumentation</a>, modern musical instruments and tools that sometimes includes <a href="https://cmslv.org/group-music-classes/modern-band/">turntables and effects processing</a>. They seek to look more like the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLTYCdn3wkM">world of music outside of the school</a>. </p>
<h2>3. Teaching that focuses more on the student</h2>
<p>For much of the past 100 years, music teachers have focused on being able to teach large numbers of students – that is, 100 or more. Instructors across the U.S. and Canada teach <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYA-9eYEMiM">marching bands</a> made up of 200-plus students. </p>
<p>Music instructors are some of the only teachers in the school who want more students in their classes. Pedagogical practice consists of managing large groups of students as efficiently as possible. But this approach tends to discourage individual voice and autonomy. That’s changing. With <a href="https://la2050.org/ideas/2021/modern-band-music-education">smaller ensembles</a> comes more room for <a href="https://mrshoevelmansmusicclass.com/what-is-modern-band/">multiple student creativities</a> and more <a href="https://la2050.org/ideas/2021/modern-band-music-education">flexible performances</a>. </p>
<h2>4. Technology driven performances</h2>
<p>Music education has become more and more technology driven, both in its <a href="https://www.billboard.com/lists/ways-ai-has-changed-music-industry-artificial-intelligence/">performance</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/music/streaming-is-changing-the-sound-of-music-182dc907">delivery</a>. In smaller ensembles and in pop music, it’s important to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXqOrndWrY">understand how mixers, public announcement systems and all digital instruments work</a>. You do not have to know how to set up a mixing console to have a successful traditional concert band performance. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HaLwdHhUgI">Maschine</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcGUgp6yo_k">Push</a> are two instruments that have become popular for creating beats and multilayered ambient textures. They satisfy a desire among students to create music that they might hear on the radio but also maybe in a video game that they’re playing or in a movie that they’re watching. </p>
<p>Turntables have gone from being carried around by DJs – along with crates of records to scratch – to hardware devices. Musical effects that are triggered by the performer or someone offstage are <a href="https://mpetersonmusic.com/podcast/episode44">common practice in the professional world of music making</a>. These practices are <a href="http://music.arts.usf.edu/content/go/music-education/mjme/links/contemporary-music-making-in-australia-schools.asp">spilling over into music education</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of students work with a sound mixer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548637/original/file-20230916-29-4fzzke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More schools have recording studios for music students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/students-working-with-sound-mixer-royalty-free-image/102754730">Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Recording in addition to performing</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/06/06/the-record-effect">Ever since 1877</a>, people have been recording musical sounds. Over that time, individuals have been honing their abilities to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N82hCwrggsI">record other musicians</a>. It has become an art in its own right.</p>
<p>The life of a musician is made up of two primary focuses: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnt-c5i5prM&t=40s">performing and recording</a>. While performing is a part of school music education, recording has been almost entirely ignored as something that students do, until now.</p>
<p>Teachers have been able to easily record students’ music only via <a href="https://blog.native-instruments.com/what-is-a-daw-in-music-digital-audio-workstations-explained/">digital audio workstations</a> over the past 20 years.</p>
<p>We are in a new era when school recording studios are more the norm and <a href="https://catalog.usf.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=19&poid=10161">contemporary and commercial music have entered schools of music</a>.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26974517?casa_token=d0XwHg_mDmYAAAAA%3AZUuBg8HxINHD14Nw4yJrcTEuD7yALogydkk_YcVQTkBWGzGAw-bEGzHc7l2Ea3WlLChvWocVfG2LHrME4JuRNz-NsKJXCM9eRDTxrhZOsemxegyJ6hDs">1 in 5 students in high school are part of a music program</a>, largely through traditional bands, choirs and orchestras. But that number could shift as music education continues to evolve to become more about the students and the music that’s dear to them, not just the classics and traditions of old.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213441/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clint Randles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Modern music education is giving students more and more opportunities to create their own tracks.Clint Randles, Professor of Music Education, University of South FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2110162023-09-05T12:29:10Z2023-09-05T12:29:10ZHow video games like ‘Starfield’ are creating a new generation of classical music fans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546018/original/file-20230901-25-u3v8gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3199%2C2122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The London Symphony Orchestra has performed music from video games like 'Starfield' and 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.' </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/niklas-benjamin-hoffmann-winner-of-the-donatella-flick-lso-news-photo/623978072?adppopup=true">Tristan Fewings/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="https://bethesda.net/en/game/starfield">Starfield</a>” is one of the most anticipated video games in recent history. </p>
<p>The game, which was released on Sept. 6, 2023, allows players to build their own character and spacecraft, travel to any one of a thousand or more planets and follow multiple story arcs.</p>
<p>The soundtrack is equally epic, with audio director Mark Lampert describing the game’s music as a “companion to the player,” with a “sense of scale” that “had to be totally readjusted,” in a <a href="https://youtu.be/fedc6ZzfU8I?si=Ui0UHlf-vnrKhXlX">recent interview</a> about Starfield’s sound design.</p>
<p>Soundtracks for outer space have appeared in many films – “Star Wars,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Interstellar,” to name a few.</p>
<p>But the interactive music of “Starfield” by composer Inon Zur does something different: Utilizing a palette of musical language that cultivates a contemplative soundscape, it launches the listener into the vastness of space while remaining curious, innocent and restrained. If you close your eyes, you can imagine it being performed in the concert hall.</p>
<p>That’s exactly what happened prior to the game’s release, when the London Symphony Orchestra <a href="https://youtu.be/IaskxKfeFno">performed the “Starfield Suite</a>” before a sold-out audience at the Alexandra Palace Theatre, one of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.jaaronhardwick.com/">As a conductor, musician and educator</a>, I’m excited about games like “Starfield” because they’re drawing people to symphonic music like never before.</p>
<h2>Classical music becomes exclusive</h2>
<p>Before recording technology, the only way to hear music was to experience it live. Throughout early history, music functioned as an integral part of cultural life: It was played at festivals, accompanied religious services and even served as a means of communication.</p>
<p>During the time of the <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/renm/hd_renm.htm">Renaissance</a>, around the middle 15th to 16th centuries, there was a shift from music as function to music as art and entertainment.</p>
<p>Soon, live vocal and instrumental music became a form of popular entertainment, and people clamored for bigger and better sounds. In the 16th century, the marriage of art, drama and music was consummated in <a href="https://www.sfopera.com/learn/about-opera/a-brief-history-of-opera/">opera</a>. During the 17th and 18th centuries, instruments continued to evolve, large concert halls and opera houses were built, and composers explored new ideas that pushed boundaries.</p>
<p>What’s now known as “symphonic music” was born: music that was performed by a symphony orchestra. <a href="https://coloradosymphony.org/symphony-vs-orchestra/">A symphony</a> is not only a large group of musicians, but it is also a piece of music written by a composer containing multiple movements.</p>
<p>To hear a performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, you had to witness a symphony orchestra play it, and crowds clamored to gain entry to concert halls hear the newest and most acclaimed composers’ works.</p>
<p>During the 18th and early 19th centuries, however, a set of social rules calcified around this music: how to listen, what to wear, where to sit and when to applaud. As tastes and technologies began to <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/amcm/hd_amcm.htm">change in the late 19th century</a>, the masses were drawn to new forms of music like jazz. Concert halls, meanwhile, became the realm of high culture, high art and high society.</p>
<p>A clear divide between popular music and <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/music-theory/why-do-we-call-it-classical-music/">what became known as “classical” music</a> emerged. That divide still exists today.</p>
<p>Many argue that the <a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/11/17/the-classical-music-world-is-grappling-with-accessibility">classical music world is no longer accessible</a> to most people – it’s seen as too intimidating and too stuffy, with works that are too long and tickets that are too expensive. Meanwhile, symphony orchestras around the world <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/16/arts/music/orchestra-diversity.html">are scrambling to diversify their music and ranks</a> within a tradition and culture that was long reserved for the highly educated, wealthy and white.</p>
<p>With symphonies working to be more inclusive in their music education and program offerings, I see video games as a key way to bridge this divide.</p>
<iframe style="border-radius:12px" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/69xgGwecfj6y1Jfz2e73PA?utm_source=generator&theme=0" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<h2>From ‘bleeps and bloops’ to symphonic music</h2>
<p>Due to limitations in hardware, early video games utilized synthesized “bleeps and bloops.” However, these constraints spurred programmers to think about creative ways to make games more immersive through sound. </p>
<p>Today, video games do not have the same limitations. Composers have the agency to create soundscapes that utilize the most advanced hardware and software, and they can employ some of the best musicians in the world <a href="https://www.grammy.com/videos/assassins-creed-wins-best-score-soundtrack-video-games-interactive-media-2023-grammys-premiere-ceremony">to record award-winning soundtracks</a>. </p>
<p>In a 2021 interview, video game composer and conductor <a href="https://youtu.be/wInG9pSpmNQ?t=1505">Eimear Noone said</a>, “More young people listen to orchestral music through their game consoles today than have ever listened to orchestral music in the history of music.” </p>
<p>She’s probably right. <a href="https://financesonline.com/number-of-gamers-worldwide/">There are over 3 billion gamers</a> around the world, and people between the ages of 18 and 25 spend the most time playing video games. A <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/video-games-children-classical-music/">2018 poll conducted by the U.K.’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra</a> found that more young people are exposed to classical music through video games than through attending live performances.</p>
<p>The fusion of advanced technology and scholarship has forged worlds like those found in the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise, which can <a href="https://doi-org.wake.idm.oclc.org/10.1086/713365">act as time machines</a> that allow players to explore ancient Greece, with historically informed soundtracks accompanying them on their journeys.</p>
<p>In Activision’s “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice,” composer Yuka Kitamura used traditional Japanese instruments to craft a sound informed by Japan’s <a href="https://doyouknowjapan.com/history/sengoku/">Sengoku period</a>; the music of “Civilization IV” contains tracks influenced by composers throughout history; and many of today’s most popular video game titles <a href="https://limelightmagazine.com.au/features/the-best-classical-music-in-videogames/">feature classical music</a>. </p>
<p>“Thanks to video games,” <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/04/28/arts/i-fell-love-with-classical-music-thanks-video-games/">Boston Globe music writer A.Z. Madonna wrote</a>, “I fell in love with classical music.”</p>
<h2>Getting the recognition it deserves</h2>
<p>Today’s video game music is more interactive and nonlinear than traditional concert hall and film music. This means that <a href="https://stringsmagazine.com/top-video-game-composers-talk-craft-and-breaking-into-the-business/">composers think differently when writing for games</a>. Tools, technologies and education for composers and musicians are changing.</p>
<p>The increasing complexity of video games means composers are once again pushing boundaries through expanded sound palettes. Like “Starfield,” many modern game titles incorporate symphonic music needed to provide the emotional and atmospheric underpinning of the game experience.</p>
<p>As the gaming industry continues to expand – it’s projected <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/748044/number-video-gamers-world/">to earn US$533 billion globally by 2027</a> – video game soundtracks have become more and more popular. When a game is released, <a href="https://blog.chartmetric.com/video-game-music-rise-popularity/">music streaming platforms</a> routinely release an accompanying soundtrack. </p>
<p>The classical music world and symphony orchestras may finally be catching on.</p>
<p>In 2022, the BBC Proms, a daily summer concert series that features classical music in London, included video game music <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/erjv9r">performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra</a> for the first time in history. In 2023, the Grammys recognized “<a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/2023-grammys-new-categories-songwriter-year-best-video-game-soundtrack-social-impact-special-merit-award-65th-grammy-awards">Best Video Game Soundtrack</a>” as an official category for the first time. Its inaugural winner was <a href="https://www.grammy.com/news/stephanie-economou-interview-2023-grammys-assassins-creed-valhalla-best-score-soundtrack-video-games-interactive-media">Stephanie Economou</a> for her work on “Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarök.”</p>
<p>Today, there are a number of symphonic concert series – <a href="http://gameonconcert.com/">GameOn!</a>, <a href="https://www.gameconcerts.com/en/concerts/final-symphony/">Game Concerts</a>, <a href="https://ffdistantworlds.com/">Distant Worlds</a> and <a href="https://www.videogameslive.com/">VGL</a> – that feature live video game music performed by top orchestras.</p>
<p>“Starfield” will be marked by beautiful graphics, interactive game play and a compelling story, but holding it together will be the gravity of its sonic landscape. Video game music has come a long way from its first “bleeps and bloops.” Symphonic music will continue to accompany players’ video game journeys, and like “Starfield,” the sky is no longer the limit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Aaron Hardwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The genre has long been viewed as too exclusive, too expensive and too stuffy. Thanks to video games, that’s starting to change.J. Aaron Hardwick, Orchestra Director and Assistant Professor of Music, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2093232023-07-11T00:11:03Z2023-07-11T00:11:03ZNZ music schools under threat: we need a better measure of their worth than money<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536693/original/file-20230710-21-j4gzbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C5072%2C3374&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Funding for the arts and tertiary education in Aotearoa New Zealand has long been insufficient. Run the two together, as is <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/23-06-2023/all-the-university-courses-on-the-chopping-block">happening this year</a>, and we find ourselves at a precarious junction.</p>
<p>Arts and humanities departments in general are threatened by job and course losses due to the university underfunding crisis. In music education alone, the cuts have already been extensive. </p>
<p>Te Auaha, <a href="https://www.xn--tepkenga-szb.ac.nz/">Te Pukenga</a>’s creative campus in Wellington, has folded most of its <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/129945313/music-programmes-at-te-pkengas-weltec-whitireia-campuses-could-be-gone-by-years-end">music programmes</a>. The Auckland campus of the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand (MAINZ) is <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018884653/audio-students-staff-in-limbo-as-mainz-to-close">closing</a> too. </p>
<p>Schools of music at Auckland, Waikato and Otago universities have all gone through significant restructuring over the past decade. Massey University’s creative programmes may be <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/492835/staff-fear-big-job-cuts-as-massey-university-reconsiders-courses-with-low-enrolments">under review</a>. The future of the New Zealand School of Music at Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington is also uncertain.</p>
<p>The country’s creative and critical culture of music will be substantially diminished as a result. How can we sustain vibrant popular, classical, jazz, electronic and experimental music scenes without the institutions that nurture and produce musical talent?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1673259934719574016"}"></div></p>
<h2>Other measures of wealth</h2>
<p>Music shapes and helps us understand who we are as people and as a culture.
As the pioneering New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn put it, we need “a music of our own, a living tradition of music created in this country”. </p>
<p>Or as musician and producer <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/summer-2022/28-12-2022/maori-music-is-hitting-the-mainstream-and-its-not-by-accident-2">Hinewehi Mohi said</a> more recently: “We need music and we need waiata Māori to really tie us together and create a sense of cultural identity and nationhood.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/starved-of-funds-and-vision-struggling-universities-put-nzs-entire-research-strategy-at-risk-207708">Starved of funds and vision, struggling universities put NZ’s entire research strategy at risk</a>
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<p>It may be a truism to say music and other art forms are a public good, but it’s a truth nonetheless. And in tough times the arts become nothing less than an essential service. Studies from <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647756/full">Finland</a> and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00858-y">Germany</a> have shown how
music helped people maintain a sense of community and wellbeing during pandemic lockdowns.</p>
<p>Even just bingeing on streaming services involves consuming the artistic labour of composers, sound designers, dialogue editors and scores of production creatives. In other words, we need the arts and artists, whether or not we’re conscious of it.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Treasury’s <a href="https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/tp/living-standards-framework-2021-html">Living Standards Framework</a> now recognises values beyond the purely fiscal, and that “wealth” and “capital” have broader meanings “not fully captured in the system of national accounts, such as human capability and the natural environment”.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536692/original/file-20230710-32332-6pc1g9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Hinewehi Mohi: ‘create a sense of cultural identity and nationhood’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span>
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<h2>Short-term fixes and long-term harm</h2>
<p>The social and economic benefits of music are well established, and were substantiated in the key findings of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s 2022 <a href="https://mch.govt.nz/valuing-arts-research-report">Valuing the Arts</a> report.</p>
<p>The rewards are both social and individual. Educators, psychologists and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/gm5cg8p2rFpRKpnagQrr/full">employers</a> are well aware of music’s cognitive, intellectual and behavioural <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-you-want-your-child-to-be-more-resilient-get-them-to-join-a-choir-orchestra-or-band-190657">benefits</a> – including how group music making develops teamwork, empathy and grit, all components of resilience.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-break-the-cycle-of-crisis-in-aotearoa-new-zealands-arts-and-culture-it-starts-with-proper-funding-199772">We need to break the cycle of crisis in Aotearoa New Zealand’s arts and culture. It starts with proper funding</a>
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<p>A rapidly changing world requires young performers, composers, technologists and thinkers who are able to keep pace. Short-term solutions to financial problems, however, can cause <a href="https://theconversation.com/starved-of-funds-and-vision-struggling-universities-put-nzs-entire-research-strategy-at-risk-207708">long-term harm</a>.</p>
<p>Cuts to the New Zealand School of Music, and other similar programmes across the country, will have broad repercussions, diminishing the depth and breadth of music education. The creative industries will be starved of young talent (echoing labour shortages in other sectors).</p>
<p>Theatre <a href="https://thebigidea.nz/stories/unforgivable-attack-latest-blow-in-gutting-of-nz-theatre-education">faces the same</a> destructive spiral. In a larger society, some damage might be absorbed. In a country of five million it becomes palpable.</p>
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<h2>Better funding models</h2>
<p>The current tertiary funding model uses staff-student ratios as the primary funding metric. But this doesn’t work for music or any discipline where teaching and learning take place in small groups, intensively, often involving one-to-one tuition. </p>
<p>The argument that music and theatre courses should be cut because of low enrolments is perverse. A low staff-student ratio, along with specialist facilities and equipment, are <a href="https://gpseducation.oecd.org/revieweducationpolicies/#!node=41720&filter=all">beneficial</a> for developing both individual talent and outstanding teamwork. Similar needs and costs are not challenged in science education, nor should they be in arts.</p>
<p>This kind of teaching can be time and labour intensive for students and teachers, but it is the only way to produce the results that define excellence. Students don’t learn to perform, compose or engineer compelling music in generic lecture theatres alongside hundreds of others.</p>
<p>Similarly, box-office returns and gross revenues aren’t great measures of true artistic, experiential and cultural value. Stadium shows may indicate commercial viability, but musicians and audiences <a href="https://news.pollstar.com/2019/10/08/underplays-in-overdrive-why-big-artists-are-increasingly-playing-small-venues/">thrive in intimate settings</a> where new ideas and material can be tested and real rapport established.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-show-must-go-on-but-its-time-to-re-think-how-we-fund-the-arts-in-nz-156488">The show must go on, but it's time to re-think how we fund the arts in NZ</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Music and value</h2>
<p>We clearly need a more nuanced and holistic measure of the value of arts and education than the simply financial. As Robert Kennedy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/may/24/robert-kennedy-gdp">famously said</a> of GDP:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To that end, the <a href="https://www.tec.govt.nz/">Tertiary Education Commission</a>, the government’s main interface with the sector, should reflect the Treasury’s Living Standards Framework when accounting for the broader social contribution of higher education. </p>
<p>Various precedents already exist in the form of international measures such as the <a href="https://gnhusa.org/genuine-progress-indicator/">Genuine Progress Indicator</a>, the UN’s <a href="https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI">Human Development Index</a>, the <a href="https://www.centreforthrivingplaces.org/about-measurement-policy/thriving-places-index/">Thriving Places Index</a> and the OECD’s <a href="https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#/11111111111">Better Life Index</a>.</p>
<p>All in various ways try to incorporate the importance of community, culture, work-life balance and overall life satisfaction. It should come as no surprise that wellbeing and participation in music are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-10373-008">closely correlated</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209323/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dugal McKinnon works for the New Zealand School of Music Te Kōki, Victoria University of Wellington-Te Herenga Waka. </span></em></p>The country’s creative and critical music culture will be substantially diminished if the university funding crisis hits any harder.Dugal McKinnon, Associate Professor, Composition and Sonic Arts, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077962023-06-28T12:35:03Z2023-06-28T12:35:03ZUS music education has a history of anti-Blackness that is finally being confronted<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534363/original/file-20230627-26812-uskrxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=862%2C116%2C5128%2C3871&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These multicolored notes reflect the diversity of music across the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/musical-note-shape-bokeh-backdrop-royalty-free-image/1147839051?phrase=music+theory+notes&adppopup=true">MirageC/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to achieving racial diversity, music education at the university level in the U.S. still has a long way to go. </p>
<p>One of the leading professional organizations, the Society for Music Theory, <a href="https://societymusictheory.org/announcement/executive-board-response-journal-schenkerian-studies-vol-12-2020-07">put it bluntly</a> in 2020: “We humbly acknowledge that we have much work to do to dismantle the whiteness and systemic racism that deeply shape our discipline,” the group wrote.</p>
<p>The focus on white, male Europeans in textbooks and music selected for study has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/music-education-has-a-race-problem-and-universities-must-address-it-143719">called into question</a> by countless scholars and practitioners because of <a href="https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/03/can-music-theory-education-overcome-its-whiteness-problem">music education’s deep roots</a> in anti-Blackness. </p>
<p>In recent years, the simplest solution for music professors has been to find nonwhite classical composers and use their work on a program or concert to demonstrate the school’s commitment to diversity. One person whose work some professors have used in such a way is <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price">Florence Price</a>. A composer and music teacher who died in 1953, Price is considered to be one of the first Black female musicians with mainstream appeal.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://philipewell.com/">in my view</a> as one of only a few Black scholars in the field of music theory, such diversity efforts often serve only to reinforce the whiteness and maleness of the system. </p>
<p>Ethnomusicologist Dylan Robinson <a href="https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/is/2019-v39-n1-is05836/1075347ar.pdf">calls these efforts</a> “additive inclusion” in that they give the impression of making positive change but serve only to maintain an overemphasis on the work of white male Europeans.</p>
<h2>Music theory textbooks</h2>
<p>In 2020, <a href="https://www.furman.edu/people/megan-lyons/#">music theorist Megan Lyons</a> and I did <a href="https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.2/mto.20.26.2.ewell.html">an analysis</a> of the seven most common undergraduate music theory textbooks in the U.S. </p>
<p>We wanted to establish a baseline of the racial and gender makeup of the composers represented in the books to see what teachers were offering to our students as the most important music to consider in the undergraduate music major.</p>
<p>Music theory courses, usually spread over four or five semesters, are often considered the most crucial aspect of the major, and theory textbooks are presented as authoritative sources that outline the essentials of the discipline. </p>
<p>Representative titles include “Harmony and Voice Leading,” “Harmony in Context,” “Harmonic Practice in Tonal Music” and “Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony.” </p>
<p>Looming large in these textbooks is the word “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/harmony-music">harmony</a>,” the sound that is heard when two or more instruments or voices sound together, though in a global context the term has other meanings as well. What is considered harmony in the U.S. is based on European notions of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/tonality">tonality</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/pitch-music">pitch</a>, <a href="https://www.simplifyingtheory.com/music-scales/">scale</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/mode-music">mode</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/key-music">key</a> and <a href="https://online.berklee.edu/takenote/conjunct-disjunct-melody-basic-definitions/">melody</a>.</p>
<p>The three composers the books most commonly represented were Germans <a href="https://www.biography.com/musicians/johann-sebastian-bach">Johann Sebastian Bach</a> and <a href="https://www.bl.uk/people/ludwig-van-beethoven">Ludwig van Beethoven</a> and Austrian <a href="https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2016-2017/figaro/composer/">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A black and white portrait of a white man wearing a white powdered wig and holding a sheet of music." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534173/original/file-20230626-12748-u5iebb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mid-19th-century engraving of Johann Sebastian Bach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/bach-antique-engraved-portrait-royalty-free-illustration/164111851?phrase=Black+classical+musical+composer&adppopup=true">FierceAbin/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that of the nearly 3,000 musical examples cited in the textbooks, only 49 were written by composers who were not white and only 68 were written by composers who were not men. </p>
<p>On rare occasions those two subgroups overlapped, as with Florence Price. Only two examples were written by Asian composers.</p>
<p>All told, almost 98% of the musical examples were written by white men who mostly spoke German, and these seven textbooks represented about 96% of the market share.</p>
<p>Left out of textbooks are the many African American musicians who contributed significantly to American music, such as classical composers <a href="https://songofamerica.net/composer/dett-robert-nathaniel/">Nathaniel Dett</a>, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200038842/">James Reese Europe</a>, <a href="https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/julia-perry-american-neoclassicist">Julia Perry</a> and <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200038858/">Clarence Cameron White</a>. </p>
<p>Also generally excluded were nonclassical genres like jazz, blues or bluegrass, or contemporary popular music such as hip-hop, soul or punk. </p>
<h2>Anti-Blackness in music conservatories</h2>
<p>American music academies generally reflect the social norms of the day. Anti-Blackness was commonly accepted in all music institutions until well into the 20th century through the <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/11865737/destined_to_fail">eugenics of music pedagogue Carl Seashore</a>, the <a href="https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/am/article/38/4/395/261756">white supremacy of the composer-pianist John Powell</a> and the <a href="https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.2/mto.20.26.2.ewell.html">racism of music theorist Heinrich Schenker</a>.</p>
<p>In her 2019 master’s thesis “A Message of Inclusion, A History of Exclusion: Racial Injustice at the Peabody Institute,” violinist Sarah Thomas details a <a href="https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/62108">common American story of racial angst</a> in higher education. </p>
<p>Thomas focused on the Peabody Institute, founded in 1857 in Baltimore, Maryland and the oldest U.S. music institution, and its board members’ letters about the possible admission of Black pianist Paul Brent.</p>
<p>In July 1949, Peabody President William Marbury <a href="https://exhibits.library.jhu.edu/exhibits/show/a-message-of-inclusion/policy-change-at-peabody/acceptance-of-brent">wrote the school’s board of directors</a> and reminded board members of the school’s unofficial policy at the time:</p>
<p>“We are brought face to face with the issue whether to modify our long-standing rule against the admission of negro students,” Marbury wrote. </p>
<p>Once the issue was put to a vote, only one board member, Douglas Gordon, openly opposed admitting Brent and cast the one dissenting vote. </p>
<p>“It seems to me that it would be a great mistake to change the present policy,” <a href="https://exhibits.library.jhu.edu/exhibits/show/a-message-of-inclusion/policy-change-at-peabody/acceptance-of-brent">Gordon wrote</a>. “In our climate the presence of negroes can to some be extremely offensive.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="One black student stands with a group of white classmates." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/533001/original/file-20230620-12148-mzmx1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Paul A. Brent, the first Black student to enroll at the Peabody Conservatory, is second from the right in the back row in this 1953 photograph.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://cdm16613.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16613coll11/id/285">Peabody Institute</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though Brent was admitted and became the first Black student to enroll at Peabody, the abhorrent views of Gordon still remain present today in more subtle forms. </p>
<p>The study of jazz is one such example of racial exclusion. </p>
<p>Generally considered a Black musical genre, jazz is now part of most music educational institutions, but is virtually always separate from the mainstream music major. </p>
<p>In a few cases, students are able to major in jazz. But in most cases, if students wants to major in jazz, they must major in classical music while playing jazz on the side.</p>
<h2>Change in music education is coming</h2>
<p>Citing declining enrollments for music majors across the country, the College Music Society in 2014 published a <a href="https://www.music.org/pdf/pubs/tfumm/TFUMM.pdf">manifesto for change</a> to the undergraduate music major.
It deemphasized music and methods of the Western canon while emphasizing the need for students to engage with music from different cultures and with new technologies. </p>
<p>This change has taken many forms. </p>
<p>Musicians are rethinking their curricula to treat all music of the world on equal footing as the European standards. </p>
<p>Piano proficiency and European language requirements are being reconsidered – in some cases cast aside – by music institutions. Other schools are creating new music majors for those working with digital sound and sound design, or for those studying popular genres such as blues, rock, metal and country. </p>
<p>Academic work in music is changing as well, and students can now at times get credit for work <a href="https://theconversation.com/hip-hop-professor-looks-to-open-doors-with-worlds-first-peer-reviewed-rap-album-153761">outside of traditional paper writing</a>.</p>
<p>It’s my belief that the sooner we musicians, irrespective of our own identities, can face up to our racial segregationist past, the sooner we can all reap the benefits of our nation’s unique musical diversity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip Ewell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The predominantly white European field of music education in the US is changing radically these days as schools confront anti-Black histories.Philip Ewell, Professor of music theory, Hunter CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906572022-10-23T19:02:03Z2022-10-23T19:02:03ZIf you want your child to be more resilient, get them to join a choir, orchestra or band<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490981/original/file-20221020-20-fiqym2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C44%2C4985%2C3263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of Tasmanian Youth Orchestra</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mike Morffew</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most important qualities for a young person to develop is resilience. This involves their ability to overcome adversity. </p>
<p>Resilience is perhaps more important now than ever. Today’s young people have been <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/children-youth/australias-youth-in-brief/contents/summary">facing adversity on a mass-scale</a>, thanks to COVID and all the disruptions to their education and social, home and working lives. </p>
<p>The good news is, resilience is not just something you are born with. It <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/ca34a20a-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/ca34a20a-en#chapter-d1e10348">can be learned</a> from our experiences and interactions with others. </p>
<p>Parents may not be aware that one way to develop resilience is through group music making, such as in a school or community choir, orchestra or band. </p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>We wanted to investigate how group music making can develop skills beyond just learning to play an instrument or sing. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project">study</a> is based on the Tasmanian Youth Orchestras, which include accomplished musicians aged from 14 to 25. This includes the state youth orchestra as well as two other orchestras, specialist ensembles and two choirs.</p>
<p>For our project, we collected comments from players, managers and conductors/teachers on a closed Facebook site and then did eight follow-up interviews. </p>
<p>Our findings show how qualities like teamwork, empathy and grit – all components of resilience – can be developed through group music making. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/self-compassion-is-the-superpower-year-12-students-need-for-exams-and-life-beyond-school-192086">Self-compassion is the superpower year 12 students need for exams ... and life beyond school</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Teamwork</h2>
<p>In order for a group of players to make a piece of music work, they have to work together. </p>
<p>People have to listen to each other, understand what is happening around them, and be prepared to change how they play something (slow or fast, loud or soft) depending on how the group is performing. You need to be able to value the contributions of other people, not just your own. </p>
<p>So, <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project/teamwork">we found</a> if you are playing in a band, you are learning team work skills. As David*, a conductor told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>After a while, players realised that they were ultimately responsible to the other players not to the conductor.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Empathy</h2>
<p>Players also need to be able to understand others in a group and share their feelings. </p>
<p>In a choir or orchestra, the music making is a shared creative experience – that involves the whole body. And this is where <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project/empathy">empathy</a> comes in. </p>
<p>Empathy, like teamwork, can be cumulative, growing over time through rehearsals and performances, as players and teachers support one another. As brass player Tom said, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have to understand that I am not always going to be the main focus of a piece.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another player, Simon, told us about his realisation that other people were also having to work hard (and it wasn’t just about him). </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You certainly aren’t the only person having to practise your doubles [playing two notes at once] for that piece.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Grit</h2>
<p>It is important for young people to develop a “<a href="https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/">growth mindset</a>”, where they understand effort makes them stronger and learning is a long-term commitment.</p>
<p>This is where <a href="https://www.utas.edu.au/research/projects/music-resilience-project/grit">grit</a> also comes in: pursing a goal and sticking with it even if it takes a lot of work or gets difficult.</p>
<p>It can take many months to learn a piece of music up to performance standard. And learning an instrument requires practice every day. So commitment is a key part of learning music. </p>
<p>Lawrence, a player, told us about participating in his school musical: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There were many points throughout the year which I felt like giving up […] but it was something I had committed to […]. I kept working on playing the music to the best of my ability, even if it felt like I couldn’t do it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tory, a choir conductor, described performance as both “safe and unsafe”. Young people in a choir learn to deal with the unexpected as part of performance. And this takes a kind a bravery. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’ve got safety in numbers, to some extent, but you are still stepping into the unknown every time you walk on stage to do a thing. You can rely on each other, because you’ve rehearsed, but stuff does go pear shaped. Stuff happens […] It’s an incredibly useful life skill to be able to go, ‘well, that sucked’ […] and go, all right ‘let’s [go again]’.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why music?</h2>
<p>But what is so special about music in fostering resilience? Young people also work in sporting teams or academic assignments. They can also work together while playing games. </p>
<p>Playing music provokes activity in many different parts of the brain at the same time. Listening to music that we like triggers the pleasure/reward centre of the brain. Dopamine and serotonin are released, resulting in that “feel good” sensation, and <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/this-is-your-brain-on-music-daniel-levitin/book/9780241987353.html?source=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjw48OaBhDWARIsAMd966B_bnNSq0206FOdSKqjfAEbrRWPkyKsh1tlY4v7eD1JGqZMB5qYGmoaAgmKEALw_wcB">providing an incentive</a> to keep engaging with music.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children playing the trumpet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490989/original/file-20221021-13-kk9wnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Playing music releases ‘feel good’ hormones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Learning a musical instrument also <a href="https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2021/01/14/JNEUROSCI.1985-20.2020/tab-article-info?versioned=true">strengthens connections</a> in the brain, linking the auditory cortex to parts of the brain involved in the processing of complex information. This link has <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02023/full">been shown</a> to improve memory, motor functions and learning in other subject areas. </p>
<p>Making music with others also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661313000491">affects levels</a> of the bonding hormone oxytocin, supporting a sense of togetherness, while reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and boosting immune function.</p>
<p>For young people, music can provide valuable respite from study and daily life, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1049732320944142">help</a> manage and express their emotions. </p>
<p>So, if you want your child to be a team player who is empathetic and shows grit, our research suggests that joining a music group could be the answer.</p>
<p><em>*names have been changed</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr William James Baker is employed by UTAS.
He receives funding from the Tasmanian Community Fund, the Tasmanian Department of Education and the Australian Strings Association. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Associate Professor Anne-Marie Forbes is employed by the University of Tasmania and received funding from the Tasmanian Community Fund supporting this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim McLeod is employed by The University of Tasmania and received funding from the Tasmanian Community Fund supporting this research.</span></em></p>A new study shows how teamwork, empathy and grit – all components of resilience – can be developed through group music making.William James Baker, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, University of TasmaniaAnne-Marie Forbes, Associate Professor and Discipline Lead, Creative Arts and Health, University of TasmaniaKim McLeod, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1895532022-10-19T19:05:29Z2022-10-19T19:05:29ZWe studied the ‘bibles’ of jazz standards – and found sexism lurking in the strangest place<p>We are two female jazz singers, jazz researchers and lovers of jazz. And we have discovered jazz gave us another shared experience – sexism.</p>
<p>We’d both experienced garden variety sexism. Wendy was asked by a male school principal if her recent marriage meant she would resign from teaching to start a family. Melissa received passionate advice from a male audience member to swap her comfortable outfit with a “glamorous dress” when she sang jazz. </p>
<p>But as university music students, neither of us imagined something as innocent as a key signature in a textbook might be a symptom of gender discrimination.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/key-music">key</a> tells musicians which set of notes a song uses. In singing, a key affects whether the notes will be sung in the low, middle or high part of the voice. </p>
<p>But when we looked at what keys the “bibles” of jazz standards used, we found a hidden form of sexism.</p>
<h2>The Real books</h2>
<p>This unusual story begins in 1975 at the Berklee College of Music in the United States. Two music students, tired of reading shoddy, error-filled song sheets, created The Real Book to accurately notate jazz songs. Sold illegally to avoid copyright fees, it was a phenomenal success. </p>
<p>After years in surreptitious worldwide circulation, publisher Hal Leonard transformed The Real Book into a <a href="https://officialrealbook.com/history/">legal edition</a>. In 1988, Sher Music joined the act and produced The New Real Book. Despite similar titles, Sher’s book was unrelated but mimicked the idea of clearly notating jazz songs. </p>
<p>Together the two books cornered the market. </p>
<p>The real books remain the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/10/arts/pop-music-flying-below-the-radar-of-copyrights.html">bibles of jazz musicians</a> everywhere because they contain hundreds of songs called <a href="https://www.jazzstandards.com/overview.definition.htm">standards</a>. </p>
<p>Standards are common jazz songs jazz musicians are expected to know. Knowing them is your ticket to participating in jazz ensembles, and so universities use these books to train students. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman dances and three men play jazz instruments." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489964/original/file-20221017-25-5rv6lv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Knowing jazz standards is your ticket to join ensembles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josephine Bevan/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, few educators realise one decision in 1975 about notating standards cemented a practice excluding women.</p>
<p>Jazz is valued as a “conversational” style of music where musicians express personal ideas and real stories. “Authentic” jazz singing is associated with the lower voice we use when speaking.</p>
<p>The human voice is a <a href="https://soundbridge.io/human-voice-instruments/">biological musical instrument</a> coming in a variety of sizes, with the male larynx (or voice box) generally larger than the female. This means men generally sing (and talk) in lower pitches, and keys that sit in the middle of the male voice are usually too low for women to sing. </p>
<p>When our Berklee students and Sher Music notated songs, they chose keys used by jazz musicians. And during that era, male instrumentalists and male singers dominated the jazz community.</p>
<p>So, when the real books were being developed, the editors didn’t choose keys that suited female voices. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-in-jazz-still-face-many-barriers-to-success-new-research-160732">Women in jazz still face many barriers to success – new research</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s in a key?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Jazz-and-Gender/Reddan-Herzig-Kahr/p/book/9780367534141">Our research</a> examined the recordings of 16 renowned female jazz vocalists, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ella-Fitzgerald">Ella Fitzgerald</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/search?query=sarah+vaughan">Sarah Vaughan</a>. </p>
<p>We sampled 20 songs from The Real Book and 20 songs from The New Real Book and compared the keys in the books with the keys of the female recordings. </p>
<p>Less than 5% of 248 recordings fully matched the printed key. </p>
<p>If women sing songs straight from The Real Book or The New Real Book, they are likely to be singing too low for their voices. And if they shift the male key up one <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/octave-music">octave</a>, it will be too high.</p>
<p>Consequently, female jazz vocal students are disadvantaged. If they comply with the keys of the iconic texts, they won’t sound as “authentically jazz” as male students. The male voice will produce the conversational tone we have come to expect from jazz; the female voice will be too low or too high for this conversational style.</p>
<p>The female professional singers we studied <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition_(music)">transposed</a> the standards to keys that suited a jazz style. But this skill takes time for students to learn. Transposing requires understanding music theory and having confidence to advocate for your needs as a singer. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black woman sings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489966/original/file-20221017-23-mgmyfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Female singers who don’t transpose the standards will be at a disadvantage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josh Rocklage/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Experienced jazz singers inevitably acquire these skills, but what about novice female singers? </p>
<p>For many young female singers, their introduction to jazz is coloured by keys ill-suited to their voices. Place them in a band where the instrumentalists are predominantly male with little understanding of voice production, and it is an uncomfortable situation for aspiring singers.</p>
<p>Fortunately, technology has advanced to a point where many standards are available on phones and can be transposed instantly. But this won’t happen until music teachers and jazz musicians understand and respect female singers by using the appropriate keys.</p>
<p>So, can a key signature be sexist? Yes, it can when it’s presented as the only choice of key for female students learning jazz standards. </p>
<p>It’s time to update our jazz bibles with sources including keys used by Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and acknowledge sexism has been hiding in the strangest place. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189553/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Few educators realise one decision in 1975 about notating standards cemented a practice excluding women.Wendy Hargreaves, Senior Learning Advisor, University of Southern QueenslandMelissa Forbes, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Singing, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1814232022-04-19T12:19:58Z2022-04-19T12:19:58ZAn 11-year-old Prince spoke out in support of his striking Minneapolis teachers – a historian of the city’s music scene explains why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458452/original/file-20220418-22-9ex3xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3969%2C2667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Minneapolis public school system helped to musically educate artists like Prince, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prince-performing-at-the-brit-music-awards-at-earls-court-news-photo/1001086110?adppopup=true">John Ferguson/Mirrorpix/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For Prince fans around the world, the recent discovery of the singer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/us/prince-1970-teachers-strike-wcco.html">speaking out </a>at age 11 on behalf of striking Minneapolis public schoolteachers is an exciting piece of Prince pop cultural iconography. Like his <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/prince-vault-sister-tyka-nelson-1153227/">vault of unreleased music</a>, it’s a find that enriches the public’s understanding of who he was and the forces that helped shape his life.</p>
<p>As the author of a forthcoming book on the Minneapolis music scene – and the public school system in that city that helped to create it – I find the video especially thrilling.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EQe0EoVoGqU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Prince, 11, speaks to news reporters during the 1970 Minneapolis teacher strike.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This footage not only provides a glimpse into the early years of Prince Rogers Nelson – or “Skipper,” as he was called – but also provides a look at Black North Minneapolis in the 1970s, which is often overlooked despite the fact that it <a href="https://theconversation.com/minneapolis-long-hot-summer-of-67-and-the-parallels-to-todays-protests-over-police-brutality-139814">had two major uprisings between 1965 and 1967 that brought out the National Guard</a>.</p>
<p>Overshadowed by scholarly focus on the Black culture of places like Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Oakland and Detroit, Black people in Minneapolis – at least in my experience as a researcher – often seem like an afterthought, if they are considered at all.</p>
<p>Seeing young Prince in that footage already sporting the iconic smirk that fans would come to know and love helps situate him in the tapestry of Black people in the Upper Midwest who created life and culture against the backdrop of icy, <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/minneapoliscityminnesota">mostly white cities</a>.</p>
<p>This footage is also striking because it raises an important question: What prompted him to stand in support of his teachers?</p>
<h2>Minneapolis made music education mandatory</h2>
<p>Indeed, it is remarkable to see any 11-year-old think of someone else besides themselves. Self-centeredness and adolescence often go hand and hand. </p>
<p>While it’s tempting to draw a line connecting Prince’s support of striking teachers with the issues he raised in his music, there’s not enough evidence from the video – or elsewhere – to justify that. That said, an understanding of the emphasis that Minneapolis public schools placed on music may provide better insight as to why he spoke up.</p>
<p>Prince went to school in one of the most advanced, and musically supportive, public school systems in U.S. history. It’s a system that helped to musically educate not only Prince but also super producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, funk master Morris Day and R&B singer Alexander O’Neal, as well as indie rock giants Hüsker Dü and the Suicide Commandos. </p>
<p>Created by its chief architect, Thaddeus Paul Giddings, who was hired as superintendent of musical education in 1910, the music education curriculum in Minneapolis public schools <a href="https://startribune.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=55988832&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjE4MTQ5NjU5OSwiaWF0IjoxNjUwMjk5NDIzLCJleHAiOjE2NTAzODU4MjN9.CvU8SC0-5uboqw5Ors2jb4_6hr7VTWgIKvv4sU_RoJc">was compulsory for the 50,000 students</a> who attended the schools at the time.</p>
<p>All students, K-12, were trained in music notation, voice, instrumentation, posture, breath and sight-reading.</p>
<p>“We learn by doing,” Giddings said, according to the 1967 book “<a href="https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no90009769/">Thaddeus P. Giddings: A Biography</a>.” While the commitment to universal music education lost steam as financial support <a href="https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no90009769/">dried up</a> by the time Prince entered the school system in the early 1960s, the school system still stood out for having been <a href="https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no90009769/">the first in the nation</a> that made music education mandatory. </p>
<p>Music was Prince’s favorite subject in school, which provided him the opportunity to <a href="https://people.com/celebrity/princes-first-music-teacher-opens-up-about-singer-as-a-student/">learn and play music every day</a> – beginning in elementary school.</p>
<p>Considering this, it’s easy to see how a shy kid could muster up the courage to get on camera and support his striking teachers.</p>
<h2>Life before secrecy</h2>
<p>Finally, this video is significant because it’s one of the few unguarded pieces of his life that fans and biographers have ever witnessed. </p>
<p>Prince spent his career making himself into an enigma. People could never pin him down or figure out truth from fiction. He accomplished this by using myth to keep us guessing. Prince played up the image of himself as a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/prince-was-not-biracial-he-loved-his-blacknessand-yours">mixed-race Black person like his character in “Purple Rain</a>,” the 1984 hit movie that was loosely based on his life as a rising star in Minneapolis. In it, he <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-secret-life-of-prince-103204/">says that his mother was Italian</a>; in real life, Prince’s mother, Mattie Shaw, was Black.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 150,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-150ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>He used nondisclosure agreements to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39632898">keep secret</a> his friendships, employees and collaborators – and any violation meant you never heard from him again. And in 1993, he changed his name to an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36107590">unpronounceable “Love Symbol”</a>, which he used <a href="https://historydaily.org/remember-when-prince-changed-his-name">for nearly a decade</a>. </p>
<p>Even after his tragic death, fans never stopped wondering who he was. That’s why this footage of him as a little boy stands out as one of the few unprotected and noncurated peeks behind the curtain of a life cloaked in mystery.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rashad Shabazz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Music education in Minneapolis public schools stood out as one of the best and gave rise to the city’s music scene that helped propel Prince to fame, a scholar writes.Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1804112022-04-10T20:07:56Z2022-04-10T20:07:56Z‘Just as important as English or maths’: how mentoring is bringing music alive for primary school students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455443/original/file-20220331-21-fnp5e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The National Music Teacher Mentoring Program</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The National Music Teacher Mentoring Program was established by Richard Gill in 2015 and implemented through the Australian Youth Orchestra.</p>
<p>The mentoring program uses a simple formula: experienced music specialist teachers (the mentors) are paired with generalist early childhood teachers in primary schools which don’t have music programs to develop music programs collaboratively.</p>
<p>First, the mentors assess the teachers’ music experience and skills, student needs and local resources. </p>
<p>Second, specialist and generalist teachers work together to plan music activities that will work for that school, class and teacher. </p>
<p>The training involves mentors demonstrating music teaching in their own classroom, then demonstrating in the teachers’ classroom, along with joint lesson planning, preparation and team-teaching, where mentors gradually hand over the reins to teachers as they gain more music teaching skills and confidence.</p>
<p>The approach of the mentoring program is very different from typical professional development. Ordinarily, teachers may be presented with a great deal of information during a one-day course but they are not provided with ongoing support as they trial new ideas back in their classroom.</p>
<p>Under this mentorship program, mentors and teachers build an ongoing relationship based on trust, mutual respect and collaboration. Since its inception, 630 primary classroom teachers have been upskilled to teach <a href="https://www.ayo.com.au/content/nmtmp-about/gkez8w">50,000 students</a> music in their classrooms.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/music-can-help-lift-our-kids-out-of-the-literacy-rut-but-schools-in-some-states-are-still-missing-out-173908">Music can help lift our kids out of the literacy rut, but schools in some states are still missing out</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Benefits for children</h2>
<p>This mentorship scheme provides a ray of sunshine for children who do not have access to music at school, in particular at disadvantaged schools.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735618790355">Our research</a> found, regardless of gender or socio-economic status, the singing skills of students in these classrooms improved and children showed a general improvement in their attitudes towards music. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1055&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1055&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455444/original/file-20220331-13-eceshd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1055&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration by a child who took part in the music classes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The National Music Teacher Mentoring Program</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We spoke directly to children who participated in this program. They told us they:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>recognised the intrinsic value of music</p></li>
<li><p>sang and played musical games at home and at school</p></li>
<li><p>made music at home and while travelling in cars </p></li>
<li><p>played musical instruments </p></li>
<li><p>accessed music using technology</p></li>
<li><p>used music for mood and self-regulation</p></li>
<li><p>built social interactions and confidence through music and </p></li>
<li><p>identified music’s positive impact on literacy and numeracy development.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>One very wise year two child said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think [music] is just as important as English and maths. I think it is just as important because if you don’t know how to express yourself or play or sing, then your life isn’t going to be as fun as kids that have got education in music.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-your-school-closures-playlist-why-music-should-be-part-of-parents-pandemic-survival-strategy-163055">What's your school closures playlist? Why music should be part of parents’ pandemic survival strategy</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Impact on teachers and schools</h2>
<p>As well as talking to children, we interviewed <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2019.1647154">teachers, mentors and principals</a>. </p>
<p>They saw many positive outcomes from the program, including an enriched school curriculum, locally relevant programs that drew on the interests and activities of the school and its community to create music content, the building of teacher resources, increased confidence in teachers’ music skills and a positive impact on student learning and behaviour.</p>
<p>As part of the mentorship, music did not just take place in discrete lessons. The mentoring program integrated music into daily activities and transitions between regular lessons, changing the atmosphere of entire schools. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teacher and a student play tambourines in a colourful classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456534/original/file-20220406-19-blycwh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mentorship program gives early childhood teachers the confidence to teach music in their classrooms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The morning roll-call became a singing game, short music activities between lessons refreshed children for the next task and children continued singing and playing music games out of the classroom in the playground.</p>
<p>Teachers also noted the particular benefits for children from non-English speaking backgrounds who gained English skills and personal confidence through singing and music activities. </p>
<p>As one teacher described:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>30% of our students come to us with no English at all, and now they’re learning chunks of language because of singing. Songs make a huge difference to children learning English, because otherwise they’re just silent.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Children with diverse neurological needs also became calmer in the classroom and more actively engaged in learning. One mentor reported:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The teacher was absolutely speechless about this little boy who had a number of learning difficulties, would not speak, incredibly poor self-esteem. But he got up and sang and had confidence.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Bridging the gap between values and skills</h2>
<p>The National Music Teacher Mentoring Program has made it possible to upskill classroom teachers with little previous music experience to deliver quality music programs in their schools. </p>
<p>Programs such as this invest in the expertise of specialist music teachers, linking music mentors and teachers to create music programs in primary schools.</p>
<p><a href="http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00724">Our research</a> has shown early childhood teachers value music highly, but express low confidence in their skills and ability to deliver music education. The National Music Teacher Mentoring program is addressing the gap between values, confidence and skills.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Margaret Barrett receives funding from the Australian Research Council. the Australian Youth Orchestra, and the Melbourne Recital Centre</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Zhukov does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We studied an innovative mentorship program that pairs specialist music teachers with early childhood educators to bring quality music programs into schools.Margaret S. Barrett, Head of School, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash UniversityKatie Zhukov, Research Fellow, Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1744532022-03-07T20:19:38Z2022-03-07T20:19:38ZYou’re not tone deaf and you know more about music than you think<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449637/original/file-20220302-21-bhp81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4500%2C2997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Every rendition of "Happy Birthday" is different.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Think of the last time you were at a birthday party and the obligatory rendition of “Happy Birthday” began. If you’re like most people, you probably joined in without a second thought. Would you be surprised to know that the version of
“Happy Birthday” you’re used to singing might be different every time?</p>
<p>The musical key that “Happy Birthday” is sung in often depends on the note that the person who starts the song chooses to sing first. This starting point determines the key for the rest of the song. We’re still able to recognize the song because the intervals — the differences in pitch between notes — remain the same and the notes just shift up or down depending on where that starting point is. </p>
<p>This act of shifting pitches up or down but preserving the intervals between notes is called transposition and although it may not seem like a simple task, people tend to handle it quite well. In one study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0094201">both children and adults easily recognized common songs like “Happy Birthday” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” after they were presented at various keys</a>.</p>
<p>How is it that most people can perform this complex musical task even in the absence of any formal musical training? Even though you may not realize it, you actually have a lot more musical knowledge than you might think. </p>
<h2>Pattern recognition</h2>
<p>Where does this knowledge of music come from? You get it from your everyday life without realizing it thanks to a process called <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1707">statistical learning</a>. This concept suggests that we learn about our environment through passive exposure and that we constantly use this knowledge to interpret the world around us. Statistical learning is how we learn to recognize patterns and can be used to explain complex learning processes like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5294.1926">language acquisition</a>. Significantly, this process is almost entirely subconscious — we learn just by being exposed to new information.</p>
<p>In the case of music, we have no shortage of experience to draw from. We hear music constantly, whether intentionally or as a bystander. Riding in a car, standing in an elevator, sitting in a waiting room — we can’t help but be exposed to music. And we gain something from this passive exposure: We become familiar with the patterns and regularities of the music of our culture and we develop an implicit knowledge of music.</p>
<p>This process happens very early on. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00075-4">Eight-month-old babies can recognize patterns in sequences of tones</a> and some studies show that even at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4973412">three months of age</a>, babies can recognize changes in short melodies. This implicit musical knowledge only grows as we get older and is why most people might not be as musically challenged as they think. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a baby holding a tambourine next to another baby shaking a maraca" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449638/original/file-20220302-25-rfu8uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Music learning occurs implicitly in babies as young as three months old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In one study, people were recruited to sing in a public park and their performance was compared to that of professional singers. The results showed that the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1121/1.2427111">amateur singers’ pitch and timing accuracy was close to that of experts</a>. This aligns with other research showing that people without musical training also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-2044-5">perform well on pitch discrimination tasks</a> in which they have to recognize the difference between two tones that vary slightly in pitch.</p>
<p>These results might seem surprising at first, but they are backed by large-scale studies as well. While many people might claim to be tone deaf, some research estimates that the rate of congenital amusia — a condition in which a person is unable to recognize or process musical information — <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ejhg.2017.15">is less than two per cent in the general population</a>.</p>
<h2>Cultural expectations</h2>
<p>Our implicit knowledge of music also leads us to develop expectations of how music should sound. That’s why music from other cultures might sound strange at first — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(98)00075-4">it deviates from the expectations you’ve developed based on the music of your own culture</a>. </p>
<p>This is also true across musical genres. Jazz musicians were found to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163584">more accurate at predicting changes in jazz music than classical musicians and non-musicians</a>. </p>
<p>Our expectations are also responsible for generating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0428-19.2019">musical pleasure</a> and the desire to move when listening to music, and have been used as a tool by artists and composers for centuries to elicit stronger emotions. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/groovy-findings-researching-how-and-why-music-moves-you-112959">Groovy findings: Researching how and why music moves you</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So although you might not be aware of it, you’re a walking music processing machine. And next time you find yourself singing “Happy Birthday,” you can sing a bit more confidently with your hidden music expertise in mind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174453/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Albury receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Virgina Penhune receives funding from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. </span></em></p>Music learning happens consciously and subconsciously. And even in the absence of education or training, we all have some degree of musical literacy.Alexander Albury, PhD Candidate, Psychology, Concordia UniversityVirgina Penhune, Professor, Psychology, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739082022-02-27T19:11:41Z2022-02-27T19:11:41ZMusic can help lift our kids out of the literacy rut, but schools in some states are still missing out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448007/original/file-20220223-13-e4s8hg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5724%2C3825&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2005 <a href="https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/9459/1/music_review_reportFINAL.pdf">National Review of School Music Education</a> found many Australian students missed out on music education, with massive disparities between states. In 2020, <a href="https://www.alberts.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Alberts_Music-Education-Report_A4.pdf">our research for the Tony Foundation</a> found the same issues, despite the fact that the <a href="https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/the-arts/music/">Australian Curriculum for Music</a> should guarantee some level of consistency.</p>
<p>We now have evidence that we should be concerned about music education not just for the sake of music itself, but also because of its impacts on language learning and literacy. Research about how participating in music affects the brain – a field known as neuromusical research – has taught us a lot about how the brain processes language. Significantly, it <a href="https://internal-journal.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00110/full">processes language in the same way as music</a>.</p>
<p>If we want to improve literacy, then, we need to ensure the <a href="https://mainemusicbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The_power_of_music_a_research_synthesis-1.pdf">cognitive foundations</a> our students need are in place.</p>
<p>In short, we need to view music education as a powerful complementary learning experience, and not a “nice but not essential” part of the curriculum.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R0JKCYZ8hng?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/musical-training-can-accelerate-brain-development-and-help-with-literacy-skills-44946">Musical training can accelerate brain development and help with literacy skills</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>So what are states doing?</h2>
<p>We have yet to see this knowledge put into practice across Australia. </p>
<p>Before and after the 2005 review, Queensland has had strong music programs in state-funded primary schools since the 1980s. The state has a classroom music program for the whole school (where a teacher is available), and a low-cost instrumental music program for some students. A <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MusicForEveryChildEveryWeek">campaign is under way</a> in Queensland to preserve these programs and make sure every student gets a music lesson every week.</p>
<p>The same can’t be said for other states. Despite moves to improve music education in some states, there’s still inequity. </p>
<p>South Australia established a <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/schools-and-educators/strategies-and-initiatives/music-education-strategy-and-innovation-fund/music-education-strategy-and-music-innovation-fund/">Music Education Strategy and Music Innovation Fund</a> in 2019. Victoria has developed a <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/arts/Pages/QMEF.aspx#link99">Quality Music Education Framework</a> to guide best practice. Tasmania, Western Australia and the ACT have music specialist teachers in some government primary schools. In New South Wales, general classroom teachers in government schools are responsible for teaching all of the curriculum, including music. </p>
<p>But how much does music really matter? </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1064987508826607621"}"></div></p>
<h2>Music can deliver progress on literacy</h2>
<p>While music education has been found to improve a wide range of cognitive functions, let’s look at literacy development as an example. If literacy scores are lower than required or expected, it seems obvious the solution is to spend more time on literacy learning to improve those scores. That’s the approach taken over the past five years.</p>
<p>Yet we have not seen a significant boost in NAPLAN results. In fact, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/reading-progress-is-falling-between-year-5-and-7-especially-for-advantaged-students-5-charts-124634">dial has moved very little</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reading-progress-is-falling-between-year-5-and-7-especially-for-advantaged-students-5-charts-124634">Reading progress is falling between year 5 and 7, especially for advantaged students: 5 charts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So the obvious “more time” approach is not yielding higher literacy achievement. Might we then look to research outside the literacy field for the next steps in improving literacy in our schools?</p>
<p>The answer is yes. A field traditionally a few steps outside of literacy education – music education – has greatly enhanced understanding of how the brain develops understanding and application of language. </p>
<p>Neuromusical research has pinpointed the brain mechanisms and interactions that <a href="https://online.ucpress.edu/mp/article-abstract/29/2/165/62533/Effect-of-Music-Training-on-Promoting-Preliteracy">decode</a> language sounds to understand and develop the <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-211-75121-3_9">syntax</a> of language right through to the comprehension and creation of meaning through language. It has led to the enlightening finding that the human brain <a href="https://internal-journal.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00110/full">processes all language as if it was music</a>. </p>
<p>What does this mean for literacy education and the current measure of its effectiveness, NAPLAN? It means we may well be missing a fundamental underpinning of language development – the development of the auditory processing network to its highest levels so our students can <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0305735618756763">effectively interpret language</a> sounds. </p>
<p>Put simply, if a child cannot hear the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0138715">language sound</a> – that is, process the sound correctly through their auditory network – they cannot speak it. And if they cannot speak it, they cannot read it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Children in a line singing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448012/original/file-20220223-25-ai9hy5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Through music children are literally attuned to the sounds of language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/music-engagement-and-achievement-predicts-higher-grades-in-math-science-and-english-119066">Music engagement and achievement predicts higher grades in math, science and English</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The costs of inaction are high</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/8755123313502346">The research</a> on the potential for music education to improve cognitive development is extensive and compelling. It clearly shows that consistent, high-quality music learning enhances students’ general learning. So music learning isn’t just for those who want to become musicians – it benefits everyone.</p>
<p>The cost of waiting, of not resolving the issues with music education across Australia, is high. This is an issue of equity. If the state a student is schooled in affects their fundamental cognitive development due to the lack of quality music education for <em>every</em> child, then every child is not receiving an equitable and effective education.</p>
<p>The longer we wait to address the inequity, the fewer qualified music educators we will have in Australia. In our report, <a href="https://www.alberts.co/music-education/">Music Education: A Sound Investment</a>, we identified that we are on a skills cliff of qualified music educators in this country. In addition to the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/profession-in-crisis-teacher-shortage-predicted-in-next-four-years-20190417-p51f2q.html">existing widespread teacher shortage</a>, there are now only a few universities offering a specialisation in primary music teaching. Urgent action is needed to make sure there are enough music teachers for all schools, so kids don’t miss out. </p>
<p>When it comes to education, politicians and policymakers ignoring the research evidence is hardly new. But the failure to see the bigger picture of every child’s development has lasting impacts. </p>
<p>The focus of education should be to provide the cognitive preparation for a full and productive life. And music is an integral part of providing students with the best possible foundation for their education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachael Dwyer receives funding from Alberts | The Tony Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anita Collins receives funding from Music Education: Right from the Start Initative and South Australian Department of Education. She is affiliated with the University of Canberra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Alberts | Tony Foundation, South Australian Music Education Strategy.</span></em></p>Research shows the brain processes language as if it’s music, which helps explain the link between music education and gains in literacy. Unfortunately, not all states have heeded the evidence.Rachael Dwyer, Lecturer in Arts and Teacher Education, University of the Sunshine CoastAnita Collins, Adjunct assistant professor, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1745892022-01-20T21:27:16Z2022-01-20T21:27:16ZTeaching music online in the pandemic has yielded creative surprises, like mixing ‘Blob Opera’ and beatboxing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441784/original/file-20220120-9595-1jh6fg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C206%2C1149%2C560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Blob Opera, developed by Google and AI artist David Li, lets students manipulate a soprano, alto, tenor and bass quartet of blobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(YoutTube/Google Arts & Culture)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Learning to make music <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/ijmec/2020/00000015/00000001/art00004">is a full mind-and-body activity</a>. Whether teaching how to play a musical instrument, or how to sing, teachers rely on learners’ physical cues to help them progress — cues that are often obscured either by watching someone on a screen or listening through a microphone. As a music educator, I’d hazard that few school music teachers would opt to teach their students remotely. </p>
<p>However, as many teachers and students have <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/parents-frustration-schools-covid-1.6303239">discovered in the last two years of on-and-off virtual school</a>, music lessons during the pandemic have unearthed some pleasant surprises. </p>
<p>Going online has forced music educators to adapt existing ideas, or adopt existing technology, to discover, invent and share ways to reach students to keep music education alive. </p>
<h2>Instrument-free music</h2>
<p>During the pandemic, most school-based music teachers have faced the challenge that elementary students don’t have access to instruments at home. This often leaves online tools as the default. As school budgets are always stretched, it’s important for programs to be very inexpensive or preferably free.</p>
<p>At the elementary level, students can enjoy and learn from <a href="https://www.incredibox.com">apps such as Incredibox</a>, where students can explore beatboxing, combining rhythms and sound effects to create unique pieces. Beatboxing musicians who create <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRp5qGQXaGQ">complete musical works manipulating their breathing, mouths and throats</a> inspired this tool’s development.</p>
<p>Or teachers can introduce students to choral exploration in <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/experiment/blob-opera/AAHWrq360NcGbw?cp=e30">Blob Opera</a>, a “<a href="https://experiments.withgoogle.com/blob-opera-on-tour">machine learning model trained on the voices of four opera singers</a>,” developed by Google and AI artist David Li. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAgdT-YO_nc">In Blob Opera</a>, students manipulate four operatic blobs — a soprano, alto, tenor and bass quartet — and can have them sing a variety of pieces on global stages. Students can “take the blobs on tour” where they might sing <a href="https://koreanpicnic.com/2021/06/17/korean-folk-songs-powered-by-ai/">a Korean folk song in Seoul</a>, or a piece by composer <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erik-Satie">Erik Satie</a> in Paris. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Making Blob Opera with David Li,’ video by Google Arts & Culture.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On various platforms, students are able to share their creations live with teachers and classmates. I’ve found that when we introduce technology to students, they often take it in unexpected directions. One student I was teaching set up a rhythm on Incredibox and left that window open and playing to accompany a Blob Opera set: not an obvious musical pairing but a wonderfully creative one.</p>
<h2>Learning from home with instruments</h2>
<p>Even before the pandemic, some music researchers were interested in helping educators overcome hurdles with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2019.1585791">teaching instrumental music online and how online lessons could benefit children in rural locations</a>. However, singing and playing instruments online comes with its own set of technological issues, the most prominent of which is time lag — what some of my students refer to as “glitchiness.”</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A boy with a clarinet looking at a screen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441788/original/file-20220120-8679-klk62t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Technological issues can make for some frustrations with virtual instrumental music instruction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, research conducted during the pandemic suggests that teaching students how to play instruments online can offer music teachers the chance to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864921996033">redefine curriculum, set new goals for students and consider new criteria for evaluation</a>. </p>
<p>For students who have access to instruments at home, music teachers can use a flexible accompaniment app like <a href="http://www.smartmusic.com">SmartMusic</a>. Without altering pitch (a critical capability), students can change playback speeds, manipulate the nature of accompaniment they hear, activate a metronome and even click on individual notes in a score to show the fingering and sound of the note for specific instruments. </p>
<p>This program costs money, but schools are able to purchase site licenses, thus making the resource accessible to more students.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/investing-in-technologies-for-student-learning-4-principles-school-boards-and-parents-should-consider-173211">Investing in technologies for student learning: 4 principles school boards and parents should consider</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Sound exploration</h2>
<p>Google’s <a href="https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/">Chrome Music Lab</a> suite offers learning for K-8 students. Younger children <a href="https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Rhythm/">can explore rhythm</a>, or teachers and students can explore melody, harmony, form, duration, rhythm, timbre and tempo <a href="https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/">to compose relatively complex electronica</a>, save projects and submit them for assessment.</p>
<p>At the secondary level, teachers can encourage students to explore and collaborate on <a href="https://www.bandlab.com/">Bandlab</a>, a program akin to Apple’s Garageband. Students can compose pieces using standard western notation on the web-based <a href="https://www.noteflight.com">Noteflight</a> — especially accessible because it requires no downloads or sharing of personal information.</p>
<p>Some online offerings promote healthy movement at home. <a href="https://www.beatgoeson.co.uk/#:%7E:text=Ollie%20is%20a%20drummer%2C%20percussionist,including%20the%20Sydney%20Opera%20House.">Ollie Tunmer, British body percussionist and former STOMP cast member</a>, hosts professional development for teachers and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0519TNM1mcc">short lessons for kids</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0519TNM1mcc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Body percussionist Ollie Tunmer leads an online lesson.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other teachers have posted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIYQr-TfVPk">clips exploring form and movement in music</a>, based on techniques from an approach to teaching rhythmic movement, listening and embodied music intuition known as <a href="https://dalcrozeusa.org/about-dalcroze/what-is-dalcroze/">Dalcroze Eurythmics</a> and subsequent work by <a href="https://www.feierabendmusic.org/john-feierabend/">early childhood music educator John Feierabend</a>.</p>
<h2>Making music education more inclusive</h2>
<p>Aside from making music at home accessible for many students, online learning that focuses more on pop music, electronica and rhythm-heavy musics tends to shift the curricular emphasis away from predominantly western art music like “classical” genres.</p>
<p>Music researcher Margaret Walker examines how <a href="https://www.ams-net.org/ojs/index.php/jmhp/article/view/310">music education in the West has traditionally advanced European exceptionalism and cultural superiority</a>. Walker is one of many music educators promoting music education that reflects the cultural diversity of learners. Music education researcher <a href="https://www.routledge.com/How-Popular-Musicians-Learn-A-Way-Ahead-for-Music-Education/Green/p/book/9780754632269">Lucy Green</a> found that students who have more choice about their own repertoires are more successful and stay with music longer. </p>
<p>Revising music curricula to be more inclusive may involve both introducing new forms of music, but also repositioning canonical artists like Mozart and Bach within a broader musical context to allow entry and success for more learners. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/handels-messiah-today-how-classical-music-is-contending-with-its-colonial-past-and-present-173218">Handel's 'Messiah' today: How classical music is contending with its colonial past and present</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Learning about music</h2>
<p>Music curriculum calls not just for <em>making</em> music but also learning about music. Online read alouds, — narrated stories accompanied with music — existed before the pandemic but likely became even more useful in remote contexts. Favourites of my students include Sergei Prokofiev’s 1936 composition <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px8FakwGPDM">Peter and The Wolf</a></em> and the 2015 children’s book <em><a href="https://storylineonline.net/books/trombone-shorty">Trombone Shorty</a></em> by Troy Andrews. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QitquEL48Co?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Actor Angela Bassett reads ‘Trombone Shorty.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Music educators and students also benefit from the isolation-inspired composite style videos such as the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6_MJ6w45hw">Kingston Youth Orchestra’s performance of Cold Play’s “Viva La Vida,”</a> especially when students cannot currently attend live performances.</p>
<p>For younger children, <a href="https://www.kingstonsymphony.ca/about/music-director/">Evan Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/kingstonsymph/status/1469026847329501191">conductor of the Kingston Symphony</a>, launched a children’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPEY9fmSkK4">online music series, <em>Harmon in Space!</em></a> The series sees Harmon, a fuzzy dog puppet, isolated on a spaceship. Harmon’s limited social contact happens via <a href="https://www.thewhig.com/entertainment/local-arts/symphony-series-is-out-of-this-world">online chats with musical friends — members of the Kingston Symphony</a>. The first episode has over 11,000 views on YouTube. When I interviewed Mitchell, he said he has received many letters from children concerned for Harmon’s safe return to Earth.</p>
<p>No one wants remote music education to become the norm for most students. But the creative minds who have made it feasible, fun and often productive have given us unexpected gifts and welcome strains of beauty amidst global noise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174589/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robbie MacKay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From incorporating video-based performances to learning new composition apps, teaching students virtually has forced music educators to learn and share new ways to reach students.Robbie MacKay, Lecturer in Musicology, Dan School of Drama & Music, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667242021-10-05T12:27:06Z2021-10-05T12:27:06ZWhy improvisation is the future in an AI-dominated world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423426/original/file-20210927-13-po5o8w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=93%2C85%2C1590%2C1063&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Robotic orchestra conductor 'Yumi' performs on stage with the Orchestra Filarmonica di Lucca in Italy in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/robotic-orchestra-conductor-yumi-performs-on-stage-with-the-news-photo/846676692?adppopup=true">Laura Lezza/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://yanko.lib.ru/books/bio/miles.htm">In his autobiography</a>, Miles Davis complained that classical musicians were like robots.</p>
<p>He spoke from experience – he’d studied classical music at Juilliard and recorded with classical musicians even after becoming a world-renowned jazz artist.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.richpellegrin.com/">As a music professor at the University of Florida</a>, which is transforming itself into an “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2020/07/21/nvidia-and-university-of-florida-supercharge-education-with-ai-supercomputer/?sh=380436783128">AI university</a>,” I often think about Davis’ words, and the ways in which musicians have become more machinelike over the past century. At the same time, I see how machines have been getting better at mimicking human improvisation, in all aspects of life.</p>
<p>I wonder what the limits of machine improvisation will be, and which human activities will survive the rise of intelligent machines. </p>
<h2>The rise of machine improvisation</h2>
<p>Machines have long excelled at activities involving consistent reproduction of a fixed object – think identical Toyotas being mass-produced in a factory.</p>
<p>More improvised activities are less rule-based, more fluid, chaotic or reactive, and are more process-oriented. AI has been making significant strides in this area.</p>
<p>Consider the following examples:</p>
<p>The trading pits of Wall Street, Tokyo and London were once filled with the vibrant chaos of traders shouting and signaling orders, reacting in real time to fluidly changing conditions. These trading pits have mostly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/video/end-of-era-trading-pits-close/1C73A831-DCCA-489C-99AE-087D8CFCBD11.html">been replaced by algorithms</a>.</p>
<p>Self-driving technology may soon replace human drivers, automating our fluid decision-making processes. Autonomous vehicles currently stumble where greater mastery of improvisation is required, such as <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-big-problem-with-selfdriving-cars-is-people">dealing with pedestrians</a>.</p>
<p>Much live social interaction has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/22/heres-how-many-hours-american-workers-spend-on-email-each-day.html">been replaced by</a> the sterile activity of carefully composing emails or social media posts. Predictive email text will continue to evolve, bringing an increasingly transactional quality to our relationships. (“Hey Siri, email Amanda and congratulate her on her promotion.”)</p>
<p>IBM’s computer Deep Blue defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, but it took 20 more years for <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/computer-beats-go-champion-for-first-time/">AI to defeat top players of the board game go</a>. That’s because go has a far greater number of possible move choices at any given time, and virtually no specific rules – it requires more improvisation. Yet humans eventually became no match for machine: In 2019, former world go champion Lee Sedol <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/27/20985260/ai-go-alphago-lee-se-dol-retired-deepmind-defeat">retired from professional play</a>, citing AI’s ascendancy as the reason.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man holds head in hands before enthralled audience." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423196/original/file-20210924-13-vaj0p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Chess enthusiasts watch world chess champion Garry Kasparov at the start of the sixth and final match against IBM’s Deep Blue computer in 1997.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chess-enthusiasts-watch-world-chess-champion-garry-kasparov-news-photo/511682700?adppopup=true">Stan Honda/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Music becomes more machinelike</h2>
<p>Machines are replacing human improvisation at a time when classical music has abandoned it.</p>
<p>Before the 20th century, nearly all of the major figures of Western art music excelled at composition, performance and improvisation. Johann Sebastian Bach was mostly known as an organist, with his first biographer <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35041">describing his organ improvisations</a> as “more devout, solemn, dignified and sublime” than his compositions. </p>
<p>But the 20th century saw the splintering of the performer-composer-improviser tradition into specialized realms. </p>
<p>Performers faced the rise of recording techniques that flooded consumers with fixed, homogeneous and objectively correct versions of compositions. Classical musicians had to consistently deliver technically flawless live performances to match, sometimes reducing music to a sort of Olympics.</p>
<p>Classical pianist Glenn Gould was both a source and product of this state of affairs – he despised the rigidity and competitiveness of live performance and retired from the stage at the age of 31, but retreated to the studio to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/02/arts/music/glenn-gould-bach-goldberg-variations.html">painstakingly assemble</a> visionary Bach interpretations that were impossible to perform in one take.</p>
<p>Composers mostly abandoned the serious pursuit of improvisation or performance. Modernists became increasingly enthralled with procedures, algorithms and mathematical models, mirroring contemporary technological developments. The ultra-complex compositions of high modernism required machinelike accuracy from performers, but many postmodern minimalist scores also demanded robotic precision.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Musical notes crowd a page." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423377/original/file-20210927-15-11qeake.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An excerpt from Brian Ferneyhough’s 1982 solo piano composition, ‘Lemma-Icon-Epigram,’ reflecting the complexity of high-modernist music.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">University of Florida Art and Architecture Library</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="14" data-image="" data-title="A performance of the excerpt from 'Lemma-Icon-Epigram.'" data-size="343270" data-source="Metier" data-source-url="" data-license="" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2280/ferneyhough-excerpt.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
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<div class="audio-player-caption">
A performance of the excerpt from ‘Lemma-Icon-Epigram.’
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Metier</span><span class="download"><span>335 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2280/ferneyhough-excerpt.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
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<p>Improvisation ceased almost entirely to be a part of classical music, but flourished in a new art form: jazz. Yet jazz struggled to gain parity, particularly in the U.S., its country of origin, due in large part to systemic racism. The classical world even has its own version of the “<a href="https://lithub.com/how-the-one-drop-rule-became-a-tool-of-white-supremacy/">one-drop rule</a>”: Works containing improvisation or written by jazz composers are often <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/02/07/one_drop_rule_of_jazz_wayne_shorter_duke_ellington_and_other_black_composers.html">dismissed as illegitimate</a> by the classical establishment.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/arts/music/classical-music-orchestra-improvisation.html">New York Times article</a> called on orchestras to open themselves up to improvisation and collaborate with jazz luminaries such as saxophonist <a href="https://www.arts.gov/honors/jazz/roscoe-mitchell">Roscoe Mitchell</a>, who has composed many orchestral works. But college and university music programs have segregated and marginalized jazz studies, leaving orchestral musicians bereft of training in improvisation. Instead, musicians in an orchestra are seated according to their objectively ranked ability, and their job is to replicate the motions of the principal player.</p>
<p>They are the machines of the music world. In the future, will they be the most disposable? </p>
<h2>Davis perfects the art of imperfection</h2>
<p>The march of AI continues, but will it ever be able to engage in true improvisation? </p>
<p>Machines easily replicate objects, but improvisation is a process. In pure musical improvisation, there’s no predetermined structure and no objectively correct performance.</p>
<p>And improvisation isn’t merely instantaneous composition; if it were, then AI would collapse the distinction between the two due to its speed of calculation. </p>
<p>Rather, improvisation has an elusive, human quality resulting from the tension between skill and spontaneity. Machines will always be highly skilled, but will they ever be able to stop calculating and switch to an intuitive mode of creation, like a jazz musician going from the practice room to the gig?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man in sunglasses dressed in purple playing trumpet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423734/original/file-20210929-15-mwee22.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miles Davis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-jazz-trumpeter-and-composer-miles-davis-performs-news-photo/96983263?adppopup=true">David Redfern/Redferns via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Davis reached a point at Juilliard where he had to decide on his future. He connected deeply with classical music and was known to walk around with Stravinsky scores in his pocket. He would later praise composers from Bach to Stockhausen and record jazz interpretations of compositions by Manuel de Falla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Joaquín Rodrigo. </p>
<p>Yet there were many reasons to abandon the classical world for jazz. Davis recounts playing “about two notes every 90 bars” in the orchestra. This stood in stark contrast to the extraordinary challenge and stimulation of late-night jam sessions with musicians like <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/132133171/">Thelonious Monk</a> and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/03/01/bird-whitney-balliett">Charlie Parker</a> .</p>
<p><a href="http://yanko.lib.ru/books/bio/miles.htm">He experienced the reality of racism</a> and “knew that no white symphony orchestra was going to hire [him].” (By contrast, Davis regularly hired white players, like Lee Konitz, Bill Evans and John McLaughlin.)</p>
<p>And he was the antithesis of a machine. </p>
<p>But in jazz, Davis was able to transform his technical struggles with the trumpet into a haunting, iconic sound. His wrong notes, missed notes and cracked notes became wheezes, whispers and sighs expressing the human condition. Not only did he own these “mistakes,” he also <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/742559">actively courted them</a> with a risky approach that prioritized color over line and expression over accuracy.</p>
<p>His was the art of imperfection, and therein lies the paradox of jazz. Davis left Juilliard after three semesters, but became one of the single most important musical figures of the 20th century.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="52" data-image="" data-title="Miles Davis embraced the trumpet's squelches and wheezes." data-size="1247943" data-source="Miles Davis/YouTube" data-source-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdrAzpYdOYs" data-license="" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2286/miles-davis-excerpt.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
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Miles Davis embraced the trumpet’s squelches and wheezes.
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdrAzpYdOYs">Miles Davis/YouTube</a><span class="download"><span>1.19 MB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/2286/miles-davis-excerpt.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
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<p>Today the ground has shifted. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Juilliard has a thriving jazz program led by another trumpeter versed in both classical music and jazz – <a href="https://www.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/marsalis-wynton">Wynton Marsalis</a>, who has received two classical Grammy awards for his solo work. And while the narrative of “the robots coming for our jobs” is cliché, these displacements are happening quickly, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/06/business/the-robots-are-coming-for-phil-in-accounting.html">accelerated greatly</a> by the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>We are hurtling toward a time when actual robots could conceivably replace Davis’ classical “robots” – perhaps some of the 20 violinists in a symphony orchestra – if only at first as a gimmick.</p>
<p>However, we may soon discover that jazz artists are irreplaceable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rich Pellegrin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Machines have been getting better at mimicking improvisation. But can this distinctly human process serve as a bulwark against the mechanization of life and art?Rich Pellegrin, Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Center for Arts, Migration, and Entrepreneurship, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1451532020-10-05T19:46:42Z2020-10-05T19:46:42Z‘We need each other’: Black classical musicians are building supportive communities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357437/original/file-20200910-14-2dbctl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C21%2C2032%2C1333&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An orchestra can be a hostile place for a lone Black classical instrumentalist. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Music has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/music-helps-us-remember-who-we-are-and-how-we-belong-during-difficult-and-traumatic-times-136324">significant for many during COVID-19 isolation</a>, and in these same months <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/jun/10/yg-che-lingo-kendrick-lamar-protest-songs-of-black-lives-matter-2020-george-floyd">Black musicians</a> have <a href="https://folklore.indiana.edu/research/publications/2018-black-lives-matter-music.html">amplified the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement</a>. </p>
<p>While pop or hip hop music are genres whose <a href="https://theconversation.com/hip-hop-is-the-soundtrack-to-black-lives-matter-protests-continuing-a-tradition-that-dates-back-to-the-blues-140879">agility and responsiveness make them natural sites for popular commentary</a>, this threatens to neglect other arenas of music making. </p>
<p>Some arts organizations in Canada have <a href="https://www.tafelmusik.org/blacklivesmatter">pledged support for Black Lives Matter</a>, turned their platforms over to Black artists or spotlighted their work. Recently a virtual event aired, “<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/article-black-sopranos-othalie-graham-audrey-dubois-harris-and-mesha">Black Opera Live: Canada</a>,” featuring acclaimed sopranos Measha Brueggergosman, Othalie Graham and Audrey DuBois Harris, produced by <a href="https://operacanada.ca/black-opera-live-canada-by-black-opera-productions/">Black Opera Productions</a>, a U.S. documentary film company. But what of a wider and cohesive community of Black classical instrumentalists in Canada today?</p>
<p>While there is a long history of professional classical musicianship in the Black community, there are gaps of knowledge about Black classical artistry in Canada. </p>
<p>Black classical artists may spend their careers in majority-white orchestras and small ensembles across Canada, without knowledge of others who share their experience. But this may be changing as <a href="https://www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2020/06/05/remote-andrew-adridge-the-way-the-industry-is-currently-structured-i-have-no-business-hoping-to-be-in-it/">Black classical artists are starting to tell their stories</a>, change the trajectory of their careers, <a href="https://www.operainreach.com/who-we-are">challenge how arts communities are defined</a> and step into leadership roles where they call for systemic change.</p>
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<h2>Black classical Canada</h2>
<p>In the United States, a <a href="https://americanorchestras.org/images/stories/diversity/Racial-Ethnic-and-Gender-Diversity-in-the-Orchestra-Field-Final-92116.pdf">2016 study</a> by the League of American Orchestras found that <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2019/09/20/762514169/why-is-american-classical-music-so-white">less than two per cent</a> of musicians in <a href="https://americanorchestras.org/knowledge-research-innovation/diversity-studies.html">American orchestras are Black</a>.</p>
<p>Similar data isn’t available in Canada. A study commissioned by Orchestras Canada <a href="https://oc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Re-sounding-the-Orchestra-EN-June-5.pdf">about orchestras’ relationships to Indigenous peoples and people of colour</a> published in 2018 found that systemic inequity and coloniality underpinning Canadian classical music creates hierarchies reinforcing racism and cultural appropriation. Ethnomusicologist <a href="https://parmela.com/research">Parmela Attariwala</a> authored the study with writer Soraya Peerbaye. Attariwala notes that because of Canada’s privacy laws, they could not compile race-related statistics about who is part of orchestras. She is now exploring the idea of orchestras taking voluntary statistical surveys.</p>
<p>Some prominent <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/african-music-and-musicians-emc">Black classical artists</a> have gained newfound attention through work by Black Canadians: Conductor <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/brainerd-blyden-taylor-emc">Brainerd Blyden-Taylor</a> founded the <a href="http://nathanieldettchorale.org/about-the-chorale/">Nathaniel Dett Chorale</a> in 1998, honouring the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200038840/">Black Canadian-born composer and pianist</a>. Classical singer and Nova Scotian <a href="http://cleojournal.com/2018/12/14/remembering-portia-white/">Portia White</a> has been the subject of several Black artists <a href="https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-30137098/grand-tradition-great-canadian-musical-figures-portia">and writers</a> and became more commonly known in 1999, <a href="https://blogs.dal.ca/libraries/2010/02/black-history-month-portia-white/">through the introduction of a memorial stamp</a>. </p>
<p>Although research has been broadly conducted into how <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1044376ar">colonialism</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1032701ar">diversity initiatives</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/1038945ar">post-secondary hiring practices</a> have affected Black participation in classical music, we have yet to see a comprehensive study of Canadian Black contributions to Canadian classical music history. </p>
<h2>Absence of colleagues, mentors</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Side view of a Black woman in glasses holding a bassoon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1088&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359457/original/file-20200922-16-18f01ma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Bassoonist Sheba Thibideau.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Sheba Thibideau)</span></span>
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<p>There is no comprehensive listing of contemporary Black classical instrumentalists in Canada. As the co-authors of this story, our shared interest in classical musicianship emerged through discussions, and an interest in reporting on Black classical instrumentalists came to the fore. Of the five Black classical instrumentalists whose work we were aware of, three were available to participate in interviews. </p>
<p>Black classical instrumentalists often experience their successes, as well as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65256-6_3">subtle and overt blows of anti-Black racism</a> without the support of colleagues and mentors who might help navigate such terrain. All were pleased to have their experiences brought to light.</p>
<p>Negative experiences can start early.</p>
<p>Bassoonist Sheba Thibideau was told that her lips were “too big” to play the flute and that she was “not suitable” for violin by the principal of her elementary school in Vancouver. </p>
<p>Tanya Charles Iveniuk, who is on faculty at <a href="http://www.axismusic.ca/">Axis Music</a>, the <a href="http://rpmusic.org/">Regent Park School of Music</a> and the <a href="https://music.utoronto.ca/our-people.php">University of Toronto</a>, had an easier entry. Surrounded by the sounds of her older brother practising the piano, she announced, at age three that she wanted to play the violin. And so it was.</p>
<p>In university, however, both musicians described impacts of <a href="https://theconversation.com/music-education-has-a-race-problem-and-universities-must-address-it-143719">anti-Black racism</a>. It often appeared as mysterious absence of access: to the appropriate performance-level student orchestra, to mentorship and information on how to navigate the <a href="https://blog.usejournal.com/its-time-to-talk-about-classical-music-s-diversity-problem-a99994784706">invisible pipeline</a> to professional life as a classical musician. They experienced micro-aggressions, at times, outright hostility or a lack of awareness of different economic circumstances.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-anti-black-racism-on-canadian-university-campuses-robs-us-all-140927">How anti-Black racism on Canadian university campuses robs us all</a>
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<p>Both question <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2008/sep/14/music.classicalmusicandopera">how their careers might have been different</a> if they hadn’t spent considerable energy navigating, explaining and protecting themselves within the pressure cooker of predominantly white environments and power structures. </p>
<p>“I have a great career now,” says Iveniuk, “and yet, I’m haunted by that question.” This is psychic and emotional work that white (and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03007760802703351">often Asian</a> <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/pa7agm/asian-american-keeping-face-model-minority-mental-health-consequences">peers)</a> aren’t required to do.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Primavera Portena (Buenos Aires Spring) by Astor Piazzolla, with Tanya Charles Iveniuk on violin.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Something is rotten</h2>
<p>One of Iveniuk’s students, a boy of Vincentian background, like her, told her that he didn’t know that it was OK to pursue the violin until he had her as a teacher.
Rarely are white musicians questioned when they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josl.12128">explore and become expert in music</a> from historically Black traditions. But Black children <a href="https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_dissertations/85/">learn early</a> what is and is not for them.</p>
<p>“Orchestras have a lot of work to do in this area,” says <a href="https://www.tso.ca/conductor/daniel-bartholomew-poyser">Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser</a>, principal education conductor and community ambassador of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has <a href="https://oc.ca/en/resource/perfect-fifth-diversity/">developed some guidelines</a> in his role. Through outreach, educational support and other consistent work in the community, orchestras can become a place where people go to hear their children and neighbours perform.</p>
<p>Until that work is accomplished, the orchestra can be a hostile place for the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2019/09/20/762514169/why-is-american-classical-music-so-white">lone Black musician</a>.</p>
<h2>Real change</h2>
<p>“Black people are all exhausted. I was completely burnt out after <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/minneapolis-after-george-floyd-death-1.5597735">George Floyd</a>,” says Bartholomew-Poyser. He suggests that instead of asking what to avoid saying to Black people, put them on the board or in positions of power.</p>
<p>As artist in residence and community ambassador of <a href="https://symphonynovascotia.ca/">Symphony Nova Scotia</a>, he received a call from Christopher Wilkinson, the CEO. “He asked me, ‘Do you think we could do a concert with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VLNIKv2Jro">Maritime Bhangra Group</a> and Symphony Nova Scotia? I thought about it for three seconds. I said, ‘Yes.’”</p>
<p>Bartholomew-Poyser envisions the orchestra as a library of sound that can be applied to music from all over the world, not just the European canon. He arranged bhangra music for the symphony. The concert was a success.</p>
<p>“That is what inclusion looks like. That is vulnerability on his (Wilkinson’s) part. That is respect. That is handing over responsibility. Putting people of colour in positions of power. And trusting them with it,” he says.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Maritime Bhangra with Symphony Nova Scotia.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Bartholomew-Poyser insists artists need to be able to talk about their experiences of micro-aggressions, “<a href="https://humanrights.ca/story/us-vs-them-the-process-of-othering">othering</a>” and more overt harm, with each other and with their organizations. The <a href="https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2020/06/10/black-like-me-a-theatre-company-wrestles-with-its-white-guilt-and-gives-artists-of-colour-a-chance-to-speak-out.html">Stratford Festival</a> and <a href="https://www.dancemagazine.com/national-ballet-of-canada-diversity-2646194429.html">the National Ballet of Canada</a> were recently called out by Black artists. </p>
<h2>The power of many</h2>
<p>Iveniuk relished experiences of working <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2289449">south of the border</a> and the opportunity to be <a href="https://youtu.be/HagauzjiAZU">one of many Black people in an orchestral setting</a>. “Mind blown!” she laughs. “A whole orchestra of us?”</p>
<p>Thibideau has yet to have that experience. She’s dedicating 2020 to creating her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygTx89jYQ0I">own projects</a> including a performance package to be used to entertain people in the prison system. </p>
<p>Iveniuk’s many projects include the <a href="http://www.odinquartet.com/">Odin Quartet</a>. and planning to train as many BIPOC kids as she can.</p>
<p>Bartholomew-Poyser plans to catch young BIPOC players coming up. He says support looks like money, as well as mentorship, lessons as well as transportation to and from concerts. It also looks like Black classical artists keeping in touch, he says, because “we need each other.” </p>
<p>In Canada’s already spread-out classical community, these vital connections will be the key to increasing the participation and visibility of Black instrumentalists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145153/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The classical music scene in Canada is shaped by histories and hierarchies that reinforce racism and cultural appropriation. Black classical musicians are calling for systemic change.Gloria Blizzard, MFA Candidate, University of King's College, Dalhousie UniversityGillian Turnbull, Contract lecturer, Music section, Department of Philosophy, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1437192020-08-09T11:21:35Z2020-08-09T11:21:35ZMusic education has a race problem, and universities must address it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351768/original/file-20200807-14-14y093a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3071&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">University music programs need to move away from curricula that privilege European theory and compositions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the start of the pandemic, people have been turning to music to process the anxiety of <a href="https://theconversation.com/music-making-brings-us-together-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-137147">living in the shadow of death</a>. In global Black Lives Matter protests, music also plays a role, forging community and celebrating resilience. We can be more grateful than ever for music’s power to express feelings and ideas too complex for words. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hip-hop-is-the-soundtrack-to-black-lives-matter-protests-continuing-a-tradition-that-dates-back-to-the-blues-140879">Hip-hop is the soundtrack to Black Lives Matter protests, continuing a tradition that dates back to the blues</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>So in this moment of intense reliance on music, we should pay attention to what might otherwise look like a petty squabble in a minor academic discipline. At the 2019 Society for Music Theory conference, music theorist Philip Ewell delivered a keynote lecture titled “<a href="https://societymusictheory.org/archives/events/meeting2019">Music Theory’s White Racial Frame</a>.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Philip Ewell’s talk at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Ewell’s talk explored how <a href="https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.20.26.2/mto.20.26.2.ewell.pdf">conventional analytical strategies reinforce European classical music as the most worthy of study</a>. Indeed, it’s the only music that gets to call itself “music” without an adjective like “popular,” “folk” or “world.” This naturalizes the position of Western art music at the centre of what matters, while the musics of the rest of the world are particularized and othered. Thus, early in my own career as a music professor hired to introduce popular music to the curriculum, senior colleagues reminded me I needed to teach “real” music too. </p>
<h2>Schenkerian supremacy</h2>
<p>Ewell pointed to the widely acknowledged white supremacy of music analyst Heinrich Schenker’s work, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/musqtl/gdg050">questioning why Schenkerian analysis remains central in most university music programs</a>. And this, it seems, was a bridge too far; the <em>Journal of Schenkerian Studies</em> devoted most of its <a href="https://mhte.music.unt.edu/issues">12th volume</a> to an 89-page rebuttal to Ewell’s 3,000-word presentation.</p>
<p>Surely it is fair to refer to this as a pile on, especially when five of the 15 contributors serve on the journal’s editorial or advisory board; all appear to be white (Ewell is Black) and at least 13 are male (one author chose to remain anonymous); Ewell was not notified about the content in advance; and the contributions were not peer reviewed.</p>
<p>This flouts professional standards in scholarly publishing. Much of the writing is <a href="https://dentonrc.com/education/higher_education/a-unt-professor-challenged-claims-of-racism-in-music-theory-and-now-hes-facing-the/article_e7cdab75-c6cb-5972-878d-fea7e2fb8b9d.html">insulting and racist</a>; articles by Richard Beaudoin, Suzannah Clarke and Christopher Segall, however, respectfully engage with Ewell’s work, demonstrating that some in the field are willing to examine biases and broaden approaches. The <a href="https://meganlavengood.com/2020/07/27/journal-of-schenkerian-studies-proving-the-point/">angriest pieces are by senior scholars</a>, including one professor emeritus. </p>
<p>I need hardly say that this outsize response underscores Ewell’s argument; clearly, outraged Schenkerians have assembled to defend their turf. Like the weepers described by Mamta Motwani Accapadi in her analysis of <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ899418.pdf">how white women use tears to deflect critics</a>, these “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-53588201">SchenKarens</a>” are shoring up their authority with indignation and bluster. </p>
<h2>Public denunciations</h2>
<p>Denunciations have come from the Society for Music Theory and, magnificently, from <a href="https://twitter.com/RachelGainMusic/status/1287865730063462402">graduate students</a> at the University of North Texas, which hosts the <em>Journal for Schenkerian Studies</em>. </p>
<p>Still, I worry about this impulse for “woke” music scholars to insist that music theory, musicology and ethnomusicology are all distinct disciplines and that theorists are notoriously backwards … don’t even get us started on composers and performers! </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1287918277667192833"}"></div></p>
<p>Insisting that music theory, musicology and ethnomusicology are separate disciplines with no shared ground impoverishes all of our work. By narrowing our focus and policing our boundaries, scholars miss connections and opportunities, and we remain frozen in disdain for all that we don’t know. A distinction between applied and academic music may have its uses, but hyper-specialization leads ultimately to a belief that scholars can’t be creative and that artists are incapable of critical thought. </p>
<p>All these subdisciplines were built on assumptions of white supremacy, whether in the presumption of Western art music’s superiority or in the entitlement of early ethnomusicologists collecting and codifying the music of “exotics” and “primitives.” We who teach music must work together to dismantle these ideologies, particularly when we see them <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/30/arts/music/trump-classical-music.html">weaponized</a>. Surely 2020’s most urgent lesson is that we are all responsible for ensuring our communities are safe, inclusive, and respectful. </p>
<h2>Legitimizing music education</h2>
<p>Distinctions between areas of music studies are limiting, and they contribute to ensuring that university music programs are irrelevant to actual musicians, even those who want higher education. </p>
<p>There are plentiful examples of successful musicians who developed their skills outside of university music departments. Singer-songwriter Moses Sumney enrolled in UCLA’s creative writing program rather than music, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/arts/music/moses-sumney-aromanticism.html">because he lacked background preparation for the predominantly classical repertoire</a>. John Legend — who has been nominated for 31 Grammy awards and received 11 — chose <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802563.html">English, not music, at the University of Pennsylvania</a>. Thom Yorke studied <a href="http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/_people/yorke.php">fine art and English</a> at the University of Exeter, while planning a music career.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Moses Sumney performs as part of NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series.</span></figcaption>
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<p>My own institution, Dalhousie, was the logical place for Sarah McLachlan to study music — she’d performed on campus as a high-schooler. Instead, she pursued <a href="http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/personalities/mclachlan-sarah">fine arts at nearby Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD)</a>. </p>
<p>These stories are less shameful than Nina Simone’s infamous rejection from <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/arts/20150816_Curtis_and_the_case_of_Nina_Simone.html">the Curtis Institute of Music in 1951</a>, but the pattern of musicians dismissing the value of music degrees is troubling.</p>
<h2>Unflinching examination</h2>
<p>Can we keep condoning an ideology that deters ambitious, talented musicians from pursuing higher education in music? Many professors are scrambling through this extraordinary summer to learn to teach online, and to make their class content speak to the times we live in. We can also seize this opportunity to make our programs inclusive, appealing and <em>useful</em> to talented people dreaming of creating music that will speak to the world. </p>
<p>This must include an unflinching examination of our collective investment in <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1114601/4700222">the music of the past and in musical whiteness</a>. It will be challenging, but the boundaries can dissolve between performance and creation, classical and vernacular musics, and theory and application. Now is the time to work together, in recognition that what we teach matters.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacqueline Warwick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The recent furor from senior academics in response to a public lecture about the whiteness of music education reflects a longstanding race problem in music — it’s time to address this.Jacqueline Warwick, Professor of Musicology, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1408202020-07-13T11:52:50Z2020-07-13T11:52:50ZYoung musicians can perform on virtual stages when schools are closed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346486/original/file-20200709-87086-1ubo9wc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C35%2C3319%2C1956&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students at Long Branch Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, used tech to perform an 'Aristocats' number.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://vimeo.com/423566957">William Heim/Arlington Public Schools</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/events-cancelled-coronavirus.html">Live performances ceased</a> across the U.S. and around the world in early 2020 as governments everywhere barred large gatherings to slow the spread of the coronavirus.</p>
<p>New York City’s <a href="https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/15-photos-of-new-york-city-during-coronavirus-from-empty-times-square-to-a-deserted-subway">Times Square resembled a ghost town</a> by mid-March. The <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-03-19/metropolitan-opera-furlough-employees-pay-benefits">Metropolitan Opera of Los Angeles</a> went dark. Nashville converted its <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2020/04/02/nashvilles-music-city-center-regional-hospital-site-covid-19-patients/5112004002/">Music City Center</a> into a regional hospital for COVID-19 patients.</p>
<p>But the music didn’t stop.</p>
<p>Everyone from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKYiTg6_J-M">The Roots</a>, the hip-hop ensemble that serves as talk show host Jimmy Fallon’s house band, to the eclectic jazz YouTuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xZjb4k7xcE">Carlos Eiene</a> filled the void through their innovative use of online media. A wide array of prominent musicians, including <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYJCYr1I-Sk">Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Lady Gaga, Lang Lang and John Legend</a>, gazed into cameras often set up in their own homes to deliver entertainment straight to their fans. </p>
<p>Likewise, student bands, orchestras and choirs from coast to coast could no longer learn and rehearse together in person once nearly all <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-schools-everywhere-suspended-an-education-expert-answers-4-questions-about-the-upheaval-133858">schools closed their doors</a> to slow the spread of the coronavirus. As a music education scholar who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RVSNiSEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">researches online music-making</a>, I’ve found it exciting to see so many professionals and students alike use online media to keep making music together and to share their music with others.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Christopher Cayari explains how music teachers worked with their students to produce virtual performances after schools were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Virtual concerts</h2>
<p>When music teachers moved instruction online, they tried to get students to sing and play music together through teleconferencing software as an alternative to their end-of-year performances. However, they quickly realized that <a href="https://youtu.be/VsnvueTan4I?t=76">delays in the audio</a> made it impossible to make music sound the same as it did in the rehearsal room.</p>
<p>The alternative to teleconferencing software is producing virtual ensemble performances, which are compilations of prerecorded sound and sometimes even video that are put together with sound and video editing software. During the pandemic, I saw teachers from across the world sharing their students’ works similar to a collaboration between students from <a href="https://youtu.be/3iK2I26DdlI">Purdue University and the University of Connecticut</a> I led three years earlier. My students at Purdue were ecstatic to see their ukulele-playing tests turned into a music video featuring their virtual friends hundreds of miles away.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVUh5riRwG0&feature=youtu.be">all-virtual spring 2020 school concert season</a> reinforced exciting ways of sharing how schools bring students together to create music online. By recording and mixing music that can then be streamed online as a virtual performance, students’ works can be presented without the problems that arise when many people try to make music together in real time with teleconferencing apps.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A virtual ukulele performance called PurdUKEConn 2017 brought Purdue University and University of Connecticut students together.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Singing, dancing and playing instruments</h2>
<p>Show choir students from Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois were in the middle of their competition season when the pandemic hit. So their teachers pieced together <a href="https://youtu.be/eV-kufTLl9g">videos of them singing and dancing</a>. </p>
<p>Individual band members from Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego put on their formalwear and recorded themselves playing <a href="https://youtu.be/10zWNVNtQGc">Pomp and Circumstance</a> to honor graduating seniors. </p>
<p>And community-based youth ensembles like the <a href="https://youtu.be/l0ikSj1hq80">Chicago Children’s Choir</a>, the <a href="https://youtu.be/dbvSdTHJHNI">Showcase Music School’s Youth Orchestra</a> in San Jose, California and <a href="https://youtu.be/KehMH22rY_g">Little Kids Rock</a>, a nonprofit that supports music programs nationwide, didn’t let COVID-19 stop them from making music together.</p>
<p>Sound editing programs like <a href="https://www.soundtrap.com">Soundtrap by Spotify</a> and <a href="https://www.avid.com/pro-tools">Pro Tools</a>, video software like <a href="https://info.flipgrid.com/">Flipgrid</a> and <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html">Adobe Premiere</a>, and compilation apps like <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/acapella-from-picplaypost/id924635678">Acapella by PicPlayPost</a> and <a href="https://www.bandlab.com/">BandLab</a> made these productions from shuttered schools possible. </p>
<p>Many music teachers quickly realized that putting together a virtual ensemble was complicated because it requires technological skills that are not always taught in music education university programs.</p>
<p>Fortunately, some tech-savvy educators <a href="https://midnightmusic.com.au/2020/03/dear-music-teachers-please-stop-asking-how-to-create-a-virtual-choir-video/">offered advice about putting these performances together</a>, and <a href="https://www.virtualchoir.net/">sound engineers shared their expertise</a> to help create virtual performances. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, many students realized they could make music with others, regardless of geographic constraints. Examples I’ve seen include <a href="https://youtu.be/nkHoaYHHUUU">singing pen pals</a> who send karaoke videos across the globe on the Sing! app and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49CkxWUvSTA">online master classes that bring the expertise of professional musicians</a> to students like those attending the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. These relationships can continue and flourish as schools resume in person.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Students from Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey performed a virtual big band jazz number in 2020.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Questions abound regarding what music instruction will be like once K-12 schools open their doors again.</p>
<p>Many school districts planning a <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/06/25/hybrid-school-schedules-more-flexibility-big-logistical.html">mix of online and in-person instruction</a> haven’t shared details about whether and when music classes and rehearsals might be phased back in.</p>
<p>Those plans are complicated by evidence that singing and playing wind instruments, such as trumpets and flutes, can <a href="https://healthcare-in-europe.com/en/news/singing-in-times-of-covid-19.html">increase the risk of spreading COVID-19</a>. In addition, if students spend <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/superintendent-announces-two-big-updates-to-fairfax-countys-return-to-school-plan">less time in school</a>, core academic classes may dominate their schedules more than ever.</p>
<p>Based on what happened between March and June 2020, one thing is certain: Music education and performance can continue if students can’t meet or rehearse face to face as long as educators are willing and able to use the online tools at their disposal.</p>
<p>After all, the internet lets people of all ages continue making music together and share that music with online audiences. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Students from Gaither High School Chorus reminded listeners that ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in 2020.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140820/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Cayari receives funding as a consultant and speaker on topics related to music learning and online media creation. He also works for Purdue University and studies the topics discussed in this article. </span></em></p>Much like what everyone in showbiz from Lady Gaga to Lang Lang seems to be doing, school-age music students are using apps and software to play instruments and sing together.Christopher Cayari, Assistant Professor of Music, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1311822020-05-04T12:10:30Z2020-05-04T12:10:30ZHow using music to parent can liven up everyday tasks, build family bonds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331801/original/file-20200430-42962-1yt03nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Parents can sing their way through the day.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hispanic-mother-and-daughter-singing-with-royalty-free-image/554372395">Jose Luis Pelaez Inc./Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s Note: <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zc_FccMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Lisa Huisman Koops</a> researches how parents incorporate music into everything from daily chores and routines to family and religious practices. It’s something she believes has taken on more importance now that families are spending more time together in close quarters due to COVID-19. Here, Koops elaborates on the concept of parenting musically and what it involves.</em></p>
<h2>1. What is parenting musically?</h2>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/parenting-musically-9780190873639?lang=en&cc=us">Parenting musically</a> is the way I describe what happens when moms and dads use music for many nonmusical tasks and goals. These activities can involve everyday things or ways to better relate to one another. For example, a mother can sing a song to help cue her kids to brush their teeth. Or a father can use a playlist to make Saturday morning chores more fun. Children can also sing songs with grandparents through videoconferencing as a way to deepen their emotional bonds.</p>
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An example of parenting musically - helping a child brush their teeth for a certain amount of time.
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An example of parenting musically - helping a child speak about their day.
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<p>These are just some of the ways to get children to see the richness in the ways they can experience the world through music.</p>
<h2>2. What are the most interesting examples you’ve seen?</h2>
<p>Several families in my research project used music to <a href="https://www.kveller.com/how-music-helped-form-my-daughters-jewish-identity/">help develop their child’s identity</a>. For instance, by singing Hungarian folk songs she had learned growing up, one mother encouraged her daughter, Francesca, to sing them over Skype with her grandparents in Hungary.</p>
<p>One couple curated a playlist for their daughter Maggie as a way to nurture her identity as an African American girl growing up in a transracial adoptive family with white parents.</p>
<p>This family intentionally introduced a broad range of musicians, including many who are African American, and talked about the importance of familiarity with music as a form of social meaning.</p>
<p>Other families used music for transitions and rituals. One father composed little songs for his son Joel to help him through his bedtime routine. The songs were cues for what each of them needed to do as well as a joyful way to connect.</p>
<p>Another family, who were observant Orthodox Jews, used music throughout their daily and weekly religious practices and holidays. For instance, the children learned songs at home and school about <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Purim">Purim</a>, a Jewish holiday, that explained the background and significance of their celebrations.</p>
<h2>3. Does parenting musically involve formal music lessons?</h2>
<p>It depends on the family. There can be more than one reason for parents to engage their children in music through formal lessons as well as in everyday life. I’ve found that having several reasons for enrolling kids in music lessons might help keep children interested when enthusiasm flags or practicing becomes a struggle.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331526/original/file-20200429-51470-1m5qo4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Music lessons involve more than just mastery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mother-helping-young-boy-practice-violin-royalty-free-image/1182084116?adppopup=true">MoMo Productions/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Parents should communicate whatever their and their children’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735607086049">hopes and dreams</a> are to music teachers. If a teacher assumes the goal is for my daughter to be the top violinist in a youth orchestra, when my goal is for my daughter to understand and accept that it’s OK to struggle to master a difficult skill, there can be a mismatch that leads to frustration on all sides.</p>
<p>There’s no one right way to parent musically, and no one best way to be musical. Learning informally with online materials, taking time to explore children’s musical passions through listening to music together or rocking out to quarantine parodies - these are all ways to enjoy and grow with music.</p>
<p>For me personally, the goal of parenting musically is to embrace experiences with my four children today that help us navigate hurdles in life, bring us together as a family and develop skills and interests that will be with them throughout their lives.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Huisman Koops received funding from the GRAMMY Museum Foundation, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-Advance ACES+ (Academic Careers in Engineering and Science) Advance Opportunity Grant from Case Western Reserve University, and a travel grant from the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, Case Western Reserve University. </span></em></p>From livening up household chores to connecting kids with relatives who are far away, music can a play a vital role.Lisa Huisman Koops, Professor of Music Education, Case Western Reserve UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1345192020-03-31T12:28:09Z2020-03-31T12:28:09ZSteve Martin’s banjo and other music played from coronavirus isolation show how the arts connect us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323706/original/file-20200327-146695-l1zwy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C17%2C1882%2C1060&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Two Steve Martin banjo video tweets have been viewed more than 10 million times since March 21, 2020. Here, stills from the 'Banjo Calm' video. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(@SteveMartinToGo/Twitter)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many musicians are reaching out from isolation on balconies, in condos or the outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>Italian tenor <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/03/16/italian-tenor-maurizio-marchini-serenades-coronavirus-stricken-florence-from-his-balcony/">Maurizio Marchini sings “Nessun dorma” from his balcony</a> while the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/mar/23/spanish-police-sing-to-families-in-lockdown-in-mallorca-video">police in Mallorca, Spain</a> play music, dance and sing in the streets and people watch from balconies. Many people are posting #songsofcomfort. </p>
<p>American actor, comedian and musician <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveMartinToGo/status/1241408095579856896">Steve Martin’s March 21 viral Banjo Balm tweet</a> (at the time of this writing, about 9.8 million views) followed by March 27 “<a href="https://twitter.com/SteveMartinToGo/status/1243329747125297152?s=20">Banjo Calm</a>” (one million views) are two videos that bear witness to the ways we rely on the arts within social media to build connections and create community in times of isolation.</p>
<p><a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/633495">Music educators</a>, <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190219505.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190219505-e-20">community music facilitators</a> and <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/675805">ethnomusicologists</a> value the power of music to build community. These three fields coincide when they examine the notion of music for all that transforms societies and people.
They identify humans’ basic drive towards “<a href="https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295974798/homo-aestheticus/">making things special</a>,” as explained by Ellen Dissanayake, an affiliate professor of music education at University of Washington School of Music.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Excursions-in-World-Music-Seventh-Edition-7th-Edition/Nettl-Rommen/p/book/9781138666443">communities make the music we need</a> when we need to do so. We mark significant events, both traumatic and joyful, with the arts. </p>
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<h2>Banjo Balm</h2>
<p>For years, Martin’s comedy hijinks included <a href="https://youtu.be/UaGBIfUoB78">his banjo</a>; the public increasingly <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-steve-martin-steep-canyon-rangers-long-awaited-album-20170919-story.html">became aware of how talented he is as a musician</a>.</p>
<p>Martin’s album <a href="https://youtu.be/CbA9JHkkaAk"><em>The Crow: New Songs For The Five-String Banjo</em></a> won best Bluegrass Album at the 2009 Grammy awards; he also received awards for <a href="https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/steve-martin">2001 Best Country Instrumental Performance and the 2013 Best American Roots Song</a>. He is now as <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/steve-martin-to-receive-prestigious-bluegrass-award-45946/">respected as a musician</a> as he is as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/10/steve-martin-and-martin-short-review-a-delightfully-daft-double-act">a comedian and actor</a>.</p>
<p>Martin’s stand-up comedy and early film roles were zany. His movie characters gradually transitioned into ones who were a little odd but wise. This shift in his acting roles parallels his rise as a prominent figure in roots and bluegrass music.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Space and place influence music</h2>
<p>Musician David Byrne describes ways space and place have always <a href="https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/a-mcsweeneys-books-preview-of-david-byrnes-how-music-works">influenced music</a>. From operatic stages and philharmonic concert halls to punk rock concerts at CBGB in New York, composers and musicians write and play for spatial and acoustic qualities of specific venues. What works in an outside amphitheatre may well fail at Carnegie Hall. </p>
<p>Martin presents us a talented musician who becomes our beloved great uncle in the “Banjo Balm” viral clip. We see him alone, as many of us are — or at least feel — in social isolation, but he does not appear lonely. He stands outdoors, relaxed, just as many of us wish we could be today. </p>
<p>He smiles <a href="https://banjo.stevemartin.com/mission-statement/">gently at us with compassion</a>. Thus, Martin transforms his outdoor space into an intimate venue that millions share in mostly indoor settings. We feel he’s come to visit us at home and we’ve welcomed our buddy inside. We are all family in this context, isolating apart together.</p>
<h2>Banjo ‘ill-suited’ for conveying sadness</h2>
<p>Michael Schutz, associate professor of music cognition/percussion at McMaster University, explores composers’ cues for musical emotion and concludes that “the challenges in producing low pitched, slow moving melodies” on the banjo make the instrument “<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01402/full">ill-suited for conveying sadness</a>.”
Martin himself has made <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaGBIfUoB78&feature=youtu.be">the same point in his stand-up comedy</a>.</p>
<p>Martin’s “Banjo Balm” overcomes this tendency with rich, warm tone and a slow tempo. The major sounding melody descends with each phrase, suggesting repose, up until the final coda where it leaps and ascends, offering us some optimism. We tend to hear music in a major keys as happy or light, while minor keys tend to suggest sadness or darkness. This music calms us; we feel lifted from melancholy. </p>
<p>However <a href="https://libres.uncg.edu/ir/asu/listing.aspx?styp=ti&id=24421">the high lonesome</a> sound <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl2-At1NBfA">associated with bluegrass music</a> returns in “Banjo Calm.” It begins in a minor mode, a darker but still warm tone, and slowish tempo. At 50 seconds in, Martin fills in the spaces between the warm, slow and melodic notes with traditional <a href="https://youtu.be/sovTfNH4Lag">clawhammer</a> — fast, high pitch fill — that identifies the cheerfulness of bluegrass, even in sad songs. </p>
<p>Martin developed “Banjo Calm” into a more finished, more professional, more bluegrass piece. Personally, we feel more calm after “Banjo Balm.” </p>
<h2>Music for community</h2>
<p>Martin’s ever-changing social and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DBEYiBkgp8">cultural capital</a> provides traction for both video tweets. His musicality and star power alone made “Banjo Balm” viral, however, this social media phenomenon occurs with so much music in so many places around the world. </p>
<p>Canadian fiddler Ashley MacIsaac says musicians make music because “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-45-ontario-today/clip/15768012-musician-ashley-macisaac-keeping-the-arts-alive-and-still-paying-the-bills">we have no choice — that’s just what we are, we’re artists</a>.” Through these <a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190219505.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190219505-e-34?rskey=L42fQO&result=4">YouTube and Twitter</a> experiences, both professional and amateur musicians-in-isolation engage community expression and audiences appreciate their demonstration of solidarity. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1244046032205492226"}"></div></p>
<p>This phenomenon transcends individual performances in any one genre, and functions as community building, or at least community expressions of human spirit. We see <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/music/watch-members-of-the-toronto-symphony-orchestra-come-together-for-virtual-performance-1.5506515">professionals performing</a>, community singalongs and Canadian rockers <a href="https://twitter.com/alancross/status/1240600186638028800">Arkells offering free, online music lessons</a>. Then, there are <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9335531/coronavirus-quarantine-music-events-online-streams">countless artists performing online from their homes</a>.</p>
<p>Amateurs too are performing for their communities, including <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/doctors-story-viral-rendition-john-lennons-imagine-music/story?id=69776258">doctors at the Mayo Clinic</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/103245001322523/posts/105169827796707/">children</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/lisa_silva82/status/1241512792558989313">grandmothers</a>.</p>
<p>Let’s all join in this community apart together!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Through social media experiences, both professional and amateur musicians-in-isolation offer community expressions of human spirit, and audiences appreciate their gifts.Roberta Lamb, Professor emeritus, School of Music and Faculty of Education, Queen's University, OntarioRobbie MacKay, Lecturer in Musicology, Dan School of Drama & Music, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1309332020-02-24T13:48:42Z2020-02-24T13:48:42ZWhy some of the best-known tunes, like ‘Happy Birthday,’ are the hardest to sing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316272/original/file-20200219-11000-193i1iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5674%2C4240&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">If the range of a song is good for you, you're much more likely to enjoy and find ease in singing it.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/young-woman-singing-picture-id74075546?s=2048x2048">Image Source/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some friends and I recently went to karaoke. You can likely picture the scene: a restaurant adjacent to a bowling alley with a cheerful crowd and enthusiastic DJ aiming lights at a small stage. We sang a popular duet, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow,” to the room’s applause, and I remembered how good it felt to sing into a microphone.</p>
<p>It brought me back to my time as a music teacher in the late 2000s in my home state of Kentucky. Like all of us, my students had their own preferences in terms of the styles and genres they liked to sing, but of course there were the mainstays that we all had to learn – for example, the national anthem, which we practiced as soloists and as a multi-part choir. We often sang spontaneously, too, belting out “Happy Birthday” if someone was celebrating theirs on a rehearsal day. </p>
<p>Without a doubt, some of the students, no matter their singing ability, had a tough time hitting some of the notes in these two familiar songs. Teaching those students and others later eventually led me to wonder, why is it that some of the songs we know the best are the hardest ones to sing?</p>
<h2>The Happy Birthday Club</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://music.psu.edu/faculty/bryan-e-nichols">professor, choir director and researcher</a> at Penn State University, I’m trying to answer this question with my colleagues, in what we affectionately named the “<a href="http://pel.psu.edu">Happy Birthday Club</a>,” by investigating the conditions that elicit the best singing from individuals.</p>
<p>So far it seems that any emphasis on singing perfectly in tune can be detrimental to the idea that <a href="https://theconversation.com/stop-obsessing-over-talent-everyone-can-sing-74047">everyone can sing</a> because it suggests that people should sing only if they sing exceptionally well. This is problematic for several reasons, but especially because self-concept – or one’s beliefs about oneself – turns out to be really important for <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022429416680096">participation in the arts</a>. Our preliminary findings also tell us that we shouldn’t make judgments about singing based on familiar tunes that happen to be really hard.</p>
<p><audio preload="metadata" controls="controls" data-duration="24" data-image="" data-title="Ciara Newman, a Penn State music student, sings 'Happy Birthday.'" data-size="949812" data-source="Penn State University" data-source-url="" data-license="" data-license-url="">
<source src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/1843/ste-001.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<div class="audio-player-caption">
Ciara Newman, a Penn State music student, sings ‘Happy Birthday.’
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penn State University</span><span class="download"><span>928 KB</span> <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/audio/1843/ste-001.mp3">(download)</a></span></span>
</div></p>
<p>As part of our work, <a href="https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/psychology/faculty/faculty-directory/pfordresher.html">our colleague Peter Pfordresher</a>, of the University at Buffalo, shared some data with us on college students singing “Happy Birthday.” Some of the students started the song high in their vocal range, more started lower in their vocal range, but many of them failed when it came to the big ascending leap: the third “happy birthday.” </p>
<p>This is what makes this universal song so difficult for people around the world to sing. The third “happy birthday” has an octave leap, meaning a seven-note jump in the musical scale. It can be hard for people to manage, especially if you started too high in the beginning and have already topped out your range. Fun fact: “Happy Birthday” happens to have originated in Kentucky in the 1890s as a simpler song called “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/09/06/438009062/an-unknown-easier-happy-birthday-is-revealed-in-mildred-hills-papers">Good Morning to All</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=268&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314604/original/file-20200210-109930-13ck83w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The arrow points to the highest note of ‘Happy Birthday,’ which is the hardest note for many people to hit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Douglas McCall and Bryan Nichols/Penn State University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another notoriously tough song to sing is the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Most Americans have heard it and likely even sung it. You may have seen singer Demi Lovato <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mir15oAKXtg">perform it earlier this month</a> at the Super Bowl, singing it well in the common key of A-flat. At last year’s Super Bowl, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTuoq6TllaU">Gladys Knight sang it beautifully</a> and much lower, in a range that seemed to fit her voice perfectly.</p>
<p>No matter the key, like “Happy Birthday,” the national anthem is just plain difficult. That’s because it has a huge range; you have to sing high, low and everything in between. It has small intervals, or notes that are near each other on the musical scale, but it also has big skips upward – sometimes several in a row, such as the fourth, fifth and sixth notes in the song. And if you start the song with notes that are too high, well, often there’s just no hope in hitting them all perfectly.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314609/original/file-20200210-109930-rvj9l3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The arrows show the third, fourth, fifth and sixth notes in ‘Happy Birthday.’ Little steps upward and downward like these are generally easier to manage than the big leaps of the national anthem’s beginning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Douglas McCall and Bryan Nichols/Penn State University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The social influence of singing</h2>
<p>In a recent lab meeting, one research assistant asked, “What if the reason we sing ‘Happy Birthday’ wrong is because we hear it sung poorly so often?”</p>
<p>We don’t yet know the answer to whether people learn songs incorrectly to begin with and if that’s part of what makes the songs so hard. Add to this that the research says <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0305735618799171">some children seem to sing better alone</a> while others seem to sing better with other voices. This means that singing a more difficult song like “Happy Birthday” is actually a complex task with multiple variables, including what part of the range you try to sing it in and whether you or someone else has chosen the starting note for you.</p>
<p>Interestingly, people don’t think they sing as well as they actually do. Children in one study who <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3344198">formed a “poor singer” experimental group</a> were actually determined to be quite accurate pitch-wise once the researcher identified a good range for their singing voice and heard them sing alone. For adults who aren’t sure about their own singing ability, chances are you’re quite normal. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/102986490801200102">Very few people have amusia</a>, which means they can’t hear changes in pitches and can’t know if they’re singing the right note or not. Likely, you’re not one of them. </p>
<h2>So what should we sing?</h2>
<p>Thinking back to the karaoke room, I chose that duet because I was confident Bradley Cooper’s part fit my range. (I even tried it at home first.) </p>
<p>So here is some advice from the researchers of the Happy Birthday Club: Don’t judge your singing skills on familiar cultural songs; they’re just not good measures of our singing abilities. Instead, target the songs and the artists that you like, and then try to identify the music that fits your range the best. If the range is good for you, you’re much more likely to enjoy and find ease in singing it. </p>
<p>Nearly all pop songs have a very small range, so that may be a good place to start. Find the notes that fit you best, and give them a try at home or the next time you find yourself on a karaoke stage.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryan Nichols does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Penn State researchers who call themselves the ‘Happy Birthday Club’ suggest that we shouldn’t make judgments about our singing abilities based on familiar tunes that happen to be really hard.Bryan Nichols, Assistant Professor of Music, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1301732020-01-27T12:20:59Z2020-01-27T12:20:59ZHow Minneapolis made Prince<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311692/original/file-20200123-162185-1tqmmgi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C0%2C3853%2C2382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prince performs at Minneapolis' First Avenue nightclub in August 1983.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prince-performs-a-benefit-concert-for-the-minnesota-dance-news-photo/523840888?adppopup=true">Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been four years since Prince’s death, but fascination about the artist, the man and his mythology endures.</p>
<p>Prince’s peers, critics and fans are often quick to cite his creativity, versatility and talent. </p>
<p>But as a longtime Prince fan <a href="https://sst.asu.edu/content/rashad-shabazz-0">who’s also a human geographer</a>, I’ve found myself drawn to the way his hometown, Minneapolis, Minnesota, cultivated his talent.</p>
<p>Prince did not come of age in a vacuum. He was raised within the sonic landscape of a city that had a rich tradition of musical education, experimentation and innovation. </p>
<p>Long before Prince put the city on the musical map with albums like “1999” and “Purple Rain,” local musicians were creating a polyphonic sound that reflected the city’s migration patterns – a sound influenced by economic, social and political forces. Prince inherited this musical landscape, and would go on to synthesize the sounds of the city to change the course of 20th-century pop music. </p>
<p>Simply put, Prince would not sound like Prince without Minneapolis. </p>
<h2>The waterfall that built a city</h2>
<p>Minneapolis’ story began with a struggle over land. </p>
<p>In 1680, European explorers came across <a href="https://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/stanfall.htm">the only waterfall on the Mississippi River</a>. Wanting to harness its power and settle the land around it, these pioneers began a century-long war with native Americans over control of the region. By the dawn of the 19th century, the federal government had <a href="https://www.mnhs.org/fortsnelling/learn/military-history/expansionist-era">taken control</a> of the area and its resources.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311696/original/file-20200123-162216-2zi66a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Albert Bierstadt’s ‘The Falls of St. Anthony.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bierstadt_Albert_The_Falls_of_St._Anthony.jpg">Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The municipality of St. Anthony was incorporated on the eastern side of the river in 1849. The town of Minneapolis, located on the western side of the river, was formed in 1856 and became a city in 1867. In 1872, <a href="https://www.mnhs.org/millcity/learn/history/timeline">the two cities merged</a>.</p>
<p>Due to its proximity to the waterfall, Minneapolis staked its economic future on milling. At the end of the 19th century, Minneapolis was producing more flour than any other region in the country, <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2017/10/peak-minneapolis-flour-milling-industry-coincided-world-war-i/">earning the title</a> “flour-milling capital of the world.”</p>
<p>As the city’s industrial ambitions grew, so too did its immigrant population. Scandinavians came in waves, <a href="http://www.stevenshistorymuseum.com/2017/03/06/scandinavian-immigration-influence-minnesota/">and more Norwegians settled in Minneapolis than in any other state in the union</a>. They were joined by migrants from the American Northeast and South looking for work. </p>
<p>The rugged towns on the icy shores of the Mississippi River had become a thriving metropolis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311689/original/file-20200123-162232-hve49.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mills would help transform Minneapolis into a thriving metropolis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mills-and-railroad-yard-news-photo/576824648?adppopup=true">Minnesota Historical Society/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Music central to the city’s identity</h2>
<p>Though mills dominated the landscape, it was music that united the city’s disparate identities and ethnicities.</p>
<p>The early music scene was a mix of sounds – Scandinavian folk music, Northeastern classical music and Southern hillbilly rhythms. </p>
<p>Church hymns, folk songs and the patriotic jingles of military and marching bands filled the streets. Glee clubs cropped up at the newly founded University of Minnesota. Smaller groups, like the Quintette Club, a four-part harmony group, sprung up. And in 1855, the Minnesota Musical Association <a href="http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-216254.pdf">put on the city’s first music convention</a>. </p>
<p>Music could also be heard day in and day out in the bars and brothels that drew mill workers. Meanwhile, the Northeastern robber barons who owned the mills along the river <a href="http://www.minneapolismn.gov/www/groups/public/@cped/documents/webcontent/wcmsp-216254.pdf">built majestic music halls to resemble those in New York and Boston</a>. The Pence opera house opened in 1869. Classical music societies, opera clubs and the first philharmonic clubs were also founded during this time. By the 1880s, the city was regularly organizing public concerts that attracted huge crowds.</p>
<p>Then, in 1910, the city made an important change to its public school curriculum, one that ingrained music in the city’s identity: Musical education became mandatory. All students in every school had to take and pass a music class in order to matriculate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/311690/original/file-20200123-162199-1bw0e0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this c. 1880 photograph, a Minneapolis family poses with its instruments.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/musical-family-every-member-of-the-family-plays-an-news-photo/516019406?adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The superintendent of music education, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/THADDEUS_P_GIDDINGS_A_BIOGRAPHY.html?id=SHLOrQEACAAJ">Thaddeus Paul Giddings</a>, spearheaded the effort, designing and promoting a curriculum that stressed sight reading, posture and tone. Giddings was a bold innovator: Minneapolis’ school system <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/THADDEUS_P_GIDDINGS_A_BIOGRAPHY.html?id=SHLOrQEACAAJ">was the first in the nation to make music education compulsory</a>.</p>
<p>To Giddings, music was not just a simple pleasure but a fundamental part of childhood development.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0027432114528716">Music for every child and every child for music</a>” was the mantra that guided him. </p>
<p>As a result, Giddings democratized music education and music performance. So successful were his methods that, according to a 1940 article in the Minneapolis Star, one in every six children in the system – spanning race, class and ethnicity – played at least one instrument.</p>
<h2>Black migration brings the 12-bar blues</h2>
<p>Between World War I and World War II, <a href="https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Temporary-Farewell/World-War-I-And-Great-Migration/">nearly 2 million blacks fled the South</a>. Fleeing Jim Crow racism and lynching, they landed in cities across the Northeast, West and Midwest, including Minneapolis.</p>
<p><a href="https://growlermag.com/faces-of-minnesota-soul-food/">Minneapolis didn’t see the massive influx</a> of black migrants that other major cities experienced, but black Southerners nonetheless had an outsized impact on the city’s music scene.</p>
<p>Their primary contribution was the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essays12bar.html">12-bar blues</a>, which introduced the city’s white residents to the sounds and rhythms of the Mississippi Delta. The progression allows a musician <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMy-7hyDG38">to play three chords in constant rotation</a> – the one, four and five chords – to create a steady harmony. This, in turn, creates space for solo improvisations. </p>
<p>These influences – combined with the city’s promotion of music and emphasis on education – ensured that Prince, who was born in 1958, would be raised in one of the country’s most fertile incubators for new music.</p>
<p>Yes, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3558565/How-12-year-old-Prince-tossed-father-caught-bed-girl-moved-friend-s-basement-enjoyed-hedonistic-wonderland.html">his parents were talented musicians</a>, with his father’s piano playing inspiring him from a young age. And Prince <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2016/04/prince-genius.html">was a genius</a>: By his mid-teens, he could play guitar, piano, drums and bass; he could hear a song and instantly play it back. </p>
<p>But his music classes in school played a significant role in his music education. He was also surrounded by a sonic culture built on fusion, education and black styles – a scene that prized combining genres, improvisation and creating new sounds.</p>
<p>In his magnum opus, “<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/sign-o-the-times-190234/">Sign O’ the Times</a>,” Prince created a mash-up of psychedelic-rock, gut-bucket funk and cutting-edge R&B. Like the sounds of Minneapolis, this double LP defied existing musical genres and made synthesis its raison d'être, expanding the horizon of what was possible in popular music. </p>
<p>We also witnessed the city’s rich musical legacy in the diverse sounds that emerged alongside Prince’s: Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and the Suicide Commandos, to name a few. </p>
<p>Minneapolis gets little love whenever there’s a Prince tribute. People are quick to cite his brilliance, legendary work ethic – <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ableton/videos/loop-susan-rogers-looks-back-on-princes-work-ethic/10154681523857168/">the man didn’t sleep</a> – and virtuosity. All of which are worth noting. </p>
<p>But in the music of Prince Rogers Nelson, the unseen notes of a city born amid war, mills and migration linger.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130173/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rashad Shabazz receives funding from The Humanities Research Institute at Arizona State University. He is a member of the American Association of Geographers.</span></em></p>Prince was a musical genius, but he didn’t come of age in a vacuum. A human geographer explains how Minneapolis’ unique musical culture nurtured and inspired the budding star.Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor at the School of Social Transformation, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1263502019-11-28T19:10:04Z2019-11-28T19:10:04ZThe majority of music students drop out before the end of high school – is the ATAR to blame?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303914/original/file-20191127-180279-1dnb7t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">More than half of students who took music in year 10 in NSW had dropped out by year 12.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than half of year 10 music students in NSW dropped the subject by the time they reached year 12. Their teachers said this was so they could choose subjects that would help them get a higher ATAR. </p>
<p>These are the findings of my PhD study where I looked at data across NSW schools and conducted interviews with music teachers.</p>
<p>An average of 56% of students in year 10 music courses dropped out by the time they reached year 12 between 2008 and 2016. This comes to an average of around 7,200 music students lost between year 10 and 12.</p>
<p>Interviews with 50 teachers at 23 schools around NSW – including comprehensive, selective, independent and Catholic – suggest many of their best music students opt for subjects that will perform better when it comes to their ATAR.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-you-let-your-child-quit-music-lessons-try-these-5-things-125944">Before you let your child quit music lessons, try these 5 things</a>
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<h2>Numbers of music students lost</h2>
<p>I took figures from every school across NSW that offered music at the Higher School Certificate (HSC) level.</p>
<p>There were 13,005 students taking year 10 music in 2014. This dropped to 7,001 by year 11, in 2015. By the time year 12 rolled around in 2016, only 5,294 of the student cohort were enrolled in an HSC music subject.</p>
<p>That’s an average loss of 58.6% of music students. </p>
<p>The numbers are similar for every year 12 graduating cohort from 2007 to 2015.</p>
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<h2>Music is often scaled down</h2>
<p>Students starting year 11 must choose the subjects they want to study for the next two years. These choices can be made for a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500693.2017.1299949">range of reasons</a>: what they’re good at, what they’re interested in and what may help them in the future.</p>
<p>But a student may also be aiming to get into a university degree with a particular ATAR cut-off. Then, it may be reasonable, and even somewhat responsible, for that student to consider both what they may be good at and what has <em>historically</em> scaled well, to maximise their chance of getting the ATAR they’re hoping for.</p>
<p>Scaling <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/Scaling-Report-2018-NSW-HSC.pdf">is the process</a> by which all student marks in HSC courses are adjusted to become “the marks the students would have received if all courses had the same candidature and the same mark distribution”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-actually-is-an-atar-first-of-all-its-a-rank-not-a-score-126594">What actually is an ATAR? First of all it's a rank, not a score</a>
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</em>
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<p>This means a mark in one subject, such as music, can be scaled lower than the same mark in another subject, such as physics. For instance, in 2018 in NSW, a total mark of 93 in Music 1 (<a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/stage-6-learning-areas/stage-6-creative-arts">one of the two senior music courses available</a>) was <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/Scaling-Report-2018-NSW-HSC.pdf">scaled down</a> to 72.2. While a total mark of 89 in physics was scaled to 84.4.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.uac.edu.au/assets/documents/scaling-reports/Scaling-Report-2018-NSW-HSC.pdf">Universities Admission Centre’s report</a> on scaling in HSC recommends students don’t “choose courses on the basis of what you believe is the likely effect of scaling”. </p>
<p>But students also have access to online <a href="https://www.hscninja.com/atar-calculator">ATAR calculators</a> where they can put their predicted marks in for their subjects to determine where their ATAR will most likely lie, and to see how those marks have scaled in previous years.</p>
<p>It’s reasonable then, for a student to use such information to decide which subjects they should pursue for their HSC. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-the-suzuki-method-work-for-kids-learning-an-instrument-parental-involvement-is-good-but-other-aspects-less-so-111995">Does the Suzuki method work for kids learning an instrument? Parental involvement is good, but other aspects less so</a>
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<hr>
<h2>What teachers said</h2>
<p>Several of the teachers I interviewed acknowledged the ATAR effect on music enrolments. </p>
<p>One said music was a “negative drag on the ATAR”. Another said Music 1 is “just going to lower your ATAR”. One teacher told me music was “not rated very highly among the ATAR”.</p>
<p>One teacher said a particular student was advised by her curriculum co-ordinator to drop music so she could get the ATAR to become a doctor. And another teacher was constantly losing music students at his school because of the perception of scaling. </p>
<p>The teacher said</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve lost a lot of very good musicians to science and maths, because they’ve decided to drop the subject, which has been pretty devastating at times.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers should consider allowing their high performing music students to complete their HSC music course early, in Year 11. This is known as acceleration.</p>
<p>As one teacher put it, <a href="https://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/images/stories/PDF/Revisiting_gifted_education.pdf">accelerating high-achieving</a> music students allows them to get their <a href="https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/results-certificates/understanding-results">Band 6</a> (meaning they’ve received a mark from 90-100) for music so they can focus on other subjects in year 12. A student’s ATAR in NSW is calculated from their best ten units, including English. Going into year 12 with two units already completed can alleviate study time and boost confidence.</p>
<p>Some schools in NSW already use the acceleration option for music students. It allows their musically gifted students to still keep music as a HSC subject, and helps maintain healthy senior music cohorts at their school.</p>
<p>According to my analysis, around 20% of schools in NSW offer accelerated courses in the HSC for courses including modern history, studies of religion, physics, economics and, most commonly, mathematics. </p>
<p>Given this prevalence of acceleration, particularly in the HSC, teachers and schools should consider this a reasonable and achievable strategy to accommodate their musically gifted students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126350/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel White does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>NSW schools are losing senior music students in significant numbers. Teachers say they’re dropping the subject in year 12 to ensure a higher ATAR.Rachel White, PhD candidate and sessional lecturer, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1259442019-11-27T18:42:58Z2019-11-27T18:42:58ZBefore you let your child quit music lessons, try these 5 things<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303628/original/file-20191126-84235-hddtvm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Boring lessons are one of the main reasons children want to stop music lessons.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows children are <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4921.0Main%20Features12017-18?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4921.0&issue=2017-18&num=&view">mostly likely to start studying music</a> between the ages of nine and 11.</p>
<p>Researchers in a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248981393_'If_I_play_my_sax_my_parents_are_nice_to_me'_Opportunity_and_motivation_in_musical_instrument_and_singing_tuition">2009 UK study</a> suggested the dramatic drop in music tuition after age 11 was linked to children starting high school. </p>
<p>The study also revealed the main reasons for children ending music lessons were boring lessons, frustration at a lack of progress, disliking practice and competition from other activities. Some children regretted stopping music lessons. </p>
<p>Stopping as soon as a child experiences difficulty or expresses frustration <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10824-015-9240-y">denies that child</a> the benefits of music and reinforces the message that, if something is hard, it’s not worth doing. But continuing lessons for someone who has come to resent them is futile. </p>
<p>Fortunately, there are some things parents can try which might keep kids in music class longer. And if that doesn’t work, it’s OK to stop.</p>
<h2>1. Find out the reason</h2>
<p>Sometimes a child likes the music lessons but has stage fright, doesn’t like exams or feels inferior to other musicians their age. These issues can be managed. Although they might result in a change of teacher, or repertoire or pattern of learning, they’re not of themselves a reason to stop. </p>
<h2>2. Choose the right instrument</h2>
<p>Music tuition can <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/raising-musical-kids-9780199941674?cc=us&lang=en&">go wrong quickly</a> when the wrong instrument is chosen. One <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40318138?seq=1">study suggests</a> if children select the right instrument (determined by simple aptitude tests and a preference for the sound of the instrument) they will keep on with lessons longer.</p>
<p>The choice of instrument <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/raising-musical-kids-9780199941674?cc=us&lang=en&">can depend on</a> the child’s preference, a parent’s suggestion or the availability of the instrument. Parents should take advice and, where possible, rent an instrument prior to making a financial commitment.</p>
<p>Gender expectation can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248981393_'If_I_play_my_sax_my_parents_are_nice_to_me'_Opportunity_and_motivation_in_musical_instrument_and_singing_tuition">influence instrument choice</a>. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248981393_'If_I_play_my_sax_my_parents_are_nice_to_me'_Opportunity_and_motivation_in_musical_instrument_and_singing_tuition">Research shows</a> guitarists, saxophonists and drummers are overwhelmingly male; violinists, flautists and singers overwhelmingly female. </p>
<p>Particularly where a parent’s preference differs from that of their child, it’s wise to reflect on what is motivating the preference. Kids shouldn’t feel they have to conform to a stereotype.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303653/original/file-20191126-112522-znpe8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More boys take guitar lessons than girls. Try to not let traditional gender biases influence their choice of instrument.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Make practising less of a burden</h2>
<p>Around 70% of 5-14 year olds who play an instrument or sing spend <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/4921.02017-18?OpenDocument#Data">two hours or less per week</a> on the activity. But most children <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/raising-musical-kids-9780199941674?cc=us&lang=en&">will not always want to practise</a> and many won’t know how.</p>
<p>Some children feel they are letting their parents down by not practising. This can make learning music miserable. Parents can help by: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>creating a household routine that makes time and space for practice</p></li>
<li><p>being present with younger children during practice and asking older children how practice is progressing</p></li>
<li><p>understanding how the teacher wants their child to practise. Whether via a practice diary or through communication during the weekly lesson, knowing the purpose of practice helps target the encouragement parents can provide</p></li>
<li><p>being realistic about how long their child can practise. Different teachers will <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-music-parents-survival-guide-9780199837144?cc=au&lang=en&">have different approaches</a> to how long their students should practise, but regular practice sessions are better than a longer session the night before a lesson</p></li>
<li><p>being flexible. If a child is exhausted or there has been a disruption to their routine, give them permission to take a night off</p></li>
<li><p>encouraging their child to simply begin a session, however short – rather than fixating on completing 20, 30 or 40 minutes of practice – will help establish a routine</p></li>
<li><p>celebrating small victories. Learning an instrument can be hard and children will sometimes feel they haven’t accomplished a great deal. Praising incremental improvements can help motivate your kid. </p></li>
</ul>
<h2>4. Help your child take control</h2>
<p>Learning music is challenging but must be rewarding. Given lack of progress is a leading reason for stopping lessons, <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198744443.001.0001/acprof-9780198744443-chapter-6">it is vital</a>, particularly for teenagers, that they develop agency as musicians. </p>
<p>Examples of fostering agency include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>encouraging them to select some of the music they play</p></li>
<li><p>giving them space and encouragement to compose their own music</p></li>
<li><p>allowing them to choose where, when and with whom they play</p></li>
<li><p>valuing a learning journey that explores a breadth of repertoire, rather than repertoire of ever-increasing difficulty</p></li>
<li><p>letting them take responsibility for their learning. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>This last point might mean parents gradually let go of monitoring practice. An interim step is for a parent to offer to help keep the teenager accountable. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know you often practise at 7pm […] would you like me to ask you how it’s going or remind you if it seems you’ve forgotten?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Competing interests represents a leading cause for stopping music tuition. The transition to high school is a pressure point in this regard. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303655/original/file-20191126-112512-osm386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Getting your child to just start practice is enough to establish routine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When a child becomes over-scheduled or overwhelmed, parents should consider offering a break from music lessons. The break should be for a defined period (typically a term) and it is wise to keep the teacher informed.</p>
<h2>5. Frame the ending positively</h2>
<p>When a teenager wants to stop lessons but the parents are unsure of whether the desire is genuine or the time is right, it is sometimes possible to strike a deal. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You’ve come so far and done so well […] how about you keep going until after the concert in three months and if you still feel the same way, you can stop.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most teenagers ultimately do stop and that’s OK. The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282156825_Liminal_or_lifelong_Leisure_recreation_and_the_future_of_music_education%5D">best thing parents can do</a> is help their child frame that ending positively. </p>
<p>Rather than seeing their child as “quitting” or “giving up”, parents should describe this transition as “moving on” or “graduating”. </p>
<p>Celebrate what they have accomplished and encourage them to keep playing for pleasure – their own, and that of others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy McKenry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kids can stop music lessons at any time, due to boredom or disliking practice. It’s OK to let them stop if they genuinely don’t enjoy it, but it’s best to test a few things out first.Timothy McKenry, Professor of Music, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1217982019-08-28T21:52:45Z2019-08-28T21:52:45ZLet’s change the ‘girls play flute, boys bash drums’ stereotypes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289209/original/file-20190823-170918-1865537.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C26%2C997%2C470&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What can teachers and parents do to ensure that children select musical activities based on their real desires?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2019, surely we are past the days in music class where boys are shunted to drums and trombone while girls are pushed toward flute and choir? Not necessarily so.</p>
<p>Music researchers have consistently found what musicians, music educators, parents or students may have anecdotally noticed: many people have gendered associations with particular instruments related to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735617734629">instruments’ pitch and timbre</a> or their <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40319030">role and size</a>. And, these gendered associations shape both people’s perceptions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735602302003">of the gender identity and social role</a> of musicians and of <a href="https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/boys-play-trumpet-and-girls-play-flute-but-why.aspx">what instruments people should choose</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1970s, in the United States, Harold Abeles of Columbia University and Susan Yank Porter of Wilmington Public Schools began to study the effects of gender in music education. They found that both children in kindergarten to Grade 5 and adults make gendered associations with musical instruments, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3344880">that students and music teachers tend to prefer “gender appropriate” instruments</a>.</p>
<p>They also found from “most feminine to most masculine,” the list looks like this: flute, violin, clarinet, cello, saxophone, trumpet, trombone and drum. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3345559">Similar findings</a> persist in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014863609014">studies conducted regularly since</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, when children take up instruments they’re not passionate about, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3345534">most don’t stick with music for long</a>.</p>
<p>But what is the background here, and what can teachers and parents do to ensure that children are selecting musical activities based on their real desires? </p>
<h2>Sounds like gendered history</h2>
<p>Historical research shows that gender disparities in music have existed for a long time.</p>
<p>Writing in 1886, music critic George Upton concluded that women were unable to be creative in music. His reasoning was that history shows women wrote no great music and “‘<a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/S15326934CRJ1401_7">having equal advantages with men, they have failed as creators</a>.’” </p>
<p>Anecdotally, in my teaching and research career I have found many music students repeat the fallacy “if there were any good women musicians we’d have heard of them.”</p>
<p>In the 1980s, scholar Ellen Koskoff of the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, published an influential volume of essays <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/47azy5bd9780252060571.html">that surveyed women’s experiences in music, both globally and historically</a>.
Koskoff’s volume points to gendering of musical pursuits as a pan-global experience.</p>
<p>Of course, the corollary is that men’s musical activities, though generally broader and more prestigious, are also prescribed and restricted. As far back as the 1930s, the <em>Music Educators Journal</em> published a reflective essay by music teacher Inez Field Damon, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3384954">The Boys Who Would Not Sing</a>.” Damon laments her experiences talking with the principal at a school where she’s failing at cajoling boys’ participation. The principal replies:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“You can’t make them sing. They never sing. They are heavy in everything.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Closer to our own times, sociology of arts scholar Clare Hall of Monash University in Australia examines the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051704005960">“missing male” trend in singing at school</a>. She finds that far fewer boys joining choirs or willing to sing likely finds its origins in very early childhood. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288707/original/file-20190820-170956-doz7if.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Do gendered associations with music, such as the drums being considered more ‘male,’ still influence today’s music classrooms?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">lindsey bahia/unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Musical genius isn’t male</h2>
<p>In my work, I’m tracking <a href="https://grimebibliography.wordpress.com/">gender research in music education</a>. There are many ways researchers are <a href="https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/gems/issue/archive">investigating this area</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers look beyond musical instruments, such as barriers to <a href="http://doi.org/10.5429/2079-3871(2010)v1i1.1en">girls playing the electric guitar,</a> to include all types musical pursuits, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183517725101">collecting records</a>, DJ-ing or writing and <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/study-musics-greatest-gender-disparity-is-in-the-studio-w515889">producing music</a>. </p>
<p>There are two approaches aimed toward greater gender equity in music education — which could also be adapted to combat gender inequity in other human endeavours — which really must be used in concert. These are known as <a href="https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=4409628">compensatory practices and challenging practices</a>.</p>
<p>Compensatory practices aim to fill in some gaps related to music history. Rather than just studying dead white European men, music educators must consciously and purposefully include women of diverse cultures or backgrounds in the story. </p>
<p>Let’s study medieval abbess <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/em/cau013">Hildegard von Bingen</a> and American composer, singer and arranger <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/20/711818052/wade-in-the-water-ep-17-the-music-of-roberta-martin-and-kenneth-morris">Roberta Martin</a>. Let’s study Americana guitarist <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/08/16/748416943/mother-matriarch-and-mentor">Maybelle Carter</a>, or contemporary music makers like <a href="http://stateofsate.com/about/">blues rocker SATE</a> or <a href="http://tanyatagaq.com/">vocalist Tanya Tagaq</a>.</p>
<p>And, for those who scoff that we can’t just not study Beethoven, I say, “Of course we study Beethoven! He’s pretty good. But, we don’t privilege Beethoven’s work as inherently more important or a as product of musical genius exclusive to men.” </p>
<h2>Role models</h2>
<p>Compensatory practices used alone are not enough. Filling gaps is necessary, but alone, compensatory practices don’t take steps to combat continued gendering in music. Some challenging practices that interrupt the formation of gender stereotypes are needed. One of the most effective is providing students with a variety of musical examples or role models. </p>
<p>Exposing students to images of both male and female musicians playing varied instruments or in varied musical roles has been shown to be effective. But beware, because simply showing what might be thought of as counter-examples (only girls playing drums, for instance) runs the risk of creating an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265051700001777">equally strong gender bias shifted from the prevalent one</a>.</p>
<p>Any lifelong musician can tell you the benefits of making music. We talk about enhancing self-esteem and self-regulation, building community and enhancing <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/298964/this-is-your-brain-on-music-by-daniel-j-levitin/9780452288522/">academic achievement</a> among the benefits. But let’s not forget the <a href="https://theconversation.com/music-also-matters-in-the-real-world-104388">joy and needed self-expression</a> that music making also brings. </p>
<p>It’s a shame when children miss out on these many benefits either because somebody pushes them in the wrong direction because of who or what they appear to be, or because encouragement and efforts to break down stereotyping are lacking or ineffective. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121798/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robbie MacKay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When children take up instruments they’re not passionate about, most don’t stick with music for long, and that’s a shame.Robbie MacKay, Lecturer in Musicology, Dan School of Drama & Music, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1190662019-07-01T12:57:38Z2019-07-01T12:57:38ZMusic engagement and achievement predicts higher grades in math, science and English<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281163/original/file-20190625-81750-13pguyq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students who were highly engaged in instrumental music were, on average, over one year ahead in their math, English and science skills.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What does maturing mean after elementary school? Here’s one thing it shouldn’t mean: dropping music at school. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I at the University of British Columbia studied over 110,000 public school students. We learned that students involved in extended music engagement (between grades 8 - 12) do one full year <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000376">better academically than non-music peers, particularly when engaged in instrumental music sustained over years of schooling</a>. Also, music achievement predicts academic achievement in math, science and English. </p>
<p>Music matters for its own sake, but also because, as our study shows, music engagement sustained from childhood into adolescence – particularly instrumental music that begins in elementary school – is significantly related to better high school achievement. </p>
<h2>Study: Rich data</h2>
<p>Thanks to rich educational and socio-economic data capturing the full population of B.C. public school students for several cohorts, we had an unprecedented opportunity to examine how student participation in music and music achievement predicted and related to <a href="https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/administration/program-management/assessment/provincial-exams">provincial examination scores</a> in high school English, math and science subjects. We looked at scores from provincial testing from Grade 10 math, science and English as well as Grade 12 English in relationship to students’ participation in music. </p>
<p>In our study, we counted both the number of high school courses taken, as well as student high school involvement and grades in graduation program music courses (concert band, jazz band, orchestra, piano and choir) taken across public high school years (Grades 8-12).</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14613800601127569">previous research</a> we inferred that music involvement that continued up to Grade 12 would be associated with (and predict) higher high school grades in mathematics, science and English. We expected instrumental music would have a more pronounced positive impact than vocal music. </p>
<p>We found that this is true, even when we take into account the following four factors: children’s prior elementary school educational achievement in numeracy and literacy, as captured by the B.C. Foundation Skills Assessment Grade 7 examination; gender; socioeconomic background (as gauged by the student’s home neighbourhood); linguistic diversity, captured by language spoken in the home.</p>
<p>We used a statistical regression model and adjusted our analyses to control for those four factors. We did this to demonstrate that these factors were not key determinants in musical or academic achievement and to address the problem of what researchers call confounding — unaccounted-for factors that might lead to incorrect findings. </p>
<p>While we are not yet able to infer causality — that music causes students to be smarter or improve their grades — we were able to identify a predictive relationship between music achievement and academic achievement, and demonstrate that more music engagement can be better for overall learning.</p>
<h2>Sustained engagement</h2>
<p>A handful of experiments <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X16300641">have found that</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01694">students randomly assigned to music training outperform those assigned to non-music groups</a>. </p>
<p>But music is an inherently complex phenomenon — there are many ways to make and engage with music. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200617300790">Many other studies</a> have <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0002831217701830">examined music participation</a> but they didn’t take into account different types of music making such as instrumental music, vocal music, or other forms and amounts of engagement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281670/original/file-20190627-76701-ht9y7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are many ways to make music.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, several earlier studies have been based on <a href="https://mp.ucpress.edu/content/29/2/147">small, unrepresentative samples</a> or considered only <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0082007">brief exposure to music training</a> — whereas a central claim substantiated by our study underscores the academic achievement benefits from sustained engagement in music training over several years.</p>
<h2>Increased cognitive capacity</h2>
<p>Students in the present study who were highly engaged in instrumental music were, on average, over one year ahead in their math, English and science skills, compared to those peers not engaged in school music. </p>
<p>We say one year ahead because the math, science and English grades that music-engaged students obtained in Grade 10 could place them a full year ahead in their curricular studies. In practical terms, the effect sizes we measured when comparing adolescents in the very highly engaged instrumental music group with the no music group (even after adjustment) were of a magnitude similar to or <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2008.00061.x">greater than the average annual gains in reading, science and math that are seen during the high school years in the U.S. context</a> </p>
<p>We attribute these strong associations between music engagement and academic achievement to a combination of <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01198/full">increased cognitive capacity</a>. In the brain, instrumental music changes the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28397108">structure and function of the Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and the specific area which contains it, the auditory cortex (AC)</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281668/original/file-20190627-76722-1fstrli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students learn to ‘think music’ as their musical learning deepens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To make music in upper secondary grade levels, students need to go beyond simple button pushing and the mechanical playing of instruments. Students need to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/875512339201100104">“think music” through a process known as audiation</a>. Audiation is the ability to compare what was heard in the immediate past in music listening with the present, and to connect what was heard with our expectations of what might come next. Music audiation ability is significantly correlated to the structure and function of the Heschl’s gyrus in the auditory cortex. </p>
<p>We do not yet fully understand the mechanisms of how music learning transfers to other developmental areas, but our work and <a href="http://alm.plos.org/works/doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2014.11.020">numerous studies</a> suggest <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0028393295000455?via%3Dihub">that extended, engagement with music learning (particularly instrumental music) enhances cognitive mechanisms</a>.</p>
<p>It is also likely that prolonged and more music engagement results in higher motivation and self-efficacy, <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02023/full">executive functions</a> and a positive impact on <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2012.714361">emotional development</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0305735604041491">self esteem</a>. </p>
<p>The patterns of our findings suggest that music participation – especially in instrumental music, and multiple years of engagement over time – confers cognitive benefits in the form of tangible differences in many aspects of academic learning.</p>
<h2>Significant associations</h2>
<p>When focusing solely on learners who took instrumental music, additional important and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2013.04.009">theoretically plausible</a> findings are revealed — namely that there is a “dose-response” type relationship. This means that higher levels of engagement (more classes) in music are related to incrementally higher exam scores. We also see significant, predictive relationships between higher grades in instrumental music courses and higher exam scores.</p>
<p>Music may not make you smarter, but we now know that music engagement sustained from childhood into adolescence — and more of it, especially instrumental music — may lead to doing better in high school.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vsb-cuts-music-1.4102896">emphasis on numeracy and literacy at the cost of other areas of learning, particularly music,</a> should not be acceptable in our public schools. </p>
<p>Let the band play on! </p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Scott_Emerson">Scott Emerson</a> contributed to this study’s literature review and statistical analyses.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119066/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Gouzouasis received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canada for this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Guhn received funding, together with Principal Investigator Dr. Peter Gouzouasis, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC).</span></em></p>Researchers who looked at over 110,000 students found that learning an instrument in elementary school, and continuing music study into high school, significantly improves school achievement.Peter Gouzouasis, Professor, University of British ColumbiaMartin Guhn, Assistant Professor, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.