Energetic, passionate, inspiring, Lumʼs book is without question an impressive contribution to current understandings of Singaporeʼs arts education scene. Progressing through fifteen Parts, the book embraces perspectives on music, theatre and dance, digital storytelling, band directing, free improvisation and flow, among other topics. Its covers primary school settings and work with more senior pupils, as well as situations highly pertinent to those undertaking their own teacher training. As this suggests, there is a lot on offer here, with the Singaporean setting acting more as common ground than geographic limitation.
The structure is innovative too. Most Parts begin with a target chapter, which is followed by an exegetical commentary from a second author, often based outside Singapore. Finally, there is a dialogue between the author(s) of the target chapter and that of the commentary. I would have liked to learn more about the process(es) that underlay the generation of these materials. For instance, were the sets of further reflections hashed out face to face, or generated over months through email or phone exchanges – are these thoughts transcribed from the moment of live debate, or carefully composed and edited dialogues? Did authors get to choose their own respondent? Are these debates between strangers or arguments between colleagues? For a book that emphasizes contextualised understanding, there is scope to apply that critical focus to its own structure.
It is difficult to pick favourite chapters from the book, as they strike out in such diverse directions. I suspect many readers will find personal resonances throughout, and I would imagine that the volume could work well as something to dip into regularly, reading a few pages, almost at random before heading out to teach oneself. As a wind player and former orchestral tutor, the chapter on wind band directing was particularly fascinating to me, perhaps in part due to the scale and complexity of operation sustained by the musician in question. Elsewhere, there is highly effective use of testimony from students, as in the chapter on 13–17-year-old studentsʼ views of dance as part of PE. Here, the studentsʼ comments show just how difficult it is for them in the context of school education to conceive of dance as dance. Instead, and even while acknowledging that dance offers a vehicle for personal enrichment and is a staple of youth culture, students describe it as non-strenuous, for girls, or as a potential distraction.
If I have some criticisms to offer, they are mostly related to the final finish. The writing is sometimes clunky. Hereʼs Lum introducing Part II of the book: ‘It suggests that teacher control (read levels of freedom), confidence and competence, which goes beyond skill sets, are at the heart of an engaged creative music making endeavour and posits a closer look at local music teacher education that has often favoured a more structured pedagogical perspective anchored within a perceived necessity on having a foundation of an Anglo-American Western classical music tradition’ (pp. xiv–xv). Thatʼs quite a lot to take on in a single breath. Or, a tiny matter: the inclusion of errata pages at the end seems odd (these are concerned with word order in Chinese names). It would have been far preferable to correct the articles themselves – knowledge in music education isn't produced at such a speed that production of the publication itself need be unduly rushed.
