The development of the English creative music movement

During the early 1960s, a small number of charismatic English composer-educators led by John Paynter, Peter Maxwell-Davies, Brian Dennis, George Self and the Canadian R. Murray Schafer, began to initiate new concepts in practical musical making that were centred on social equity policies, personal development theories and the support for all students regardless of their ability (Finney, Reference FINNEY2011). These music educators argued it was important that all secondary school students, particularly naïve lower secondary students who had little experience of music in their primary education, be involved in practical music-making first, rather than learning music theory, listening to or recreating the music of others (Rainbow, Reference RAINBOW1989). Creative music education combined avant-garde composing techniques, the concept of music as a means of self-expression with the music teacher acting as a facilitator rather than an instructor or director (Spruce, Reference SPRUCE and Spruce2002). Paynter (Reference PAYNTER1982, p. 28) argued, ‘Classroom work should be based upon music-making (performing, improvising, composing) and, in the forefront of all activities, the development of aural sensitivity and awareness’. He highlighted the importance of creativity, commenting, ‘The creative arts in education provide opportunities for all our pupils to discover what they want to say and to express it through a personal exploration of materials’ (Reference PAYNTER and Burnett1977, pp. 7–8). As noted by the Newsom (1963) and Plowden (1970) Reports (Central Advisory Council for Education (England), 1963, 1970), the lack of suitable accommodation, resources and large class sizes led to creative music educators developing innovative ways of teaching creative music education, for example integrated arts and small group work (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). Paynter (Reference PAYNTER1982) recognised the difficulty of designing a music curriculum for the wide ability and interests of students. Many of his ideas have now been accepted as standard practice in Western countries throughout the world, including Australia (Salaman, Reference SALAMAN2010).

The introduction of creative music education generated heated debate and issues for classroom music in England. As Finney (Reference FINNEY2011) noted, Rainbow described the 1960s as the ‘Turbulent Sixties’. He saw a connection between the introduction of progressive education in England and the lowering of standards in music education (Rainbow, Reference RAINBOW1989). Defining what was meant by creative music education and integrated Arts proved to be difficult (Plummeridge, Reference PLUMMERIDGE1980). Abbs (Reference ABBS1989, p. 2) remarked, ‘Virtually any act that broke with a norm was hailed as creative. To be creative in the arts meant to be iconoclastic’. To help overcome the problems noted by Newsom and Plowden, creative music educators frequently combined or integrated the Arts. Defining integrated Arts was also problematic (Robinson, Reference ROBINSON1989). Plummeridge (Reference PLUMMERIDGE1991) remarked on the manner in which the words integration, inter-disciplinary inquiry and multi-disciplinary were frequently interchanged by teachers. Swanwick explained that humanities teachers used the term as a kind of breaking down of old barriers and a building up of new associations, whereas in the Arts, it refers to the combining of different art subjects (Swanwick, Reference SWANWICK1979).

Conflict soon developed between traditional and progressive music educators. Traditional teachers emphasised the importance of students learning to read music (Plummeridge, Reference PLUMMERIDGE1980). The suggestion by some creative music teachers that inexperienced lower secondary students were composers created heated discussion. Jones (Reference JONES1986, p. 66) argued, ‘It is not sensible to suggest that children with a minimal musical education, engaged in activities of exploration and discovery with little idea of form and structure, are working like composers’. Swanwick (Reference SWANWICK1999) commented that after experimenting with creative music education in school, students went home and played their popular music albums, such as the Beatles.

Progressive education in Victorian state secondary schools

Unlike in England, there had been little innovation in secondary education in Victoria after the Second World War (Hannan, Reference HANNAN, Simpkins and Miller1972). By the 1960s, the traditional academic curriculum no longer catered for the increasing number of students who did not intend to study at a university (Hannan, Reference HANNAN, Simpkins and Miller1972). Crittenden (Reference CRITTENDEN1981, p. 16) noted the ‘uniform and rigid curriculum of subjects in a definite order of prestige’. Cathie (Reference CATHIE1967) remarked on the narrowness of secondary education that did not include the Arts in many state secondary schools in Victoria.

Reed, Chief Inspector of the Victorian Board of Secondary Schools Inspectors, was dismayed at the competitiveness of the external year 12 (age 16–17) examination and the percentage of students that must fail due to the strict quotas required for entrance to university (Reed, Reference REED1970). The abolition of the external Intermediate examination (year 10, age 15–16) at the end of the 1967 examination period permitted the introduction of integrated general studies, non-competitive assessment, flexible grouping of students and methods of teaching (Hannan, Reference HANNAN, Simpkins and Miller1972). As Reed did not have the authority to issue directives or to revise the secondary school curriculum, it was his intention to persuade secondary school principals and teachers to accept the need for change (Bessant, Reference BESSANT1980). By the middle of the 1970s, however there were a number of concerns with progressive education (Barcan, Reference BARCAN1996).

Peter Maxwell-Davies and the 1965 Sydney UNESCO music conference

By the 1960s, classroom music teachers throughout Australia were still teaching an antiquated 1930s music curriculum (Comte, Reference COMTE1983). Donald Peart, Professor of Music at the University of Sydney, realised the urgent need to modernise school music in Australia (Peart, Reference PEART1965). As Chairman of the proposed 1965 Sydney UNESCO Conference for School Music, he invited Peter Maxwell-Davies and Professor Wilfred Mellers to discuss their involvement with the English creative music movement (Peart, Reference PEART1965). This was the first opportunity most Australian music educators and teachers had of listening to and discussing creative music education with two respected authorities on the subject (Peart, Reference PEART1965). Their visit highlighted to Australian music teachers the need for change (Peart, Reference PEART1965). Mellers, Professor of Music at York University, discussed the need for students to make music rather than learn about it. He argued, ‘We should offer an awakening to the experience of sound as such existing in silence, without any preconceptions as to which sounds can be accepted and which sounds can't be accepted as music’ (Mellers, Reference MELLERS1965, p. 14). For this concept to be successful, Mellers remarked, ‘there must be a conscious awareness of working in a creative atmosphere, not simply a mere use of technique’ (Mellers & Maxwell-Davies, Reference MELLERS and MAXWELL-DAVIES1965, p. 138). Maxwell-Davies captivated and enthralled the Conference participants with his comments and descriptions of his experiences of teaching creative music education at Cirencester Grammar (Peart, Reference PEART1965). He emphasised the difficulties faced by Australian teachers in concentrating on teaching lower secondary students music theory.

During the 1960s, the majority of classroom music teachers in Victoria were using the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) theory syllabus to teach lower secondary students the rudiments of music (Cameron, Reference CAMERON1969). Maxwell Davies (1965, p. 141) commented, ‘On looking through the Australian Examinations Board syllabus, just now I found so much junk, which is almost as appalling as the Associated Board in England’. He went on to say, ‘I quite believe that the examination system, as it stands, is very largely the cause of our children not being able to improvise and compose as freely as they can paint and write and enjoy other forms of art’ (1965, p. 141). Cameron's Reference CAMERON1969 study of secondary music education in Victoria highlighted the concerns that external music examinations were having on classroom music for the general student (Cameron, Reference CAMERON1969). Maxwell-Davies also had serious concerns with teaching young students the professed rules of harmony, for example the use of parallel fifths and octaves, before they were allowed to compose. He remarked, ‘Had I insisted on grammatical accuracy, the freshness and spontaneity would have disappeared’ (Reference MAXWELL-DAVIES1965, p. 158). Unfortunately, many Victorian classroom music teachers were still teaching a traditional music theory course in the 1990s (Hogg, Reference HOGG1993). Hames, a progressive composer at the Victorian College of the Arts, argued that notation should be used when required to deal with certain situations as, ‘The precedents that have been set in the past for the analysis and cognition of musical works can no longer apply’ (Hames, Reference HAMES1979, p. 68).

Maxwell-Davies’ visit was significant for music education in Australia as it helped to establish the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) in 1967 as well as influencing many participants at the 1965 Seminar to introduce creative music education (Callaway, Reference CALLAWAY and Symons1969). Similar to the introduction of creative music in England, some music teachers in Victoria rejected the place of technical skill development in music education (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). It is possible that some participants at the 1965 Sydney Seminar did not realise that Maxwell-Davies firmly believed in teaching students basic skills in music and even supported them sitting for external music examinations (Maxwell-Davies, Reference MAXWELL-DAVIES and Grant1962). By the late 1960s, the influence of progressive educators and the visit of overseas music educators had convinced music teachers of the need to introduce creative music in Victorian secondary schools.

Creative music education in Victorian classroom

The radical curriculum reforms of the late 1960s gave state secondary music teachers the opportunity to introduce creative music education. Bartle (Reference BARTLE1974, p. 21) writes that this was ‘the most striking new development in this country in the past five or six years’. As in England, a small number of music educators played an important part in establishing creative music education in Victoria. Frank Higgins, Director of Music at the Burwood Teachers College in Melbourne was one of the first music educators in Victoria to teach creative music education during the 1960s (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). He was familiar with Schafer's writings and gave his students examples of his soundscapes. This was viewed as being rather advanced for primary music education at that time (Ferris, personal communication). In a similar fashion to Paynter and Schafer, Higgins argued that it was not the place of school music to train professional musicians (Higgins, Reference HIGGINS1973). On returning to Victoria in 1966, Keith Humble, a prominent Australian contemporary composer-educator, taught students creative music education in Melbourne (Whiteoak, Reference WHITEOAK and Bebbington1997). He argued that young students should experiment with sound first, before learning music theory. D'Ombrain played a significant role in creative music education, first as a secondary school music teacher and then as a lecturer at the State Secondary College of Melbourne where he taught creative music education. He was one of the first music educators to experiment with creative music in state secondary schools in Victoria, as well as giving demonstrations to teachers on creative music (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). D'Ombrain relates how the students at Chadstone Secondary School in Melbourne during the early 1960s enjoyed making their own electronic instruments and performing musique concrète (D'Ombrain, Reference D'OMBRAIN1998). During the 1970s, Victorian classroom music teachers began to develop innovative curricula in creative music.

By the middle of the 1970s, a small number of Victorian state secondary music teachers had introduced creative music education. Vanson recalled that when she started teaching classroom music at a Melbourne state secondary school during the 1960s, the prescribed traditional music curriculum made it difficult for her to cover the syllabus in the time allotted to music. After attending a demonstration on creative music, most likely by D'Ombrain, she began to incorporate these ideas into her music classes. Vanson remarked, ‘I find that now I get students who wish to continue to H.S.C. (year 12) with music. In the bad old days, compulsory music in form III (year 9, age 14–15) made them so fed up they lost interest’ (Vanson, Reference VANSON1975, p. 18). Anne Hrabe from Altona High School in Melbourne incorporated Schafer's vocal exercises in her classes. She commented that, ‘Schafer has been most useful to me in suggesting activities which involve my classes in experiencing basic music principles rather than listing them neatly in a notebook’ (Hrabe, Reference HRABE1975, p. 23). Peter Crompton at Parkdale High School in South East Melbourne was more fortunate than other classroom teachers in having small classes of 18 students and a well-equipped music room for teaching creative music education. He argued that each music lesson should be a ‘music experience’ (Crompton, Reference CROMPTON1975, p. 18). Unlike Crompton, Heywood, teaching at Norwood High School in an outer suburb of Melbourne, had a reasonably equipped music room, but up to 35 students in a class. He pointed out that creative music had a number of benefits for students that included students learning how to use sound expressively (Heywood, Reference HEYWOOD1975). Robin Stevens (personal communication) also found that students appreciated creative music as it involved them playing and making music rather than learning about music. Unfortunately, some music teachers ignored skill development, literature studies and audition that Swanwick had discussed in his 1979 book, A Basis for Music Education. Purcell, a Music Officer with the Music Branch of the Victorian State Education Department, a section that supported the generalist primary teacher with music education, argued that the creative arts programme had a number of concerns (Purcell, Reference PURCELL1977).

Small group work and creative music education

To help manage the large class sizes, the shortage of suitable accommodation and resources, creative music teachers in England and Victoria frequently employed small group work. Although small group work makes it easier for inexperienced lower secondary school music students to participate in creative music education, there are a number of concerns. It can be difficult to get students to work effectively and cooperatively (Odam, Reference ODAM2000). Bunting (Reference BUNTING and Spruce2002) pointed out that many students just ‘coast’ along letting other students do most of the work. The noise factor and disruption to other classes operating near the music room is also a concern (Ross, Reference ROSS and Ross1987). Many students find it difficult to make the transition from group work to solo composition in the senior grades (Odam, Reference ODAM2000). Fautley (Reference FAUTLEY2005) argued that small group work in composition makes it easier for many beginning students to participate in compositional activities, as it had during the 1960s.

In Victoria, difficulties also arose. D'Ombrain (Reference D'OMBRAIN1969) commented that small group work required a different approach to other activities in music education. McMillan added that small group work with lower secondary school students required, ‘strict rules to the activity’, to enable students to work in a positive manner (Reference MCMILLAN and Errington1993, p. 121). There was also the concern of large class sizes, accommodation and resources for small group work. Heywood (Reference HEYWOOD1975, p. 4) commented, ‘how is it possible to actively involve 35 students in exploring and organizing sound without the venture becoming chaotic?’ Small group work was also a concern for Zimmer (Reference ZIMMER1975) who was teaching at a country school in North West Victoria in 1975. The limited amount of space in the music room required the tape recorder group and the guitar group to rehearse in the corridor close together. Other groups had to use a small storeroom that affected the quality of their work and made supervision difficult for Zimmer as he continually had to move from group to group to keep students on task. For small group work to be effective, suitable soundproof practice rooms close to the main music room need to be available as well as modern computer-operated music equipment. Unfortunately, many state secondary schools in Victoria still do not have these facilities (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). Today in Victoria state secondary schools there is the concern of leaving groups of lower secondary students unsupervised in classrooms that are situated a distance from the music room.

Although a number of difficulties had been established with progressive education and integrated general studies, in 1988 another voluntary progressive curriculum was introduced to Victorian state schools.

Reaffirming integrated Arts in Victoria

A new progressive curriculum, the Curriculum Framework was released to Victorian state schools in 1988 (Ministry of Education Victoria, 1988b). It reiterated the teaching of integrated general studies for students, Preparatory to Year 10 (age 15–16). The Arts curriculum (Ministry of Education Victoria, 1988a) suggested that Arts teachers consider integrating art/craft, dance, drama, graphic communication, media and music. The Arts curriculum document was in two parts. Part A contained a statement for Arts education, Part B, suggested a course of study for individual Art subjects (Ministry of Education 1988a). Part A maintained that Arts teachers did not require skills to teach the Arts. In a manner similar to Kendell's comment, ‘If you can teach reading you can teach music’ (Cox, Reference COX2001, p. 166), the Arts Framework remarked, ‘General classroom teachers with little or no arts training can provide worthwhile arts experiences if they take advantage of the natural instincts and abilities which students bring with them’ (Ministry of Education, 1988a, p. 16a). It went on to suggest that assessments should be non-competitive, focus on the progress a student has made, as well as observing how a particular student works in the Arts (Ministry of Education, 1988a, p. 26a). The writers of the Music Statement who were experienced and familiar with classroom music argued that, ‘Students need to develop technical skills to ensure that performances within the class music program are educationally valuable’ (Ministry of Education, 1988a, p. 219a). Music teachers made little attempt to integrate the Arts as suggested in Part A (Watson, Reference WATSON, Rosevear and Bourne2001). By the late 1980s, the lack of clear guidelines was affecting the development of creative music in Victoria. There was a need for firm guidance in music education by the Victorian government.

Responding to creative music education

During the education reforms of the late 1960s, the Victorian Education Department failed to develop a rationale or offer assistance to music teachers in effective methods to teach progressive music. White commented, ‘If the Governmental authorities support change, and are prepared to reap its benefits, they are surely obliged to help’ (Reference WHITE1970, p. 14). Fitzgerald (Reference FITZGERALD1970) pointed out that if teachers were to develop new teaching skills they required some form of retraining and in-service training. It was left to individual music teachers to establish methods for teaching creative music education (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). As music teachers were untrained in curriculum development and integrated studies and small group work, many teachers had difficulty in developing a balanced curriculum (Heywood, Reference HEYWOOD1979). These difficulties can be seen in the experiences encountered by Hurworth when he began to teach creative music education in Victorian state secondary schools in 1975. Hurworth had studied creative music education with Paynter at York University during the 1960s, and then became a music teacher in secondary schools in England during the early 1970s (Hurworth personal communication). On arriving in Victoria in 1975, he found that teachers lacked knowledge on creative music education and ways to teach it. He pointed out that many Victorian teachers had entrenched views on the perceived benefits of teaching music theory to lower secondary students that made teaching creative music difficult. The facilities for creative music education at one of the schools he taught at was very poor with a music room that was not much bigger than an office to teach over 30 students (Hurworth, personal communication).

Hogg, a music educator at a Victorian tertiary institution, noted similar concerns to Hurworth. During the 1980s, she completed a comparative study of creative music education in England and Victoria (Hogg, Reference HOGG1993). Whilst in England Hogg observed a number of good examples of students composing and performing their own music. In Victoria, however, she discovered that many Victorian classroom music teachers still considered that students required skills in notation and melody writing before they could start to compose (Hogg, Reference HOGG1991). Hogg remarked, ‘some of the ‘composing’ observed could only be described as exercises in the use of music notation, the worst type being so restrictive as to demand the use of a given rhythm, beginning and ending with middle C and moving entirely by step’ (1991, p. 17). By the end of the 1970s, there was a need for a review of classroom music throughout Australia.

The lack of research in music education by trained researchers in Australia during the 1970s was also problematic for creative music education (Lett, Reference LETT1980). Comte (Reference COMTE1983) argued that this indicated that the Victorian government did not consider the Arts important in schools and the community. van Ernst (Reference VAN ERNST1991) pointed out that music education research at that time was rather ‘ad hoc’ and lacked a theoretical framework. Stevens (personal communication) noted that there was very little information available to Victorian music teachers during the early 1970s on the best practices for teaching creative music. The first major survey of the Arts in Australia, the 1977 National review of Arts education (Schools Commission – Australia Council, 1977) noted the weakness of many classroom music programmes that did not include any creative music activities. The Report commented, ‘The programs are generally very traditionally oriented with most emphasis being placed on singing and the history and literature of music to the exclusion of modern approaches to music education, including creative and percussion activities and movement’ (Schools Commission – Australia Council, 1977, p. 15). Part of the problem was teacher education for music in Victorian tertiary colleges.

Victorian universities and creative music

Comparable to England during the 1960s, there was a shortage of secondary school music teachers in Victoria who had skills in composition and contemporary music. Stevens (personal communication) commented that during the 1960s, Melbourne University taught class singing, harmony and orchestration. Composition as a part of classroom music education was not considered important for classroom teachers at that time. D'Ombrain (Reference D'OMBRAIN1971) considered that many music students at Melbourne University knew very little about contemporary music practices during the 1960s. During the late 1960s, tertiary institutions in Melbourne began to establish courses in creative music education. At Melbourne University, Bartle had introduced the work of Schafer, Self and Paynter to his students (Ferris, personal communication). Ferris, then a student at Melbourne University, remarked, ‘I thought it was great. I particularly liked soundscapes. I thought the fundamental focus on the nature of sound, particularly Schafer's approach and how it could be used in schools was exciting’. She went on to say, ‘It was my impression at the time, especially for the secondary school music teachers, that it was important that they had something to interest year seven to nine students’ (Ferris, personal communication).

During the 1970s, Stevens (personal communication) commented that creative music was an extensive part of pre-service education for primary school teachers at the Hawthorn Teachers Centre as well as the Geelong State College (now Deakin University). He went on to add that it was an exciting time to be involved in music education as lecturers had more freedom in what they could teach pre-service students. Stevens commented, ‘Money was not a problem. We had the equipment. There were Moog synthesizers, tape recorders, and a recording studio. It is not possible to do that today’ (Stevens, personal communication). During the late 1980s, pre-service tertiary teacher education for primary and secondary music began to be reduced in Victoria. Dissatisfaction with progressive education in Australia during the late 1980s, led to major curriculum developments in Victoria in the 1990s.

The establishment of ‘hard’ education in Victorian state schools

With the election of a reforming liberal government in Victoria in 1992, Hayward, the Minister of Education, argued that state education had been influenced by the socialist policies of the previous Labour government, and that, ‘schools taught what they liked’ (Caldwell & Hayward, Reference CALDWELL and HAYWARD1998, p. 56). As a result of these assertions, in 1993, the Victorian Board of Studies was established and given the task of designing a new standards-based curriculum. In 1995, Victoria introduced the Curriculum Standards Framework (Board of Studies, 1995). Emphasis was placed on literacy and numeracy subjects. Music was combined with dance, drama, graphic communications (from Year 7, age 12), media and the visual arts in the Arts Key Learning Area. Similar to the late 1960s Victorian curriculum reforms, the guidelines for Arts education were given in very broad terms, in part due to a severe economic recession in Victoria that restricted what could be achieved with the curriculum (Watson, Reference WATSON1998). Many music teachers who had taught progressive music education were unfamiliar with a standards-based Arts curriculum and required significant in-service professional development. Instead, music teachers were given large quantities of curriculum documents to study (Watson, Reference WATSON1998). A similar event occurred when the Victorian Essential Learning Curriculum, another standards-based Arts curriculum, was introduced in 2006 (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). As Swanwick (Reference SWANWICK1992) noted, music teachers tend to be unfamiliar with trends and developments in education and require frequent and effective in-service development on new policy directives.

With quickly evolving policies in education today, it is essential that music teachers be offered similarly effective in-service development to that offered to teachers of other subjects (Burke, Reference BURKE2010). Unfortunately, there is no governmental body in Victoria to assist music teachers in curriculum development. By the turn of the 21st century, the outlook for classroom music had deteriorated.

Stevens and Southcott (Reference STEVENS, SOUTHCOTT, Cox and Stevens2010) highlighted the fact that during times of economic difficulties, music education in Australia has always been one of the first subjects to be affected in schools. Ferris commented, ‘Today it's quite common to do a little bit of music, a little bit of art, a little bit of drama. In the little bit of music, you are not going to teach anyone any techniques or technical knowledge in music’ (Ferris, personal communication). Stevens and Southcott (Reference STEVENS, SOUTHCOTT, Cox and Stevens2010, p. 185) point out, ‘Too many state school curricula have moved to make music one of the ‘arts’ subjects of which not all must be taught. To deny children a holistic education by abandoning such an important subject is reprehensible.’ The 2005 National Review of School Music Education: Augmenting the Diminished highlighted the urgent need to revise school music throughout Australia, commenting, ‘Music education in Australian schools is at a critical point where prompt action is needed to right the inequalities in school music’ (Department of Education, Science and Training, 2005, p. v).