Popular music pedagogy: industry, enterprise and vocational skills

Scholarship on popular music in higher education has considered multiple avenues for how best to equip students with appropriate graduate skills for the contemporary music industry. Diversity in skill sets has emerged as a key graduate attribute (cf. Weston, Reference WESTON2017; Bennett, Reference BENNETT, Burnard and Haddon2016a; Draper & Hitchcock, Reference DRAPER and HITCHCOCK2006; Cloonan, Reference CLOONAN2005), particularly in response to the narrowness or ‘siloing’ of older forms of classical or instrumental training. Bennett, for example, criticises instrument-exclusive pedagogies that prioritise virtuosity above employability and argues that music education of this type will ‘[at best] generate session musicians who can succeed in certain niche roles in the music industry’ (Reference BENNETT, Smith, Moir, Brennan, Rambarran and Kirkman2016b). Broadly transferable skills and attributes have thus been targeted as a core outcome for popular music programmes, where Chase and Hatschek argue that music programmes should aim to build students’ dexterity in ‘[thinking] critically and in real-time… improving written and oral communication skills; and [developing] realistic attitudes and intentions about their pending careers’ (2017). Successful popular music degrees are, therefore, those which produce ‘multiskilled and flexible performing artists who are able to engage with multifarious aspects of both the music industry and related (and often non-related) industries’ (Weston, Reference WESTON2017). Popular music graduates are thus seen to be better positioned to meet the employment demands of the contemporary music industry, where the combination of practical, critical and vocational skills effectively equips students with the real-world requirements of the workforce.

In building upon this platform – which establishes a teaching model for tertiary popular music education that emphasises employability, diversity and transferable skill sets – we now turn to the specific ways in which the ‘vocational’ aspects of such learning have been addressed. Cloonan (Reference CLOONAN2005) advocates for ‘the vocational’ (business studies) as one of three core components of popular music degree programmes, where it sits alongside the ‘musical’ (practice and notation skills) and the ‘theoretical’ (musicology). The university emphasis on music business-as-vocation may emerge, as Bennett has argued, within a wider anxiety over the presumed employment rates of Arts graduates, where ‘debate about the effectiveness of arts degrees often concerns employability and graduate skills’ (Reference BENNETT2012). Such ‘practicality’ is seen as a necessary graduate skill for competency within the contemporary music industry, where Vella argues that ‘creative thinking, innovation, constant skill upgrading and entrepreneurialism are fundamental to modern-day survival in the music industry’ (2007). Developing a broad skill base optimises the ability of students to work beyond music industry contexts, allowing graduates to ‘maximize available opportunities, manage their diverse practice, and access skilled work both within and outside of music’ (Bennett, Reference BENNETT2012).

A common model for applied vocational curricula in universities more broadly has been WIL: a term given to tertiary approaches that integrate academic learning of a discipline with its practical application in the workplace. WIL is increasingly identified as essential to helping students in the creative arts transition from university into the complexities of the creative industries workplace (Fleischmann, Reference FLEISCHMANN2015). It is imperative, Collis contends, ‘that tertiary work-integrated learning programmes [in the creative industries] focus on more than just training students to become employees: they must also focus on developing the experience and employability of students who will undertake non-conventional career paths’ (2010). This emphasis on non-conventional, non-linear career pathways is further developed by Daniel and Daniel (Reference DANIEL and DANIEL2015), who argue that the creative industries sector, including music, is complex and competitive, characterised by non-linear career paths driven by the individual. As such, WIL is important in music programmes for a number of reasons. Not only does it provide students with a forum to actively apply and test their skills in professional settings, but it also encourages students to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills (Vella, Reference VELLA2007), identify with the professional workplace and reduce integration difficulties upon graduation (Draper and Hitchcock, Reference DRAPER and HITCHCOCK2006).

Site-specific, local considerations have been largely absent from existing studies, despite this acknowledgement of the need for universities to respond to the non-linear, non-conventional nature of creative industries careers. This absence is felt at two levels: first, in relation to the emphasis on students engaging with their own contexts in critical, transformative ways; and second, in relation to the material opportunities and limitations that geographic location represents. On this first point, we contend that greater engagement with immediate contexts allows students to, in Cloonan’s words, ‘[rise] above the simply vocational’, and ‘challenge existing industry practices and organisations rather than simply place students within them’ (2005). On the second point, we argue that the capacity for effective vocationally focused pedagogy is immediately shaped by context. A ‘vocational’ pedagogy for popular music (particularly as it emerges in the form of WIL) varies according to localised infrastructure, opportunities and networks. WIL is realised in varying ways in popular music programmes, as we demonstrate in the following discussion of RMIT in Melbourne and Massey in Wellington. In focusing on these universities, we assert how institutions in the Australia–Aotearoa/New Zealand region can act as exemplar respondents to wider issues for popular music education, particularly for universities in regions beyond commercial music’s hubs in the USA and UK.

Melbourne, Australia and Wellington, Aotearoa/New Zealand: rationale for comparison

Our focus on these two countries emerges from a broader discussion of popular music industries and academia. Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand’s shared remoteness from sites of popular music research in Europe and North America has shaped a strong regional disciplinary identity.^{Footnote 1} Wild (Reference WILD2006) asserts the prevalence of shared methodological approaches within popular music studies in the ‘antipodean’ Australia–Aotearoa/New Zealand context. Elsewhere, local researchers have pondered the notion of a trans-Tasman disciplinary identity (Bendrups and Johnson, Reference BENDRUPS, JOHNSON, Gillespie, Treloyn and Niles2017), whilst others have undertaken case-study comparisons (Wilson, Reference WILSON2010). Most recently, the book Made in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand: Studies in Popular Music presents a collective approach to music research in these countries (Brunt and Stahl, Reference BRUNT and STAHL2018).^{Footnote 2} The music industries in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, too, are closely interlinked, although Australian industry operations are more active in Aotearoa/New Zealand than the reverse. The Australasian Performing Rights Association, for example, draws its membership and collects performance royalties across both territories, but has its headquarters in Sydney, Australia. In music publishing, Aotearoa/New Zealand companies are few, small and local, whereas Australian companies, particularly Mushroom Music Publishing^{Footnote 3} and Native Tongue, have been consistently active, both signing artists and licensing music in Aotoeroa/New Zealand. Major labels have generally maintained separate offices in both territories, but in some instances the Aotearoa/New Zealand branches report to their counterparts in Australia. The worldwide rise in music streaming, for example, has led Spotify to establish offices in Australia, and they curate operations across both countries. Beyond the recorded music sector, the live and festival environments in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand are also interlinked.^{Footnote 4} Such practices demonstrate the intertwined histories and future trajectories of popular music markets and identities in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand; however, these approaches posit Australian market trends, industry practices and governance as the normative force in the region.

In further narrowing our focus, the music scenes in Melbourne and Wellington are varied in scale and are afforded by their contrasting population sizes. These are approximately 4.48 million and 470,000, respectively: essentially, Melbourne is around 10 times the size of Wellington (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016; Stats NZ, 2018). The value of Melbourne’s music industry is widely promoted by local government and has recently received global recognition as the Live Music Capital of the World: Melbourne has one venue per 9,503 residents, surpassing London, New York and LA (Donoughue, Reference DONOUGHUE2018). A recent Live Music Census Report conducted by Music Victoria reveals that the city hosts over 73,000 annual gigs in 553 live music venues, with patrons spending $1.42 billion AUD in these venues (Melbourne Live Music Census, 2017).^{Footnote 5} Wellington’s music industry, by contrast, is less well understood. The city hosts a shifting array of live music venues and smaller institutions. Independently produced local music is seen as core to Wellington’s creative landscape, in that ‘the low-level, lo-fi constellation of industries, media institutions, artists and bands that make up the independent music scene in Wellington underpins an allegiance to local music making that has lately entrenched the music scene as a definitive aspect of Wellington’s urban identity’ (Stahl, Reference STAHL, Brunt and Stahl2018). Wellington’s ‘scene’ is comprised of around half a dozen small- to medium-sized dedicated live music venues, as well as an informal ‘underground’ live music and dance music scene. A handful of cafes and bars also provide occasional original live music. The city has two small independent labels; however, many successful Wellington artists have signed to Auckland-based or international labels. It is hence critical to address how universities are equipped to respond to these environments through their engagement with local music scenes.

Comparison: RMIT’s WIL and Massey’s entrepreneurial focus

Universities need highly tailored popular music pedagogies for engaging students with industry in order to produce graduates who are fluent in diverse popular music environments. The unique nuances of local industry therefore must not only inform the pedagogies applied but be embedded within them. In Melbourne, RMIT has responded to this need for vocationally focused education by creating WIL activities as core assessments within the Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) degree. Here, WIL is deemed to be ‘an activity or programme that integrates academic learning with its application in the workplace. The practice may be real or simulated and can occur in the workplace, at the university, online or face-to-face’ (RMIT, n.d). RMIT’s approach to WIL thus emphasises both on-campus and off-campus activities, aligning with Daniel and Daniel’s emphasis on the value of observing industry practices in academic and vocational settings (Reference DANIEL and DANIEL2013). In this degree, WIL activities range from small-scale entrepreneurial projects, such as hosting gigs in makeshift city locations, to more structured events such as music industry seminar series where, for example, local industry professionals from record labels and booking agencies engage students in on-campus forums.

The RMIT degree programme focuses on providing students with highly nuanced skill sets in preparedness for industry. The most significant WIL activity within RMIT’s Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) is an 80-h work placement, which takes place in the first semester of the final year of the 3-year degree. The work placement functions as an internship at one or more music industry businesses and is undertaken for assessment in a distinct career-focused course titled ‘Music: Career Pathways’. Emphasis is placed on students being agentic learners and developing their connections within localised contexts: with supportive guidance, students independently seek out their own placements relevant to their interests and are most often located in Melbourne. Over the history of the programme, these placement partners have included artist management companies, radio stations, booking agencies, record labels, music festivals, street press or online publications, live music venues and promotion or distribution firms.^{Footnote 6} RMIT’s WIL programme is designed to allow students to present themselves in a professional manner whilst implementing and trialling the skills they have developed throughout the degree. Many of the ‘hidden jobs’ do not exist in general employment forums, as a number of positions are often created to fill gaps in the market to accommodate growing trends or are filled with individuals exhibiting diverse skill sets.

The pedagogical model utilised in RMIT’s curriculum is informed by an approach which facilitates flexibility, collaboration and career-readiness amongst students. Such goals are articulated in RMIT’s Internship Guidelines, which note that ‘Internships can help students to gather an understanding of industry expectations, inform their choices around career development, and help them to establish networks and potential future employment options’ (RMIT, 2018). The 80-h music industry placement, in this way, responds to the wider rationale for internship-style learning in tertiary contexts, where learning in the workplace ‘enables students to experience multiple roles and perspectives, to work collaboratively and reflectively, to apply theory in “real” situations, and to begin to learn the discourse of the profession’ (Franz, Reference FRANZ2008). RMIT’s approach hence demonstrates that industry-embedded WIL, applied here to internship-style work placements, is effective in that it links students with industry and provides effective pathways to employment in these and similar companies.

Much like RMIT, Massey University’s teaching and learning strategy prioritises ‘capability by maximising WIL and student access to innovation precincts’ (Massey, 2018). However, the WIL approaches in Massey’s Bachelor of Commercial Music are driven by entrepreneurial outcomes, rather than industry-based work or internships. The programme is relatively new, with its first intake in 2016, and its current holistic programme design and key objectives are documented in a Committee of University Academic Programme proposal document. These objectives comprise practice and project-based learning that ‘mirrors the commercial music industry’, which, in Aotearoa/New Zealand, consists of ‘self-employed or contracted highly skilled people… [that possess] transferable skills and practical opportunities to understand the multi discursive nature of the commercial music ecology’ (Ktori, Reference KTORI2015). Unlike RMIT’s degree which does not have named-major offerings, Massey’s degree has three majors: Practice, Industry and Technology. The Practice programme delivers courses in composition, performance and production; students who complete the Music Technology major not only learn skills in studio and live production but also learn interface and interaction theories, instrument design methodologies, software design and coding and skills in hardware and electrical engineering. The Industry major includes courses in publishing, event management, label development and artist management.

In place of internships, Massey’s Bachelor of Commercial Music applies entrepreneurial approaches that are embedded in specific ‘core’, project-based courses that combine students from all three majors. In one such course, titled ‘The Musical Engagement “Gig”’ (referred to henceforth as ‘The Gig’), students develop, promote and execute a live music event, usually off-campus. Practice major students form musical acts and prepare the set; Technology students design the staging and install and operate the live sound and lighting system and Industry students book the venue, manage budgets, marketing, ticketing and logistics. Most ‘gigs’ are staged by a group of around 20 students; 9–12 perform, and the remaining are in Industry and Technology. The projects are required to be financially feasible, though groups can request a ‘funding’ subsidy and equipment from the School if required. Modelled on industry realities, the learning outcomes prepare students to work across various skill sets within the industry, whilst specialising in an area relevant to their major. This model, which emphasises entrepreneurial, project-based learning, is replicated throughout the 3-year degree, wherein two further courses require students to compose, record and release music, and undertake a tour comprising concerts outside of Wellington.

The basis for this entrepreneurial-focused learning is supported by the courses students take in the semester prior. For example, Industry students develop basic event management and promotion skills. Technology students learn basic production skills, and Practice students must complete instrument practice and composition courses. The second semester ‘The Gig’ course therefore functions as the forum through which students actively apply the skills learnt in the previous semester, in real-world contexts. The work-integrated model we outline here is as much a product of the programme’s location in Wellington, with its limited infrastructure for internship and vocational placement opportunities, as it is part of the programme’s broader philosophy of developing entrepreneurial skills above conventional employability skills. This approach is foregrounded by industry consultation with the music industry in Aotearoa/New Zealand, which indicates that career pathways rely on self-employment rather than conventional advertised positions. The programme is thus conscious to work with, rather than to undercut or undermine, self-employed local music makers and spaces. For example, in ‘The Gig’, students book and perform in venues located in Central Wellington, enabling students to develop and maintain local networks, and in second year, they book venues outside of Wellington in order to extend these networks. Early successes from this model include students continuing to book these venues and promote events after the first-year course, developing their entrepreneurial skills beyond the scope of their university assessment requirements.

Discussion: student perspectives and localised challenges

In anchoring popular music curricula in site and city, the WIL and entrepreneurial approaches of RMIT and Massey are accompanied by a range of logistical and administrative challenges. In Massey’s Bachelor of Commercial Music, the integrated ‘cores’ require high levels of staffing and substantial facilities support. In ‘The Gig’, for example, there are weekly lectures that cover theoretical and conceptual topics, as well as weekly mentor sessions with an expert member of staff. Students are able to apply for facilities support in the form of live sound and lighting equipment, further adding to the expense. Furthermore, the live spaces of the gigs themselves require high levels of staffing in order to mitigate health and safety concerns, as well as provide suitable support for first-year undergraduate students. Despite these high running costs for the university, students have provided detailed feedback via Massey Online Survey ToolFootnote ⁷ wherein they frequently identified the positive, ‘real-world’ learning outcomes. When prompted to answer the question ‘The aspects of the course that most helped my learning were:’, responses included:

Whilst receiving generally positive feedback, MOST responses to the question ‘The course could be changed in the following ways to improve my learning:’ produced feedback that reflects the aforementioned limitations around staffing and resourcing. Students most commonly listed group size and dynamic as a key issue. The ‘real-world’ issues which face Wellington’s music scene at large – under-resourcing, under-staffing and a wider lack of sustained infrastructure – were also replicated or gestured towards in student evaluations of their learning.

In reflecting on student perspectives from a different local context, RMIT students have provided feedback on the effectiveness of the 80-h work placement for the course ‘Music: Career Pathways’ via the Course Experience Survey (CES).Footnote ⁸ When prompted to respond to the question ‘What are the best aspects of this course?’, there was positive feedback about the placement, which was known colloquially as ‘the internship’. Students found their practical, real-world experiences with industry to be especially valuable, given they are on the cusp of graduation from university life:

RMIT students nonetheless identify a series of challenges they faced within the WIL placement. The oversaturated work placement ‘market’ in Melbourne was a key issue for students, who identified challenges in ‘thinking of places and jobs to do’ (CES, 2018). There was also competition for a finite number of placements with larger companies such as Mushroom Music Publishing, who were seen as more beneficial to career readiness than ‘a smaller boutique place’ (CES, 2018). The challenges articulated by RMIT students are reflective more generally of the issues in facilitating industry-based internships across the university sector. Difficulties in consolidating ‘the worlds of study and work’ (Daniel & Daniel, Reference DANIEL and DANIEL2013) were identified by students, who noted that ‘The workload makes it incredibly hard to balance our other electives, [other] internships and outside of uni commitments like work’ (CES, 2015).

A central challenge remaining for creative arts education is thus to offer relevant workplace experience as an integral part of the curriculum (Fleischmann, Reference FLEISCHMANN2015); and moreover, a relevant experience which is cognisant of the distinct challenges and opportunities which geographic locations provide. Beyond WIL, a significant issue in popular music pedagogy further emerges in how universities can respond to geolocalised cultural and political contexts. Whilst we are limited by the scope of this article, local variances concerning gender and cultural diversity must also factor into best-practice locale-specific curricula. This is particularly pertinent for Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand as settler-colonial societies, where universities have a civic responsibility to emphasise and support the voices, knowledges and experiences of Indigenous communities. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, Massey University’s strategy document explicitly states that the University seeks to ‘Actively facilitat[e] indigenous knowledge development and leadership, particularly among Māori as tangata whenua [indigenous people] of Aotearoa New Zealand’ (Massey University Strategy, 2018). Whilst acknowledging that there is much work to do in this area, one initiative implemented in the Music degree at Massey University involves embedding indigenous knowledge throughout the core 100-level curriculum. The module designer, Warren Maxwell, writes the following:

Tertiary music education in Australia more generally has engaged with Universities Australia’s Indigenous Strategy (2017). This strategy asserts that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hold unique knowledge and knowledge systems which are foundational and fundamentally important to Australia’s intellectual, social and cultural capital and focuses on the importance of increasing the engagement of non-Indigenous people with Indigenous knowledge, culture and educational approaches accordingly (2017). This strategy has informed course content and assessment across several music course offerings in Australia,^{Footnote 9} including RMIT, where the university’s strategy document highlights ‘implementing learning and teaching of Indigenous Knowledge systems’ as a key goal for the institution (2015). RMIT’s 2010 Act further emphasises the recognition of ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia in the university’s teaching, learning, research and advancement of knowledge activities’ (2016). RMIT’s approach within the Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) has thus seen the incorporation of topics surrounding Indigenous musical and performing cultures into the core curriculum.^{Footnote 10} For both universities, it has thus been imperative to engage with the contemporary contexts in which Indigenous knowledge and creativity continue to develop and materialise and equip students with the cultural literacy to engage with and advance Indigenous knowledge accordingly.

In further addressing the local social and political contexts which shape music pedagogies, gender disparity presents an additional avenue for future research: in Aotearoa/New Zealand, for example, women constitute less than 40% of full-time students in undergraduate music programmes (TEC, 2018); in Australia, women represent 47% of music graduates (Thompson, Reference THOMPSON2018). This underrepresentation of women in spaces such as tertiary sectors, we argue, has flow-on effects to the wider regional music industry, where women constitute 21.7% and 23.8% of registered professional songwriters in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand, respectively (Strong & Cannizzo, Reference STRONG and CANNIZZO2017; Kelly in Behan, Reference BEHAN2017). It is necessary for future research in this area to address how these representations of gender and ethnic diversity at tertiary levels become reflected and amplified in professional local industry environments. The nuances of these approaches and figures further underscores the importance of a pedagogical model which responds to the distinct political and geographic landscapes of universities and the lived experiences of their students therein.