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Studio music teachers have always been constant in Australian society, rarely recognised beyond their immediate surrounds. Building a 'connection' of students required advertising, primarily by word-of-mouth or via local press announcements. Few teachers placed individual advertisements in local papers. This changed in 1911 with the establishment of monthly The Australian Musical News, intended to report and support musicians and music teachers. In its first edition, four studio music teachers placed advertisements, first to use this new opportunity. We unfold the stories of Mrs. Arthur Royce, Herr Franz O. Schieblich, James Ure, and J. Alfred Johnstone. By happenstance, their diverse careers capture the different ways of being a studio teacher in contemporary Australia. We note the unchanging nature of studio music teaching and suggest that, with the exception of technologies, the activities of these four teachers resonate with modern practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In research, particularly within the pedagogies of doctoral supervision, the significance of relational experiences is less explored and understood. Such relational aspects determine the nature and quality of the doctoral research output and are a crucial element of successful doctoral completions. A conscious assessment, estimation and management of the vulnerable sensibilities surrounding these relation fosters a deeper insight into the way student-researchers and supervisors experience their doctoral journeys. In this paper, to feature the importance of these relational experiences and to accentuate ideas and concepts for pedagogical change, my co-authors and I forsake the repetitious and employ Langar - a Sikh cultural practice of congregational cooking and consumption of a shared meal as a postqualitative methodological alternative. We utilise the innovative insights of Langar to reflect on our own research experiences and demonstrate the complexities of 'becoming' researchers to explicate how a sometimes-distant cultural practice could induce a shift in our research thinking. In context of methodological approaches, and within an educational framework, we argue that such a shift may instil freshness into the way doctoral journeys and cognate supervision pedagogies are viewed, navigated, and experienced. Methodological innovation, we submit, may occasion pedagogical transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the perception of family service providers' opinions and personal experiences working with recoupled parents in stepfamily forms. We examined service providers' specific knowledge, attitudes, and practical responses to working with stepfamily forms that functions very differently to nuclear family forms. We interviewed four family service providers who work with individuals, couples, and families from a multiplicity of diverse family forms. Four main themes came out of the data collected: challenges family service providers identified when working with stepfamilies; complex relationship connections in stepfamilies; working within the boundaries and limitations of legislation and policies relating to both families in general and stepfamilies; and understanding and working within the parameters of how the family functions as a stepfamily. Our research demonstrates the importance of family service providers having a platform to discuss issues impacting family service providers working relevantly and effectively with stepfamilies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studio music teachers are the backbone of musical communities but their efforts are often overlooked and unsung. We explore one facet of the life of studio music teachers in Australia 1890–1920, graded music examinations conducted by two well-reputed British music education organizations: Trinity College of Music and the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. For teachers, acquiring high-level qualifications from these bodies offered teaching credentials. For students, examinations were a feature of their routine studies. Teachers could advertise their abilities via the publication of examination results. We chronicle the introduction of these examinations to Australia and their impact on the lives of studio music teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1840s, massed singing classes led by charismatic pioneer music educators such as Joseph Mainzer (1801–1851) sprang up across the United Kingdom. Mainzer was a much respected composer, music journalist, and music educator. Born in Trèves (Prussia), he traveled across Europe and settled in Paris, where he was part of the revolutionary Association Polytechnique that offered free education to the working classes. His mass singing classes were a remarkable success but aroused the suspicions of authorities. Mainzer left Paris for political reasons and moved to England, and after teaching across the United Kingdom, settled in Edinburgh. His arrival in Scotland was greeted with a degree of adulation reserved for celebrities. Across Scotland classes were established to disseminate his new system that was taught in larger centers and most small towns. Although Mainzer's fixed-doh system did not long survive him and the subsequent arrival of the tonic sol-fa method in the 1850s, his work (and that of others) created an environment in which popular singing classes in schools, churches and the community could flourish. Mainzer was a skilled and charismatic educator. He advocated tirelessly for lifelong music education for all. Mainzer has been overlooked and deserves recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the mid-nineteenth century, a system of music examinations was initiated in Britain that came to encompass the far-flung reaches of the British Empire. These examinations offered an internationally recognized system of professional and musical standards. For the next several decades the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Trinity College London (TCL) maintained this extensive system of graded instrumental and vocal examinations across large parts of the globe, principally those countries that were part of the British Empire (later the Commonwealth). Both the ABRSM and TCL continued examining for many years and this article discusses the work of four examiners appointed by the ABRSM to travel throughout the Empire, with a particular focus on Australia. The year selected is 1923. This is for several reasons. By 1923 the system of traveling expert examiners undertaking examinations across the country was well established; the vicissitudes and hardships of World War I and the influenza pandemic had passed; the practice of examiners traveling long distances by boat and train had resumed. At this time the British examinations were at their height despite the establishment of a rival Australian system, the Australian Music Examinations Board. The examiners not only undertook all the examinations across the country but also were influential public figures who spoke about music education and modern music in Britain. They gave concerts and public lectures and their activities were influential because of repeated reporting in the popular press. As a historian I am interested in the history of the commonplace--those well-established and pervasive activities that are taken for granted. Learning a musical instrument and taking annual graded practical and theoretical examinations was and continues to be a commonplace occurrence in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the experience of final year teacher education students at Monash University and Deakin University in Victoria on their engagement with music of other cultures. The study transcribed and analyzed the data collected from semi-structured interviews of teacher education students undertaking music methodologies. Results from the interpretative phenomenological analysis reveal the changing landscape and significant gaps in research in multicultural music education. Moreover, music has been found to have the ability to build bridges to cross the divides in diverse community.

The article features Stais N. Coleman and her concept of the "seeking attitude" that she inculcated to her students in teaching music education. It also examines how Coleman has adopted the pervasive Theory of Recapitulation in her teaching. The theory was introduced by German philosopher Johann Herbart. A brief life history of Coleman is also presented. She married Walter Moore Coleman, a professor of biology at the Sam Houston Normal Institute, on March 13, 1896 and they were blessed with two sons.

The article focuses on the practice of singing and elocution in South Australia in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century. It was learned that concerns about the Australian accent were noted early on in the Australian colonies. The notion that the Australian accent is solely a variation of the Cockney dialect was dispelled. John Curwen, founder of the tonic sol-fa method, argued the importance of improving vocal training in schools. Educational authorities considered singing a health-giving exercise for children.

Experiential education is defined by Luckman (1996) as a "process through which a learner constructs knowledge, skill and value from direct experience" (p. 7). Such a process of practical engagement, with concepts and skills in selected and guided experiences, supported by reflection, critical analysis and synthesis, is applicable to any discipline. This article considers an experiential program in music education at postgraduate level. As part of the Master of Education (Music Education) degree, offered by Monash University (Australia) by flexible mode, students could take a European Perspectives on Music Education (EPME) course, the final assignment of which could take the form of a reflective journal compiled during a three-week European tour. This demonstrates that experiential programs are appropriate at all levels of education and disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daniel Batchellor, British music educator, immigrated to America in 1877. A nonconformist minister, he was a capable, enthusiastic proponent of the Tonic Sol-fa system. He knew that opportunities were available in Boston to a determined, energetic teacher of the method. In America, Batchellor worked hard to establish the method in conjunction with dedicated Tonic Sol-faists already active in the Eastern states. Despite considerable activity on the part of its proponents toward the end of the nineteenth century, the system did not become established. Batchellor's career in many ways paralleled the progress of the Tonic Sol-fa method in America. His income was derived from teaching private classes, sessional work for various institutions, and summer schools. The financial rewards of such work would have fluctuated with the status of his somewhat specialized method. By the end of his life, Batchellor, like the Tonic Sol-fa system, had sunk into obscurity. As a representative of an important method and its progress in America, Batchellor deserves our attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]