Search

Across the globe, students begin and continue learning the piano for various reasons. For many this can be an engaging and enjoyable activity which enhances their commitment to learning. Foundational in this process, practice is an essential part of piano learning. Without the excitement of performing for others, for some practice may become uninteresting and repetitious. Ultimately, boredom may affect piano learners and obstruct their commitment and progress. In this article, we explore what motivates upper primary and secondary school piano learners to practice and how piano teachers can stimulate piano learners' intrinsic motivations. We observed 34 upper primary and secondary school piano learners' lessons in Melbourne, Australia. Subsequently, we interviewed the participants. Following thematic analysis, the findings revealed that students' engagement with practice is influenced by their emotions, and by extrinsic factors such as parental support for practice. We offer new interpretations of how to connect self-determination theory to self-regulation learning based on previous scholar's works. This article can inform music educators in motivating students' piano practice and leading students to achieve progress.

The impact of digital technologies in education has been the subject of numerous studies. The findings have produced mixed results, highlighting the high degree of complexity involved in teaching and learning and the uniqueness of school settings. Continuous and rapid technological developments present educational communities with opportunities to solve numerous academic challenges. Current trends reveal a move towards the seamless integration of digital technologies into learning spaces to complement face-to-face teaching and learning. This study used Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis to understand an Art teacher's lived experiences as her classroom was transformed into a smart teaching and learning space using a combination of technologies to increase efficiencies in the delivery of the curriculum and address individual learning needs. The case study indicates that transforming traditional classrooms into smart learning spaces using a combination of technologies: uses time more effectively by automating the distribution of a range of educational resources; enhances teaching and learning by blurring the boundaries between physical and digital spaces; increases flexibility, mobility and creates extra opportunities for learning; frees up teaching time to address individual needs; enhances time on task and students' focus on the learning intention; and, encourages students to self-regulate their learning.

In developed countries, digital technologies are disrupting every facet of students' lives. It is no longer an option to turn off devices and disconnect from the outside world at the school gate. Educators are struggling with the number of technologies being introduced and how to safely and effectively integrate these tools in classrooms that have no boundaries. In an era where it seems that each child takes central place on the world stage; always connecting, learning, creating and sharing, it is timely to investigate the experiences of technology-rich 10-14 years old Australian students' experiences with technology in everyday life, and reflect on the persisting challenges and the new possibilities being created by the myriad choices of technological tools and their uses. The purposive selection of the participants was based on the volunteers' daily access to personal devices and frequent use of applications and various online platforms. This inductive qualitative study used concept mapping as a tool for conducting research and thematic analysis to identify and explore patterns in the data. Our findings reveal the formation of a fluid and hybrid digital rhizomatic non-hierarchical and multiplicitous network that allows students to connect, think, act, interact, access ideas and resources in ways that may assist educators in closing the gap between formal learning and informal learning whilst living in a rich technology world.

In 1993 the Victorian Music Teachers' Association (VMTA) published a fund-raising cookbook, Prestissimo Food for Agitato Musicians. Community cookbooks provide social historians with valuable windows into the lives and personalities of the contributors. The VMTA cookbook is no exception, bringing individuals into sharp relief and including asides that delineate the life of a studio music teacher. This narrative historical research relies on primary and secondary sources that are analysed and interpreted to explore this more informal insight into past lives. The data reveal busy lives negotiating teaching schedules and competing demands, with humour and practicality. The glimpses into the lives of past studio teachers resonate with current practices in this somewhat conservative profession. In this research, we also recognise the contributions of past colleagues.

The global pandemic of 2020 has changed the ways that university academics do their work and manage their time, including teaching, engaging with graduate students, conducting research, and working with colleagues. The mode of delivery of higher education has substantially moved to the digital, and workspaces have shifted to home. Having to work from home has placed unique demands on academics, including adapting to working entirely on a screen and adjusting their work/life balance. Despite much anecdotal evidence that the well-being of academics is being adversely affected during this global pandemic, there is currently little published research about this issue. As five academics who work in an education faculty at an Australian university, we present our collaborative autoethnographic reflections of this time. We share these experiences of being academics in 2020 through curated narrative vignettes, with analysis of the meaning of these vignettes. Employing a phenomenological approach, we craft understandings of our experiences and explore the immediate world of these experiences, constituted in our practices as academics and our personal lives in this challenging time of unexpected change. We note the phenomenon of feeling unsettled, distracted, overwhelmed and lacking focus, and being conflicted between various roles.

Compared with other age groups, the literacy practices and creative outputs of older adults (50+ years) have been seldom researched. Generally, research about older adults has tended to focus on decline and agential passivity, rather than potentiality. In this article, we report on a small ethnographic study of older Australians who were part of a University of the Third Age (U3A) poetry group in Melbourne, Australia. We examine the literacy practices of the group in writing poetry, especially focusing on the triggers for poetry ideas and the beginning processes of poetry writing. The reported research centres on a session of the group conducted online in 2020. Employing ideas from David Hume, particularly his notion of the empirical basis for the development of concepts, as well as the idea of dialogism from Mikhail Bakhtin, the transcript of the focus group was analysed using themes that the participants discussed. Results suggest that the older adults in the study employed sensory images together with imagination, life memories and feeling states to create and form highly individual poetry of significance to their lives in the context of the positive rapport and dialogic engagement that developed within the poetry group.

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.

Many students learn to play the piano but some lack the motivation to continue learning. Many students learn for extrinsic reasons. This research will explore understandings about student motivation held by expert piano teachers who have developed strategies to improve their students' intrinsic motivation to begin and continue learning. This small scale phenomenological case study examined three expert and experienced piano teachers' understandings of student engagement and motivation. The analysis generated a number of themes in relation to students' motivation in piano learning. The findings of this current study could offer a range of ideas and reflections to assist instrumental teachers build their students' intrinsic motivation in learning and foster lifelong music making.

As a primary school student in the 1960s I learnt the recorder. This paper explores how the recorder became a staple of Australian primary school music programs. At that time recorders were comparatively recently revived Renaissance musical instruments that were adopted by music educators as a way for children and their teachers to engage in instrumental music making in classes. The inclusion of recorders in school music lessons was not always as successful as hoped but a lucky few had recorder teachers who were expert musicians like my teacher. This personal history explores the arrival and presence of the recorder in school music in South Australia. Data were gathered from primary and secondary documentary sources, personal recall and an interview with my recorder teacher, Cecily Wood. This research considers a commonplace occurrence in the lives of many Australian children and by focusing on a taken-for-granted practice in school music, adds to the historical record and to our understanding of what we do and why we do it.

A single participant phenomenological study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis can give voice to a student with vision impairment, exploring and developing our understanding of the experience of schooling. This article focuses on the school experience of a senior school student with vision impairment. Few studies have looked at school experiences from a student's perspective although the belief is that through research focussing on listening to students with disabilities, their perspectives will become part of the solution to provide equity and quality in education. This study revealed a number of themes requiring further investigation and action before equity and quality can be achieved. Subject specific classroom issues, technology and mobility were major factors impacting on the student's academic achievement. Social issues were also found to have a profound effect.

Opportunities exist for Australian schools to benefit from the inclusion of martial arts in the Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education and the pending inclusion of Taekwondo in the national Sporting Schools program. The greatest challenge for introducing martial arts into schools lies with instruction. This qualitative case study explores Taekwondo as part of a co-curricular sports program for Years 7-12 students at an elite private boys' school in Melbourne, gauging the benefits for learning, health, and wellbeing of students. Themes emerging from thematic data analysis: confidence, discipline, respect, and fitness resonate with prior literature. New phenomena are benefits of leadership irrespective of age and Taekwondo's positioning as a non-traditional indoor sport, inclusive of students unfamiliar with or disengaged from traditional team sports. The study suggests traditional Taekwondo can promote self-regulation in education and may usefully expand school-based offerings and repertoires in line with curriculum policy reform.

A change-of-life issue for older people is finding ways to engage meaningfully and be creative. Sustaining a sense of self-efficacy in one's abilities to be productive is vital for wellbeing. Our research explored the perceived self-efficacy developed in an Australian University of the Third Age poetry class. We gathered data from one class session through observation, a focus group and paired interviews. Transcribed data identified participants' voices, and common themes were noted. We use Bandura's idea of perceived self-efficacy, through examining mastery experiences, modelling, social persuasion and a positive learning climate to understand the data. These sources of self-efficacy were pivotal for participants' positive self-efficacy. We offer this example of how older people can achieve mastery in a new field of creative endeavour at a time in their life-course often positioned as diminishing. In doing so, we challenge conventional understandings of ageing.

The Australian Government (AG) employs Indigenous Engagement Officers (IEO) in many of the remote Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory (NT). IEOs are respected community members who apply their deep understanding of local tradition, language and politics in providing expert cultural advice to government. Competing priorities of workplace and cultural obligation make the IEO role stressful and dichotomous in nature. The workplace experiences and perceptions of IEOs remain largely unexplored and there is scant understanding of the significant crosscultural issues associated with the role. IEOs typically confront ongoing workplace stress and are unable to perform at full capacity. This qualitative study explores participant meaning regarding workplace and community roles to inform the AG in development of culturally appropriate training and support for IEOs. The study captures detailed information from six IEOs through an interpretive process sensitive to phenomenological experience. Personal meanings associated with the workplace are assembled through individual interviews and focus group sessions. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology is applied to the resulting idiographic dataset in exposing a range of superordinate themes including desire for recognition and feelings of abandonment. Findings reveal the need to incorporate correct cultural protocols in the workplace and give preference for Aboriginal learning styles in professional development activities. There is urgent need for a range of workplace supports for IEOs in future capacity-building strategies.

This article is a study of a bilingual and bicultural Pontian Greek Australian dancer. His musicking involves performing and teaching dancing. Dancing has been and continues to be a major part of the self-identity of the participant. This phenomenological single case study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyse the data collected by interview. The findings are presented thematically and address the formation of identity and its enactment via performing and teaching. Many people carry multiple identities and an understanding of one may inform the provision of opportunities for learning and teaching.

There is a universality to the sight of groups of children celebrating public events. These groups might be large or small but teachers and students put much time and effort into preparing performances for appreciative audiences. These events occur across cultures and countries, are commonplace and expected but also highly memorable to participants and spectators. Sometimes such events gain greater historical significance due to time, place and context. One such example occurred in the years preceding World War 2 in the small but staunchly patriotic State of South Australia. In 1936 13,000 school children gathered in Adelaide to perform a Pageant of Empire as part of the State centenary celebrations. Despite there being rumblings across the globe about the viability of the British Empire or its successor, the Commonwealth, Adelaide was overwhelmed by the spectacle. Miss Inspector Adelaide Meithke brought the production to fruition. The pageant presented choreographed musical displays representing England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The Empire was represented by Indian rajahs, dancing girls, guards, and an elephant, followed by Canadian scenes, then Australian iconic images. The event concluded with the "Family of Nations." This article includes participant recollections and is framed by contemporary discussions of the place and role of the Empire. This South Australian celebration can be understood as a looking back to what had been, using visual icons, music, dance and a cast of thousands. [A bibliography is included.]

Globally countries are faced with an aging population and Australia is no different. This creates challenges for the maintenance of well-being which can be enhanced by active engagement in society. There is extensive research that confirms that engagement in music by older people is positively related to individual and community well-being. Music engagement encompasses a range of social participation and has the potential to recognise the contribution of older people to their local communities. Music participation can contribute to a better quality of life, particularly in relation to health and happiness. There are many possible forms of music engagement. This study is part of an on-going Deakin University and Monash University research project, "Well-being and ageing: community, diversity and the arts in Victoria." This article focuses on three members of a mixed voluntary singing group formed by older residents of an outer suburban community in Melbourne, Australia. This group, The Skylarkers, were established in 1999 as a four-part choir. Over the years the nature of the choir has changed under subsequent music directors. Since 2009 the group has focused on music theatre repertoire and performance style. Membership of the group is fluid reflecting changing life circumstances of the members but the ensemble is resilient. This small amateur music theatre group is based in suburban Melbourne, rehearses weekly and performs regularly at retirement villages, nursing homes and facilities for senior citizens. This article presents a phenomenological qualitative single case study of members of the Skylarkers. In this study, interview data were gathered in 2011-2012 and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two significant themes emerged that concern musical self-identity and gaining a sense of purpose and fulfilment. The Skylarkers are more than a choir; they are an amateur entertainment troupe that engages with each other and the wider community. This resilient group holds true to the motto "the show must go on".

In Australia and across the globe music participation by older people active in the community has the potential to enhance quality of life. A recent review of the literature found clear evidence of numerous benefits from participation in active music making that encompass the social, physical and psychological. This article reports on five phenomenological case studies of community singing groups comprised of older people active in the community in Melbourne, Victoria. These studies are part of a research project, "Well-being and Ageing: Community, Diversity and the Arts in Victoria" that began in 2008. Interview data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and are reported under three overarching themes: Social connection, A sense of well-being, and Musical engagement. For older people in these studies singing in community choirs offered opportunities for social cohesion, positive ageing, and music learning that provided a sense of personal and group fulfilment, community engagement and resilience.

In this collaborative autoethnography, I (Rose) discuss my personal experience with cultural transmission as cultural conformity. As a cultural hybrid and a daughter of a southern Italian proxy bride I share my narratives with a daughter of a Greek proxy bride (Maria). We find confluences in our experiences and understandings that suggest we are Daughters of the Diaspora. We may not be unique. Using a shared autoethnographical approach between ourselves and a collaborator (Jane), we construct and critique vignettes that capture and interrogate our understandings. This study offers a potential model for further inquiry by women who are daughters of migrant parents and who may have had similar experiences of the impositions of cultural conformity. This study is situated in Australia, but as global citizens, it behoves us in terms of social inclusion and social equity to recognise who our people are, the different way which people came to new countries and how that impacts the generations that follow them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of the influential Orff Schulwerk approach to music education in Australia is generally reported as occurring in the late 1960s. However, this was not the earliest encounters with the pedagogy in Australia. Patricia L. Holmes included Orff materials in teacher inservices in the late 1950s, before she travelled overseas to work with Doreen Hall, Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. Historical research is lacking in many aspects of music education in Australia and this article attempts to chronicle early efforts and add to our understanding of what has been done in the past and shapes our present practices. (Contains 7 figures.)

In this time of national curriculum re-thinking, tertiary institutions are positioned to create opportunities amongst pre-service teachers for the cultivation of knowledge, skills and understandings concerning cultural diversity in music education. The demographic profile of the State of Victoria is the most culturally diverse in Australia and the curriculum framework for schools, Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS), mandates multiculturalism as an integral part of the education. The Arts domain offers a range of suggestions as to how school students might develop an awareness of aesthetic and critical aspects of arts works from varied cultural, social, and historical contexts. In preparing pre-service teachers to embrace these ideas and understandings, tertiary educators continue to face a mismatch between curricular expectations and the realities of the school music classroom. In 2005 we began a research project that sought to explore fourth year pre-service music education students' understandings about curriculum constraints and classroom practices in music education. This article focuses on the data collected in 2008 and 2009 from students from Deakin and Monash Universities. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The findings revealed a disjuncture between VELS and what our students found during their school placements. This study reports on two themes: perceptions of multiculturalism and the teaching and learning of multicultural music in schools. As tertiary music educators, we endeavor to encourage our student teachers to examine their own experiences and understandings in multicultural music.

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 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.

The experiences of seven Australian senior secondary school students with vision impairment attending mainstream schools in Victoria were explored to gain an understanding of the support mechanisms operating to allow them access to an inclusive education. This qualitative study primarily used the in-depth interviews of students, augmented by brief interviews with Heads of Education Support, parents, aides and teachers. Students attributed difficulties to time available, accessing e-print and large format materials, assistive technology and access, and exclusion from classes of science, mathematics, and physical education in particular. In Australia, there is an expectation that legally mandated adjustments for students with disabilities will enable equitable, quality, and inclusive education. This was not evident in the experiences of the students in this study. Having aide support did not prevent exclusionary practices. Educators and support staff need to understand the perspectives of students with vision impairments to better facilitate successful teaching and learning experiences.

Technology is a dominant mediating factor impacting on current human behaviour and social change, which both acts on and is acted upon by other phenomena. This changing social landscape, along with new expectations and requirements, drives our educational priorities and curriculum agenda. There is no denying the prevalence of technology found in the statements and guidelines of the national Australian Curriculum. Further, the "National Review of School Music Education" identified the importance of technology in school music education in 2005. The curriculum guidelines illustrate an understanding of technology in Music and the Arts that is both vague and limiting. In 2015 we are at a point of curriculum stasis, an equilibrium that highlights a disconnect between music, technology and Australian music education. This article investigates current secondary school Years 7-10 (ages 11-15 years) Music and Arts curriculum statements concerning the use of technology and compares this to the general capability information and computer technology (ICT) curricula. There is wide recognition that digital technology is essential in teaching and learning, but this is not reflected in contemporary Australian Arts and Music curricula.

Australia is a country of ongoing migration that embraces diversity, creative expression and cultural activity. Membership of community music groups by older people can enhance life quality, and may provide a space through which cultural and linguistic identity may be shared and celebrated. This qualitative phenomenological case study explores engagement by older members of "La Voce Della Luna," an Italian women's community choir based in Melbourne, Victoria. This article presents one case study from a larger ongoing research project, Well-being and ageing: "community, diversity and the arts in Victoria." In this study, data were gathered from documentary sources and by individual and focus group semi-structured interviews in 2013. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis two significant themes emerged: Social connection and combatting isolation; and New horizons: music-making and social justice. This article describes how active music for older women provides opportunities to learn new skills, new ideas, and create for themselves a resilient community.

The international University of the Third Age (U3A) embodies the principles of lifelong learning and personal fulfilment amongst members. The research reported in this article focused on the Choir of the U3A Hawthorn, Melbourne, Australia and the benefits perceived by members undertaking this active music engagement in non-competitive choral singing. This small-scale phenomenological qualitative case study is part of a wider study of active arts engagement by older people that began in 2008. This study was undertaken in 2013 and revealed that participants decided to join the group for a range of factors including a positive attitude to singing, convenience and a desire for social connectedness. Those interviewed considered ongoing choir membership an effective use of leisure time that also provided opportunities for shared learning and personal validation. The data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and are reported under two themes: music engagement and social connections. Membership of the Hawthorn U3A choir provided participants opportunities for friendship, companionship, happiness, a sense of belonging and acceptance.

Contemporary Australia is a country of ongoing migration and increasing cultural diversity which is reflected in its arts practices. This article considers the views held by Australian pre-service music education student teachers and their tertiary music educators about their perceptions concerning artists-in-schools programs in school music. This discussion reports on data collected for a study undertaken in Melbourne, Victoria, "Intercultural Understandings of Pre-Service Music Education Students" (2005-2009). Fifty-three interviews were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings provide insight into teachers' recognition of the need for artists-in-schools programs. In particular the ways in which teachers can link theory to practice, fill in omissions in their own knowledge, skills and understandings, and heighten student understandings of multicultural musics. The promotion and provision of multicultural music education is essential at all levels of education. This can be achieved by the inclusion of diverse culture bearers, artists-in-schools, and community engagement to work with both teachers and their students.

Contemporary Australia is an evolving nation of diverse cultures, but in the past various understandings of national identity were held, first as part of the British empire, then as part of an assimilationist monocultural British society and subsequently as a nation where integration allowed different cultures to be celebrated but within the established social patterns. Since its introduction in the 1970s, Australia has announced itself to be multicultural. This has been confirmed in a recent multicultural policy that interestingly contains no mention of specific ethnicities or geographic locations. Education, school curricula and particularly music have the opportunity to introduce students to music of diverse cultures. One way to do this might be to follow the path taken in this discussion that explores the changing representations of one Asian culture, China, in the songs we present to Australian school children. China has been selected for its regional proximity but traditional cultural distance from Australia. Over time there has been a gradual shift to the present position where we hope to understand "other" musics as being of equal merit to be taught as authentically as possible. Chinese songs presented to school children provide an exemplar of the inclusion of another music and by examining the cultural content of school songs we gain an insight into what cultural understandings educational authorities and teachers hope to inculcate in their charges. The changing faces of China that are presented reveal much about how we want Australian children to understand the culture and identity of their Asian neighbours.