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Students undertaking higher education music degrees represent a rich tapestry of experiences, cultures and needs. However, equity and inclusion issues related to music students with disability in higher education are frequently addressed in generic ways, and without consultation or consideration of their unique requirements. With limited research available, this qualitative study within an Australian Conservatorium of Music analysed the experiential and situated reflections of 18 music students with disability. Based on our reflexive thematic analysis, we propose that issues related to equity and inclusion for music students in higher education are multi-faceted and interrelated. By foregrounding the participants’ voice, the qualitative themes suggest that enhancements related to disclosure processes, quality of communication and reliability of resources, would fortify equity and inclusion. The findings span the need for reforms at the institutional level, as well as specific professional development for educators and awareness raising amongst the student cohort. Informed by the participants’ lived experience, the findings call for music educators, professional staff and institutional leaders to effectively apply features of inclusive, caring, professional practices so that music students with disability can thrive in higher education.

The Latin American migration experienced in the late 1970s involved numerous and diverse nationalities that found new homes in Australia. Yet, they were largely perceived and collectivised locally as ‘Latin Americans’; a homogeneous social group because of their shared language and regional proximity. Their arrival and settlement met with an already socially and musically typecast identity fashioned via early European oriented ‘continental bands’. This socio-cultural demarcation by the Anglo-European mainstream in Australia encouraged this new wave of Latin American migrants to ‘band’ together under the shared characteristics of language, culture and impromptu music-making. Following the trajectory of the first Latin band in Melbourne, Australia, this qualitative study explores the musical and social meaning-making of five foundational members of the Melbourne Latin music scene. Today’s thriving scene reflects a dynamic ecology in which a sense of community amongst musicians is central, in a city that harbours a vibrant live music scene that not only celebrates South American cultural diversity but also a diverse multicultural participation by musicians, dance studios and wider audiences. However, new immigrants and younger formally educated musicians have begun to develop unique creative voices unburdened by the politics of exile or economic hardship that defined the old-guards’ raison d'être. The perpetually disrupted and dynamic nature of the live music industry means performance opportunities for these foundational immigrants is being eroded. This study reveals interconnection between various bands and musicians that represent a diverse and complex multi-generational community that negotiate heritage and modernity; musical connectivity and Latino/a solidarity; the socio-political, cultural and aesthetic needs of the older generation; and, the changing cultural expectations of 21st century audiences and the diversification this necessitates. It offers implication

Jazz has long sat as a troubling concept within academia. Jazz is a dynamic and fluidly evolving set of substyles that relies on the core technique of improvisation that is all too infrequently found within the western art music curriculum. Jazz, as a predominantly improvised music, began its academic life with a fundamentally different identity within the academy that continues to put itself at odds with academic musical culture. Jazz was, and continues to be, an evolving genre that chooses improvisation over the printed page, collective democracy over ordered leadership, and freedom of expression instead of conformity and stasis. Music education was to be altered forever as jazz first became a viable option and then a defining “classical study” in its own right.

The ability to improvise is one of the most creative, enriching and fun things we can do as musicians. Whether we are beginning, developing or accomplished players, being able to create, think critically and express ourselves through spontaneous composition is one of the most valued (and coolest) musical skills we can have.

In this chapter, the authors will consider the benefits and challenges of enacting creative pedagogical approaches in the tertiary context and examine emerging educational practices about twenty-first century learning and technology. Creativity continues to be a key construct for twenty-first century music education practice and education, incorporating technology that delivers deeper and more profound learning experiences- that paradoxically isolate individual learning yet at the same time provoke reflection, growth, and sustainability. This chapter explores the delivery of a tertiary degree in Music Teaching, specifically addressing the following areas: • Curriculum design, delivery, and assessment, • Entrepreneurial approaches to learning through student centred activity, • Online learning, student access, self-regulation, and self-assessment, • Learning environments (including online and technology-based practice) that mirror global change, capacities, and expectations. Through a combination of annotated examples of teaching practice, selected research, and related theoretical reference, this chapter will propose a range of creative, innovative learning solutions. Importantly, this chapter draws on research undertaken with graduate students after their year of learning during the COVID pandemic and subsequently provides insights into these four areas and their influence on the students’ learning. This is supported by a discussion of a range of teaching approaches and strategies that can be used to foster creativities and shifts in teaching practice.

This presentation is based on a research project that employed a qualitative methodology to examine students’ responses via an online survey. It looks to consider the benefits and challenges of enacting creative pedagogical approaches in the tertiary context and examine emerging educational practices with regard to twenty-first century learning and technology. Underpinning this research was the intention of exploring how creativity practices were employed to realise twenty-first century capacities, incorporating technology that looked to provide deeper and more profound learning experiences, while developing self-reflection reflection, growth and sustainability. The project will examine which type of teaching methods, content delivery, and online learning found addressed their needs in a creative (unique) way as they used Canvas and Zoom for their lessons across many subjects. This report explores the delivery of a tertiary degree in Music Teaching, specifically addressing the following areas: • Curriculum design, delivery and assessment, • Entrepreneurial approaches to learning through student centred activity, • Online learning, student access, self-regulation and self-assessment, • Learning environments (including online and technology-based practice) that mirror global change, capacities and expectations. Using a qualitative methodology, students were invited to complete a series of items that consisted of open-ended questions. These asked participants to indicate the teaching and learning activities and delivery modes they had found to be the most suitable for them as part of their study in Music Teaching degree program. Data were analysed thematically to derive an understanding of the learning experiences that they found most useful. This presentation will provide an overview of the emerging findings related to the key areas of the study, along with small examples of activities that were used in classes and were found to be valuable for the students during thi

Epoché within phenomenology sets aside or suspends assumptions and resistance to prejudices that rest on the principal that humans bring schemas and frameworks into being. This stance of analysis and multi-layered process reveals phenomenologically lived experiences and ‘being in the world’ that as essences shape forms of reflective thought and understanding on phenomena. In this chapter, the notion of epoché, or bracketing as an essential attitude to phenomenological reasoning, is surveyed through leading thinkers spanning the field of phenomenology. Epoché as an essential attitude to transcendental, hermeneutic and existential phenomenological reasoning, and argumentation between essence and existence, as well as more recent ‘bridling’ and ‘sidling’ approaches are considered. This chapter informs researchers, especially those recent to phenomenological investigation, of the implications of such theories and techniques, their evolution in the minds of developing researcher minds, and the complexity and delicacy with which all researchers are compelled to approach this fascinating aspect of qualitative understanding and meaning making.

The role of music education in the school curriculum reflects the evolving and contested nature of music’s place within state and national curricula. Instigated in Victorian government secondary schools in the 1960’s, instrumental music in Australia has become an intriguing aspect of the creative /performing arts subjects. For many years designated as a specific standalone subject, it now resides within the arts ‘collection’ of subjects (ACARA, 2015). The ‘arts’ curriculum today is designed to induct students through practitioner lenses of inquiry that allow learning, teaching, and assessment to be authentic, dynamic and creative. A unique aspect of instrumental music is that students can access this subject via solo, ensemble or special investigation streams. Despite this well-conceived arrangement, music remains an underfunded aspect of educational opportunity able to be accessed by far too few students in Australia.

For many countries instrumental music tuition in secondary schools is a ubiquitous event that provides situated and personalized instruction in the learning of an instrument. Opportunities and methods through which teachers operate during the COVID-19 outbreak challenged music educators as to how they taught, engaged, and interacted with students across online platforms, with alarm over aerosol dispersement a major factor in maintaining online instrumental music tuition even as students returned to “normal” face to face classes. This qualitative study investigated the practices employed by instrumental music educators in secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia, analyzing teacher perspectives to music tuition amidst the restriction of interaction with students remotely via online means. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed music educational approaches that fostered connection, empathy and receptiveness to relationship-building, guiding students in slower and deeper learner-centered approaches, asserting pedagogical practices that reinforced and promoted interpersonal connectedness in and through musical experience and discovery. These findings provide a framework for how music educators can facilitate connection, motivation and student autonomy generating personal meaning and commitment to music making and the learning relationship, which can translate to significant student learning and value in the learning music. Exploring teachers’ pedagogical practices and behaviors within this dyadic teacher-student relationship is a significant addition to the literature, enabling the consideration of the type of connective behaviors required to stimulate and develop long-term interest in music.

Asia-Pacific Symposium on Music Education Research (APSMER) Conference 2021

Instrumental music tuition in schools is a powerful way teachers can guide students to immerse in detailed and specific aspects of learning. Regular lessons with a music teacher are a ubiquitous school activity where students engage with expert learning, practice, reflection and discourse of learning processes. This qualitative study examines teacher experiences in instrumental music education in Victoria, Australia. Investigating teacher perspectives to pedagogy that connect, engage and nurture instrumental music learning and exploration, this study of instrumental music teachers across four diverse schools in Victoria phenomenologically analysed teacher reflections on learning events with students. Analysis of interactions, pedagogies and adaptive behaviours between teacher and student revealed a dynamic social context spanning the instructional relationship between student action and teacher direction, the subject matter and substance of what is taught, and the connection between the student and the teacher as master musician. Looking beyond music teachers as adaptors that utilise generic descriptors of critical thinking, communication, creativity, and collaboration (4C’s of creativity) this study identifies and redefines the qualities of recognition, empathy, insightfulness and responsiveness outlining a (REIR) framework to which all teachers can shape pedagogical approaches that engage and educate learners in the future. Findings outline relationship-building and connective teacher-student relationships fostering multiple creativities in music learning. The study posits a recalibration of teacher practice on building positive collaborative learning climates, a relational adaptivity that emphasises effective interpersonal strategies that enhance student learning and potentially enculturate richer teacher understanding and more sophisticated musicianship in students.

For many countries instrumental music tuition in secondary schools is a ubiquitous event that provides situated and personalized instruction in the learning of an instrument. Opportunities and methods through which teachers operate during the COVID-19 outbreak challenged music educators as to how they taught, engaged, and interacted with students across online platforms, with alarm over aerosol dispersement a major factor in maintaining online instrumental music tuition even as students returned to “normal” face to face classes. This qualitative study investigated the practices employed by instrumental music educators in secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia, analyzing teacher perspectives to music tuition amidst the restriction of interaction with students remotely via online means. Thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed music educational approaches that fostered connection, empathy and receptiveness to relationship-building, guiding students in slower and deeper learner-centered approaches, asserting pedagogical practices that reinforced and promoted interpersonal connectedness in and through musical experience and discovery. These findings provide a framework for how music educators can facilitate connection, motivation and student autonomy generating personal meaning and commitment to music making and the learning relationship, which can translate to significant student learning and value in the learning music. Exploring teachers’ pedagogical practices and behaviors within this dyadic teacher-student relationship is a significant addition to the literature, enabling the consideration of the type of connective behaviors required to stimulate and develop long-term interest in music.

Epoché within phenomenology sets aside or suspends assumptions and resistance to prejudices that rest on the principal that humans bring schemas and frameworks into being. This stance of analysis and multi-layered process reveals phenomenologically lived experiences and ‘being in the world’ that as essences shape forms of reflective thought and understanding on phenomena. In this chapter, the notion of epoché, or bracketing as an essential attitude to phenomenological reasoning, is surveyed through leading thinkers spanning the field of phenomenology. Epoché as an essential attitude to transcendental, hermeneutic and existential phenomenological reasoning, and argumentation between essence and existence, as well as more recent ‘bridling’ and ‘sidling’ approaches, are considered. This chapter informs researchers, especially those recent to phenomenological investigation, of the implications of such theories and techniques, their evolution in the minds of developing researcher minds, and the complexity and delicacy with which all researchers are compelled to approach this fascinating aspect of qualitative understanding and meaning-making.

Community Music at the Boundaries examines how music enhances the lives of those living in what might be considered marginalized settings.

This paper explores musical improvisation, examining the learning processes utilized in acquiring improvisational skill, and the development of creative processes and expression of six elite Australian improvisers. Taking a socio-constructivist approach to examining how groups and individuals engage in, sustain, support, and productively develop processes of collaborative learning, this phenomenological study investigates the temporal and sequential characteristics of SRL and SSRL regulation that can inform teachers’ facilitation of group learning in the creative music ensemble. Concepts of meta-cognition and regulation of activity as a stable trait are challenged by the diverse ways self-regulation, co-regulation and socially shared regulation impact and shape thinking and learning. Distributed development and refinement of strategies and conceptualizations shaped by individual, teacher-student, and group activity impacting feedback, reflection and goal-setting of creative processes are discussed, with findings suggesting multiple creativities are distributed and interrelated amongst individual, teacher-student pairings and wider shared group activities. The study argues for informed thinking and teaching that develop multiple distributed creativities and awareness in teacher practice that enhance effective regulatory processes and learning.

The challenge to foster greater creativity in education systems represents a range of diverse and complex affordances and constraints. Creativity research in education spans policy, teaching, learning and assessment, as well as environments within and beyond the school that promote creative encounters. Worldwide, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills are marked as essential for effective learners and future employees. Creativity is closely linked with the development of flexible thinking and lateral problem-solving. Yet a shift is occurring from interest in creative individuals to creative ecologies in sociocultural formations of digitally networked cultures and collaborative methods of thinking. The value of attending to increasing creative sociality within and between diverse cultures and contexts is growing. Drawing on an international study of creativity in secondary schools across Australia, Canada, Singapore, and the United States, the authors argue that because creativity in education is central to lifelong learning and work satisfaction, schools must radically shift toward a more interdisciplinary whole-school creative ecology approach, and away from siloed disciplinary and individualist learning. The chapter draws on aspects of creative ecologies in education that combine science, technology, arts, culture, and industry, showing creativity as a fundamental aspect of education across all domains.

Learning music can increase thinking skills, enrich strategies for learning and creativity, and enhance connections across subjects. We keep discovering more reasons to foreground music education in our schools. So why haven’t state governments acted to support music education and reform? As I see it, music education has now been in the ‘too hard basket’ for at least a generation of Australian students. We continue to suffer a malaise in long-term governmental policy direction.

Creativity is an essential aspect of teaching and learning that is influencing worldwide educational policy and teacher practice, and is shaping the possibilities of 21st-century learners. The way creativity is understood, nurtured, and linked with real-world problems for emerging workforces is significantly changing the ways contemporary scholars and educators are now approaching creativity in schools. Creativity discourses commonly attend to creative ability, influence, and assessment along three broad themes: the physical environment, pedagogical practices and learner traits, and the role of partnerships in and beyond the school. This overview of research on creativity education explores recent scholarship examining environments, practices, and organizational structures that both facilitate and impede creativity. Reviewing global trends pertaining to creativity research in this second decade of the 21st century, this article stresses for practicing and preservice teachers, schools, and policy makers the need to educationally innovate within experiential dimensions, priorities, possibilities, and new kinds of partnerships in creativity education.

Organisations routinely approach change mechanistically, identifying needs, strategies, improvements, and assessing results correlated to intended outcomes and objectives. This is a fine irony when school organisations aim to support students to become creative, flexible, and adaptable citizens and workers. This chapter proposes an alternative developmental approach by surveying distributed leadership, problematizing common assumptions and applications in school organisational practice. Argyris and Schön’s double-loop learning model (Organizational learning II: theory method and practice. Addison-Wesley, Reading, 1996) is explored as a viable and transformative construct for change that tests underlying assumptions of goals, objectives and strategies. Whilst single-loop focuses on lower-level, low-risk change and assumes common values, double-loop learning mobilises higher order change-visioning, engages reflective practice, challenging beliefs, behaviours, conventional thinking, and adaption. This chapter reconceptualises organisational thinking through developing adaptable, sustainable and democratic forms of leadership necessary in schools.

Music education throughout the world is adopting a ‘creative turn’ in both the ways information and skill is transferred, as well as the underlying organisational ethos that complements this education. Music education is arguably resisting universal and homogenous approaches to music education, embracing increasingly differentiated perspectives, practices and local beliefs that assert against globalising trends. Organisations are confluent in their approaches to incorporating localised intercultural and interdisciplinary approaches evident in music making. This study investigates a Creative Music Intensive that brought Australian music students together with Indigenous Australian and Korean p’ansori musicians in a two-week residential exploratory and experiential music-making event. This intercultural exploration facilitated action, interplay and development of ‘possibility thinking’ relating to deep conceptualisations of inter-culturally shared music making and the wider interdisciplinary connections. Such practices offer music and music educator students institutions and communities critical and creative practices that resist centrified ideas and affirm ‘locality’ and community as the epicentre from which new knowledge, creativities, industry and bipartisanship can be found and negotiated. Intercultural collaborative music-making can promote empathy, knowledge and deep collective unity and solidarity at a critical time in music education.

Creativity in education is currently dominated by discourses pertaining to both a neo-liberalisation of arts education and a more widespread attention to the economic potential of diverse creativities. This study applies new thinking regarding creative educational advancement that is adaptive and critically reflexive to the tasks of reconciling the need for safe, ethical and empathetic learning environments and the production of adaptive and innovative twenty-first century workforces. This study of Australian secondary schools analyses perceptions, understandings and actions, and impediments to creativity in classrooms. This study asserts significant implications for the need to foster effective environmental and ecological approaches to engaging in creative practices in Australian secondary schools. It establishes a creativity index through which school leaders and teachers can routinely measure, develop and adjust their school environment’s, students’ and teachers’ creative skills and capacities, pedagogic practices and assessment of creativity across the ‘education lifespan’.

Schools' administrators and teachers feel the necessity to apply creative education within their learning environments, despite grappling with understandings of what creativity is and how best teachers can foster it in their students. This qualitative international study spanning the USA, Canada, Singapore, and Australia investigates teachers' perceptions regarding creative pedagogies that enhance creativity. Analyzing teachers' reflections on classroom pedagogy and school practice, this study explores ways teachers nurture critical thinking that foster creative intelligences. This study identifies pedagogical practices involving dialogic scaffolding, inter-disciplinarity, and creative environments and school practices that promote learning and thinking “out-side the box” in secondary school learners. This article posits a creativity index through which schools can gauge and assess attributes to nurturing creativity.

This chapter considers how reflective practice demonstrates a cyclical potential; of self-reflexivity and reviewing personal, critical processes, and maintaining ongoing capacities for exploration and discovery. The chapter views the self-critical and self-affirming processes of an improvising musician, and the meaning-making derived from autoethnographic objects, collaborations and collectives, within communities of practice and the wider creative music politic. The chapter utilizes autoethnography to critically self-reflect the author’s learning journey as educator-practitioner-researcher and the ‘double-consciousness’ inherent as both insider and outsider to these paradigms. Issues of meaning in artefact and creative practices are explored and addressed, and the development and enhancement of self from performing artist to multi-dimensional performative researcher, and the self-critical awareness ushered by this journey.

My contribution comments on the chapters by van Elk and Bekkering, Johnson, Liszkowski, and Schmidt and Rakoczy in a sequence taking us from concepts through language to social cognition and normativity. My perspective is philosophical in stressing conceptual questions, yet in a way that acknowledges their dynamic interconnections with empirical and methodological issues. What constitutes the phenomena investigated by 4E cognitive science, such as concepts, meaning, interaction and normativity? How are they understood in different scientific paradigms, research programs, and theories? One of my general conclusions is that at least some factors in the development of both the language faculty and specific languages are not side effects of purely biological adaptations; instead they are directly functional for cooperative and language-wielding primates, and they may be the result of cumulative cultural development or even of (admittedly complex and messy) intentional innovations.