“Every child in this country has no less a right to learn how to play a musical instrument than they do to learn to read, write, count and communicate,” said the then Minister for Education, Dr Brendan Nelson, upon the release of the National Review of School Music Education late last year. The review found that school music education in Australia was of inconsistent quality, was not equally available in all schools across the country, and suffered from a perceived lower ‘value’ and status.

 

Julie Bishop took over the Education, Science and Training portfolio two months after the Review’s findings. She says school music education remains a priority under the Australian Government’s $139 million Quality Teaching Programme. This week she announced the federal government will hold a National Music Workshop in August in a further step towards enhancing music education in Australian schools.

 

“Improving music education requires a collaborative effort. Music education engages multiple skills, can connect with all children regardless of socio-economic background, and provides excellent opportunities for young people, including those most at risk, to reach for and attain higher levels of achievement,” Minister Bishop said.

 

Last year, Charles Sturt University (CSU) held a world-wide search for a new Music lecturer to work in the School of Teacher Education. In just a few months Dr Christopher Klopper has taken on board the findings of the Review and reinvigorated music teaching at the University.

 

“One way to address some of the shortcomings that have been pointed out to us in this report is to create a culture of making music. We have a choir going now for students and staff, we have revived the piano lab, and I’ve been able to start a students and musicians club.”

 

It was studying traditional music in his native South Africa that led Dr Klopper to this strong personal philosophy of creating a culture of music for all to participate in. “In African and Australian Indigenous music, it is a part of life. It’s a natural, integral, humanised social event.

 

“The arts and music affect the mind, the body and the soul. I call it the CCI analysis. I look at the context, whether socio-political, religious, or cultural. Then I identify how the concepts of that culture is portrayed in the music. And there’s the intangible. In African and Aboriginal music there is a large emphasis placed on the metaphysical, as opposed to the physical.”

 

Senator the Hon. Rod Kemp, Minister for the Arts and Sport, says “the combination of creative arts and education helps to improve problem solving skills, team skills, self confidence and self esteem”. Dr Klopper agrees. He says interpreting the launguage that is music is a form of problem solving. Performing music develops self-confidence and self-esteem, learning music helps reading and comprehension, while playing music together in a band or an orchestra fosters team spirit. And, he says, “in a time of instant gratification what our young generation needs is the self-discipline which you get from learning an instrument”.

 

Dr Klopper says every primary and early childhood teacher education student who comes through CSU will be taught to play an instrument. “We certainly can address that right of every child to play an instrument, and build up a music-making culture. And we can do that through training our students.

 

“We are so worried about literacy and numeracy, science and technology, but if we want great mathematicians and scientists, we have to provide the opportunity to young children to unleash and unlock their creativity.”