This paper lists the more obvious opportunities for interactive communication using the symmetrical high speed National Broadband Network.

Comprehensive data on the student enrolments in Australian public tertiary music institutions, sorted by institution and the award program in which enrolled.

Dr Richard Letts

A few years ago, a London newspaper review said of the Australian Chamber Orchestra: “This must be the best chamber orchestra on Earth”. What was the music education that prepared its musicians to be chosen as members of the ACO?

This short survey of the core membership of string players suggests that a very early start to music lessons was a factor: 5 of 9 respondents were taking lessons by the age of 5. At the other end of their educational path, 6 of 9 held post-graduate awards and only one had no degree. Read the survey.

Dr Rachel Hocking

In March 2009, the Music Council of Australia was commissioned by the Music Education Advisory Group to undertake a national audit of mandatory music subjects currently run in preservice primary teaching programs. The aims of the audit included:

1. To establish a baseline from which future measuring of the increase or decline of
   music in such courses could be undertaken.
2. To authenticate anecdotal evidence on the situation of music in preservice primary
   teaching programs.
3. To determine current accreditation requirements of primary teachers.

Professor Huib Schippers

Sustainable futures for music cultures is a five-year, five-million dollar project that investigates key factors in musical sustainability, with the purpose of enabling communities across the world to forge musical futures on their own terms.

With the developments in migration, travel, and technology over the past fifty years, musical diversity has simultaneously come to our ears and under threat. Almost anywhere in the world, music from myriad backgrounds is accessible live or through recordings. But at the same time, many ‘small musics’ are in danger.

Brydie Leigh-Bartleet, Peter Dunbar-Hall, Richard Letts, Huib Schippers May 2009

This study was initiated by the MCA and carried out by the Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre with an ARC grant. Linkage partners were MCA, the Australian Music Association and the Australian Society for Music Education.

John Wardle

This study lays out the Australian state and territory legislation and regulations governing liquor-licensed venues in which live music performance is offered. The legislation is associated mainly with the conditions under which liquor licences are granted and the local government and environment regulations governing liquor-licensed and other venues where music is to be offered. At the beginning of the paper, key issues are identified and discussed.

Rachel Hocking

[This article was published in Music Forum Vol 14 No 4, 2008. Course handbooks, as published by Australian universities, were surveyed to find the amount of music contained within teaching courses for secondary, primary and early childhood teachers. The units assigned to the music courses were then compared with the total units for each degree, giving a percentage of value placed on music training for teachers. On the whole, the amount of music taught and value placed on music training by universities is currently underwhelming.]

In the last issue of Music Forum, we found that music instruction in university courses for generalist primary teachers currently is inadequate and undervalued. This affects graduate teachers' confidence and skills in implementing quality music programs within schools. Early childhood teaching graduates also face a similar problem.

The MCA carried out a survey of early childhood teacher music training in universities, parallel to the survey of generalist primary teacher training published in the previous Music Forum. Once again, university handbooks were surveyed to find out the degrees and subjects in which music was taught to early childhood teaching undergraduates and postgraduates.^[1] Thirty–one degrees were found to be related to early childhood training, with some universities offering two degree options for students.

Associate Professor Dr Michael Hannan of Southern Cross University was engaged to research the scope and circumstances of careers in music or music-related activity. He has compiled information about nearly 200 work categories. The research was completed in June 2002, and will be published by the Music Council and the University of NSW Press in a book, An Australian Guide to Careers in Music, in February 2003.

By Rachel Hocking

[This article was published in Music Forum Vol 14 No 3, 2008. Course handbooks, as published by Australian universities, were surveyed to find the amount of music contained within teaching courses for secondary, primary and early childhood teachers. The units assigned to the music courses were then compared with the total units for each degree, giving a percentage of value placed on music training for teachers. On the whole, the amount of music taught and value placed on music training by universities is currently underwhelming.]

A recent MCA survey of music subjects offered by universities to undergraduate pre-service primary education students has revealed the value placed on mandatory music studies varies in each institution, from zero to around 3% of a degree's units assigned. The value placed on music represents to some extent time spent on, and quality of, the music education undergraduates receive.For generalist primary school teachers, this is nowhere near enough to arm them with adequate music skills for the classroom.

Information on degree courses available in Australian universities. Compiled for the Music Council of Australia by Dr Rachel Hocking from online handbooks in March 2008.

Secondary school teacher training.

Related articles by Rachel Hocking were published in Music Forum Vol 14 No 3 and No 4. During 2008.
See Trends in the Provision of Music Education in Schools.

Stevens Report: National Report on Trends in School Music Education Provision in Australia

The completed report is available here in Adobe PDF format. Click an item to view that section of the report.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary and Recommendations

Abbreviations

Introduction

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

Question 11

Conclusions

References

Guidelines

This report, by Graham Strahle, analyses the size, frequency and type of live music reviews included in major Australian newspapers. Over three months, six major newspapers were surveyed, demonstrating that some states are fairing better than others when it comes to performance criticism. Strahle also points out that the quality of music criticism varies, with some articles being previews, promotional or journalistic articles. Some music reviews have been written without the writer attending the actual performance.

Read the full report and findings.

This report is concerned with Government funding of new classical music at a state and federal level, so that new music can continue to be created, presented and documented. The report is a preliminary step towards further investigations into the adequacy of new music funding. This is the first time that a national mapping survey of funding to new music has been attempted. In undertaking this project, one of the initial objectives was to identify geographic and/or chronological trends if they are occurring. However the difficulty of obtaining a full set of data was one of the chief concerns of this project. A complete national picture of new music funding was simply not possible. This is because those grant agencies do not employ data systems that allow target data to be accessed. Obviously, better systems would be of benefit not only for internal auditing purposes but also for any external research.

A study carried out for UNESCO by the International Music Council with involvement of the MCA through its Executive Director, Richard Letts, who was the Principal Investigator. It includes information from Australia.

Conducted by the Music Council of Australia for the Statistics Working Group of the Cultural Ministers Council.

Investigators: Hans Hoegh-Guldberg, Economic Strategies Ltd, and Dr Richard Letts, Music Council of Australia P/L, with contributions from members of the Music Council of Australia, and the Music Council of Australia Network.

Read the study. Published April 2005.

Published also is a summary by Hans Hoegh-Guldberg of the research paper, under the title "Statistical light dawns on the music sector," published in the Music Council journal, Music Forum Vol 11 No 2, February 2005. The authors believe that this formulation includes a couple of world-firsts: a comprehensive model of the music sector with as its main categories in the value chain, creation, production, and delivery. It also includes a socio-cultural value chain, to capture the non-economic value music has to society.

Executive Summary

Australian radio broadcasters operate under self-regulatory codes of practice that include minimum quotas for Australian music.

These quotas are vigorously defended by the music community as being critical to the preservation of a local musical culture and industry, and it is regularly argued that the minimum amount of Australian music to be played by broadcasters should be increased.

The benefits of airplay may appear to be obvious. The payola scandals in the USA, past and present, demonstrate a strong belief on the part of the record companies that airplay brings sales. However, it would contribute usefully to the debate over this policy if evidence were established to support the fundamental presumptions about the role of local content regulation in developing and maintaining an Australian musical practice.

In particular, this research has particularly sought to establish evidence of the effect of the local content requirements as mapped against the changes in those requirements. It is presumed that collection of such evidence will assist in assessing their ongoing utility and suggest potential future amendments. The report follows...

A study commissioned by the ManyMusics Program of the International Music Council, Paris, and carried out by the Music Council of Australia.

The ManyMusics program of the International Music Council is concerned with fostering musical diversity across the planet.

There is not a lack of musical diversity. Every one of thousands of cultures has music that is distinctive and an important aspect of its identity.

The ManyMusics program would not have been undertaken were there not a perceived threat to this diversity. The perceived threat comes from "globalisation" in its current manifestation.

This study, completed in July 2003, collected data for public, Catholic and independent school systems in each of the eight states and territories, in order to ascertain trends in the provision of music education in schools. It has assembled a great deal of information about the provision of music education, but discovered yawning gaps in the data even about current circumstances. Because of the lack of data from past years, it was not possible to illustrate national trends in most aspects of the provision.