CONVENIO DE REPARACIÓN DE VIOLACIONES AL CONTRATO COLECTIVO DE TRABAJO

The concept of musical elements in an educational setting stems from the comprehensive musicianship framework that was adopted by the New South Wales curriculum in the 1980s (Department of Education, Science and Training 2005, p. 17). By contrast, Elliott and

Silverman suggest that music should not be conceptualised through universal elements (2014, pp. 195–203). However, as I suggested in Chapter Two, it is claims of universality that are problematic and not the suggested elements themselves: as long as they are applied with an awareness of cultural differences, musical elements can be a useful pedagogical tool. As it stands, the elements of music are present within the ACM, and so must be

considered. And despite Elliott and Silverman’s opposition to them, it does appear that they have some benefit for practising music teachers (see Chapter Eight) which raises questions about the practicality of their removal. Therefore, given their significance in the ACM, the elements of music will be considered in detail throughout the remainder of this chapter.

The elements of music within the ACM are rhythm, pitch, dynamics and expression, form and structure, timbre, and texture (ACARA n.d.-w, version 8.3). They are positioned as being essential to all types of music and musical engagement: “the elements of music work

together to underpin all musical activity” (n.d.-w). Therefore, the ACM presents them as being universal and at this level of abstraction this is not necessarily problematic. The ACM does not state that all musical elements need to be present in every piece of music, just that they work together. An example from within the interview sample indicates how this can work: the teacher sets an assignment and encourages students to consider each musical element in relation to a piece of music (Alice 2017). This piece of music can come from any style, and it does not matter if an element is not present within a particular style—it is just considered. When an approach like this is taken, there appears to be little harm in the use of musical elements. However, the realisation of musical elements, particularly in relation to the knowledge and skills that students develop, is problematic because it draws solely upon Western examples such as specific time signatures and Western harmonic practices (see Table 9).

Table 9: Examples of knowledge and skills in music (ACARA n.d.-f, version 8.3). Musical

element Years 7–8 Years 9–10

Rhythm Time signature, semiquaver subdivisions, dotted notes, minim and semibreve rests, quaver rests, dotted crotchet rest.

Regular and irregular time signature and beat subdivisions: triplets and duplets, further time signature.

Complex metres, required note groupings: 5/8, 7/8, 9/8. Rhythmic devices such as anacrusis, syncopation,

ties and pause Rhythmic devices including syncopation, rhythmic motif, rhythmic augmentation and diminution.

Pitch Melodic sequences based upon pentatonic, major and minor scales; key and key signatures; major and minor chords and primary triads (I, IV, V) in simple chord progressions; reading treble and bass clefs and ledger lines.

Melodies and chords based on major, minor and modal scales; tonal centres; modulation; consonance and dissonance; chromaticism; pitch devices including riff, ostinato and pedal note.

Dynamics and expression

Dynamic gradations including mp and mf; articulations relevant to style, for example, glissando, slide, slap, melismatic phrasing.

Dynamic gradations; expressive devices and articulations relevant to style such as rubato, ornamentation, terraced

dynamics, pitch bending, vibrato, oscillation, filters and pedals. Form and

structure Repetition and contrast; call and response; digital sequences; theme and variation; 12 bar blues; popular song structures including verse, chorus, bridge, middle 8, intro and outro.

Structure appropriate to styles and repertoire studied including theme, hook, motivic development, head, sonata form, interlude and improvisation.

Timbre Recognising instrumental types and groups; voice

types; acoustic and electronic sound. Identifying instruments and voice types by name and method of sound production; use of mutes, pedals, harmonics, digitally manipulated sound, distortion and techniques appropriate to style.

Texture Identifying layers of sound and their role (accompaniment or melody); unison,

homophonic (melody with chords), polyphonic (two or more independent layers played simultaneously).

Horizontal and vertical layers appropriate to styles and repertoire studied;

homophonic and polyphonic writing, countermelody and white noise. Skills

(including aural skills)

Recognising rhythmic patterns and beat

groupings. Singing and playing music in two or more parts in a range of styles. Discriminating between pitches, recognising

intervals, and familiar chord progressions. Identifying and notating metre and rhythmic groupings.

Aurally identifying layers within a texture. Imitating simple melodies and rhythms using voice and instruments.

Performing with expression and technical

control, correct posture and safety. Performing with expression and technical control and an awareness of ensemble. Understanding their role within an ensemble,

balancing and controlling tone and volume. Using technology as a tool for music learning and to record their music.

Holding and playing instruments and using their voices safely and correctly.

Each ACM band prescribes examples of knowledge and skills that are considered level- appropriate. The knowledge portion is the most prescriptive aspect of the ACM and is structured through the elements of music. As this thesis is concerned with secondary music, the knowledge and skills for Years 7–8 and Years 9–10 are presented in Table 9. The

elements of music found in the ACM are limited to Western styles and concepts of music, and the ACM does not acknowledge any specific examples from the music of other cultures.7

To be fair, there is nothing that says that non-Western examples cannot be used: there are several instances that specify that the elements are to be explored in a manner that is appropriate to the styles that are to be studied, which is indicative of at least an attempt to acknowledge the music of other cultures.8 _{However, by only using examples from Western}

musical traditions, the ACM perpetuates underlying and implicit cultural biases and positions Western music centrally in the discourse, when in fact all types of music should be

considered equally (see null curriculum, Chapter Two).

There are further challenges when the amount of content is considered. Thus far in the ACM, all definitions and statements have been generic and have not dealt with any specific examples. This changes here: 5/8 is a specific time signature, sonata form is a specific structure, and glissandi, slides, and slaps are specific examples of expressive techniques (ACARA n.d.-r, version 8.3). There is a lot of content, either specified or implied, to elaborate on the elements of music, and several teachers within the interview sample indicated that meeting these prescriptive requirements within a generic document was difficult (Alice 2017, Chris et al. 2018). However, this was far from a unanimous view, and as such will be explored in greater detail in Chapters Seven and Eight. The most notable feature relevant to the elements of music at this juncture is how prescriptive the ACM becomes when

describing them.

There are no easy solutions to these issues within the ACM, because of the reality of the legacy of music teaching in Australia. The most notable advocate for musical elements has been the New South Wales curriculum, which has utilised them since the 1980s.9 _{In some}

ways, they are an ingrained aspect of music curricula in this country. Another issue is that

7 _{The ACM actively avoids referring to any specific musical styles (aside from Indigenous Australian music and}

Asian music), so these examples of skills and knowledge are the only indication of specific musical skills.

8 _{See the Year 9–10 elaborations in Table 9.} 9 _{See Chapter Two.}

most secondary music teachers are trained through a specialised degree in music prior to their teacher training. Music degrees are often centred on Western music, because that is what has traditionally been taught in universities and conservatoria. I have no doubt that the genre-specific terminology present in the examples of knowledge and skills is what some teachers were calling for when recommending recognisable music terminology during the curriculum design process. Therefore, these Western elements are culturally ingrained in many music teachers and their overarching concept of music. A potential workaround could be to refer to the elements elaborated upon in the ACM as an indicative list of musical elements, where teachers are encouraged to replace the examples suggested with stylistically-appropriate alternatives. Although this alternative would not change the fact that the only specific examples in the ACM are from Western styles, it would indicate that they are just examples and can be reconsidered. In this way, the concept of the elements would be in greater overall harmony with the inclusive intentions of the ACM. With that said, an even more (theoretically) appropriate alternative would be to not elaborate on the elements of music, leaving any expression of their realisation to teachers. However, this approach would be less helpful to the teachers from a practical perspective.