Examinations in the Life of Studio Music Teachers in Australia prior to 1920

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.

Gender differences in musical motivation at different levels of expertise

Recently, models have been developed that recognise the complexity of motivation. These set out the interactions that occur between environmental (cultural, institutional, familial, educational) and internal factors (cognition and affect) enhancing or reducing motivation. Despite this we know very little about gender differences in motivation in relation to playing an instrument. The current study aimed to address this issue, exploring gender differences in motivation and whether these changed as expertise developed. A total of 3325 children ranging in level of expertise from beginner through to Grade 8 level in independent instrumental music examinations completed a questionnaire that included a seven-point Likert scale with statements exploring different aspects of motivation. A principal components analysis was undertaken and six factors emerged: support and social affirmation; social life and enjoyment of musical activities; enjoyment of performing; self-beliefs; enjoyment of lessons, playing and practise; and disliking practise. The only statistically significant gender difference was in relation to self-beliefs with the boys consistently scoring higher. Further research is needed to establish why this is the case. The findings have major implications for education.

Examining Australia: The Activities of Four Examiners of the Associated Board for the Royal Schools of Music in 1923

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.

Factors and Abilities Influencing Sightreading Skill in Music

This study was designed to replicate and extend existing literature by seeking to determine important factors and abilities that influence sightreading skill in music. The Watkins-Farnum Performance Scale (WFPS) was administered to 101 high school clarinet and trumpet students who were completing Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) performance examinations. Findings show that, in the beginning stages of training, sightreading skill is not significantly correlated with the ability to perform a repertoire of rehearsed music for a comprehensive performance examination as assessed on the AMEB examination. As instrumentalists mature, however, correlations between these two aspects of performance seem to strengthen markedly. Consistent with other studies, results show that rhythmic errors far outweigh all other types of errors. Differing strategies used by high-scoring and low-scoring subjects on the WFPS and by two groups of high school subjects in school years 7-9 and 10-12 were observed and discussed.

Harmonic Landscaping Applied to the Study of Written Harmony

Music examinations frequently require students to harmonise chorale melodies ‘in the style of J. S. Bach’, but the manner in which the skill is taught generally emphasises the adding of chords below the melody note by note ‘arithmetically’, and may thus fail to develop inner hearing and a sense of overall harmonic direction. Using the system of ‘harmonic sketching’ which she developed originally as an approach to keyboard harmony and described in detail in her book Sketching at the Keyboard, Laura Campbell extended the technique to the harmonisation of chorale melodies, in the process comparing her students' choices of outline harmony with those employed by Bach in four settings of the same chorale. In this article she describes the experiment and comments upon its results, showing how the ‘sketching’ method, which reveals the fundamental ‘harmonic landscape’ of a melody, is an especially valuable tool in the acquisition of written harmony skills.

Correspondence

For seventy years of my life I have been a supporter of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music examinations: first as a pupil, going through Grades 1–8, and then the L.R.A.M., and then as a teacher, guiding my pupils through the grades and stopping at the diploma. So I have had many, many opportunities of evaluating the work of the examinations, and to a lesser extent those of Trinity College of Music, theirs appearing less frequently. What strikes me – after probing in my memories – is how little they have changed! Surely some new thoughts should peep through the pages!