Shaping the tertiary music curriculum: What can we learn from different contexts?

Abstract

This paper arises from collaboration between colleagues at ISME's Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician 2006, in which we seek to understand the learning of music students in different contexts and how tertiary education can best prepare students for a career in music. The research is based on Learning to Perform, a four-year project investigating musical learning at a UK conservatoire that educates western classical musicians. Learning to Perform aims to understand how musicians learn, how this can be improved, and to build theory of musical expertise. Since 2004, Learning to Perform has run biannual structured and semi-structured questionnaires on students' career aims, identity, attitudes to instrumental teaching and transition into the conservatoire. This paper extends Learning to Perform research to three Australian contexts encompassing one traditional conservatoire setting, popular music and music technology. Learning to Perform questionnaire items were administered in these institutions from March 2007. Results from this round of data collection will determine the second stage of the collaboration. Here, we consider preliminary differences and similarities between cohorts, working towards an enhanced understanding of tertiary curricula across contexts.