Monday, January 19, 2009

Week in Review

A few interesting things have occurred in the last week, more so to do with the last 3-4 days. There has been the good, and the unfortunate (not the bad or the ugly).

The Unfortunate

It was the front headline for the Coffs Coast Advocate on Wednesday. Blues Fest’s Funds Cut read the headline as the round of funding from Arts NSW had the Bellingen Jazz and Blues Festival miss out on making the list. Not only is this a huge blow to the festival, which is a nationally recognized arts event with people travelling from all parts of Australia to attend, but a huge gap left in terms of the arts for the mid-north coast. Armidale, Tamworth and Dubbo received funding out west, the Hunter and Newcastle region to the south and Lismore to the north are our closest neighbours to receive funding. Sufficient funding obviously went to the metropolitan areas of NSW, and even further south to the Riverina and surrounding regions. Basically all the areas of NSW received funding except for the mid-north coast, extending from about Taree up to Woolgoolga and possibly a little further north. It’s quite a gaping hole when no one received funding in all areas of the arts. Then again we don’t know how many people/organisations applied for the grants. All I can say is that I sincerely hope there is some way the Bellingen Jazz and Blues Festival will be able to function this year to celebrate their 20th birthday, otherwise it would be a tragedy for the town to not be able to hold this defining music event.

The Good

On the other hand, if you turned to page three of the Coffs Coast Advocate on Wednesday you would’ve noticed an article on the sheet music sale at Reuben Fox’s piano store (including a picture of Reuben playing the piano with myself and one of his sons looking on). This was a terrific way to start the year not only for the store but for clientele and members of the music community to meet, catch up, and have a bit of an inside peek at the piano industry. I’ve been working for Reuben for over 15 months and I am really enjoying the work repairing, shifting and, in more recent times, tuning pianos. Getting back to the sale, I assisted Reuben with sheet music and piano sale on Friday while Reuben would carry out Saturday with his family. There was, and still is, quite a collection of music available from old leather-bound heirlooms to old publications, choir handbook collections, children’s music, and even the instructional keyboard books for the older electronic instruments. It was always going to be an impossible task to get rid of all of the music, but a good portion has been sold at negotiable prices. There is still plenty of music left, meaning the negotiable sales will continue for some time. Not to forget that the money is going to a good cause as well; supporting children in a refugee school in Conakry in the Republic of Guinea.
        While the sale of the old sheet music is going on, there is also a sale on pianos and keyboards with some clients already picking out some of the instruments to take home. Customers of all ages, from children to the elderly, took the chance to come to the back of the store to see the work that we put into restoring and tuning pianos. We even struck up conversations on different styles of music and how they are involved with ensembles located in the area. The general feeling was felt that there is so much more we can do in the area to improve and lift the status of music.

With the first term of 2009 looming so near, I cannot wait for the teaching to begin. Programming and preparation is falling into place, especially assembling clarinet choir repertoire for the Clarence Valley Conservatorium. A busier year will be ahead of me for teaching, and hopefully it will be even busier if I can find more students in Coffs. In the meantime it’s back to preparing resources and fixing pianos. All the best!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Funding, the Arts, and 30 Years

At the beginning of every year, the Australian Government allows cabinet records from 30 years ago to be released to the public. Usually these sorts of records would be of no interest to me, certainly in past years, but after the interesting decision made by Arts Minister, Peter Garrett, to cut funding to one of the largest institutions of music in this country it made me reflect on a decision made by another minister 30 years ago. So how does a decision made by a minister 30 years ago, in a completely different field, have any relevance to the recent issues of the treatment of the arts today?

In 1978, it was recognised that Australia was on the decline in the area of sport. The lack of medals picked up in the 1976 Olympics and poor showing in the 1978 Commonwealth games (finishing third on the medal tally behind England and Canada) caused concern for then Sports Minister, Ray Groom. Other countries that were having notable success was due to their own governments putting resources and funding into their programs. Groom told cabinet that these below-par performances caused ‘wide-spread community concern’, because ‘failure in international competition damages our self-image and national pride’. While the issue was deferred at first, we can only see the difference that the funding and resources for these sports programs has done for sporting competitions in many areas and codes.

It’s quite staggering that the government of 30 years ago identified a key problem like this and made the choices to rectify the mistakes made. However the area of sport does have a bigger stage compared to arts and music events. We will see a lot more events on television and larger sections of newspapers dedicated to sport over the arts. It has been that way for a long time. Yet the arts are not a forgotten area but feels so often that it is hanging by a thread, straying near a very sharp blade. It is not the fact that we are lacking in performance like the sporting groups of the late seventies, but the cutting of funding from different governments, limited advertising, and poor education structure is beginning to take its toll.

I was gutted when Kevin Rudd first came out and began promoting his “Digital Education Revolution”. The package sounded quite impressive targeting specific subjects/areas of education, giving everyone as much of a right to succeed in the areas that the nation was falling behind in, and to provide secondary students with their own laptop computer. To the average person of course they would be thinking that this was either a great proposal or one of dreams with the provision of laptops. For those people aware of the history of public education, they would know that all this DER is about dressing up public education in a frock with the latest electronic gizmo that children will leap at. In terms of arts and their relevance to education, there would be nothing in it for us. The reason I say this is because the education systems of today focus on mandating that academic success is the measure of intelligence, which is completely contrary to the arts. For the best explanation of how much public education and its academic system is killing the arts, I would recommend watching Sir Ken Robertson’s talk at the TED web site (www.ted.com).
        I would say that there is no stand out difference between public and private education except for the price of education and the quality of teaching. At the end of the day, both public and private students are learning similar content fulfilling the same goals dictated by the syllabi set by the states and are fighting for the same marks to earn that magical UAI to get into university courses.
        A point I’ll make on the side in reference to UAIs, in 2002 it was decided that music courses at tertiary level (certainly in NSW, not sure about outside of the state), such as the Bachelor of Music, would require a UAI for entrance into the course. Prior to this, the UAI was not viewed as being absolutely necessary with entry being based on the skill level and studies at high school or through national programs (e.g. AMEB). Today there are creative and artistically intelligent students being prevented from entering tertiary courses on the basis of being determined unintelligent or below standard by academics in other subjects that would usually be irrelevant to what they wish to study.

The greatest embarrassment that will be suffered is when students that are wishing to undertake further intensive arts studies have to be told they need to go overseas a lot sooner rather than later due to the lack of support not from the institutions but from the government. While it is common for some students undertaking intensive arts studies to study in Europe or the United States, it shouldn’t necessarily be an avenue that everyone has to take.

The proud fact of Kevin Rudd putting a former rock star in his cabinet line up is beginning to show that perhaps it wasn’t the wisest decision, especially when he is in charge of the Arts portfolio. Two and a half million dollars is withdrawn from the biggest music institution in Australia, and we don’t even know where the money is going to go. It’s not a simple case of taking away the money and then eventually putting money back into the arts programs to state that the government is investing in it. It didn’t happen in 1978 when the sports programs weren’t succeeding, due to the lack of the resources. In this era, the Rudd government is going to cripple arts programs if funding and resources are going to be withheld without any plans or initiatives to establish further programs or projects. This is going to place a much greater responsibility on teachers, tutors and supporters to keep the arts programs running and to entice more people to get behind these projects in the community.

"We need to make sure that there's a more effective, better directed way of producing this kind of training for these elite classical musicians. I'm not going back on the decision in any way" – Peter Garrett, ABC News Nov. 7 2008.

EDIT: 5:22 PM January 14, 2009

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Everyone’s a Little Bit (musically) Fascist

When the Broadway musical Avenue Q was shown in March 2003, I wonder if the producers ever realised that they were going to produce a cult hit. Even stepping into 2009, I have tunes from the musical stuck in my head. Avenue Q is still on my wish list to see, but we will always have the soundtracks to listen to while we wait.
        I spent my New Year celebrations in Newcastle with friends, fellow musicians past and present, tutors and students from regional band camps. The convergence was held at The View Factory in Newcastle as the Civic Big Band helped everyone Swing Into ’09. The night was a lot of fun and musically enjoyable, listening and dancing to music of a genre that isn’t dead but still alive and kicking. The troubles of 2008 were forgotten as we shared drinks, reminisced about past years and camps, and discussed as to what the future may hold for us.

But what does this have to do with fascism, especially in music?

My trip to Newcastle wasn’t only an opportunity to celebrate 2009 with great friends, but also to stir the “musical community” pot. With André Rieu performing in Newcastle in 2009 and discovering a Facebook group that labels André as a “musical turd”, there would be no better opportunity to bring to light the theory that everyone is a little bit “musically” fascist.

Musical fascism started off as an early theory at the New England Band Camp in 2008, held at Lake Keepit. The staff listing was a little bit revolutionary as well, with the return of a couple of old faces (not that old) and bringing in tutors that have tutored outside of the common regions (such as New England and Riverina). About halfway through the week, our bass guitar tutor was having a discussion with a percussion tutor about different musical topics when he mentioned the concept of “jazz fascism”. He mentioned that every now and then, you will find amongst a group of people someone that believes so strongly in jazz that if you discredit or criticise the music of the genre or an artist that they will be shocked, appalled, insulted, and will immediately jump to defend jazz. This would most likely encompass other genres being insulted or listed as being “impure” in comparison with jazz.
        To apply the “jazz fascism” theory, the tutor looked around the staff room and spotted the saxophone tutor. “Watch this, I bet you he’s a jazz fascist,” said the bass guitar tutor to the percussion tutor, as he made the following statement audibly clear for the saxophone tutor to take notice. “I think that every album that [John] Coltrane has ever made is s***!”
        The saxophone tutor froze, slowly turned around with a look of disbelief, pain, musical suppression, and disproportionate anger as he remarked with an exasperated “WHAT?!” The bass tutor looked at the percussionist tutor and said “See, jazz fascist.”

If there was such a thing as jazz fascism, then it would only be too simple to reinvent and apply this to classical music. If this was to be applicable to classical music, then it would not be fair to call it “classical fascism” since it would be identical to its jazz counterpart. Instead, we would have something known as “music fascism”.
        There was a great temptation to wear my André Rieu shirt from the Sydney concert, but that would only give away the ordeal immediately. The timing had to be unexpected, out of the blue, and within a group of people so everyone would share the dismay and indignation together.
        So prior to New Year celebrations, I tested the theory with a small group of friends as we waited to go to the beach. A silent moment occurred, which allowed me to pipe up with “So are you guys looking forward to André Rieu coming to Newcastle next year?” This was said without sarcasm to show that I was innocent and without bias. The response was hilarious with looks of disbelief and musical superiority. “Oh my f***ing God! Are you serious?!” “He’s the worst musician in the world!” “His playing is s***!” My response, “Geez, have we found some music fascists or what.” Then there might have been another situation where I approached someone and said, “Hey, I noticed you joined that “André is a musical turd” group on Facebook.” They would’ve acknowledged, thrown their own quick comment about André Rieu, and then I would’ve said they were such a fascist. Again, looks of horror, surprise, and the feeling of their beliefs insulted before they realised that they needed to get another drink. Then the whole ordeal was forgotten. Despite “tall poppy syndrome”, poor purism, and erroneous elitist beliefs on the matter from these people, they were found out to be musically fascist within their own art/study of classical music.
        Even I, and my family would be the first to agree, will admit that I can be musically fascist every now and then in different areas of music. For the people that are really in depth with their art or industry it is more prevalent. I already demonstrated with classical and jazz musicians, but even people involved with popular genres of music hold high their beliefs as they look to suppress other people for not following and/or opposing their ideals… I mean taste of music. And then some take this further by being quite racist… sorry, I mean musically discriminative, simply to aid their cause of being correct within their own system.
        And if it isn’t people within their own art or industry, then you have the people that follow these movements or genres. Rock fanatics are a classic example with people we would see in movies wearing shredded jeans, torn shirts, maybe long hair, with their hand in the “horns up” position yelling out “You can’t stop the rock!!!” Even church-goers around the world that are fanatical about the contemporary Christian movement will did their heels in when you mention how boring and not very enticing the music is, quickly making statements that make you feel less spiritual and perhaps not so much in touch with God as they are.
        Then we have the gang wars breaking out as genre comes face to face with genre, and likewise with musicians, ensembles, and artists. At times it is almost as comical as the huge television station face-off from the movie The Anchorman, as news presenters, weathermen and camera crew face off against each other in a territorial war for ratings and who has the best station.
        Let’s face it, we can all be musically fascist at some point or other. We all become the dictators of our own musical taste and try to influence people to join our belief(s). For many years I was stirred for being strongly opposed to John Williams and his movie compositions, but today I actually appreciate and use some of his music to teach or conduct with. In fact, I think musical fascism can be a good thing on a temporary basis since it shapes who we are and what we like. At times it may even encourage us to think as to why we do like, dislike, or become heavily engrossed, in that particular genre or style of music. We go beyond the trends of following society or going against the grain, and develop our own niche as we assemble a part of our personality influenced by music. I don’t think people truly believe or see how much of an influence music can have on their life and lifestyle, branching out to the emotional, cognitive, social, physical, and (to a degree) spiritual components of their life.
        The next time you listen to a piece of music or someone asks/insults you for your taste or path taken in music, why not stop and think about why you do like or dislike that particular belief you have embraced? Perhaps we can all learn something new from taking the time to discuss and think about the music we enjoy, instead of being caught up in the heat and fast-paced world of “music fascism”. Otherwise, what's the fun in being indoctrinated and engrossed with our own beliefs without allowing ourselves to be challenged or influenced outside of our personal boxes?

Friday, January 2, 2009

NSW Regional Band Camp Review 2008

Another year is about to draw to a close, and as this year ends we will welcome a new year. In the world of music, we look forward to the new year to come since it is another opportunity to open more windows and to expand upon what we have. Every now and then we will have projects come to an end, but those projects won’t necessarily stop producing. Over the last couple of years we have had some “projects” come out of the regional band camp programs continue on to bigger and better things as intended. More students are taking the plunge of studying music are tertiary level and are doing so without fear or remorse. Without the NSW band programs set by the Department of Education and Training there would be fewer avenues for students to experience the joy of producing music either as individuals or as an ensemble.
        These band programs are a key to nurturing and developing musical talent across the whole state. I encourage many students, and their parents, to be allowed the opportunity to be able to take part in one of these programs. Students would only see their teacher for thirty minutes on average, and maybe spend one hour in an ensemble rehearsal. For 90 minutes out of a week consisting of 10,080 minutes (or 168 hours) this isn’t necessarily substantial. A child may practice at home that does contribute to playing and putting their music into practice, but the one thing that lacks is guidance. At band camps, children absolutely live and thrive on the opportunity to be able to take part in playing and making music because they have the chance to make so much. Not only are they taking part, but they improve and feel valued as a contributing member of a music ensemble. And because they are consistently being involved with music over a period of five to six days, information that they are being taught is continually being reinforced. If you have the opportunity of attending a band camp in 2009, then please take the plunge. You will not regret it!

As per usual, there are four regional band camps held in NSW each year. This year was slightly different with two zones collapsing into one, and a new zone established. I had the privilege of attending two camps this year, and the opportunity to attend a third. Next year I have been invited to three out of four camps, and I sincerely hope the director of the fourth camp will consider inviting me to their region. Each zone is unique and experiences different growth and development patterns in music. I received insight into all four band camps for 2008 from students, tutors and teachers involved.



New England
The New England region became a single entity combining the North-West (central point, Tamworth) and New England (central point, Armidale) regions together. After previous successful years with separate programs and senior students moving on, this region was always going to be in a redevelopment stage. 2008 was the year this was to occur.
        While a lot of senior students did move on after completing year twelve studies last year, not all the musical talent was lost. Older and younger students were prepared to take on new roles of leadership, especially when the advanced ensemble was established. The growth in some of the younger students we have worked with over the last few years is evident as their sound and musical skills increase. Balance and musical sensitivity will be a couple of targeted areas for 2009 as there is a very good chance the size of the ensemble will greatly increase, almost to the point of maybe having two concert bands.

North Coast
I was given the chance, along with fellow tutors that I studied with in Newcastle, to teach at this camp last year. For 2008 none of us were invited back, which left a bit of a sour taste for some of us. Still, when you reside and work with students in the region you will always have the opportunity to receive feedback on what is occurring.
        The general response and feedback given to myself from students that I worked with last year, and have over the course of this year, was that what they did last year was more fulfilling than what they did this year. This was especially true from the senior students whose skills were a lot more advanced than the charts given to them. The camp was run to the same program as established last year, meaning stacks and stacks of music given to the students. The concert band is rehearsed, but students then take up one elective ensemble. With the amount of work applied to both rehearsals, and then sport and recreation activities at the site (Lake Ainsworth) tutors do not have a sufficient opportunity to develop (or in the case of this zone “establish”) musical skills or provide insight to performance. Year 11 and 12 students weren’t impressed with not being provided the opportunity to study or catch up schoolwork while at the camp.
        If you attend a band camp, you would expect to be pushed and not make the staff pushovers. With the camp playing charts at primary school level, you would not expect much development to occur in any students taking part. Students at band camps should be playing charts of at least 2-star difficulty, pushing up to around about 3 ½-stars. Playing anything lower than 2-star is not acceptable when parents are paying good money for their children to gain some musical experience from supposed accredited and specialist tutors.
        While the NSW diagram is misleading, the North Coast would have to be the largest zone in NSW since the sufficiently populated towns are all spread out along the coast from the Queensland border down to Taree. Hardly anyone south of Grafton is willing to travel up to Lennox Head for the North Coast camp. Perhaps we should have the region split into two yet still be recognised as North Coast as a whole. This will allow people from Taree to Coffs Harbour the musical opportunities instead of being left to fight on individually or as a “dead zone”.

Riverina
This year was the first time I received the opportunity to tutor in southern NSW. The cold was surprisingly pleasant and something I became accustomed with over the week. Other tutors had been lavishing praise on the students of this camp before the week even started. I wasn’t sure what to expect after working with a fantastic senior group in the North-West/New England zones for 2007. As the saying goes, “expect the unexpected”!
        The balance of this ensemble was quite exceptional. As is normally the case this was an ensemble top-heavy with flutes, but the “soprano” sections did a very good job to keep their sound levels in check and not dominate. The clarinets that I took were very impressive not as individuals, but as a collective. There have been past North-West and New England clarinet sections that I have taken where individuals are outstanding and lead the way, but the way this Riverina section balanced out the skill across all parts and everyone really valued their part was outstanding. Not taking anything away from the students I worked with past and present (because they all have done a fantastic job), but this clarinet section just simply blew me away.
        Like the New England camp, the Riverina camp formed two ensembles; the concert band and the advanced ensemble. The concert band took on repertoire that was almost on par with the advanced ensemble’s pieces including a Sousa march, Bugler’s Holiday by Leroy Anderson, and a Star Wars arrangement to name a few.
        This ensemble has an enormous amount of potential with great opportunities for individuals and the whole group. Well done to the students, the parents, and the teachers in the area for investing in the musical talent and expanding upon it.

Western
A completely new region that was, at first, an unknown. Reports from the tutors by the end of the week were positive, saying that there is promise for this region and a good chance to expand upon the talent. Obviously the repertoire given was not quite as difficult as New England and Riverina, but it still challenged the students that took part. What would have been even more of a surprise was the fact that students from New England region were jumping the border to come to another band camp! That form of commitment from the students and parents is very pleasing to hear about. The tutors and director of the camp are really looking forward to working with this region again next year, and I will definitely be keen to see what this region produces.

Plans for 2009
As a tutor, I personally strive to find something new to teach or establish each year. Tutors and teachers in general should always be seeking some form of professional development whether it is through studying other teachers and methods, or researching and trialling new methods invented by ourselves. The first couple of years I began teaching from 2005-6 I had a focus on breathing and utilising air. 2007 was more of a case of ensemble skills and awareness. 2008 was a return to breathing but establishing an awareness of muscle use and lung capacity expansion.
        2009, I would like to be able to focus a little more on creativity and cognition. If there is one thing that I do pride myself on in music teaching, it is the fact that I do like to make students think and conscious about what they doing and how they are going about it. I was quite surprised as to how many teachers and tutors don’t actually do this, essentially making the students auto-pilot and became cognitively lazy in what they do. The brain should be one of the most exercised muscles in our body. You will be quite amazed at how you feel after you have exercised the brain. If you want an alternative method of exercising the brain instead of using forms of literature and numbers, then music is your answer.

All the best for 2009!