Music Generator

Abstract

In 2006 the Australia Council for the Arts funded a two year arts partnership project between Musica Viva In Schools and a regional community in Victoria. The aim was to involve a whole community in a music enrichment program that brought together primary and secondary students, teachers, community musicians, members of the community and musicians from outside the area with a broad range of objectives. This research examined the impact of the Music Generator Project on the primary component, only a small part of the overall program. The findings show that cultural partnerships can make a substantial contribution to the musical life of a community and provide children with experiences they might not otherwise have. Although the students were generally positive both on the pretests and the posttests about various music activities, there seems to be a potentially significant impact on students with ambivalent or negative attitudes towards music and this phenomenon is certainly worthy of further investigation. There was also evidence of a positive impact of the program on the teachers and musicians involved.

Methodology

Throughout the study, the primary students were required to complete surveys about each workshop. It was anticipated that this would serve two purposes, firstly, to evaluate the quality of each workshop experience, and secondly, to measure specific aims and elements deemed important in the development of students in the music environment. The surveys were based on a 5 point Likert scale and the items addressed communication, confidence, self-esteem, risking taking, problem-solving skills, group work, and music knowledge. These surveys were administered by the teachers and returned to the researchers via the school contact. Teachers, professional musicians, community musicians and community groups completed surveys constructed with open-ended questions. The questions were designed to address individuals' own goals for participation in the workshops and development of skills while also triggering responses to positive and negative aspects of the project, observations seen in the children, and application of skills form workshop in own practice.

Publications/ Presentations

Jeanneret, N. & Yerbury, A. (2009). Music Generator: Exploring arts partnerships with the whole community. In W. Baker (Ed.) Musical Understanding. Proceedings of the Australian Society for Music Education National Conference, Launceston.

Jeanneret, N. (2009). Arts Partnerships, Schools and Research. Proceedings from the Eleventh Biennial Desert Skies Symposium on Research in Music Education, University of Arizona, February.

Jeanneret, N. & Tinning, A. (2008). Regenerating the Generator: Report of the Music Generator Project.
Report on research conducted for Musica Viva, Sydney.