About this guide

Where to begin?

Every person has a wealth of knowledge and experience of music to draw upon, regardless of formal training. Whether it be family singalongs on long road trips, the Top 100 on the car radio, dancing at the school formal, singing ‘Happy Birthday’ or memories of a grandparent humming traditional songs – each person has their own relationship with music.

This guide invites you to select or reject ideas based on how they might fit with the interests and experience of the students, school and team you are working with.

Finding out what kind of music appreciation and experience already exists within the school community can offer fertile ground. A student activity to find out what kind of music the other teachers, students and parents like to listen to can start the conversation. It needn’t feel serious – a straw poll of how many students like to sing in the shower is a light-hearted way to get the ball rolling.

 

 

It is important to understand the existing state of music learning and experience in your school community and to audit for possible connection points and opportunities, such as where instrumental learning hasn’t yet been connected with the whole-of-school concert or with classroom teaching.

It is also hugely important that the teachers involved in the process of developing and implementing a music learning program are deeply familiar with the Victorian Curriculum F–10: Music, which aims to develop students’:

• confidence to be creative, innovative, thoughtful, skilful and informed musicians
• skills to listen, improvise, compose, interpret, perform, and respond with intent and purpose
• aesthetic knowledge and respect for music and music practices across global communities, cultures and musical traditions
• understanding of music as an aural art form, its relationship with other arts forms and contributions to cultures and societies.

Familiarisation will include understanding how the Music curriculum is structured and using the continuum to understand how the content descriptions and associated achievement standards enable teachers to plan, monitor, assess and report on the learning achievement of every student.

The Music curriculum includes an achievement standard at Foundation, and then provides achievement standards at two-level bands. For students whose learning is below Foundation standard, teachers can refer to the Towards Foundation Levels A to D Music curriculum. Additional advice on how to create teaching and learning programs drawing on the structure of the Victorian Curriculum F–10 is available in the Revised Curriculum Planning and Reporting Guidelines.

These two familiarisation activities – one designed to become deeply familiar with the curriculum and the other to understand the state of play for music learning at your school – will guide your next steps.

Share your findings. Involve others, especially the school leadership team in mapping out a plan for what a high-quality, sustainable music learning program could look like in the school.

Creating a new program, extending a fledgling program, moving a successful program to the next level or refocusing a program that might seem to be broken can be daunting.

Remember that some of the most successful music learning programs began small, with passionate people and grew as others became inspired by the benefits.

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