With the end of the academic year fast approaching, there have been a flurry of final examinations, the sharing of performances and creative work, and much celebration. It is a busy but rewarding time, and one often accompanied by much reflection as students in Year 12 move on into the next chapter of their lives – I think of what I gave them, what music gave them, what they gave me…

I remember my time at this juncture fondly, and often wonder where I’d be without my involvement in music. It has offered me so much; it changed my life’s trajectory. My involvement in music introduced me to new ideas, ways of thinking, ways of approaching and solving problems; it has given me the capacity to be creative and innovative, the ability to work alongside others towards a common goal, and appreciate beauty and excellence. It has also enabled an understanding of the value of hard work and in being tenacious in pursuit of a goal, and offered powerful ways of communicating and sharing ideas with others. It has enriched me cognitively, psychologically, and socially… in and beyond music.

As teachers, we aspire to develop what we call C21st skills in students – skills and attributes that are deemed needed to prepare them for higher education, work and engagement in a complex and rapidly changing world. These skills – critical thinking, creative thinking, communication, collaboration and teamwork, personal and social skills, and the use of and engagement with new and emerging information and communication technologies – are all developed in and through engagement with music, in genuine, sustained, and transferable ways; they are not tokenistic in their positioning, but deeply explored.  

For some, it can be easy to dismiss the work of students who study in this domain, or to assign it achievable only by a talented few; but what these people fail to realise is the complexity of the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective activity that comprises this work. What you often see and hear is the result of many years, many lessons, the influences of many teachers; it is the realisation of processes and skills specific to their instrument, to compositional practices, to critical listening and appraisal of ideas… but ones that also richly contribute to the development of C21st skills. Engagement in the process of music learning enriches students and will continue to enrich them irrespective of the pathway they follow.

I firmly believe that Music offers the means and capacity for students to prepare for the future in which they will need to be agile in their thinking and action. A future where creative and expressive communication will place them at an advantage; a future in which they will be able pose and solve problems, work independently and in collaboration, and create and convey meaning through the consideration of various viewpoints, ideas, and influences. Importantly, they will both encourage and provoke alternate ways of seeing, thinking, and doing in themselves and others; and (because I appreciate the phrase so much, I will quote it directly), enable them “to know and observe their world and reveal a sense of who they are and might become as they make connections and new meaning of the world around us and our place in it.”[i] This isn’t meaningless fuzz’, it’s a lived truth.

I have come to value these transferable C21st skills just as much as the musical skills and capabilities gained (as you develop one, you foster the other); but, in the spirit of this reflection, also very much value the social context within which this occurs – with the people I get to share these experiences with. Those who helped me start my journey, those who sustained me on the journey, and those who continually challenge me to explore the pathway ahead. I am thankful to those who those who encouraged and supported me when I started this potentially unending, complex, but extraordinarily rewarding journey that is music. The ability of music to create and foster special relationships based on shared experience is powerful. We remember the people with whom we shared these experiences long after the music fades, not necessarily what was said, but how they made us feel – how they encouraged us, supported us, and we connected.

Everything I have reflected upon here is something that has been shared in by the students we see, something that they have offered others, and that will continue to shape their contributions to others. English writer and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton said: “music, once admitted to the soul, becomes a sort of spirit, and never dies”. I know from countless interactions with students, past students, old friends and new connections, and even those who are no longer of this earth, that music resides in us in ways that are very powerful.

This is what music has given me, and what music gives to education. Whilst all of this is well-known and valued by those who share in this journey, we do still have a way to go to ensure that this message is received and understood by all. The very thing that we aspire to in education is right under our noses…

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[i] Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2019), Music General Senior Syllabus (Rationale).