The ANU says it will collaborate with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra to see how they can work together to “support classical performance education” in the region. Photo: CSO.
The Australian National University is standing firm on not including one-to-one performance teaching in its core curriculum, stating its decision is “entirely independent” from its Renew ANU restructuring process.
Interim Vice-Chancellor Professor Rebekah Brown told an all-staff town hall that there would be no more forced redundancies – even within the change management proposals still under consideration – but the rest of the program would remain.
“Higher-than-anticipated uptake of the Voluntary Separation Scheme, along with increased rates of staff attrition, retirements and vacancy management, means involuntary redundancies are no longer required for the … change proposals still in progress,” an ANU spokesperson said.
Implementation plans are still being drafted for the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), College of Science and Medicine (CoSM), Campus Environment and the Academic Portfolio. The Residential Experience Division implementation plan was released on Friday (19 September).
But Prof. Brown’s comments about performance are still ringing alarm bells for advocates.
School of Music Advocacy Roundtable chair Robyn Hendry said while the jobs announcement was a promising step, the community was “still in the dark” about what this would mean for performance students.
“Performance training and music tuition must be included within the degree structure to ensure ANU music graduates are qualified to become professional high-performance playing musicians,” she said.
“The Interim Vice-Chancellor’s comments, echoed by Chancellor Julie Bishop … indicated there has been no change of heart on this critical issue.”
Region asked ANU if staff’s roles would be changed, given performance would no longer be embedded in the core curriculum.
A university spokesperson said “performance study is not proposed for removal and never has been”.
“We continue to offer multiple performance courses this year and will in coming years,” the spokesperson said.
“Performance teaching is delivered in a number of different ways – through group work, choral work, ensemble teaching, and one-to-one teaching. We have been, and remain, committed to teaching music performance at ANU.
“The revised Bachelor of Music includes as many performance courses as the current degree program.”
The ANU spokesperson said the decision to move away from “situating” one-to-one teaching in the core curriculum was a decision endorsed by the academic board and was “entirely independent” of the Renew ANU process.
“The curriculum changes have been informed by detailed analysis of current modes of delivery across leading universities worldwide,” the spokesperson said.
“All students currently enrolled in one-to-one teaching will, however, complete their intended programs of study as planned.”
Bachelor of Engineering (honours) and Bachelor of Music (jazz and contemporary performance) student Mert Boyali said confusion had been created because the Bachelor of Music (BMus) changes were included in the CASS change proposal before it was officially announced.
“We have been led to believe the removal of one-on-one tuition was regarding the change proposal due to the cross referencing of it from the BMus changes,” he said.
“It gave us false hope we could stop these changes through some form of consultation. Not a single performance teacher, not a single student I have ever spoken to or surveyed has been remotely happy with these changes.
“The university keeps pushing that they will keep performance, however it is clear they are at the very least degrading the level of performance at the school.”
ANU currently offers six performance courses each semester over the degree.
Mr Boyali said each had a “strict performance element” that allowed students to hone their abilities through recitals, concert practices, exams and music seminars (or group lessons on top of the one-on-one lessons).
It’s these six courses that will be removed and replaced with courses in a new major – Music Practice.
“These new ‘performance courses’ [in the revised Bachelor of Music] are things such as musicianship and wellness and musical leadership, non-targeted courses which seem like a more holistic approach to performance rather than the high level the school has been known for over years,” Mr Boyali said.
“The school executives have told [current students] these course changes will not affect us, but we will be forced to take new, watered-down ‘generalist’ theory courses while watching our other courses be thrown out next year.
“From what we have managed to gather it is an entire dismantling of the performance elements at the School of Music under the guise of pedagogy.”
ANU has committed to collaborate with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra about how they could work together to “support classical performance education” in the region.
CSO CEO Rachel Thomas said there were still “critical issues” to be resolved.
“[These include] ensuring performance tuition remains within the degree curriculum, but the agreement by ANU to listen and collaborate means we are better placed to build a compelling and distinctive experience for music students,” she said.
“We very much hope the Interim Vice-Chancellor’s agreement to engage in meaningful collaboration marks a turning point that sets the stage for better outcomes. But there is much to be considered and still a long way to go.”
