Lessons from a face-to-face music workshop

UNE Music held its second Summer Workshop earlier this year. In January, 10 students attended the Armidale campus for a 3-day non-mandatory, extracurricular music workshop, consisting of musicology seminars, practical performance and composition classes, excursions to the library for the Gordon Athol Anderson Music Collection and 3D scanning of some of the instruments in the instrumental collection, and professional development. The workshop ended with a public performance open to staff and students.  

Enriching the student experience

Music moved its teaching wholly online in 2015 and since that time we in the discipline have considered different ways to enhance engagement and enrich student experience. Music has benefited from having access to music festivals and events around NSW where we have been able to invite students to perform in a semi-professional capacity. We have had lots of wonderful creative face-to-face experiences that way, however, there has long been a yearning for us to have a group of students in a live room talking, listening, playing, and creating again.

“It was packed full of learning and stretched the boundaries of our musical capabilities. To have first hand access to such resources is immensely valuable to all of us. Well done and please keep it going. Those that could not attend would be blown away with just how good this Summer Workshop really is.” – Greg Allardice  

An adaptable program

This style of workshop allows Music staff to develop a flexible, yet focused series of classes to supplement its fully online course. It is designed so that there is no set curriculum or assessment; staff choose a specific topic or theme that suits their expertise and can shape it according to the most recent developments in the industry and field of music. The result is an adaptable program that approaches new ideas each year, and is not tied to a specific unit or course. Because of this, students can attend consecutive years, and still receive new and relevant skills and knowledge. This year, four students came back after a positive experience in 2023.

“It was an absolute pleasure getting to work with everyone over the three days. Thank you to all involved for giving us this amazing opportunity and experience.” – Sophia Craig 

Attendees were a mixture of diploma and bachelor students travelling in from the New England region, Newcastle, Sydney and also flying in from Victoria. We also used the opportunity to have some of our HDRs prepare short presentations on their research.

“I would say for me it is comparable in substance to a complete unit of learning with collaboration, lectures, deep thinking, lively discussion, workshops, feedback and performances.” – Di Gardiner 

Supporting personal learning journeys

This series of workshops has proven to provide the much needed face to face contact music students enjoy, without the limitations and expectations of meeting static learning outcomes. Flexibility allows students to come with their own expectations and experiences, to which we can adapt activities and learning content. For example, one student needed to collaborate with other performers to record a piece for one of their official T3 assessments, they were able to rehearse and receive feedback before recording the final performance and another student was about to embark on a position as a choir director and wanted to experiment and receive feedback on their vocal warmup routine. We were able to accommodate these personal learning journeys and assist in preparing for future pathways.  

“am very grateful for both projects you mention – opportunity to practice/experience leading a vocal group – particularly grateful for the positive engagement in the session from everyone (also received really helpful feedback and suggestions). Opportunity to engage so freely and happily with trumpet was most unexpected – felt safe, supported and no-one was judgmental of my limited playing capacity. The exercise you did was perfect – thank you.” – Richard Gray 

Future plans

We already have plans to expand the frequency, locations, and scope of the workshops including partnerships with some professional organisations. This pedagogical experiment has so far proved fruitful. The demands of our unique UNE cohort mean that, across the school, a plethora of enrichment activities are constantly being trialed, tested, employed, and retired. As many of us have experienced, one activity that is hugely successful in one trimester will be a limping failure in the next. However, we have been greatly inspired by the dedication to innovation we witness in our colleagues and have endeavoured to imbue our own Summer Workshops with the same level of care and community-building.

– Dr Alana Blackburn and A/Prof Paul Smith
  UNE Music