Music Education Program (MEP)

The Music Education Program (MEP) is a new paradigm for music education.

It has been designed and developed over the past 15 years by Dr Susan West at the ANU School of Music in partnership with the ACT Department of Education and Training and artsACT.

The philosophy of the program is based on Dr West’s considerable experience and research in music education, general education and music for well being through both traditional and alternative pathways. Its foundation is in the school system but its application now extends well beyond this realm.

Through its teacher programs, outreach concerts, shared goals, shared repertoire, school-to-school and school-to-community activities, the MEP encourages music-making as a part of the normal social and cultural lives of all participants, regardless of age or skill level.

The MEP is based on a social philosophy of shared, active music making through singing, known as the Music Outreach Principle. It promotes, but does not demand, high-level skills, and does not require expensive instruments or equipment to be effective. It offers an on-going musical pathway for all, regardless of perceived talent or previous experience. Skill development occurs as a by-product of joyful engagement, where performance’ is a stress-free part of the ‘outreach’ approach.

Through MEP training workshops for over 50 generalist and specialist teachers and ongoing in-school support, the MEP now impacts upon approximately 12000 students within the ACT. As well as the numerous training programs open to teachers, the MEP offers a range of programs for people of all ages and all levels of musical skill and experience.

Read More About the Music Education Program

 

Head of Area

Susan West
B.Mus Performance (Melb.), Grad.Dip. (Kodaly Insitute, Hungary), M.Ed. Gifted and Talented (Charles Sturt); PhD (Music) (ANU)
Email: susan.west@anu.edu.au
Phone: 02 61255776

Staff

Nicole Mengel, Georgia Pike
Email: mep@anu.edu.au
Phone: 02 61258978

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About the Music Education Program

The Music Education Program Music Outreach Principle (MOP) is an extremely simple social philosophy of music making. It is draws on the philosophies of Dr John Diamond and encompasses a modern interpretation of the idea that sharing music making promotes general well being as well as skill development.

As the name implies, the Music Outreach Principle involves making music with the intent of altruistically reaching out to others. In essence, individuals involved are encouraged to think: ‘I make music in order that others will make music, for the benefit of all’.  This intent is exercised not just from ‘teacher’ to ‘student’ but is passed on from individual to individual so that all music making ‘reaches out’ in an on-going cycle.

The aim of the Music Outreach Principle is to allow all participants to be both givers and receivers of music through helping others to engage in music making. In essence, all participants become facilitators in shared music making. Since the Music Outreach Principle is not focused or reliant on the musical skills of the music makers, there is no minimum musical requirement.  Thus, everybody is already musically qualified to engage in outreach activities. It is through the on-going involvement in practical music making that musical skills are developed as a natural and stress-free outcome of joyful engagement.

Training Programs

The MEP runs regular semester-length courses and short, intensive courses for both general classroom and specialist teachers. It also provides recreational courses for the general public and vocational training for college and tertiary students. The MEP responds to the suggestions and needs of all its expanding range of stakeholders.

- Brilliant program.  Opened my eyes to the joy and fun of music as opposed to the ‘musts’ of music.  Music is now actually enjoyable. (MEP Course Graduate)

- I loved every second of it!  (Adult Community Piano Workshop Participant)

-  Even at this later stage in my career as a teacher the impact of this program has been profound.  It is completely different to other music professional development programs in that it addresses individuals at their point of need.  It teaches, encourages and supports teachers to challenge themselves and their students to expand skills, develop repertoire and understand the value of making music in our lives.  I recently successfully led 160 students in some unaccompanied singing – a feat I would never even have considered prior to participation in the Music Education professional development. (Mep Course Graduate)

Events

The MEP runs small and large-scale events for schools and the general public. In 2008, major events included collaboration with Music Count Us In, an initiative of the Music Council of Australia, which involved over 2000 children singing ‘on the Hill’ at Parliament House.

In 2009, the MEP Big Gig involved over 3000 students and members of the public and featured a community singing group with participants from ages ranging from 4 to 74 years.

- It was fantastic to see so many schools working together... (Audience member, MEP Gala Outreach Concert)

- I could rave at length - the utterly happy involvement in the singing of all the children near me,  the lack of formality and having no conductor, the choir upstairs, the band, the strings, the continuously smooth movement of children, the proud parents and friends, the idea of singing for older and disabled people, using old songs.  The whole atmosphere was totally uplifting. (Audience member, MEP Gala Outreach Concert)

- This has been the best thing in my life so far... (Primary School student on being involved in the MEP Gala Outreach Concert)

Community Outreach

Under the title ‘Hand-in-Hand’ the Music Education Program participates annually in between 50 and 80 outreach visits to care facilities, with ACT schools and their teachers.

In 2008 the Hand-in-Hand program was recognized with a community award from the Music Council of Australia. The MEP team also contributes to after-hours community outreach including a weekly visit to Morling Lodge Nursing Home, which has been receiving outreach visits for over ten years.

- When I sing in a nursing home, I feel good because I know I made someone happy which makes me happy. (Year 5 student)

 

- It gives us a sense of being important to someone who is smaller than us. We are reaching out to each other. Sometimes when we come we have so much on our mind that we are sad but when we see their faces and sing with them and talk with them its like a flower opening up like they are the sun and we are the flower that needs to be opened up…(Resident of a retirement home)

- To see the sheer delight on their faces when the children hold hands with them and sing along is wonderful… this should be introduced into all nursing homes. (Nursing Home staff member)

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The MEP Team

Dr Susan West

Dr Susan West brings to her role as Convenor of the innovative Music Education Program over thirty years experience as a performer, educator, composer and arranger. Her work in developing pre-tertiary music programs and post-graduate teacher-training is at the cutting edge of music education with wide-ranging influences from traditional music philosophies, both ancient and modern, to holistic and therapeutic uses of music.  Her philosophy centres on the idea that music-making is our birthright and that the role of music education is simply to support the natural wish for musical involvement.

Susan trained in music performance at the Melbourne University Conservatorium of Music and the Victorian College of the Arts and obtained a post-graduate degree in music education from the Kodaly Institute of Hungary. She played Principal Piccolo with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra in 1980 and then Associate Principal and Principal Flute with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1981-1985.  During this time she was also a member of the Australian Wind Virtuosi, touring nationally and internationally.

She was invited to the Canberra School of Music in 1984 to help establish the Music Education Program. Recognising a need for different and more successful forms of music education, she continued her studies, first at Charles Sturt University and later with the Institute for Music and Health, New York.  This work led to the establishment of the Hand-in-Hand outreach program that focuses on uniting children and the community in shared, altruistic music-making.  Dr West composes and arranges principally for children, or to provide avenues for artistic collaborations between children and adult professionals.  She teaches and lectures all age groups from pre-school through to post-graduate and for non-award courses with a particular focus on developing the skills and confidence of in-service teachers.

Dr West’s work has attracted both national and international interest and the impact and benefits of her programs are being studied by students from Australia and abroad.  Her work is being documented in a range of short films from Ronin Films, Australia.  She has been recognised through various awards, including a National Children’s Week Award, a National Women’s Day Award and a citation for Teaching Excellence from the Carrick Institute. Most recently the Hand-in-Hand Outreach Program was recognized for its excellence as a community outreach program through a national awards program run by the Music Council of Australia.

 

Nicole Mengel and Georgia Pike

 

Nicole Mengel, B.Ed (USQ), B.Bus (USQ)

Nicole Mengel has been working for the MEP since 2007, seconded from the ACT Department of Education and Training, though previously she had been working as a generalist classroom teacher within the ACT.

Nicole had always wanted to teach music in her classroom, but she had lacked the confidence to make it a priority.  In 2006 Nicole enrolled in the 16 week basic training course offered by the MEP after being told excitedly about the program by a teaching colleague. 

Every week Nicole would go back to her class and teach them a new song and discuss with them what she was doing at her professional development.  Nicole was particularly heartened by the enthusiasm of an autistic student in her class who was reluctant to engage in many subject areas. The social singing approach gave him the opportunity to relate to his peers and the enjoyment and focus he displayed during singing was gradually transferred into other areas of the curriculum.

At the end of 2006 the primary school Nicole was working at shut down in a round of school closures.  Nicole subsequently applied for a transfer and included the vacant position in the Music Education Program.  She was excited yet acutely aware that she was not ‘musically trained’.  Through working in the program over the last two and a half years Nicole has learned that regardless of the perception of one’s own musicality we are all musical and each person has the ability to successfully teach music in their classroom.

Nicole’s current position allows her to visit a number of schools and support teachers to implement music strategies in their classrooms.  Nicole has been instrumental in the creation of boys singing groups in several schools in the ACT to encourage more boys to engage in singing, and in 2008 the MEP ran the first ACT boys singing Outreach session with boys from 3 schools across the ACT.  She has also been implementing the MEP approach in Learning Support Units (LSU’s) and Introductory English Centers (IEC’s).  Nicole is currently interested in researching the effect that singing can have on the learning of English as a Second Language (ESL) students and the effects of singing for students with Learning support needs, such as students with Autism and students who are classified as ‘at-risk.’ Nicole was a recipient of the National Excellence in Music Education Award in 2009, and will continue to work for the MEP into 2010.

Georgia Pike, B. Arts (ANU),

Georgia Pike has been a student of Dr West and the MEP since the age of 4, specialising in voice and harp studies.  In 2002 Georgia spent a year in New York training intensively under the tutelage of Claire Alexander (former voice coach to Frank Sinatra) and studying at the Institute of Music and Health.  Georgia has now been working for the Music Education Program for three years since completing her undergraduate degree in 2006, a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Law and Classics.  She is currently completing post-graduate studies in education through Monash University, and will be enrolling in a PhD at the ANU in 2010 in order to study the effects of the MEP on performance and community engagement in music.

Her work with the MEP links directly with her work on the local stage, culminating in over 15 stage shows and innumerable concerts.  Georgia has received a number of awards and nominations for her work on the stage, including the Helen Wilson Memorial Trophy for best comedic performance (Miss Mabel Chiltern in An Ideal Husband), and a Canberra Critics Circle Award and the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical at the 2008 Canberra Area Theatre Awards for her performance in the title role of Thoroughly Modern Millie.

Georgia specialises in Outreach performances for various age-groups, a niche requiring high-quality, interactive, age-appropriate, intelligent and engaging Outreach performances which encourage active participation from audience members.  Georgia is heavily involved in the planning, direction and MC-ing of the MEP’s famous Outreach Concert events, such as the Big Gig in 2009, which engaged over 3000 children and general public in active music making all on the one day.  These new and innovative performances allow Georgia to combine her Outreach work with the MEP and her performance experience on the stage, passing it on to young students involved in the innovative Theatre Outreach Project.  The Theatre Outreach Project is a trial program designed for secondary students who wish to expand the application of the Outreach Principle to performance arts, including theatre, film and dance.

Georgia facilitates teacher training in the basic 16 week MEP course, supports teachers at the school base, and facilitates Singing Outreach at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.  She is also currently working with Ronin Films to produce short documentaries about the MEP approach for teaching purposes.

 

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For more information & application details please contact:

Convenor: Dr Susan West
Email: susan.west@anu.edu.au
Phone: 02 61255776

Music Education Program Office:
Staff: Nicole Mengel, Georgia Pike
Email: mep@anu.edu.au
Phone: 02 61258978