THOUGHTS FROM CAMDEN

Would anyone like a hot cross bun ?

2010-02-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that Easter is coming, but how many realise that in the past few days there has also been Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday and that we are now in the season of Lent ? As for hot cross buns – they’ve been in Sainsbury’s since New Year.

Before going any further let me reassure you that this blog is not a religious message, though it does have an ulterior motive, which is to publicise pieces by me which are now on the Sibelius site ! (http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/index.php?sm=account.details&uid=123464)

What I am interested in is the fact that the Easter story is another part of our heritage, because people here have believed in it for the past 2000 years (and many still do). So knowing about it, just as knowing about Stonehenge, the Battle of Britain and Wimbledon tennis is something which I think anyone who lives here has a right to know about.

Also, as someone involved in the arts, I feel that you do not have to believe in the literal truth of the Christian story, to find in it a moving reflection of human experience which still relates to us now. And it is those elements which have on two occasions led me to create music (back to the commercial plug!)

For Christians, Easter celebrates the time when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, brought us the chance of forgiveness (by God) for our sins through his own death (at the Crucifixion) and then returning to life ( the Resurrection).

The early Church was not above being opportunist, and so they realised that there were already popular Spring festivals – in the case of our ancestors, related to the goddess Eastre (get it ?). It also seemed to them that the time when life returns to Nature, after the winter, was a very suitable time to celebrate the new spiritual life offered by Christ.

Before moving to the key part of the story, I’ll answer a couple of other questions.

The first is “Why is Easter not celebrated, like Christmas, on the same date every year?”

First of all, because the Easter story takes place at the time of the Passover, a major Jewish religious festival, which was celebration of Spring and is celebrated at the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. – around March 21, when day and night are of equal length.

The Christian church fixed the date of Easter at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
The whole story is of nightmarish complication, but basically the decision was that Easter must fall upon the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the Vernal(Spring) Equinox, but, if the full moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter should be the Sunday after !!!! Therefore Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25. So now you know!

As for the other times mentioned, Lent is a period of 40 days leading up to Easter. For religious people it is a period spiritual preparation, involving fasting, prayer and repentance. (This is why people “give up things for Lent”) Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, when the priest marks the believer’s forehead with ashes in the sign of the cross, saying "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." This comes from the burial service, and in meant to remind us that we all must die.

The last day before Lent is Shrove Tuesday, which children used to know as “Pancake Day”. It is believed that pancakes were originally cooked in order to use up all the fat, eggs and dairy products. In many countries this is also the occasion for Carnival (from the Latin “carne vale” – “goodbye meat!”) – the most famous is that in Rio de Janeiro.

So back to the Christian story. What Christians know as Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday. In the period before this, Jesus had become extremely popular, and on this day (the first of the Jewish week) Jesus rode into Jerusalem to cheering crowds who threw palm leaves in front of him as a token of respect.

During the following days Jesus made himself very unpopular with the priests, but they did not dare not touch him because of his popularity. But then one of his own disciples (followers), named Judas Iscariot, went to the priests and offered to betray Jesus. (Readers who are fans of Bob Dylan will remember a famous live recording when Dylan went electric and a member of the audience called out “Judas”).

On the Thursday, in English known as Maundy Thursday, Jesus hosted a meal for his disciples – this was the Last Supper. He knew what was going to happen to him, and so gave them bead and wine in a very formal way. This action is highly important to Christians, and is the origin of Holy Communion, when bread and wine taken as part of a religious service.

After the supper Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he prayed for God to spare him from suffering. The disciples were supposed to keep watch but fell asleep, and Judas was able to lead the priests to Jesus. The disciples ran away, and one (Peter) denied knowing him.

There was then what we would now call a “show trial” for “blasphemy” (meaning in this case claiming to be divine). During this the people present beat Jesus and spat on him.

At this time Israel was part of the Roman Empire, and so in the morning of what we know as Good Friday, the priests took Jesus to the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, and demanded his death. Pilate wished to release him, but the crowd demanded Jesus’ death. Pilate decided to avoid trouble, but washed his hands (another of our modern sayings) to show that he did not accept responsibility.

Jesus was taken away, was mocked by the soldiers and the crowd, and was crucified, which is why the Christian symbol is a cross. When Jesus had died, Joseph of Arimathea (who is believed by many people today to have later come to Glastonbury) went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He took it down, and laid it in a tomb. (The picture at the top of the blog is the beautiful statue by Michaelangelo, in St Peter's, Rome, which portrays Jesus' mother grieving over her dead son).

So we have a situation in which, within a week, Jesus was received by cheering crowds, who later turned against him and welcomed his execution. He was deserted even by his own most faithful supporters.

For Christians, though, the climax of the story happens on Easter Sunday, when Christ’s women followers went to prepare the body for burial. They found the rock rolled away and the body gone. An angel was there who told them that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Poets, musicians and sculptors have often taken as their inspiration the anguish of
Jesus’ mother, Mary (the Virgin Mary). One of the most famous of these is shown in the picture.

However, my song The Lament of Mary Magdalene, starts from a different point. Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ closest associates – to the extent that, as is widely known because of the popularity of The Da Vinci Code, some people believe that she was his wife. The song was written well before the book, and came after the realisation that there are very many works which are based on Good Friday (the day of the Crucifixion) and Easter Sunday, but that the Saturday was a day without any special interest. I asked myself “What must it have felt like to have been one of Jesus’ friends or disciples on the Saturday – when the Resurrection had not happened, and when they did not even know that it was going to happen ?” Mary expresses her grief through a love song – using such a medium for religious purposes was common in the Middle Ages.

The other work is a composition called Easter Overture or Festa Pasquale (Italian for “Easter Festival”). This was written originally for the Easter Festival of the EFL Cultural Programme of the University of Westminster. Its aim was to set the mood for the week of events. It was inspired by seeing an Easter procession and celebration in Attina, Italy, so it has a songlike theme of lament, a church procession theme, and jollity from the not very competent town band. The original recording can be downloaded from this website (look under Westminster Reels), and on Sibelius Music there is a free (simplified) score for amateur orchestra.

I hope you will enjoy these attempts to catch features of what is, as I have said, a powerful human story, to which people can still relate strongly, even they do not accept the religious implications. How often have we seen the media turn upon someone who was previously a hero ?

Oh yes – and hot cross buns ?

Children used to sing a song that went:

Hot cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons,

One a penny, Two a penny,

Hot Cross Buns !

Traditionally they were baked and eaten on Good Friday. I always thought, as many people do, that the cross on the top was to remind us of the Crucifixion, but some have suggested that the sign represents the four quarters of the moon, and that the buns were eaten by the Anglo-Saxons in honour of the goddess Eastre. Whatever the truth of it, I like them ! So have a good Easter – and lots of chocolate if you feel like it!

LET US NOW PRAISE FAMOUS (WO)MEN...

2009-09-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

(Pear Trees in July by Moira Jarvis)

Let us now praise famous men...Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in writing...The Apocrypha 44. 2,5

Very nice, but I’m not sure where that leaves the South London Women Artists...

Now there’s a name to conjure with – some people would imagine well-bred and well-heeled ladies in four by fours with children called Hecuba and Amphytrion, others would think of women, looking rather as if they had just had a hard day clearing out an attic, with a tee shirt bearing the legend “Save the Stag Beetle”.

Well, our resident painter, Moira Jarvis, fits neither stereotype, not I suspect do any other members of the SLWA – and I am sure would just sigh at such prehistoric views.
So let’s get the “women” part over with first.

“About Us” on their website says: “ South London Women Artists was launched by the Friends of Dulwich Picture Gallery in June 2008. It offers a website on which women artists living or working south of the river can post a profile about their work”.

There’s no doubt that until very recently, an artist who was female would have been described as a “woman artist”. Thirty years ago and more Linda Nochlin did a noted study of the status of women in the visual arts, starting with the question, "Why have there been no great women artists?". Her work prompted Barbara Ehrlich White, in 1974. to point out the ways in which for the art establishment women artists were invisible (unless they were gentlewomen, leisure-time watercolourists). Twenty years later it was still necessary to create a Coalition of Women's Art Organizations, and to hold a major a conference of women artists in New York City.

Moira tells me that , with the possible exception of the major galleries and commercial venues (the latter, as far as I can see being typically gathering places for very rich men to acquire more status symbols at stratospheric prices, while men, with plummy accents and a haughty disdain for hairdressers or schoolteachers, speak in a language which it would take an MI5 computer to decode) – with those possible exceptions, the situation has now changed greatly. Even so, John MeWewen wrote recently in a commentary on the work of Paula Rego that the adverse criticism of Rego's pictures has come exclusively from men. (Here though, the causes are more subtle: He makes the speculation that a comment of Rego’s gives an explanation: “Feelings almost too dark to speak of. I think women accept their feelings more than men. They're more open about them, they talk more about them with each other. A man will say: 'Everything's fine' when it isn't."

But to the SLWA. They state that their “Exhibitions bring the work of SLWA to the wider community and increase public awareness of art produced by women....The idea for SLWA came from a lecture series on Women Artists which Dulwich Picture Gallery ran in June 2008. Few people can name women artists from before the 19th century since their role as professional women was strictly limited” Happily “Today women artists have achieved equal prominence with men. SLWA was created to celebrate this and to give prominence to women artists living or working in the Gallery area”.

So from now on I’ll just speak of “artists”.

Two things about these artists impress me.

Above all there is the sheer range and quality of what they do. You can see Moira’s work on this site. But compare and contrast this picture by Katiushka Borges:

This one by Everliina Hartikainen:

and this one by Sally Elizabeth Ward: And if you like something more traditional , this one by Helen Sivak-Berhercz:

I stress that the latter three I picked at random – but there are plenty more of that quality.

I’m afraid that I can’t offer comment. I am very ignorant about art, and can only say what I like. (This is due to the “teaching” of my art master at secondary school, who I later realised was a failed English watercolourist, who would have done better to work in a bank – at least he wouldn’t have had such an awful effect on the education of children. I still shudder if asked to draw something).

But I can say go to the website, and feast your eyes:

http://www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk/

The other thing I like about the SLWA is the sheer energy they have. The arts remain a daunting area to work in – far too many good people seeking too few opportunities. But they have just got on with the job, made a forum, created a wonderful website and created outlets. This year, the Dulwich Festival, nest year, the Bankside Gallery !

The other point of today’s blog is to give a plug for our own Moira Jarvis. Her studio is in Cannizarro Park, in Wimbledon. She and the other artists who work there are having an Open Weekend, this coming weekend September 26-7 from 11 till l6 each day. It’s a beautiful park and so would make a very pleasant trip.

Cannizarro is on the west side of Wimbledon Common. If you don’t have a car, there are train, tram and Tube links to Wimbledon, but you may wish to reduce the length of your walk after that by taking the 93, 200 or 493 bus to Wimbledon Village. To find it on a map site, the postcode is SW19 9UE.

You can see one of Moira's paintings at the top of today's blog. For others, just visit othere pges on this website.

It’s standard practice to ask artists to talk about their work, though they don’t all like to do so. So there is a full interview with Moira on the SLWA website. Here is one extract, relevant to our current postings:

Interviewer: Why are you so interested in trees?

Moira: I’m seduced by them! I run life-drawing workshops and feel that there’s quite a lot of correlation between drawing figures and drawing trees – both are organic, and both are always moving and changing. There are similar problems to deal with and the basic structures are cylinders. Trees are always affected by the elements – such as the wind – and tend to be at the most wonderful angles – I’m interested in the way they grow.

In the October update of this site we’ll have a new picture by her, with a special musical composition to listen to while you look at it.

To end we’ll have a modern version of the quotation I started with:

Let us now praise lively and talented women...Such as paint gorgeous pictures and create exciting art from all manner of materials. (apocryphal !)

MY YOUNGEST STUDENT...

2009-09-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

is aged five months. Well, not really. The student is her mother, Rachel. She came for lessons about eighteen months ago, and one time, as she left, said she had met an interesting man...She then vanished for months. Then one day she got back in touch, to say that the young man had been so interesting that they had got together and were now the proud parents of Maya, a beautiful little girl (parents always say that – well, they would, wouldn’t they, but in fact it’s true). So she would like to get back to playing her guitar. However, there was a problem of child care, so could she bring Maya. I’ll try anything (well, most things) once, so I said yes.

On the day Rachel arrived, looking very happy, with Maya, in her buggy, looking dozy at the end of a nice sleep.

As the father of three, I knew what was needed, so let Rachel settle Maya, who was a little uncertain about this strange man who didn’t look at all like her father, but seemed to get on well with her mother.

We talked a bit about Rachel’s news, the adoring grandparents (who weren’t doing the babysitting, as one pair live in Australia and the other pair in New Zealand). Then we talked about what Rachel wanted to do guitar-wise, and picked a track on a compilation she had made for me. She had done this one before but wanted to start with something she knew. Rachel then took the guitar and tried to recall what she had done before.

But, of course, we are forgetting Maya, who decided that she was bored with sitting in a crummy old buggy. So we agreed that Maya would sit with me, while I watched Rachel play and advised.

For a few minutes this worked. Then it was clear that Rachel should get into another piece. So I “pass the parcel” back to Rachel, so that I can go to the CD player, listen to the track, decide on the main features to be learned, then play it again to point out to Rachel what I intend to do. I then play the first phrases we are going to learn.

Time to put down the guitar next to Rachel, take Maya, cuddle her and say nice words etc, between giving Rachel instructions. These are on the lines of “Play a chord of C. Strum 4 in a bar. We’ll try this with the recording in a minute (remember Rachel is holding the guitar, and I am holding her daughter). Now I want to teach the phrase I showed you. Put your first finger, on string 5 at fret 1...”

Now presumably because Maya is an intelligent girl, but she isn’t being allowed to play, she starts to get restless. We think that perhaps she needs Mum for a minute. Rachel puts down the guitar and comes to get Maya, at which point she realises that her darling girl has expressed her opinion about this new man in the time-honoured manner favoured by babies. Is it all right if she changes her ? I fully appreciate the problem, having had to deal with it many times myself, so I offer use of bathroom, and ask if she needs anything. I am delighted to observe that, though Rachel is new to the business, she is wonderfully organised (she has a bag with a changing mat etc) and has an ease of manner and competence which not only achieves the task brilliantly, but helps explain why Maya is such a happy little girl.

It was clear that Rachel was getting into the guitar tasks I was giving, and that she can be left to practice at home what we have done so far. So while she enjoys having Maya on her lap, I demonstrate what we are going to do next, do it again while I talk it through, and write down the relevant information.

Time for me to take Maya, who has decided that this old boy may look a bit weird compared to her handsome Dad, but can’t be too bad, because it means her Mum can play the guitar to her, which she does at home. Also, being relieved of her burden, she can look around this room which is full of strange things and stranger noises.

Rachel gets on well, because my written instructions are very clear, though my writing, as ever, needs an expert in Chinese to decipher it. However, just as she is getting into it, Maya decides that time is getting on (it’s about 4pm and teatime) so her mind moves to that other permanent interest of babies. She starts to turn toward me, and nuzzle up to me, and, as I have noted this lack of discrimination in babies for the first few months, I wonder whether to say “Sorry, wrong type!”, but hesitate to do so, as I don’t know Rachel that well. However, with her calm and quietly assured manner, she asks if it will be OK to feed Maya. I have no problem with this, as all my children were breast-fed, as were various nephews and nieces. (I was appalled to read in our local paper last week a letter ranting against Mums who fed their babies in public, comparing it to “fornicating or urinating publicly”).

This is a time for calm, so I answer a couple of guitar queries from Rachel, and make the decision not to overload her with Part 2 of the piece, but otherwise we talk about her new life, how she has been able to find other Mums in the same position close by, and so on.

Maya is now happy to go into her buggy to have a little rest after her exertions, while Rachel recaps on what we have done, and we discuss the next moves. Then Rachel sets off into the world again to get onto the Tube system (difficult enough with a buggy) before the Rush Hour.

[This article will be issued on my teaching website in mid-October, with comments on the teaching methodology aimed at teachers and trainee teachers].

WHAT MUSIC CAN TEACH US

2009-08-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

Quotes of the day: “All good things must come to an end”
“Even the longest night must end” (English proverbs – select whichever suits your opinion of the experience of reading this series of blogs !)

We come to the end of this journey.

My contention is that the Music exam system suggests to us how we can reconcile
various contrary positions in current comments on education and examinations.

I believe that the State school system provides (or should provide) mass education. I think that the school Music exams play a part in giving us a more cultured and cohesive society. But these exams are also part of a system that wishes to divide students according to previously laid out quotas, instead of allowing for a high proportion of success among motivated and well taught students.

There are certainly problems in the School system. Those suffered last year by the children taking SATs were one of many incidents which illustrate dramatically how the farming out of education to companies whose aim was purely profit-making was a total outrage. In that enterprise and others, such as the training schemes for the over-16s, the companies paid peanuts and so got monkeys to process an experience crucial millions of people. Those responsible should be ashamed, but as it is unlikely that they have any capacity for such remorse, the public needs to demand change.

I also accept that the criticisms made by universities have much validity. But in this case I ask who is to blame? They talk as if it were the fault of the students – who neither devised the system, nor had any choice to but follow its dictates. Or they blame the teachers, who have carried out their responsibility to get the best possible results in the system they are given, even when they have often disapproved of what they were having to do in the name of targets and accountability

The Grade system in Music doesn’t have these problems, and has the flexibility to allow students to move to their own goals in their own time. It is more finely graded. And yet it allows students to reach a very high, in fact professional, standard if they wish and when they are ready,

But it does not aim to substitute for other means of making the selection which has to obtain, when there are limited places in colleges and even more limited possibilities in the working world of music. This is done by audition, which only applies to that minority who have that aspiration and that skill. This is not imposed on the wider population.

I have suggested how the various concerns may be reconciled. This does of course presuppose that there is the will to do so. That is another question. I am inclined to believe that those who argue for standards, talk of dumbing down and the like, are really asking for the return of the traditional system. It was one was which for a minority, and was meant to keep it that way. If so, such critics should be honest and admit that they neither like nor want a system of mass education. Indeed, to give this viewpoint a favourable interpretation, one may say that such critics may truly believe that the aims of mass education are fundamentally misconceived, and ignore the natural hierarchy into which human beings fall. Also such critics typically believe that the money would be better used in another way, such as reducing taxes, so that individuals can choose for themselves how to spend their money (haven’t I heard this somewhere before...?)

I want to end with a series of assertions:

Music as a part of education has huge benefits. We would do well to remember the esteem in which it was held in Hungary, as a result of the work of Zoltan Kodaly, and the reasons for that: it has the advantages of being a technical subject, a physical skill and an emotional and creative expression. It is by its nature an activity which brings communities together, and requires, like a football team, that those taking part set aside egocentricity in favour of working together with others towards a common purpose.

I have also argued that its assessment system – the GCSE/A Level system and the Grade/Diploma system shows us how the wider world of education might be structured. These are exams which are open to all, and which all in principle can pass. They are personally and socially beneficial. But the Grade system allows the maximum flexibility, so that those with the least skill and those with the greatest can both find their own level at their own pace. For that tiny, needed elite who can go even further, the examination system ceases to be a suitable vehicle – they must face the tests of the real world of composition and performance, with all its intense competition.

The Music exam system also highlights the fact that there are elements which can be measured and objective and that there are elements which can never be so. The assessment of the latter relies on judgment. We should not try to impose on it a false sense of “scientific objectivity” but to put in place the necessary checks and balances to counter the dangers of human error and prejudice.

There are now theorists who argue that music was the leading force in enabling humans to develop language and with it abstract thought. Oliver Sachs has shown how music can often break through apparently impossible barriers for the mentally ill. There have always been those who believe that music is the greatest of the arts in its power to express and move our emotions, and to lift us out of ourselves. Perhaps music now has a role to show us how better and more fairly to order our society.

Final quote: “Heaven is music” Thomas Campion, Laura

This series of articles may be duplicated for educational use on condition that the author’s name is acknowledged and the website address is given.

LACKING SKILLS...?

2009-08-17T00:11:00.000-07:00

“Today’s students – even at University-do not have the basic skills of spelling and grammar – this is the result of the constant use of mobile phones, texting, and computer games” (Anon but could be any number of commentators)

Quotes of the day: We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics Hubert Humphrey (US Vice-President)

“The superior man blames himself. The inferior man blames others”. Don Shula American Football Coach

Oh, dear, poor old students – they really cannot win. First they do well – so they are told the exams have been dumbed down. Then, as they get up off the floor – pow ! – they are told that universities are unhappy because students are “lacking necessary skills”. Has anyone pointed out that the students don’t set the exams – they just have to take them ?

When you press the hand-wringing lecturers what it is that they want, you usually find the following:

(a) “their spelling/grammar is appalling” (spare me ! as an ex-English teacher, I could spend all night answering that one – I’ll leave it to Stephen Fry in his current series on Radio 4 – Tuesday 9.30am)

(b) “They can’t write essays” (this from the people who will take foreign students with IELTS Band 6 on post-graduate courses!)

(c) “they have no study skills” (same comment, to which I add the fact that by now the universities should by now have grasped the fact that in many countries education is closely equated to being told, learning by heart and regurgitating what you have been told)

(d) “they have no analytical skills”

Let it be clear. I am fully in agreement with the need for the above requirements in anyone who is to be taken seriously as a university graduate. But neither the students nor their school teachers are responsible for this situation. They just train to jump the fences.

Why have the universities, who have enormous influence both officially and behind the scenes not made clear that students are required to manifest these skills and that if the courses and exams they take do not prepare them suitably, they need to be changed ?

The equivalent to (a) (spelling/grammar) above is to be found in the Music Theory/Musical Literacy exams. in which it is made quite clear that accuracy is essential. The same is true in the City and Guilds exams which I know of. This can be seen as petty or trivial, but sorry, you either want the accuracy or you don’t. Musicians think it is important – otherwise the person reading the music doesn’t play the right notes.

With regard to (c) (study skills), it needs to be recognised that a good part of this is subject specific. To learn to study Physics, you need to study Physics, and so need to be taught by someone who has. In Music, it is hard to imagine what a teacher would be doing, if s/he did not routinely show the student how to approach a given problem. The test of the skills lies in the exam result – in Music the student who has not studied and does not apply rational methods is unlikely to meet the criteria of performance.

The equivalent of “performance” in an academic context is typically (b) “writing essays”. So if you want to see what students can do, get them to write essays. And if you fear that they may simply learn by heart a patter which in turn they have cribbed from the Internet, set them a task under controlled conditions. So in Music, you don’t ask for a recording (which can be fiddled – pun of Victorian banality!), you make them play. Or they do a compositional task in exam conditions.

When they do this, they will then demonstrate (or not) “analytical skills”. And how do you do this – by setting up a system which rewards such skills – the schools will then build it in. Give tasks and topics which need analysis.

In Music this is done in two ways. In performance tests, teachers will encourage the student to think of the music as not merely a sequence of notes, but as a structure, with dynamics and movement. Also musicians recognise that this is an advanced task normally sought at the higher grades, though from the outset, stress is laid on the fact that credit is given for a “musical performance”.

In the case of more intellectual analysis, students will be prepared by being taken through the process (set works), but if a more probing test is needed, they will be given an unprepared work to analyse. This used also to happen in English Literature at A level and beyond – I don’t know if it still does.

Today’s summary: I say to universities “Stop moaning, use your influence to get exams which deliver students with the types of skill you need, and refuse to take those students who don’t meet your entrance requirements”. But then, that would have some very interesting financial, political, and moral consequences...

OF MICE AND MEN - AND MOZART

2009-08-16T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today’s quotations:

“Thousands of geniuses live and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others”. Mark Twain
“For even that vulgar and tavern music, which makes one man merry, another sad, strikes in me a deep fit of devotion, and a profound contemplation of the First Composer; there is something in it of divinity more than the ear discovers”. Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici

After all that I have written so far, you may say that I seem to be avoiding issues such as quality, excellence and talent in music. Not at all.

If you are 7 years of age, and first start to learn an instrument, you can plod along for a few months, in between school projects, playing basketball, Computer Club on Thursdays and visits to Grandma (who always has some nice sweets hidden away) and your teacher enters you for the Preliminary Examination in Recorder Playing, in which you just get a pass.

Meanwhile young Wolfgang Amadeus down the road has a professional musician father who is incredibly pushy, and spots that his kid has unusual talent. So he skips basketball, computers and Grandma, plays in the top spot in all the school concerts, and wins all the Junior Music competitions. He even gets gigs playing music for weddings, and still finds time to knock of the odd concerto, which then lies undiscovered for a couple of hundred years. Oh, and in passing, he knocks off Grade 8, getting 99%.

OK, a bit over the top, but I have heard some pretty amazing 7 year olds. The important point is that the same system is used by both. They proceed at their own rate, and go to the level that suits them.

As I said earlier, organising such a system might be complex – but what better way should we spend our working time and public money – writing off the savings of ordinary people by making wild speculations in the City ?

Today’s message: In Music, at least, there is room in the system for both average (or less than average) talent, and outstanding gift. The system is there to facilitate and measure its expression. The real issue is the practical one how to enable all people to make these talents flower. You will be glad to hear that the authorities have in fact already addressed this problem. The answer is of course to stop instrumental lessons at school, and remove Music from an overcrowded curriculum. (“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit” – popular saying)

FALLING STANDARDS ? –again !

2009-08-15T03:34:00.000-07:00

“There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder”. Ronald Reagan

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential” Winston Churchill

Music exams show us an example of criterion-based assessment in action; tasks are set, precise criteria (including for the making of judgements) are laid down, and as many candidates as can achieve this will pass.

In fact as achievements and talents differ, marks vary and traditionally the results fall into four groups (Fail, Pass, Merit, and Distinction – formerly called Honours). Thames Valley University/London College of Music has (to my mind laudably) put in two grades of Fail – a narrow fail and one that is clearly way off the minimum standard. This is helpful as it can show student and teacher what amount of effort is likely to be needed to obtain a pass. It is an excellent example of “customer friendly” examining.

In practice I found that the three grades of success were also really to some extent on the subjective side of the spectrum – the numerical mark was really a refinement of this (a bit like the old Alpha / Alpha plus system). The reasoning was (I think rightly) on the following lines.

At the end of the day what we want from a musical performance is a convincing, moving experience, showing artistic sensitivity by the performer. Such a performance is worth a distinction.

However, a prerequisite of such a performance is an accurate rendering of the score, based on a suitable level of technical competence. Such skill is worthy of a Merit.

It is nevertheless recognised that not all candidates will achieve such a level. Yet their progress should be recognised. A performance containing a certain amount of falling short technically therefore should be awarded a Pass.

There are clearly subjective elements here; the arguments given above apply.

The important thing about all this is that there are no quotas. In practice the percentages fall in the higher grades, because humans tend to grade themselves by what they do. As in all fields, the further you go up the ladder, the more the percentage of people involved declines, as fewer and fewer people have the time, resources, inclination or ability to go on. What percentage of swimmers are willing to put in the hours needed to become an Olympic competitor ?

By contrast, we have been told to expect the imminent collapse of our intellectual life because the percentage of first class degrees has risen (at least in some places) from 7% to 13%. A doubling, yes, but averaging around 10%. Consider it this way. 100% of the population are born. Not 100% even get to school, because some have awful disabilities. They plod on and at 16 many throw in the towel. The same applies at 18, but 50% (roughly) go on to university. More plodding, lots of pressure, “spoon feeding” (see above), many have to work, some have rich parents (7% -? the number in the independent school sector). The end – 10% with firsts. But wait – it’s 10% of the original 50% i.e. 5% of the total age group. Does that seem a high number of unusual intellects in a population ?

This reminds me of a regular gripe I heard at Garnett College of Education – too many students were getting high marks in the Theory (normative again...). I observed always that (a) the majority of our students were graduates – many in Humanities - so had often studied these subjects to a higher level than teacher training required (b) they were highly selected (c) most were highly motivated. So what result would you expect ?

I always assumed during my working life that the First Class degree would typically account for 5 to 10% of the student body. In which case 5% is rather low !

So I decided to check on what those who use the notion of IQ think. (I must admit here to having always been highly suspicious of such measurements, but they are widely accepted and used) The source I found said that 50% of the population have an IQ of 100-110, There were a further 15% up to 120 (which was equated to potential college degree level) and 10% above that. The potential educational level of the latter IQ was Ph.D.

Having admitted to reservations about the IQ measurement process, I am willing to stand corrected on this. But the above does seem to suggest that it would not be strange if, say, 15% of students got a First. If this is so, we can expect further rises. Also it suggests that the system is still in the process of drawing out the potential of students to their theoretical maximum.

Today’s summary: The claim of the critics is that the line at which a First is gained is being moved steadily towards the lower end of the IQ spectrum. But it seems equally plausible that the potential for the current levels of student achievement was always there – but the opportunities were not. Surely a cause for rejoicing, not lamentation ?

WHAT MUSIC CAN TEACH US (2): the issue of objectivity

2009-08-14T01:48:00.000-07:00

Quotations for today:

“Criticism, though dignified from the earliest ages by the labours of men eminent for knowledge and sagacity, has not yet attained the certainty and stability of science”
Samuel Johnson (creator of the first English dictionary)

“Almost all our knowledge is only probable; and in the small number of things that we are able to know with certainty, in the mathematical sciences themselves, the principal means of arriving at the truth—induction and analogy—are based on probabilities. I believe that we do not know anything for certain, but everything probably” Christiaan Huygens (17th Century astronomer)

“Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?” William James (19th century psychologist and philosopher) The Will to Believe

”The demand for scientific objectivity makes it inevitable that every scientific statement must remain tentative for ever”. Karl Popper (philosopher of science) The Logic of Scientific Discovery

Music exams also provide a sorely needed response to another set of issues.

The mixture of a strong inclination to risk aversion, the desire to protect and justify one’s actions, and an absolute obsession with targets and measurability, has given educators (and many others) an increasing nightmare of forms to be filled, and boxes to be ticked. A friend recently took early retirement from teaching, having decided that an impoverished life was preferable to the depressing morass of paper work – assessments, monitoring, reports, statements of aims which had come to mean that she spent more time on such matters to meet the demands of professional administrators than she did on teaching. She seems to be one of a large number of teachers who would at least like to follow the same route.

The latest lunacy of which I have heard is the suggestion that computer marking of examinations will become universal within a decade or so. This is pure sci-fi. The only way in which a machine such as a computer can do this is by reading answers entered (as for example in certain IELTS papers) into boxes into computer readable form (e.g. Y or N, 1,2,3 etc). The IELTS authorities apply this to the Reading and Listening Tests, which are carefully devised to produce answers which can be rendered into such a form. But the same authorities continue to use examiners (human beings with ears, eyes and a brain) to mark the Speaking and Writing Tests. Why ? Because there is no sign that computers, even by using Artificial Intelligence, are anywhere near able to do (even with effort) what humans are supremely equipped to do, which is to assess what they experience according to (often complex) criteria.

Musicians have long recognised this, because it is in the nature of the subject. let’s consider the case of a Grade exam in Piano Playing (the same applies to other instruments).

Normally the student must demonstrate competence in the “nuts and bolts” of music – such as scales, chords, and in the Aural Test, the recognition of the interval (distance) between two notes. These requirements can defined precisely. In the exam a named scale can be requested, to be played at a named speed, volume, and articulation (e.g. staccato). These elements are susceptible to precise measurement, and it would be possible to devise a system which identified every departure from the stated criteria. In fact, this is not done. It would be very costly to create and administer, and I doubt that there would be sufficient improvement on the judgement of a trained examiner, to merit the expense.

The student is also required to perform various pieces (typically three with contrasting natures and problems). These will embody those aspects of technique, style and expression which the Examiner Panel (consisting of experienced examiners) has deemed to be a natural progression logically and musically, and which are also appropriate to a given level of study. Thus, for example, the performance of a Bach fugue would only be expected at a high grade (7 or 8), whereas a Two Part Invention would be a more suitable move into polyphonic music at, say, Grade 5.

It will be useful for some readers if I give an example from a very different type of exam – the Electric Guitar exams of the Registry of Guitar tutors. These also require demonstrations of technical ability. But since improvisation is an essential skill for any player in non-classical areas such as pop, rock or jazz, the ability to improvise is also tested from the earliest stages. This is not the place to go into technical detail, but I can attest from personal experience of the Examiner training sessions, that what counts as competence is very clearly demonstrated in detail (giving for instance the notes which are or are not to be expected, and the types of rhythmic flexibility which a candidate should show). The standards are very clearly articulated, not least because the Registry gives high importance to using examiners who are or have been working musicians, but the latter often expect standards which would be unreasonable demands on the typical learner.

The above examples show that again, the demands of the pieces can in some respects be stated in terms of precise criteria, and are measurable. The same point about the cost of mechanical assessment applies.

However, it is obvious that music is not only or even primarily a matter of definable techniques, and in this it again presents an illustration of what can, and I assert has to hold in a sensible examination system.

The good performer must exhibit an increasing grasp of expression, of the emotional dimension of music, of the nature of authenticity and appropriateness within a given style, and in the “popular” forms, a sense of the precision and movement of rhythm parts.

Again, these can be defined, but they cannot easily be measured. Nor do they need to be, because they can be perceived by a trained listener. At this point, the exam system needs to stop a compulsion to seek out some spurious and in fact unattainable objectivity, but to accept that we are and have to be in the realm of subjective human judgements. A judgement on the “conviction” manifested in a given performance is an opinion, not a measurement.

But this is not to say that any old emotional reaction by the judge will do, that anything goes, and that the candidate’s mark is a matter of chance – which examiner you get – and an arbitrary judgement – whether the examiner happens to like what you do.

This is because the examiner has to be selected by peers, who assess whether his/her understanding of what is to be assessed is indeed professional and in line with what is generally accepted. The latter phrase may horrify some people. They may argue that this allows the existence and power of self-selecting clubs, which may well be out of touch or even opposed to the values of another group.

If by this they mean that the examiners of the Associated Board are not typically interested in, responsive to or capable of judging Heavy Metal music, they are probably right. But the “AS Board” examiners don’t do this, they don’t seek to, and make it quite clear that their exams are not concerned with this sphere of music. By contrast, the Registry Electric Guitar panel does contain such experts (and they are experts).

My point is that in any given area (not just music) there is a body of agreed assumptions and values, which can be stated, monitored or passed on. Of course, once in a lifetime you may have in front of you the next Jimi Hendrix or Charles Ives, who presents you with a musical experience which puzzles, which you do to know how to assess. But exam systems are not there to detect originality and genius, but to assess that widely agreed body of knowledge which the overwhelming mass of the population needs to master. Geniuses have necessarily to make their own way.

By now, many readers may be anxious that such a system is nevertheless open to error or even abuse. I understand this fear. I have been at many standardisation meetings in several spheres, and sometimes the range of marks awarded in the training sessions is worryingly wide. Added to this there is clearly the danger of human error, or (much more rarely) prejudice.

As the matter is ultimately subjective, there must always be some risk. There is and can be no objective truth, no 100% certainty in such matters.

But the danger can be and is minimised in various ways. Standardisation tests (of the examiners), moderation, second marking and other checks are routine. Statistical checks can reveal if there are departures from the norm, which can then be investigated. There is an appeal procedure, to give a further option to candidates who feel that they have suffered some injustice.

The most obvious way to counter the dangers of subjectivity is to increase the numbers of examiners – at a certain point the consensus becomes clear. In practice it is a choice between having one or two. Thus the Cambridge First Certificate in EFL uses two in the Speaking Test; IELTS uses one, backed by recordings which are used for monitoring standards and dealing with appeals. Grade examinations in Music use one, Diploma exams two.

What those who want certainty must realise is that (a) machines won’t do the job (b) it depends how much you are prepared to spend (c) there isn’t any absolute certainty in such areas of knowledge. I believe that point (b) is the one which needs constant repetition, but that politicians don’t say it, for fear of unpopularity. It’s really very simple: you get what you pay for and you pay for what you get. Since there is always a limit on resources, it is the taxpayer who has to decide what the priorities are. Mine are quite simple: health, education, pensions and support during sickness or unemployment. If that means that other goodies are much scarcer, then so be it.

In the present context of music exams I think the level of guarantee of quality is about right, but that there are probably some areas which could be improved. To have four examiners instead of one would offer more guarantee (though it would be daunting for the candidates !) but not such as would merit increasing the administrative costs fourfold.

Today’s message: Music exams show us that in making decisions about assessment we must consider the nature of the knowledge we are dealing with. In the case of Music, (and many other subjects) some aspects are suited to accurate measurement, whereas others need judgement. This inevitably gives a grey area of assessment.

WHAT MUSIC CAN TEACH US – (1): Flexibility of assessment

2009-08-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

Today’s quotations:

“The boldness of asking deep questions may require unforeseen flexibility if we are to accept the answers”. Brian Greene, physicist

“Let no one think that flexibility and a predisposition to compromise is a sign of weakness or a sell-out”. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda

“I am positive that flexibility is a feminine characteristic”. Emma Bonino, Italian politician

I now want to look at what happens in the Music exam system, and to show how it can point to the answers of many of the criticisms which I have been analysing.

First some facts.

There are two routes for students to follow.

One is based on schools, and leads to GCSE (as an optional subject) and then on to AS and A Levels.

I am sure that it is possible to find large numbers of people who will bemoan the fall in standards in these examinations. Certainly, when I last taught A Level, one could say that the demands of the harmonisation component were considerably less than they were some decades ago. But this is to ignore the wider context of the exam. I would argue that as a musical education, it would be hard to sustain those criticisms. In this the exam reflects the goals I have been calling for, that the school system should primarily be concerned with the education of the whole population. By no means every student who takes an A level (of whatever sort) then chooses to make that subject his/her subject in University, or a career.

I think for the case for the value of GCSE Music is much more overwhelming. I remember interviewing a guitar student who had followed the old system, and saying that I assumed that she already understood chord movements. She denied this vigorously, saying that she had been able to get a good mark simply by the fact that she saw harmony tests as a sort of puzzle, and had no idea at all what the result might mean or sound like. This chimed with my own experience of entering an exam in Music Theory, and being astounded that there was total silence.

When Graham Vulliamy and I wrote “Pop Music in School” we pointed out that Music was one of the least popular school subjects, despite being one of the most important interests of the large majority of students outside school. This in good measure due to the fact that Music lessons were concerned to a large extent with sight singing (a difficult skill) and the lives of the composers. Also “Music” was defined exclusively in “classical” terms,

This is certainly not the case now. The range of the exam both in the aspects of music it covers and its openness to style gives opportunities for students to study and succeed, even when they are not very interested in the wider range of academic work. I remember several contemporaries of my son who were not very able as musicians but got a passable grade which thus recognised their achievement. This came out of a mixture of encouragement by the Music teacher and the possibility of doing a lot of work by focussing on styles (e.g rap) and instruments (e.g. the electric guitar) which appealed to them. The relevance of this to my earlier arguments should be clear.

The second route in musical education is the Grades system. Normally there are eight levels as the basis. To this have been added examinations with a variety of names (Preliminary, Steps etc) which have the aim of grading the progress from total beginner to Grade 1 into smaller steps. In particular this has arisen from recognition of the needs and capabilities of young children, for most of whom the distance to Grade 1(which requires scales, pieces, music reading etc) was intensely depressing and daunting. I have met far too many adults who were put off for life from learning an instrument, which they imagined to be a grinding and soul-deadening process. The division of the learning process into smaller steps fits entirely with my call for a system which makes it possible for the mass of people to gain recognition for their efforts and talents. To my mind it presents a model for education.

Now this may seem at odds with a system where there is rightly increasing criticism that students are over-examined. But I think it is not, because there is an important difference. The Music student takes things in small steps. The relevance of the exams is obvious. Above all, they prepare for them at their own pace.

I appreciate that this could cause massive headaches for the current education system which likes to think of “cohorts”. Students are grouped together and must run at the same pace. This very convenient – but are we talking about convenience or the best interests of our young people ? The system does not exist, because no one has really tried to formulate a different structure, that is tailored more closely to the diversity of talent and motivation between students.

Apart from a more subtle grading at the novice level, a similar process exists post-Grade 8. Instead of the earlier leap to the standard basic professional qualification (Licentiate e.g. LRAM) there are now typically two intermediate stages. Again this gives flexibility. It gives recognition to those who decide that they do not wish or are unable to go so far. It is possible to get a meaningful qualification without the commitment to full professional training.

This means that there might be as many as 14 steps from first interest to full professional status, as compared to the 3-4 tiers in academic subjects. Each step is therefore less awesomely significant.

Today’s moral: Within the spectrum of Music examinations there is a wide range of competences which are tested – you can for example study the Sikh Musical Tradition (LCMM/Thames Valley Board) – and two major streams – one for “broader education” and one for “applied skills”. In the latter progress can be made in small increments, but the more talented can rapidly move to the most advanced levels. The system therefore exhibits how it is possible to cater for a wide range of interests, in a very flexible manner.

I’M THE KING OF THE CASTLE – you’re a dirty rascal (children’s chant)

2009-08-12T00:41:00.000-07:00

“My personal feeling is that this is how any further improvement of the world will be done: by individuals making Quality decisions and that's all... Quality tends to fan out like waves. The Quality job he didn't think anyone was going to see is seen, and the person who sees it feels a little better because of it, and is likely to pass that feeling on to others, and in that way the Quality tends to keep on going. ” Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance.

On the basis of what I have said so far, you might reasonably think that I am an extreme anti-elitist. So it’s time to make clear that it seems to me glaringly obvious that we need elites – and we want elites.

Let’s list a few examples:

· Does the country need to compete in the world...?
· Do we want someone to make the discoveries which will beat cancer...?
· Do you (or will you) want the best for your children...?
· Do you want England (substitute your own country!) to win the World Cup...?
· Do you want to do something in your life which is the very best you can do...?
· If you have to have an operation do you want a surgeon who is at the top of the profession,
or will you settle for someone straight out of medical school...?
· Do you prefer the music of the Beatles (substitute your own favourite) or the karaoke night
down at the pub...?

Put like this, then, answers are obvious. (The last one is a trick question- the two listenings serve different purposes and are not mutually incompatible).

So I maintain that we not only need, but want elites.

This is certainly true in music. You can certainly get huge pleasure from supporting a set of young people you know who have formed a band. But sometimes you want – you crave - some music which you feel is brilliant, is moving, is of outstanding quality, is made by someone whose sheer talent knocks you out. Note that I don’t mention any names. What you choose is an intensely personal matter. You may have to conform publicly to what They say is good, but you know inside yourself that, though everyone likes the music of Augustus Kettledrum, and you can see that it has a lot going for it, it’s not what really gets you. My argument doesn’t require you to find that Beethoven, The Beatles, Billie Holiday or Bono is the best – just that you find that sometimes you need what you define as Quality.

There was a book some years ago called Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance (no, I’m not kidding you). The author deals with just this point – it’s worth a read, if you can find it. It’s not an easy book, but it is very relevant to the modern world, gives a lot of food for thought..

In the latest round of “dumbing down” talk, they’ve finally discovered that maybe the universities claim standards that they don’t deliver. My previous points still hold. Of course a university education is based on some sort of selection, and may never be right for everyone (extreme example: do we expect someone with severe learning difficulties to get a degree ? Haven’t they got enough problems ?). But when the intake is 50% of the population, university courses are a form of mass education. So my impression is that, again, according to interpretation, the students are “spoon-fed” or the education given is devised to meet the reality of their needs (especially when the poor devils have to work in MacDonalds or whatever in order to survive).

To take things forward, let’s give the critics the sacrifice they are asking for. Let’s say “Yes, yes, State schools and Post-1992 universities are not giving the type of education which independent schools, Oxbridge, grammar schools (extend the list as desired) are giving”.

Now we are entitled to point out (again) that State systems are trying to cope with an immensely enlarged demand for education, which tries to give education and opportunity to those who did not have it before. It tries to devise systems of testing which are relevant to the candidates, are accurate, efficient and just. It requires those who judge and those who teach to define and defend what they do, and not just to rely on their status to back up their assertion and assumption that they know.

But of course, this does not deal with the question of elites.

There are already certain elite groups – independent schools, grammar schools, Oxbridge, the Russell Group of Universities. It’s fairly clear that, in general, these institutions are scooping the pool of prizes. Is that surprising ? For instance, at a meeting for prospective parents, I heard the Head Teacher of a very well known London independent school answer a question about provision for some sort of Special Need ( I think it was dyslexia) as follows: “The school does not provide for that sort of need. We are not equipped to do so. Your son would probably be better off in a different institution” (And who does, by law, provide such services...?)

If you only take the most able pupils, who have gone (survived ?) through a long period of preparation and a testing and highly competitive set of norm-based exams, you are likely to get pretty good results. Whereas if you also have to put in substantial amounts of resources in supporting the weak, needy and vulnerable, you are starting with an immense handicap in a competitive system. It’s as if the England football team had always to include me – they wouldn’t even beat the Faeroe Islands !

The success of the institutions mentioned above comes above all from having a very clear set of objectives. The school mentioned was willing to offer scholarships to poor boys who showed exceptional ability in Sciences or Mathematics. They are doing this with the aim (set out in print) of “producing some of the next generation of Noble Prize winners”. Yes, you did read that – I too nearly fell off my seat when I saw it.

But isn’t that what our national leaders should be saying ? That we as a people need to find the undoubted body of exceptional talent, which may come from a back street in Burnley, a croft in the Highlands, from above a Bangladeshi restaurant in Brick Lane - or even a stockbroker belt home in Surrey. We need to find the talent, and then not be ashamed to encourage it, instead of avoiding this in the name of equality. The unfortunate person with a wasting disease or Alzheimer’s doesn’t need “equality” – they need a medical genius to provide the solution for them.

The problem is not that there are elites (and always will be, because talents vary) but that becoming part of the elite depends too much on money and background. In my day, there was some remedy – as there was for people as diverse as Melvyn Bragg and Ken Clarke – through scholarships. The problem (ignored at the time) was what happened (or rather did not happen) to my other friends who didn’t manage to get over the hurdles.

Thought for the Day: We need to make the process of identification of talent applicable to the whole population, and we need to create a system set up to handle those whom we find in this talent spotting exercise. Football clubs do it – why can’t the Government ?

There is one other point about elites, which I think is the most important one. The issue is not that someone has abilities – say for Music – and is discovered, encouraged, trained, educated, and becomes able to enter the competitive top ranks. Segregated, if you like. It’s what they do with this opportunity. In the past decades, the underlying assumption is that, having got into the superior position, I have every right to use the opportunity to get even more wealth and success, to foster my own interests, to feather my own nest. Now I suppose parents who have paid a great deal of money to achieve this separation from the herd for their children, may justifiably argue that they (or their children) are entitled to the fruits of their investment. But the people who can do this account for only 7% of the school population. The rest are paid for by the nation, that is by you and me.

What we need to move to is a situation in which, after we have found and trained our elite students, they should have a sense that as well as enjoying the benefits of their achievement, there is an obligation to pay back, through serving or contributing to the community which gave them the chance in the first place. In systems such as the Soviet Union there was just such selection, and the duty to serve the nation was enforced. Few of us would want such a system – the issue is how to achieve the same result in a democracy.

Second thought for the day:
The issue is not whether there are elites, or should be elites. There must be elites, we need elites, we want elites. But we also need there to be reciprocal obligations – of the older generation to find and train, and the new generation to use their gifts for the general good.

LET’S TALK JARGON (do we really need to ...?)

2009-08-11T01:33:00.000-07:00

Music is “a marked-based, problem-solving method such as mathematics” Levi R. Bryant (quoted in A Ashby, The Pleasure of Modernist Music: Listening, Meaning, Intention, Ideology)

"Music is the actualization of the possibility of any sound whatever to present to some human being a meaning which he experiences with his body—that is to say, with his mind, his feelings, his senses, his will, and his metabolism" Thomas Clifton, Music as Heard: A Study in Applied Phenomenology

Well, now you’ve got the definition clear, we will return to the more mundane task of examinations. But first, on jargon. I take this to be unnecessary or unhelpful technical language. But technical language itself is just the opposite – it enables us to talk about a subject in a precise, accurate and efficient manner. Let’s have an example: “dominant seventh”. Two words sum up the fact that this is a chord (which is....), a particular chord containing a major triad (which is...) with an added minor seventh (which is...) and which has various musical functions and characteristics (which are...)

So my bits of jargon, which will recur in the remaining blogs, are “criterion-based” and “norm-based” exams. I’m now going to use them in a statement and the “unpack” what they mean. (Note to students: If you have write essays on Educational Theory, you should be cautious about using these. There is a definite trend among theorists of Education to announce ancient wisdom in new fashionable language, and to dismiss scornfully similar formulations in an earlier jargon).

My claim is: “In assertions about ‘dumbing down’ there is typically a failure to recognise that an assessment system which is to serve the aims of mass education needs to be criterion-based rather than norm-based. Recognition of this difference would immediately re-focus the debate”

I don’t need to repeat the points already made about mass education. But we do now need to go on to the point that, in a system with such aims – equal opportunities, maximising the potential of all citizens, etc), in principle everyone could get 100%. and, far from being a criticism, this would be the highest praise for the system. It would also mean that teachers had done the job perfectly.

Of course, this does not happen in reality, and never will. People vary in aptitude, application, and personal circumstances. But the point is that the failure by candidates to get 100% is not built into the essential nature and structure of the exam. So for us, “criterion-based” is a useful shorthand to indicate a type of test in which anyone who can produce the right answer or performance will pass. It does not matter if no one passes or everyone does, only that everyone can. Good examples are the Driving Test and Music Grade exams. There is no quota of passes. Do the work, do the right things in the test, and you get your pass.

Now one of the great educational advances of the last 50 years has been that those who set themselves up in judgement as examiners now have to produce detailed criteria defining the aims and content of the exam they are creating. Teachers may feel (not without good reason) that all too often this approach proliferates wasteful and pointless bureaucracy and form-filling. But I would counter that the modern system is only just, in my opinion. If you are going to have the temerity to judge people, it is reasonable to tell them what they have to do to be judged favourably. By contrast, in the old system there was a good deal of judgement based on the assumption that a given group of people knew what the game was and that the student had to be smart enough to find out. The cynical would suggest that this was a form of “guess my mind” system, which had the result – and the purpose – of weeding out applicants who were not in “the club”.

Earlier I suggested that one reason for the rising success rates has been a focus on passing exams. I now refine this claim by saying that the process of preparation
has been made much more efficient, because there are much clearer definitions of what is required. The student (and teacher) who knows clearly what s/he is supposed to do is clearly more likely to do it.

Some people would call this “spoon feeding”. But what is the virtue in spending vast amounts of time, energy and money broadcasting information to classes in the vague hope that they will see what the purpose is ? If someone asks you to shop for them, and they wish to create a salad, your journey will be more effective if you are not looking for “a salad” but, say “500g tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 1 lettuce etc”.

Now those of you who have taken Grade exams in Music will recognise that this is precisely what happens. You play three pieces chosen from a list, you play them at given speeds (typically now stated as a metronome mark), you play certain scales at given speed, with named dynamics and articulation etc. If you do the work, you will pass, not least because you know what you are trying to do.

We now have the answer to the claim that “too many people are getting As”. Ideally they all would. A more interesting and useful question would be “Why don’t they ? Many people exhibit the contradictory behaviour that they first require teachers and students to work towards exams, which are set up as the key to social mobility, wealth, personal development (and probably automatic promotion to Heaven in the next life), and then bemoan the fact that they succeed. It is as if we censured a doctor because none of his or her patients died ! “These results are far too good. Whatever are they doing ? We need some more deaths from lung cancer to make the figures real and credible”.

So what about “norm-based” exams? It’s really very simple. The aim is the opposite of that just described – the main purpose is to test candidates in such a way that there is a ranking order. To do this the test needs to discriminate between candidates. (In this context we’re not talking about their gender, race etc, but in the number of marks they get in the test). A test will exhibit “good discrimination” if it allows us to perceive clear differences between the candidates. The IELTS exam in English (for foreign students) is overtly constructed on these principles and some questions are devised which only someone with a near-native command of English will be able to answer. (Note that I am not condemning the IELTS system – there are very good reasons for this practice).

Today’s message: In a criterion-based exam everyone can pass, and get a high mark (in principle) – which is, I claim, what the aim of the State exam system is and should be. By contrast the aim of the norm-based exam is to select out or grade, and to find the most able performances. This is obviously what critics of the system are looking for – typically they even say so.

Postscript: We know that grading is done with eggs in supermarkets – you can then choose to have big eggs or small ones. But why do they want to do the same to our young people..?

WHY WE NEED EXAMS (and while I’m about it – get your hair cut !)

2009-08-10T03:18:00.000-07:00

Before going on to my Text for the Day, I’d like to recommend readers to an article by Peter Wilby, which appeared in the Guardian last Saturday, August 8. One quote will suffice:

“The truth is that classifications carry neither educational value nor useful information. They do not test a specific body of knowledge or skill. No serious qualification bothers with grading: they assure the public that professionals or skilled workers possess particular competencies. Degree classes and exam grades are rationing devices. regulating access to the next stage of education or to professional occupations. Pass rates are led by demand, not supply”

(You can read the full text by going to the Archive section of the Guardian website (www.guardian.co.uk)

So, as you will see during this series of blogs, there are at least two of us who think (broadly) on the same lines. !

WHY WE NEED EXAMS (and while I’m about it – get your hair cut !)

Quotation of the day: “....our society doesn't only produce artifact things, but artifact people... by getting them through this ritual which makes them believe that learning happens as a result of being taught; that learning can be divided into separate tasks; that learning can be measured and pieces can be added one to the other; that learning provides value for the objects which then sell in the market” Ivan Illich We the People interview 1996

I give the above quotation as an example of the thinking of the most radical educational philosopher of the 60s and 70s, to show that for some people there has been (still is?) a resistance to testing of any type. The view was based on a strongly social, typically socialist view, of how society should be run. Some arguments put forward were that people fail exams and so their self-esteem falls, that exams give a passport to a minority of desirable employments (e.g. medicine), and that lower socio- economic groups fare worst and so are discriminated against and excluded. The importance of such matters to society is not being denied here. But I do contest the argument against testing.

The reason is quite simple. In a small traditional society, people know each other. Word soon gets around that X is a good craftsman, while Y the fishmonger is not always scrupulous about the quality of what he sells (a real case in the Medieval City of London, when the offending tradesman was put in the pillory and his stinking fish burned under his nose).

But when villages of a few hundred become towns of 10, 20, 50 thousand people, they become more anonymous. So we need a way of assessing quickly the professional standard of the person before us. Though imperfect, examinations fill this role. They give some sort of guarantee of quality. We know, therefore, that a student who gets a Grade 8 in Piano Playing will have demonstrated a certain level of skill. There is much of importance that the exam does not tell us; for instance, is the skill of the student well beyond this level, or what exactly does the Examiner’s comment “ a sensitive interpretation” mean to a listener ? Typically we will need an audition to find out such things. But when there are limited places (for example in a Degree level Music course), the result allows us to reduce the list of candidates to manageable proportions, and to ensure that the students accepted will be likely to be able to cope with and profit from their course.

There are further factors which are relevant to a testing system. One is that, as society developed, there was an increasing need for professionalisation. Even in the Middle Ages the Guilds (and the Livery Companies in the City of London) took on the role of providers of specialist training, and monitors of standards (in so doing they also managed to arrange to have a monopoly. Testing was the route to becoming a “member of the club”).

Closely linked to this is the widespread strong desire of professions, and especially new ones, to acquire status by creating a system of tests which makes their claim to equality of respect much stronger. I can give two recent examples known to me. One the Blue Badge award of the Institute of Tourist Guiding, which guarantees a high standard of knowledge and competence. The other example is the range of examinations (for instance of the Registry of Guitar Tutors) which have gained official recognition and world wide respect for the skills required on, for example, the electric guitar, an instrument which in my first years as a musician was derided by the then arbiters of taste in the Classical world.

The need for testing becomes more acute as knowledge advances. It is clear that in medicine, for example, the most advanced specialists have knowledge which is only understood in general terms by many GPs, who are nevertheless excellent in their chosen work. In such a case, some sort of test, administered by specialists, is needed in order to guarantee competence and integrity to those who have no tools to judge by. Again, Music can provide us with an example. A person who has become highly specialised in Twelve Tone music does not have, just by virtue of that knowledge, the right to judge the quality and skill of electric guitarists using distortion effects. Their musical training may give them a better than average ability to perceive the nuances involved, but it certainly does not give the competence to judge , which requires both technical knowledge of what FX units they are and what they will do, and a broad experience of the results achieved by the many outstanding guitarists who have used the effects.

To sum up for today, then:

Testing (exams etc) is needed to give shape to training and to give a measure of skill to the wider world. It can also have the benefit of raising the public esteem of those trained.

BUT IN MY DAY the exams were much tougher(or “Get out the cane, Nanny”)

2009-08-09T02:02:00.000-07:00

Quotation of the day: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth”. Lamentations 3. 67

The large majority of young people are demonstrably achieving much more than ever before. Even if the examinations are of a lower standard, I argue that this claim still holds good.

The danger of the “dumbing down” arguments is that we compare the situation of a large mass of young people today to that of a minority in the past who were highly selected – I was one of them – and who were the high achievers of their day. Instead we should compare the achievements of the mass of modern youngsters with what similar pupils achieved in the past. Anyone who is old enough to remember the Secondary Modern schools will remember that little was given to their pupils and less was expected of them. They had very few achievements, because they were not given the chance. It was the province of the selected elite to get academic qualifications.

I was one of the teachers in the first wave of the educational changes which started to pick up the pieces. The Secondary Modern “11 plus failures” had the chance to repair the damage by going into Further Education. Many then demonstrated that they too could get GCEs (as they were then called) and could also go on from there.

I will give a musical example. Terry Mortimer, whose name and work appear elsewhere on this site, is a good example. He left with one GCE (Technical Drawing) and shared with all his fellow students low self-evaluation of his talents and low expectations. Given the chance to remedy this by the then Cambridge Tech (more accurately, the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology), he achieved two good A Levels, a degree at Goldsmiths’ College and went on to a successful career which included being a Musical Director for the National Theatre.

So my argument is that the examination system (though capable of and needing modification) is in fact achieving what its real purpose is, should be and needs to be. That is to give targets and structure to school work, and at the end of the process some public assessment of what has been achieved. And this purpose is directed, as is the school system itself, at the whole range of the population. I maintain that the primary purpose of the system is to shape and validate the educational experience of the whole population, not to find and prepare elites.

Today’s point: The system is doing this reasonably well, when we compare the situation for comparable students half a century ago. I would add that this purpose is not sufficiently stated, firmly, and with the pride which such a noble aim merits.

Many readers will find the above arguments troubling, because I seem to be rejecting elites, like some 21st Century version of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. My response to this will be given in another article.

TOO MANY STUDENTS GET UPPER GRADES (or “We don’t want that sort of person in this restaurant” ?)

2009-08-08T00:35:00.000-07:00

Quotation of the day: “For many are called, but few are chosen” St Matthew 22.14

Let’s now turn to the recurrent criticism that the percentage of “A” marks is rising, and that this is worrying.

If you look at the league tables for independent schools you will see percentage passes that resemble the votes cast for the Communist Party in a Soviet election. No one seems to raise this as an issue, or think it strange. Nor should they, for what else would you expect of institutions with very clear academic aims, a highly selected intake, and enviable financial resources ?

But in fact 93% of young people are educated in the State system. Now, presumably, no one is suggesting that all the most academically able students are to be found in the private sector. There must therefore be a large number of pupils in Britain who have the ability to do outstandingly well. Let us for now assume (without conceding the point) that the demands of the modern exams are less than they were in the past (I think you would have a job convincing the many hard working youngsters who have to take them that this is so). We would then expect this “bright” upper stratum to be obtaining very high marks. Does this mean that the exams are faulty – or does it mean that this upper level group are not being taken as far as they can go – that they are “not being stretched” ?

I believe that the issue arises from a conflict between two views of the nature and purpose of the examination system.

The first duty of the State system is to provide mass education, which should offer an equal education for all. It is evident that this does not always happen. But is anyone suggesting that all State schools are inferior and substandard to their private sector counterparts? As but one example, which I am sure can be multiplied a thousand times over, go to the records and look for our nearest local school, the Camden School for Girls. Parents are queuing round the block to get their daughters in. I therefore say that, though there is room for improvement, State education is surely on the right road, and progressing.

I offer a further point of comparison with the private sector. Whereas no one in their right mind can deny the achievements of, say, the two (highly selective) St Paul’s schools, examination of the results across the whole private sector yields a rather different picture. Again I quote in our area a private school, which as far as I can see offers a good education. But its results are no better than another Camden secondary school, which has to take pupils from across the whole social spectrum.

So today’s point is:

When you are educating the whole mass of the population you are going to find large numbers of talented students. And as stated before, when you train them well, you will get not only higher numbers, but a higher proportion of successes.

DUMBING DOWN - world predicted to end soon...

2009-08-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

Quotation of the day: “Render unto them a recompense, O Lord, according to the work of their hands” Lamentations 3. 67

Quite soon now we shall have the annual round of breast beating, lamentations about “falling standards” and “dumbing down” which accompany the release of the GCSE and A Level results.

The poor old teenagers must feel like giving up in despair. They go through all that work – and boredom – learning apparently meaningless knowledge, only at the end of it all to be put down and told that their results are pretty feeble or worthless.

The trouble is that they don’t know how to answer back. But I do. For years I have felt that, having achieved considerable success in the academic system, I owed it to those who gave me those chances – which changed my life - to speak out when I felt that speaking out was needed. This is especially essential when we see the successful pulling up the ladder after them. (I can’t possibly name them, or I shall be bankrupted by lawsuits, but I suggest that, when you hear the voice of educational superiority intoning words of doom, you should just check what their education was, and, especially before about 1980, who paid for it. You will find an awful lot of people like me who had State grants -yes grants, not loans-which in my case paid for just about the best education money could buy.

Today, I’d just repeat a few things which we all know, and see if you agree with my conclusion.

(1) For years now the school system has been aligned to the League Tables. Some think this system is a way of ensuring standards – which was the original intention of Mrs Thatcher, whose government set them up. Others think that they skew the system, and hinder “real education”.

(2) To a greater or lesser degree therefore (usually greater), all schools dedicate a lot of time and effort to preparing for the exams which determine the tables.

(3) If you decided to become good at playing an instrument, spent all your available music time on practising, and spent most of your day doing this, being guided by a dedicated and well-educated teacher, what do you imagine the result would be ...?

To put it in more general terms, if we focus on a goal, we are more likely to achieve it and achieve it well, than if we don’t. (Doesn’t take much working out, does it ?).

So why are so many people, who know these things as well as my readers (if any), so surprised that, in the light of the above, kids do well in the exams to which most of their school time has been dedicated ?

And why are they surprised that this yields more impressive results than were obtained 30 or more years ago, before the Thatcher revolution (for such it was), when schools were not subjected to such evaluation ?

So my “Thought for the Day” is:

The reason for an apparent dumbing down, is because the results actually are better. What you train for, you do better.

WHAT MUSIC EXAMS CAN TEACH US...INTRO

2009-08-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

Between tomorrow (August 7) and August 18, I shall be writing a daily blog on that perennial August media concern – the examination system. To do this I shall look at the system as it applies to Music, which I think can lead us to important insights.

At the outset potential readers should note various points:

(1) These are not academic articles, complete with qualifications of arguments and footnotes indicating extensive academic research. But they do set out reflections which I have made over decades of involvement with the education system, both in Music, and more widely. They are not mere un-thought out soundings off.

(2) The aim is not, and cannot be to present a detailed blueprint, which will solve all our educational woes. But I do aim to challenge a lot of received wisdom, clichés and ideas arising from motives which are less altruistic than they at first seem. I do this in the hope that my writing may help to clarify and focus on one of the most important questions – how the broad mass of young people are to be educated.

(3) The style is intentionally loose, colloquial and informal. This is because I am not interested in aping the right mannerisms to gain the approval of the respectable world. I hope that the ideas expressed are clear and direct enough to mean that ordinary folk can grasp them and pass them on to their friends and neighbours.

(4) As previously noted, for me the articles are not an invitation to debate with me. People must accept or reject what I say, as is their right. I meanwhile must get on with creating more music.

But if these articles persuade some people to come to the website and then to be attracted to the work of myself and the other artists featured here, the time given over to writing these articles will have been well spent.

What's in a name ?

2009-07-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

WHAT’S IN A NAME ?

Quotation of the week:

What’s in a name ? that which we call a rose,
By any other name would smell as sweet

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2

Well, certainly, I’m not sure that the young lady who says this would have seemed so romantic if her name had been Ethel Sidebottom instead of Juliet Capulet.

But first, welcome to my blog. I added this to my site at the suggestion of my former student Nick Bowling, bass guitarist and writer. He said that if they like your music, people like to hear about the composer. I liked the idea, as I find writing words much easier than doing music, and sometimes think I went into the wrong art ! So I shall be writing something every week. Normally the topic will be something to do with music, but sometimes I may well stray into other thoughts.

One other thing. As it says at the top of the screen, though I will certainly read any comments send in, please don’t expect a reply. At my stage of life I have really got to put all the time I can into making music, not writing about it.

So, names. In particular, mine.

I was named Albert Edward Lee, at the request of my mother, who chose to give me the same names as my father. He in turn was so named in honour of the Prince Consort, Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, and the reigning monarch, Edward – the seventh of that name.

This loyal and loving choice has since given me many irritating moments. The last time was only yesterday. A nice lady rang to remind me of a medical appointment; she asked for Mr Albert Lee. As she was nice and trying to be helpful, I answered politely to the name. But my normal response is normally very different, as I will now illustrate by the following mini-drama:

PHONE: Ring. Ring
ME: Hello. Camden 1234 5678.(I actually give my real number)
VOICE: Can I speak to Albert Lee please ?
ME: (Thinks: Anyone who calls me Albert does not know me and wants to sell me
something) I’m afraid he’s not here.
VOICE: Oh. When will he be back ?
ME: He won’t – he’s dead (if I want to be really naughty I say “died”)
VOICE: (embarrassed) Oh, sorry to trouble you. (rings off)

Another cold calling salesman bites the dust !

At an earlier stage I used to answer yes, and on one occasion the person speaking immediately began to ask me where they could send me a (quite large) royalty cheque. For a moment the idea of a great holiday in Greece passed through my mind, but honesty prevailed, as I realised that they really wanted that excellent guitarist, Albert Lee.

In fact, if someone calls me Albert, there is one other possible explanation. They knew me at school. That definitely rules out my wanting to speak to them – I never really fitted in and have never been back since I came out of the gates for the last time in 19- (literary readers will recognise a device to be found in 19th Century novels).

Really, the problem seems to be that authorities have a real problem in understanding that some people are known by their second name. My mother never had a problem – my Dad was always Albert and I was Edward. (also I was smaller !) And I mean “Edward” – she would always correct anyone who called me anything else –including my friends, to my great embarrassment – saying “His name is Edward”).

Yet is it that strange? Maybe it is. Certainly, I have always assumed that my wife’s family were a bit weird, since my wife (first name Jean) is always “Frances”, and her sister (Ida) is universally “Louise”. Just to be awkward, her other sister Lizzie has the first name “Elizabeth”, but insisted on being called this when she went to Art School – in the family she was “Ann”, her second name !

However, “Edward” doesn’t end the story. My wife Jean (called Frances) thought that “Edward” was more dignified for a writer of books (see Books page!), but only after I had been sent into the world of print as “Ed” ! I do call myself “Edward” if I want to seem dignified, or a bit distant, but in certain cases I have announced myself as “Edward” to a person, because I felt that this gave a special element to the relationship. This is because most people, including all my family, children (not “all” – there are only three !), close friends, neighbours and work associates have always called me “Ed”. I even have an Italian form “Nonno Ed” (Grandad Ed) !

There is yet more (last bit !). There have always been some people who call me “Eddie” (one is our family friend Maria). And there are some who know me as “Ted” (old college mates). Over the years, I have tried to devise a theory to explain this, but without success.

If asked, I always say that I don’t mind and will answer to most forms of Edward.

So “what’s in a name?”. In my case, not a lot. But to some people, it is very important. Perhaps the most significant is for Jews, for whom it is a sacrilege to say God’s name, though it is known. Instead, other ways of speaking about or to the Supreme Being are used.

So perhaps I should insist on “Talented Composer” or “Your Brilliance” – I should be so lucky !