Integration and multiculturalism in music in Australian schools: has/can/should the leopard change its spots?

The 1960s saw a broadening of the offerings of music from other cultures in the materials and programs of the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). This is a useful indicator for our changing perceptions. Since then, increasingly ‘authentic’ music materials have been available to primary classroom teachers, but how far have we really come? Blacking (1973) identified the difficulty of truly acquiring an understanding, skill and authenticity in the music of another culture. Blacking stressed the importance of music and musical acquisition occurring in a cultural context. In many cultures there is a clear link between the acquisition of musical and social skills. By removing music from one culture and presenting it in the symbolic gestures of another we may strip much of its meaning. It is very difficult for a member of one culture to comprehend the music and culture of another without understanding its social milieu. This is particularly true for musics from cultures removed from the Western music paradigm. It could be argued that the further we move from our cultural norm, the harder it is to produce authentic experiences for students and future experienced teachers. By considering the resources offered to teachers and teacher education students we can explore the attempts we have made, and continue to make, in our attempts to move from integration to multiculturalism. As a ‘work in progress’, this paper will consider the inclusion of African music in the nationally distributed ABC school singing books as a means of illustrating and marking change.