Around 60 musicians attended the one-day Bridging the Gap? conference organised by the University of Aberdeen in association with the ISM – the first of two conferences about music education in Scotland. The second event will take place in June 2009.

Bridging the Gap? focused on Scotland’s post-16 qualifications in music, especially the Higher and Advanced Higher. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) introduced the ‘sampling’ of students’ recital programmes in the 2006-07 academic year, and compositions are now marked on a pass-or-fail basis. Previous changes to the syllabus have resulted in a reduction in the standard of performance required for Higher from ABRSM Grade 7 to Grade 4.

The aim was to provide an open forum for teachers to share freely their experiences of teaching the new syllabus, and debate issues concerning music education in Scottish schools. The day was facilitated by the Society’s Regional Councillor for East Scotland, Dr David Smith, and Prof Pete Stollery. A day of lively discussion from speakers and participants – including teachers and lecturers, as well as representatives from the country’s national youth orchestra and choir – ended with a surprising level of unanimity.

All attendees welcomed the greater numbers taking Higher Music, but noted that this increased uptake has disadvantaged more able students. It was unanimously agreed that the current examinations are not fit for any purpose: gifted pupils are not receiving the musical education they deserve; nor do the qualifications encourage amateur music-making, as they do not support lifelong learning. There was concern that the changes to assessment methods had been taken on administrative grounds (to homogenise examining procedures across all subjects), rather than in response to pupils’ needs.

Participants agreed that the resultant ‘gap’ between the level of musicianship attained at the end of pupils’ school career and the standard required for entrance to degree programmes at university has widened to such an extent that the qualification had lost its value as a valuable measure of student attainment.

Speakers included the music teacher and Scotsman critic, Kenneth Walton. He said there was ‘no doubt that … driven by a combination of lowered minimum standards and a concocted marking system that effectively quashes creativity, clever candidates are boxing clever’, i.e. playing easier pieces in their Higher exam because they know no credit will be given for playing more difficult works, and there is a risk that they will be penalised if they play a wrong note.

Phillip Thorne MBE, a principal teacher of music and RSAMD lecturer, and Graeme Wilson, Music Services Manager at Fife Council, both criticised the sampling of pupils’ recitals, where students perform only part of their prepared programme. Not only did it make pupils anxious (pupils do not know what they will be playing, in what order, and when they will be asked to stop), but it wasted teachers’ time learning accompaniments that are not required. It was analogous to asking art students to present a half-finished painting, or dance students to perform with their left legs only.

The conference recommended that in the long term, a wholesale review of music education from nursery to university level was needed. More immediately, participants favoured a route that would allow pupils to study one instrument (rather than two) to the level required by university music departments and the abandoning of sampling.

As well as raising the issue in the national media (the conference was covered on BBC Scotland, as well as in the Herald, Scotsman and Music Teacher), Bridging the Gap? opened a door to the SQA, which previously had neglected to address the concerns over the reforms. Kenneth Walton has described a subsequent meeting with two key officers and one chief assessor as ‘positive’. The matter will be raised again at next year’s event, involving the wider musical community in Scotland. Details will follow in forthcoming issues of MJ.

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