Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
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the curriculum. It is argued that they quickly adapt to life with<strong>in</strong> the Icel<strong>and</strong>ic music school <strong>and</strong><br />
make a significant contribution. The follow<strong>in</strong>g example is <strong>in</strong>dicative of a more general picture: “4<br />
out of 9 of our teachers are <strong>in</strong>ternational. We have 2 teachers from Hungary, 1 from the USA<br />
<strong>and</strong> 1 from Brita<strong>in</strong>. All have been here now for at least 10 years. They are much more flexible.”<br />
Music school teachers tend to rely on teach<strong>in</strong>g as their ma<strong>in</strong> (or major) source of <strong>in</strong>come, but<br />
contribute <strong>in</strong> a range of ways to the overall musical milieu of a community. The question of<br />
whether the music school teachers see themselves more as teachers or as musicians was<br />
problematic as the follow<strong>in</strong>g quotes exemplify:<br />
This is a very delicate question. Many would like to be fulltime musicians but they have to teach to earn money,<br />
but <strong>in</strong> this school the majority are predom<strong>in</strong>antly teachers. Many of the teachers though play <strong>in</strong> the orchestra <strong>in</strong><br />
the town. It is hard to juggle teach<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> be<strong>in</strong>g a professional musician.<br />
Most music teachers <strong>in</strong> the smaller towns have to do a whole heap of th<strong>in</strong>gs just to make a liv<strong>in</strong>g. For example,<br />
they might conduct the choir <strong>in</strong> the church, teach some students, give some private lessons, become <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong><br />
European music projects, <strong>and</strong> participate <strong>in</strong> summer music festivals.<br />
The follow<strong>in</strong>g example (Vignette 1.12.9) of an alternative music school presents a model of a<br />
music <strong>and</strong> ‘arts school’ where the practice is quite different from the majority of Icel<strong>and</strong>ic music<br />
schools visited as part of this research:<br />
Vignette 1.12.9 It is very different here<br />
A group of three year olds with their parents are learn<strong>in</strong>g music together. The music school is operated <strong>in</strong> a<br />
build<strong>in</strong>g with a sense of the makeshift about it. The class is full to overflow<strong>in</strong>g. The teacher has written a number of<br />
books on how teachers <strong>and</strong> parents can work together <strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>troduc<strong>in</strong>g children to music.<br />
The music school started 25 years ago <strong>and</strong> they do not get government fund<strong>in</strong>g. The parents pay for the lessons<br />
the children receive. They all work together children <strong>and</strong> parents <strong>and</strong> they offer a number of different workshops with<br />
youngest students be<strong>in</strong>g around three years <strong>and</strong> the eldest be<strong>in</strong>g around eighty years but they also receive a lot of<br />
teenagers <strong>and</strong> the teachers are active professionals <strong>in</strong> the field.<br />
The music school is small with very little space. They are very selective of the teachers <strong>and</strong> choose carefully. They<br />
also encourage <strong>in</strong>tergenerational learn<strong>in</strong>g, child, parent <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>parent all work<strong>in</strong>g beside each other.<br />
“There are special programmes for teenagers here from theatre workshops to African dance, <strong>and</strong> these are very<br />
popular. In fact all k<strong>in</strong>ds of danc<strong>in</strong>g are offered hip hop, jazz <strong>and</strong> so on. We design the broadest possible programme<br />
to appeal to everybody.”<br />
The music school also br<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> foreign teachers to conduct <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g workshops. These operate only through<br />
subscription. The music school has been nearly bankrupted several times.<br />
The children pay around 17,000 Icel<strong>and</strong>ic Kroner for three months <strong>and</strong> they come around once a week for<br />
lessons. The lessons are group lessons with approximately 12 pupils per teacher. The music school has kept the same<br />
prices for several years.<br />
In the last year, they have noticed a downturn <strong>in</strong> teenagers attend<strong>in</strong>g, a 50 percent downturn <strong>in</strong> fact, s<strong>in</strong>ce the<br />
economic crash. They comment; “It is <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g; parents will not pay for teenagers but will pay for their young<br />
children. In the three, four, five, <strong>and</strong> six year old groups there is a wait<strong>in</strong>g list, whereas <strong>in</strong> the teenagers they are <strong>in</strong><br />
short supply.” Currently, they do not have enough teachers to be able to teach to the dem<strong>and</strong>.<br />
“It is very different here though, we do not necessarily follow the curriculum <strong>and</strong> our teachers have freedom. We<br />
work very closely together <strong>and</strong> can <strong>in</strong>tegrate across areas, dance music <strong>and</strong> arts for example can all work together.<br />
We do a lot of work with special needs children <strong>and</strong> young people. We have a Down syndrome theatre company <strong>and</strong><br />
it is <strong>in</strong>credible what they are able to do. The dance teacher also works a lot with improvisation <strong>and</strong> she was taught <strong>in</strong><br />
Germany. We get teachers from all over the world. Another teacher has gone off now <strong>and</strong> started her own school, she<br />
was educated <strong>in</strong> Stockholm. She specialises <strong>in</strong> creative dance. We try <strong>and</strong> get our students to perform <strong>in</strong>ternationally<br />
<strong>and</strong> I th<strong>in</strong>k we have done a lot to spread the news of what is happen<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Icel<strong>and</strong>. We do lots of shows for parents<br />
but we do not focus on that as it is def<strong>in</strong>itely now process not product.”<br />
“We did a great project around Shakespeare, the 12 <strong>and</strong> 13 year olds loved do<strong>in</strong>g Romeo <strong>and</strong> Juliet, it was<br />
fantastic. The guy who played Romeo was actually deaf. Out of that group many people have actually gone on to work<br />
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