For good
Mr Michael McGrath
Head of Curriculum Music
Wicked—a wonderful musical based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, which I recently saw at QPAC—challenges the traditional good-evil paradigm, casting the Witch of the West as a courageous protagonist who stands up for what is right and good. The final song in the show, For Good, details the way that Glinda the ’good‘ witch and Elphaba the ’wicked‘ witch, ’have completely changed each other’s lives… For Good’ (NPR Music, 2023). This prompted me to consider the role that goodness play in the girls’ music learning at the School.
On the same day I saw Wicked, I learned the sad news that a wonderful music educator, Thomas Regelski, had passed away. His writings and philosophical approach to musical education have profoundly shaped how we approach music learning at Girls Grammar, echoing themes connected to the idea of goodness. Regelski believed that musical learning should involve ’personal action with music,’ arguing that we make music ’for personal agency,’ which he described as ’an important means by which humans make a life worth living‘ (Regelski, 2020, pp. 30–31). Through his work, Regelski certainly did much good, enriching not only his own life but also the lives of countless learner-musicians.
What do we truly mean by the word ’good‘? This term, with its long history, has arguably become overused and devalued, often signifying something merely acceptable or sufficient. This might be considered evident through the application of the term in Likert scales relating to quality—for example, a 5-point scale might read Poor-Fair-Good-Very Good-Excellent (Vagias, 2006). In contrast, its sibling, ’goodness,’ seems to have retained its dignity, defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘the quality of being morally good; virtue; worthiness’. This definition carrying a more powerful meaning.
Through the looking glass
Marissa Silverman (2023), a music education researcher at Montclair State University wrote a powerful article exploring how we might reclaim happiness in music education. She argues that ’fulfillment and flourishing'—eudaimonia—happiness—is a way to ’live a good life… of meaningfulness and significance’. So, when she talks about happiness, Silverman, means ’relational meaningfulness’. Silverman argues by collectively striving for individual emancipation, solidarity and agency, we might also afford greater opportunity for personal expression to all, for students to feel empowered and to achieve ’collective happiness …and foster a common good‘ (Silverman, 2023).
At Girls Grammar, we pride ourselves on a learning environment that embraces the richness of the real. An essay, why not a podcast? A music performance in class time, why not a soiree in Gehrmann Theatre? Why not collaborate with classmates and industry professionals from QUT to produce a fully realised popular song? Such experiences more closely align with real-world experiences providing learning opportunities that are far richer than simply pressing ’SAVE‘ on a computer after the final stroke of a key!
A good news story
As we approach the end of the year, let’s reflect on the good we have accomplished at Girls Grammar! Rather than solely considering how authentic learning helps students become better musicians or learners, let’s explore the good we’ve achieved in Music—the ways that we’ve fostered happiness, eudaimonia, fulfillment and flourishing through a combination of personal agency and meaningful human connection. Let’s take a look under the hood of the Grammar Music Curriculum and examine the goodness in three projects.
Our youngest musicians in Year 7 step into a studio-style environment, working collaboratively to create unique group arrangements using popular and folk songs from both class and their own musical experiences. Guided by a backing track, students collaborate, arrange, and record their music with the assistance of a sound engineer, mirroring the process professional musicians experience in a recording studio. Encouraging teamwork, creativity, and real-world learning, this project builds confidence while developing practical musical skills. It allows students to connect their personal musical tastes with collaborative learning. It offers a meaningful glimpse into the professional music world, teaching the student the value of their efforts and fostering a sense of purpose and joy in their learning.
Year 9 musicians embrace possibility thinking as they dive into the world of musical theatre. They select the repertoire of their choice to perform as an ensemble at a showcase for the community. Through workshops with industry professionals, they pose questions, experiment with ideas, and immerse themselves in vocal training, stage presence, and choreography. They also take ownership of all aspects of production—sourcing costumes, designing sets, and coordinating the show. This hands-on process nurtures self-determination, with students making independent decisions while contributing to a shared vision. Their collaboration fosters empathy, creativity, and personal storytelling, culminating in a live performance that connects music, physical movement and visuals with narrative.
This year, our Year 12 musicians reinterpreted the Frank Baum classic, The Wizard of Oz, by creating their own original compositions inspired by the narrative. Collaborating closely with professional musicians from NONSEMBLE and artist Suzie Ferry, they aligned their music with visual art to tell the story through an immersive, multi-sensory production. This empowered the students to be expressive and challenged them to consider the broader impact of their artistic choices, aural and visual, on the audience. This work resulted in a fully-fledged production titled Beyond the Yellow Brick Road in the Gehrmann Theatre. The project balanced personal expression with collective vision to foster a common good!
We’re not done yet!
In the coming weeks our Year 10 musicians will travel through the stars as they perform their original compositions with video footage of the heavens in INFINITE—an immersive experience at the Cosmic Skydome at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium. Our Year 9 artists and musicians combine forces to create a powerful multi-level audio-visual storytelling installation across Levels 3 and 4 of the CLC featuring artwork inspired by our local landscape and original songs in Sights, Sounds, Stories.