Dr Kristina Kelman is an academic, teacher, community music facilitator and jazz musician from Brisbane, Australia. In her recent book, ‘Music Entrepreneurship: Professional Learning in schools and the industry’, Kristina designs an experiential music curriculum model for student-run enterprise. Her work also takes place in community music settings. Her work with First Languages Australia on a language project through original song, Yamani: Voices of an Ancient Land, resulted in a full length album, Australian curriculum materials, and a documentary featured throughout 2016 on QANTAS in-flight entertainment. Since 2015, with successful grant funding, Kristina has coordinated an intensive recording program and music education project in Chennai, India, which produces an album of original music by emerging independent artists each year. Kristina is also a Brisbane based musician, who has had a successful 25 year career performing and recording as a jazz singer, and working as both a music director and conductor for various Australian projects. Kristina is currently lecturing in music, music education and music industry at the Queensland University of Technology.
This article investigates MySchoolAct (MSA),an online music competition created exclusively for A... more This article investigates MySchoolAct (MSA),an online music competition created exclusively for Australian high school students. MSA as a social networking platform, creates opportunities for young musicians to showcase their original music and expand their fanbase. From an education perspective, MSA hands ownership of the site to the user, and in this sense empowers young people to engage in meaningful knowledge exchange.
For tens of thousands of years, the rich and beautiful sounds of thousands of languages washed ac... more For tens of thousands of years, the rich and beautiful sounds of thousands of languages washed across this earth. Over all of Australia it is believed there were more than five hundred at one time. Around two hundred years ago, a new language began to replace them, sweeping across Australia with such force that some parts of it could no longer hear the voices that told its stories and held its secrets. A deep silence seemed to be looming. Then, finally, a change began. As the volume of the old words faded to a whisper in some places, the people who are their custodians began to take action, calling for respect, for the rights to speak and be heard in their traditional tongues, while stirring everyone to appreciate the treasury of knowledge held in their languages. The Queensland Indigenous Languages Advisory Committee was formed in 2005 in recognition of the need for a state body to advocate for Indigenous languages. Over the years we found a collective passion for music and song. Some of us just loved to sing and others want to see their songs passed on the younger women. It was decided that for one meeting we would each bring a song in our language to share with the others. This contemporary musical gathering seeded the realisation singing in this way gives new life to the ancient process of sharing music between communities, and empowers the participants to share their languages. QILAC initiated the language songs project to promote encouraging contemporary language use within Qld communities, increase awareness of languages in the Queensland public and to Government, and to place languages on the arts agenda in Queensland and nationally. Each QILAC member consulted with their community around the development of language songs for this project. Two songs in each language were written by the participants, taught to the rest of the group, workshopped and produced by Kristina Kelman, and subsequently recorded and mastered by David Bridie for the CD, which has been published as Yamani. The songs have been released and distributed by Wantok Musik Foundation. http://wantokmusik.bandcamp.com/ In collaboration with First Languages Australia a twelve-minute film that documents the making of the CD has been produced. The film is also titled Yamani. The film has been submitted to a number of prestigious national and international film festivals. https://vimeo.com/134197853 The film screened for six months as QANTAS in-flight entertainment and for a further six months as on board entertainment on Queensland Rail’s long distance train services. A story for Queensland Rail’s, Embark Magazine, has been prepared for passenger reading while the film is being broadcast. ATOM teachers’ notes have been produced to complement the film and to facilitate use in the classroom, http://theeducationshop.com.au/downloads/atom-study-guides/yamani-voices-of-an- ancient-land-atom-study-guide/ ABC Splash published a story about the project for NAIDOC 2016, promoting the film and teachers’ notes. http://splash.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/2322173
The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New d... more The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as quickly, new sectors have opened to professional musicians: computer games, ringtones, sound-enabled toys and web advertising all present new opportunities to the enterprising musician. The opportunity to distribute music internationally without being signed to a major label is very attractive to many aspiring and established professionals. No doubt the music industry will face many more challenges as technologies continue to change, as global communication gets easier and faster, and as the challenges to copyright proliferate and change. These challenges cannot be successfully met on a single front. They require research and expertise from all sectors being affected, and this is why the independent music project (IMP) exists. This 2nd addition to the Indie 100 series identifies an emerging independent music scene in India. New partners, Earthsync are a hub of over 900 independent Indian artists and the directors have recognised that these artists have few opportunities to engage in education or pathways to commercial activity in the creative industries. The Indian independent music scene is seen by many to be the most promising emerging market in the region (Palling, 2014). The CEO of industry partner and local peak independent music body QMusic, Joel Edmondson, believes that the fostering of reciprocal relationships with the Indian music market can open up vital new economic and cultural exchanges between India and Australia
Featuring Emma Donovan, Merenia, Ursula Yovich, Ngaiire, Georgia Corowa and Ajak Kwai, and accomp... more Featuring Emma Donovan, Merenia, Ursula Yovich, Ngaiire, Georgia Corowa and Ajak Kwai, and accompanied by a unique collection of musicians, the Kings of Melanesian Funk, Tribe of Jubal, led by Ben Hakalitz (Yothu Yindi), Singaot Sista is a unique musical creation expressing the diverse and life-affirming experiences of contemporary Indigenous women. Director, Vicki Gordon, Music Director and arranger, Kristina Kelman and choreographer, Marilyn Miller (Black Arm Band – Hidden Republic & Dirtsong and Australia’s National Indigenous Dance Coordinator) unite with these women to celebrate their honour and identity, joy and pain, love and hope through song, language and stories. Emma Donovan (Gumbayngirr – Northern NSW) is internationally acclaimed and has established herself as one of Australia’s finest Indigenous singer/songwriters, using the inclusion of her traditional language to educate the global community about Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Merenia (Maori, Welsh & Romany) i...
Research Background. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad tha... more Research Background. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad that offers greater scope for exploring broader international career possibilities, while developing greater cultural awareness, personal growth, and intercultural communication skills. While Higher Education music and creative industries courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, (the development of both professional and intercultural competencies), this project offers international, project-based learning, which addresses the gap for how to build international processes in the curriculum. Research Contribution. This project continues to build on the Indie100 India program since 2015, but the addition of New Colombo Plan funding has allowed for 12 Australian students to travel to India to work with students at the KM Music conservatory to coordinate and deliver the recording program, and promote the outputs internationally. Research significance. The research is significant because it centres on an Indian version of Indie 100, an intensive music recording program that produces 12 new songs over three days; focuses local, national, and international attention on the music of emerging artists; generates data about emerging online music markets; and feeds into entrepreneurial pedagogies.The project has also established ongoing links between the KM Music Conservatory (Chennai) and QUT Music to embed the project in the curricula of both institutions and facilitate ongoing exchanges. A successful articulation agreement between the two institutions will allow for Indian students to finish their degrees in Australia. Most importantly the project is producing global-ready graduates who are flexible, adaptive and interculturally competent. <br/
The 15th UK and Ireland Branch IASPM Online Conference:London Calling, Jun 16, 2020
The traditions of music education are quite different between India and Australia. The West has a... more The traditions of music education are quite different between India and Australia. The West has an ostensibly ‘scientific’ approach to education since the turn of the 20th century and tends towards homogeneity, standardisation, and a deeply literate ‘mind’. India retains much of its oral past and is far less standardised and homogenised.While Australia has a strong conservatoire tradition in higher education, there is a comparable master-apprentice tradition that sits outside of mainstream higher education in India, these educational models lack industry engagement and don’t encourage an entrepreneurial approach, often leaving students ill-equipped for their future careers.It is no longer sufficient for music degrees to teach students virtuosity on their chosen instrument. The larger challenge is teaching students how to make their way in the world as professionals. They also need to think globally, connect globally, and be aware of opportunities on a global basis. This paper reports on a project that has been ongoing since 2015, between A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory (established in Chennai, India in 2008) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. The project aims to assist music students in equipping themselves for the global economy, through a collaborative initiative that aims to internationalise and entrepreneurialise music education, at both institutions. The project is also supported by industry partner, Earthsync (organisers of Chennai’s IndiEarth Xchange, a trade event for independent music, film and media).The institutions have presented the Indian version of QUT’s highly successful Indie100 program at IndiEarth XChange annually since 2015. The event each year, involved staff and students from KM Music Conservatory and QUT, and high-profile Australian and Indian producers. Twelve local Indian independent bands were recorded and produced throughout the conference and delegates had an open invitation to attend the recording sessions.The final stages of the project involved QUT and KM Music Conservatory students working together online to launch, promote, and distribute the recordings on both local and international platforms using the extensive networks of all project partners.At the same time the Higher Education sector’s ‘internationalisation’ agenda recognizes that globally focused experiences and literacies are central to developing culturally competent professionals, capable of operating in diverse communities and environments. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad that offers greater scope for exploring broader international career possibilities. While HE music courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, (the development of both professional and intercultural competencies), there are few empirical studies offering pedagogies and experiential learning, which address the gap for how to build international processes into the curriculum.In response to this agenda, QUT expanded the project as a study tour in 2018 and 2019 to include 15 Australian students who spent two weeks collaborating and recording with Indian musicians, as well as developing their entrepreneurial skills through curation of live events, and management of the Indie100 project and its subsequent promotion and online album launches. There are significant benefits resulting from this project, including the establishment of an ongoing exchange program that will feature parallel programs running at both QUT and KM Music Conservatory. Both programs are in constant dialogue allowing the programs to evolve, cater to both local and international needs, and facilitate ongoing student and staff exchanges. Ongoing data collection of participant experiences also show how deep immersion and a short time frame for delivering a successful project, is both confronting and rewarding for students, revealing how they adjusted their perspectives to operate both effectively within themselves and in interaction with others
Research BackgroundGiven the ever-changing nature of the music industry and the scarcity of emplo... more Research BackgroundGiven the ever-changing nature of the music industry and the scarcity of employment for musicians young people will need to consider self-employment and freelance work. Entrepreneurial skills such as networking, opportunity recognition, risk-taking, and creativity are key to transition to careers beyond high school and/or higher education. This research challenges traditional notions of classroom music to find a pedagogical approach that nurtures self-directed learners in authentic environments.Research ContributionVermilion High is an innovative, and real-world learning environment that brings together university music, music production, and music business students, and connects them with local high schools. Thirty high school students across South East Queensland submitted their original song for the potential to have their song mentored, recorded, produced, promoted and digitally released through the university student-record label, Vermilion Records. The project took place over a five month period, which included a pre-production phase, a week long recording phase, and a final promotion and release phase. Research SignificanceVermilion High provided an opportunity for high-school musicians to be professionally recorded and promoted, and digitally released on streaming platforms internationally. The project has so far received over 15,878 social media impressions. The model exposes young musicians to new practices, new audiences and new knowledge, and the high-intensity ‘record-label’ environment provides university students with a real-world experience that will hopefully make them work-ready and resilient. The significance of this research is that the ‘art’ of entrepreneurial practice is not practiced in a heuristic educational environment; rather, it is learnt experientially in business. <br/
This paper reports on a collaboration between the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (Bris... more This paper reports on a collaboration between the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (Brisbane, Australia), the KM Music Conservatory (Chennai, India), and industry partner, Earthsync (Chennai, India) since 2015. The project is informed by an existing experiential learning model and research project, the Indie100, which previously ran for seven years at QUT. Within the Indian context, the project centres around an intensive, publicly visible, music recording program held over four days. Each year, twelve independent artists/bands are selected through an application process and invited to participate in the project in Chennai. These artists work with professional producers from both Australia and India to record a compilation album. The album and artists are promoted by both QUT and KM music business students, and distributed on major streaming platforms to an international audience. Indie 100 India, brings together knowledge and experience from industry partners, professional...
Indie100 Showcase at the IndiEarth XChange Sessions, Oct 30, 2020
Research BackgroundPrior to the digital era, higher education’s role was to prepare graduates for... more Research BackgroundPrior to the digital era, higher education’s role was to prepare graduates for the local and regional economies, but now with a click of a mouse, the local workforce has become global. While Higher Education music and creative industries courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, there are few studies offering international, project-based learning, which addresses the gap for how to build international processes in the curriculum. Research contributionThis project builds on the success of a QUT-funded project called the Indie 100 (2009-2015) – recording and promotion of independent artists in a week-long publicly visible event. For both QUT and Indian students, the project serves as an intensive ‘classroom’ for students and brings them in contact with the intensity of a commercial production environment. Over a two-week period, students curate four live shows featuring Australia-India musical collaborations. They coordinate and capture the Indie100 recording event, working in assistant recording-producer roles and as session musicians. Music business students are responsible for the promotion and digital release of the album. Research significanceThe project is founded on the belief that the future of music education in the H.E Sector relies on a system of experiential facilitations that lead to the development of sustainable communities of practice among teachers, students, local musicians and industry. The collaboration exposes musicians to new practices, new audiences and new knowledge, and the high intensity environment gives students a real-world experience that will hopefully make them work-ready, entrepreneurial and resilient. <br/
This book addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills... more This book addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the professional music industry. It uses extensive data from a long-running research project where high school students were invited to start their own business venture, Youth Music Industries. Not only did this act as a business venture, but it also functioned as a learning environment informed by the concepts of practice and social capital. Exploring how entrepreneurial qualities were developed, their learning was subsequently captured and distilled into a set of design principles: in this way, a pedagogical approach was developed that can be transferred across the creative industries more broadly. This book will be of interest and value to scholars of music education, as well as those preparing students for the creative industries.
The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New d... more The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as qu...
Kelman follows nine students aged between 15 and 17 years old across a three-year period of self-... more Kelman follows nine students aged between 15 and 17 years old across a three-year period of self-directed learning as they run their own music business, staging music festivals, running a venue, and curating a youth music conference with industry partners. Through interviews, meeting debriefs and Facebook interactions, Kelman asks what negotiating and organisational skills do students learn through an education designed to foster entrepreneurial capacity in the music industry, and how did this learning occur? The findings from this chapter highlight the positive and negative impacts that social capital had on the students’ skill development. In the first year, students were able to set and achieve goals using the school as a resource to achieve some early successes. Given more autonomy and the introduction of industry partnerships in the later part of the design, students accrued greater cultural capital and were able to participate in decision-making, learned to negotiate with indu...
Scholars in the music education field argue that skills and knowledge required for success includ... more Scholars in the music education field argue that skills and knowledge required for success include entrepreneurship, professional networks, technology skills and community development. However there are few studies of learning environments that are designed for this purpose and which could test their claims. In addressing this gap, this paper presents two case studies of innovative, real-world learning designs that have been deliberately engineered to foster collaboration, with grounded, realistic opportunities. The first case study, Youth Music Industries (YMI) is an organisation, operating since 2010 that was established by the teacher/researcher in collaboration with her high school students. The teacher’s aim was to establish a social learning environment where students could develop music industry and entrepreneurial skills experientially in a community of practice. The students’ aims were to create opportunities for young musicians across Queensland to perform, record, publish...
This design-based research project addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and... more This design-based research project addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the professional music industry. It analyses the work of a teacher/researcher who invited her high school students to start their own business venture, Youth Music Industries (YMI). YMI also functioned as a learning environment informed by the theoretical concepts of communities of practice and social capital. The students staged cycles of events of various scales over a three-year period, as platforms for young artists to engage and develop new, young audiences across Queensland, Australia. The study found that students developed an entrepreneurial mindset through acquisition of specific skills and knowledge. Their learning was captured and distilled into a set of design principles, a pedagogical approach transferrable across the creative industries more broadly.
Kelman guides the reader through the phases of her learning design using the steps of Design-base... more Kelman guides the reader through the phases of her learning design using the steps of Design-based Research (Reeves 2009). The purpose of design-based research as the chosen methodology has been applied to develop educational principles based on empirical evidence of the way in which students learn music industry skills in a real-world music business, student-led enterprise. Kelman unpacks the contextual aspects of the curriculum design which focus on the core business of the YMI student enterprise; an annual four-stage, ten-hour music festival; managing and booking an all-ages venue; and delivering an annual youth music industry conference. She describes how these events were staged several times over a three-year period, each time growing in size, complexity, and outreach through her design interventions. The students are introduced in this chapter, and information related to how their learning was captured is also discussed.
In the late 1990s, the emergence of the digital era posed enormous challenges for the music indus... more In the late 1990s, the emergence of the digital era posed enormous challenges for the music industry, but afforded the development of new business models and creative platforms on which artists can build their careers. There are implications for music industry education in the higher education sector. If what we need to know today is likely to be out of date tomorrow, what then do we teach? And if a successful music industry career requires not just domain knowledge, but experience and the development of a more implicit and entrepreneurial suite of skills, then how do we teach it? This paper aims to evaluate and propose a re-design of the music industry unit at the author’s university through interviews with students who have completed the unit, and music industry educators from the USA, UK and Australia. Consistent themes included practical experience, engagement with industry, student-negotiated assessment, and the development of entrepreneurial skills. The data also revealed mixe...
This article investigates MySchoolAct (MSA),an online music competition created exclusively for A... more This article investigates MySchoolAct (MSA),an online music competition created exclusively for Australian high school students. MSA as a social networking platform, creates opportunities for young musicians to showcase their original music and expand their fanbase. From an education perspective, MSA hands ownership of the site to the user, and in this sense empowers young people to engage in meaningful knowledge exchange.
For tens of thousands of years, the rich and beautiful sounds of thousands of languages washed ac... more For tens of thousands of years, the rich and beautiful sounds of thousands of languages washed across this earth. Over all of Australia it is believed there were more than five hundred at one time. Around two hundred years ago, a new language began to replace them, sweeping across Australia with such force that some parts of it could no longer hear the voices that told its stories and held its secrets. A deep silence seemed to be looming. Then, finally, a change began. As the volume of the old words faded to a whisper in some places, the people who are their custodians began to take action, calling for respect, for the rights to speak and be heard in their traditional tongues, while stirring everyone to appreciate the treasury of knowledge held in their languages. The Queensland Indigenous Languages Advisory Committee was formed in 2005 in recognition of the need for a state body to advocate for Indigenous languages. Over the years we found a collective passion for music and song. Some of us just loved to sing and others want to see their songs passed on the younger women. It was decided that for one meeting we would each bring a song in our language to share with the others. This contemporary musical gathering seeded the realisation singing in this way gives new life to the ancient process of sharing music between communities, and empowers the participants to share their languages. QILAC initiated the language songs project to promote encouraging contemporary language use within Qld communities, increase awareness of languages in the Queensland public and to Government, and to place languages on the arts agenda in Queensland and nationally. Each QILAC member consulted with their community around the development of language songs for this project. Two songs in each language were written by the participants, taught to the rest of the group, workshopped and produced by Kristina Kelman, and subsequently recorded and mastered by David Bridie for the CD, which has been published as Yamani. The songs have been released and distributed by Wantok Musik Foundation. http://wantokmusik.bandcamp.com/ In collaboration with First Languages Australia a twelve-minute film that documents the making of the CD has been produced. The film is also titled Yamani. The film has been submitted to a number of prestigious national and international film festivals. https://vimeo.com/134197853 The film screened for six months as QANTAS in-flight entertainment and for a further six months as on board entertainment on Queensland Rail’s long distance train services. A story for Queensland Rail’s, Embark Magazine, has been prepared for passenger reading while the film is being broadcast. ATOM teachers’ notes have been produced to complement the film and to facilitate use in the classroom, http://theeducationshop.com.au/downloads/atom-study-guides/yamani-voices-of-an- ancient-land-atom-study-guide/ ABC Splash published a story about the project for NAIDOC 2016, promoting the film and teachers’ notes. http://splash.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/2322173
The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New d... more The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as quickly, new sectors have opened to professional musicians: computer games, ringtones, sound-enabled toys and web advertising all present new opportunities to the enterprising musician. The opportunity to distribute music internationally without being signed to a major label is very attractive to many aspiring and established professionals. No doubt the music industry will face many more challenges as technologies continue to change, as global communication gets easier and faster, and as the challenges to copyright proliferate and change. These challenges cannot be successfully met on a single front. They require research and expertise from all sectors being affected, and this is why the independent music project (IMP) exists. This 2nd addition to the Indie 100 series identifies an emerging independent music scene in India. New partners, Earthsync are a hub of over 900 independent Indian artists and the directors have recognised that these artists have few opportunities to engage in education or pathways to commercial activity in the creative industries. The Indian independent music scene is seen by many to be the most promising emerging market in the region (Palling, 2014). The CEO of industry partner and local peak independent music body QMusic, Joel Edmondson, believes that the fostering of reciprocal relationships with the Indian music market can open up vital new economic and cultural exchanges between India and Australia
Featuring Emma Donovan, Merenia, Ursula Yovich, Ngaiire, Georgia Corowa and Ajak Kwai, and accomp... more Featuring Emma Donovan, Merenia, Ursula Yovich, Ngaiire, Georgia Corowa and Ajak Kwai, and accompanied by a unique collection of musicians, the Kings of Melanesian Funk, Tribe of Jubal, led by Ben Hakalitz (Yothu Yindi), Singaot Sista is a unique musical creation expressing the diverse and life-affirming experiences of contemporary Indigenous women. Director, Vicki Gordon, Music Director and arranger, Kristina Kelman and choreographer, Marilyn Miller (Black Arm Band – Hidden Republic & Dirtsong and Australia’s National Indigenous Dance Coordinator) unite with these women to celebrate their honour and identity, joy and pain, love and hope through song, language and stories. Emma Donovan (Gumbayngirr – Northern NSW) is internationally acclaimed and has established herself as one of Australia’s finest Indigenous singer/songwriters, using the inclusion of her traditional language to educate the global community about Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Merenia (Maori, Welsh & Romany) i...
Research Background. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad tha... more Research Background. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad that offers greater scope for exploring broader international career possibilities, while developing greater cultural awareness, personal growth, and intercultural communication skills. While Higher Education music and creative industries courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, (the development of both professional and intercultural competencies), this project offers international, project-based learning, which addresses the gap for how to build international processes in the curriculum. Research Contribution. This project continues to build on the Indie100 India program since 2015, but the addition of New Colombo Plan funding has allowed for 12 Australian students to travel to India to work with students at the KM Music conservatory to coordinate and deliver the recording program, and promote the outputs internationally. Research significance. The research is significant because it centres on an Indian version of Indie 100, an intensive music recording program that produces 12 new songs over three days; focuses local, national, and international attention on the music of emerging artists; generates data about emerging online music markets; and feeds into entrepreneurial pedagogies.The project has also established ongoing links between the KM Music Conservatory (Chennai) and QUT Music to embed the project in the curricula of both institutions and facilitate ongoing exchanges. A successful articulation agreement between the two institutions will allow for Indian students to finish their degrees in Australia. Most importantly the project is producing global-ready graduates who are flexible, adaptive and interculturally competent. <br/
The 15th UK and Ireland Branch IASPM Online Conference:London Calling, Jun 16, 2020
The traditions of music education are quite different between India and Australia. The West has a... more The traditions of music education are quite different between India and Australia. The West has an ostensibly ‘scientific’ approach to education since the turn of the 20th century and tends towards homogeneity, standardisation, and a deeply literate ‘mind’. India retains much of its oral past and is far less standardised and homogenised.While Australia has a strong conservatoire tradition in higher education, there is a comparable master-apprentice tradition that sits outside of mainstream higher education in India, these educational models lack industry engagement and don’t encourage an entrepreneurial approach, often leaving students ill-equipped for their future careers.It is no longer sufficient for music degrees to teach students virtuosity on their chosen instrument. The larger challenge is teaching students how to make their way in the world as professionals. They also need to think globally, connect globally, and be aware of opportunities on a global basis. This paper reports on a project that has been ongoing since 2015, between A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory (established in Chennai, India in 2008) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia. The project aims to assist music students in equipping themselves for the global economy, through a collaborative initiative that aims to internationalise and entrepreneurialise music education, at both institutions. The project is also supported by industry partner, Earthsync (organisers of Chennai’s IndiEarth Xchange, a trade event for independent music, film and media).The institutions have presented the Indian version of QUT’s highly successful Indie100 program at IndiEarth XChange annually since 2015. The event each year, involved staff and students from KM Music Conservatory and QUT, and high-profile Australian and Indian producers. Twelve local Indian independent bands were recorded and produced throughout the conference and delegates had an open invitation to attend the recording sessions.The final stages of the project involved QUT and KM Music Conservatory students working together online to launch, promote, and distribute the recordings on both local and international platforms using the extensive networks of all project partners.At the same time the Higher Education sector’s ‘internationalisation’ agenda recognizes that globally focused experiences and literacies are central to developing culturally competent professionals, capable of operating in diverse communities and environments. According to Goldstein et al. (2006) students are demanding study abroad that offers greater scope for exploring broader international career possibilities. While HE music courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, (the development of both professional and intercultural competencies), there are few empirical studies offering pedagogies and experiential learning, which address the gap for how to build international processes into the curriculum.In response to this agenda, QUT expanded the project as a study tour in 2018 and 2019 to include 15 Australian students who spent two weeks collaborating and recording with Indian musicians, as well as developing their entrepreneurial skills through curation of live events, and management of the Indie100 project and its subsequent promotion and online album launches. There are significant benefits resulting from this project, including the establishment of an ongoing exchange program that will feature parallel programs running at both QUT and KM Music Conservatory. Both programs are in constant dialogue allowing the programs to evolve, cater to both local and international needs, and facilitate ongoing student and staff exchanges. Ongoing data collection of participant experiences also show how deep immersion and a short time frame for delivering a successful project, is both confronting and rewarding for students, revealing how they adjusted their perspectives to operate both effectively within themselves and in interaction with others
Research BackgroundGiven the ever-changing nature of the music industry and the scarcity of emplo... more Research BackgroundGiven the ever-changing nature of the music industry and the scarcity of employment for musicians young people will need to consider self-employment and freelance work. Entrepreneurial skills such as networking, opportunity recognition, risk-taking, and creativity are key to transition to careers beyond high school and/or higher education. This research challenges traditional notions of classroom music to find a pedagogical approach that nurtures self-directed learners in authentic environments.Research ContributionVermilion High is an innovative, and real-world learning environment that brings together university music, music production, and music business students, and connects them with local high schools. Thirty high school students across South East Queensland submitted their original song for the potential to have their song mentored, recorded, produced, promoted and digitally released through the university student-record label, Vermilion Records. The project took place over a five month period, which included a pre-production phase, a week long recording phase, and a final promotion and release phase. Research SignificanceVermilion High provided an opportunity for high-school musicians to be professionally recorded and promoted, and digitally released on streaming platforms internationally. The project has so far received over 15,878 social media impressions. The model exposes young musicians to new practices, new audiences and new knowledge, and the high-intensity ‘record-label’ environment provides university students with a real-world experience that will hopefully make them work-ready and resilient. The significance of this research is that the ‘art’ of entrepreneurial practice is not practiced in a heuristic educational environment; rather, it is learnt experientially in business. <br/
This paper reports on a collaboration between the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (Bris... more This paper reports on a collaboration between the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) (Brisbane, Australia), the KM Music Conservatory (Chennai, India), and industry partner, Earthsync (Chennai, India) since 2015. The project is informed by an existing experiential learning model and research project, the Indie100, which previously ran for seven years at QUT. Within the Indian context, the project centres around an intensive, publicly visible, music recording program held over four days. Each year, twelve independent artists/bands are selected through an application process and invited to participate in the project in Chennai. These artists work with professional producers from both Australia and India to record a compilation album. The album and artists are promoted by both QUT and KM music business students, and distributed on major streaming platforms to an international audience. Indie 100 India, brings together knowledge and experience from industry partners, professional...
Indie100 Showcase at the IndiEarth XChange Sessions, Oct 30, 2020
Research BackgroundPrior to the digital era, higher education’s role was to prepare graduates for... more Research BackgroundPrior to the digital era, higher education’s role was to prepare graduates for the local and regional economies, but now with a click of a mouse, the local workforce has become global. While Higher Education music and creative industries courses are acknowledging the shifting requirements for graduates entering creative careers, there are few studies offering international, project-based learning, which addresses the gap for how to build international processes in the curriculum. Research contributionThis project builds on the success of a QUT-funded project called the Indie 100 (2009-2015) – recording and promotion of independent artists in a week-long publicly visible event. For both QUT and Indian students, the project serves as an intensive ‘classroom’ for students and brings them in contact with the intensity of a commercial production environment. Over a two-week period, students curate four live shows featuring Australia-India musical collaborations. They coordinate and capture the Indie100 recording event, working in assistant recording-producer roles and as session musicians. Music business students are responsible for the promotion and digital release of the album. Research significanceThe project is founded on the belief that the future of music education in the H.E Sector relies on a system of experiential facilitations that lead to the development of sustainable communities of practice among teachers, students, local musicians and industry. The collaboration exposes musicians to new practices, new audiences and new knowledge, and the high intensity environment gives students a real-world experience that will hopefully make them work-ready, entrepreneurial and resilient. <br/
This book addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills... more This book addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the professional music industry. It uses extensive data from a long-running research project where high school students were invited to start their own business venture, Youth Music Industries. Not only did this act as a business venture, but it also functioned as a learning environment informed by the concepts of practice and social capital. Exploring how entrepreneurial qualities were developed, their learning was subsequently captured and distilled into a set of design principles: in this way, a pedagogical approach was developed that can be transferred across the creative industries more broadly. This book will be of interest and value to scholars of music education, as well as those preparing students for the creative industries.
The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New d... more The music industry is undergoing the most radical changes it has faced in almost a century. New digital technologies have made the production, distribution, and promotion of recorded music accessible to anyone with a personal computer. People can now make high-quality digital copies of music and distribute them globally within minutes. Even bastions of the established industries, such as EMI and Columbia, are struggling to make sense of the new industry terrain. The whole employment picture has changed just as radically for people who wish to make a living from music. In Australia, many of the avenues that provided employment for musicians have either disappeared or dramatically shrunk. The advertising industry no longer provides the level of employment it used to prior to the Federal deregulation of the industry in 1992. In many places, new legislative pressures on inner-city and suburban venues have diminished the number of performance spaces that musicians can work in. Just as qu...
Kelman follows nine students aged between 15 and 17 years old across a three-year period of self-... more Kelman follows nine students aged between 15 and 17 years old across a three-year period of self-directed learning as they run their own music business, staging music festivals, running a venue, and curating a youth music conference with industry partners. Through interviews, meeting debriefs and Facebook interactions, Kelman asks what negotiating and organisational skills do students learn through an education designed to foster entrepreneurial capacity in the music industry, and how did this learning occur? The findings from this chapter highlight the positive and negative impacts that social capital had on the students’ skill development. In the first year, students were able to set and achieve goals using the school as a resource to achieve some early successes. Given more autonomy and the introduction of industry partnerships in the later part of the design, students accrued greater cultural capital and were able to participate in decision-making, learned to negotiate with indu...
Scholars in the music education field argue that skills and knowledge required for success includ... more Scholars in the music education field argue that skills and knowledge required for success include entrepreneurship, professional networks, technology skills and community development. However there are few studies of learning environments that are designed for this purpose and which could test their claims. In addressing this gap, this paper presents two case studies of innovative, real-world learning designs that have been deliberately engineered to foster collaboration, with grounded, realistic opportunities. The first case study, Youth Music Industries (YMI) is an organisation, operating since 2010 that was established by the teacher/researcher in collaboration with her high school students. The teacher’s aim was to establish a social learning environment where students could develop music industry and entrepreneurial skills experientially in a community of practice. The students’ aims were to create opportunities for young musicians across Queensland to perform, record, publish...
This design-based research project addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and... more This design-based research project addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the professional music industry. It analyses the work of a teacher/researcher who invited her high school students to start their own business venture, Youth Music Industries (YMI). YMI also functioned as a learning environment informed by the theoretical concepts of communities of practice and social capital. The students staged cycles of events of various scales over a three-year period, as platforms for young artists to engage and develop new, young audiences across Queensland, Australia. The study found that students developed an entrepreneurial mindset through acquisition of specific skills and knowledge. Their learning was captured and distilled into a set of design principles, a pedagogical approach transferrable across the creative industries more broadly.
Kelman guides the reader through the phases of her learning design using the steps of Design-base... more Kelman guides the reader through the phases of her learning design using the steps of Design-based Research (Reeves 2009). The purpose of design-based research as the chosen methodology has been applied to develop educational principles based on empirical evidence of the way in which students learn music industry skills in a real-world music business, student-led enterprise. Kelman unpacks the contextual aspects of the curriculum design which focus on the core business of the YMI student enterprise; an annual four-stage, ten-hour music festival; managing and booking an all-ages venue; and delivering an annual youth music industry conference. She describes how these events were staged several times over a three-year period, each time growing in size, complexity, and outreach through her design interventions. The students are introduced in this chapter, and information related to how their learning was captured is also discussed.
In the late 1990s, the emergence of the digital era posed enormous challenges for the music indus... more In the late 1990s, the emergence of the digital era posed enormous challenges for the music industry, but afforded the development of new business models and creative platforms on which artists can build their careers. There are implications for music industry education in the higher education sector. If what we need to know today is likely to be out of date tomorrow, what then do we teach? And if a successful music industry career requires not just domain knowledge, but experience and the development of a more implicit and entrepreneurial suite of skills, then how do we teach it? This paper aims to evaluate and propose a re-design of the music industry unit at the author’s university through interviews with students who have completed the unit, and music industry educators from the USA, UK and Australia. Consistent themes included practical experience, engagement with industry, student-negotiated assessment, and the development of entrepreneurial skills. The data also revealed mixe...
Running down a dream: You can have a music career , 2023
On the 13th June, 2023, I was invited to share some of my research stories at the QUT Women in Re... more On the 13th June, 2023, I was invited to share some of my research stories at the QUT Women in Research Showcase, at the Gardens Theatre, Brisbane, Australia. I thought I would share some of my thoughts here because it took quite some time to consolidate all these things I do; why I do them, how all these activities are all connected, why I'm so passionate about it all, why I devote so much time to it, and to really consider that might work might actually have some impact beyond the space that I am so immediately connected to. Anyway - it was an amazing exercise to ground myself back in this teaching-research nexus and set some pretty insane goals for the future! Lots to come!
[slide 1 Vocational report from 1959] I found these images a few years ago when we were putting together my dad’s eulogy. This was 1959, Dad was finishing school. An informally-trained jazz pianist with dreams of being a radio announcer or a professional ballroom dancer. According to this vocational guidance report, he was suited to insurance or accounting. So he worked very hard in sales, and when behind a piano was free, happy, and at peace. I was therefore encouraged to follow my passions. My dad was so proud of me being the first person in the family to go to university, but also that I was pursuing a career in music, a path he was never able to take. My musical identity is largely entwined with notions of what Burland et al refer to as having a ‘musical calling, emotional attachment and growth mindset, which has provided me with the motivation to overcome the challenges of this profession, because a musician without a ‘gig’ is a really sad thing, and the perils of freelance labour and technological change, with a pandemic and a cost of living crisis thrown in for fun, this can have it’s toll on not only a positive career outlook, but well-being. My research develops pedagogical approaches that nurture resilient, self-directed learners who are equipped to deal with the challenges of this career. Learners who have future foresight thinking. I design authentic learning environments in partnership with students with a collective vision of producing outcomes and impact beyond our own learning. Within these learning environments, I create interventions which lead to problem-solving, creativity, resilience, adaptability, collaboration, industry awareness and intercultural competence. My pedagogical models are transferrable across the creative industries, and applicable in both higher and secondary education. [Slide 2 Vermilion Records] Vermilion Records. Is one of my key pedagogical projects. Australia’s first student-run record label set up in 2017. Students from across music, production, film, dance, drama, entertainment, business, health, creative writing, journalism, design, all come together to find creative ways to develop, manage and promote emerging artists from across Qld. The sheer number of creative outputs is astonishing. Numerous live shows at recognised venues, a plethora of music videos, hundreds of recorded outputs doing well on streaming platforms, music magazines, and student-designed merchandise, all of which happens because as students revealed in research interviews, the stakes are high, the responsibility is real, the rewards are great, and it can only be achieved through collaborations built on trust, reciprocity and shared vision. One of my research interventions was a high school song competition where successful winners are produced, recorded and promoted by Vermilion Records. Now in its 4th year, we have put out over 40 tracks by young people aged 14 – 17. Listen to this track by a young Maori artist from Marsden High. She didn’t even know that doing something you love was possible at a university. “you don’t know what it’s like living in these shoes, you don’t know where I’ve been or what I’ve been through”…This is what I mean about creating impacts beyond my students learning. [Slide 3 India] One of my funded projects has been to take the record label students to India, who in collaboration with young Indian Musicians are given the agency to collaborate, and create new musical products. My data consistently reveals how students adjusted and adapted to operate effectively within themselves and with others, can articulate cultural difference, - - demonstrating empathic adaptive and flexible behaviour and affective attitudes of openness, curiosity, discovery and respect. Observe this student interaction in Chennai, India, where a QUT student learns about intercultural collaboration through the vehicle of songwriting. [Video] While music might still not be seen as an essential basic need, and certainly in my Dad’s case back in 1959, not a suitable career path, would we want to live in a world without music? So, I want to empower music students with a positive career outlook, by putting them in charge of their learning, and exposing them to a range of contexts and situations. I believe that this kind of music education will deliver the music professionals of the future who will address issues of diversity and representation, who will listen to new voices and set new professional guidelines and expectations.
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Papers by Kristina Kelman
[slide 1 Vocational report from 1959]
I found these images a few years ago when we were putting together my dad’s eulogy. This was 1959, Dad was finishing school. An informally-trained jazz pianist with dreams of being a radio announcer or a professional ballroom dancer. According to this vocational guidance report, he was suited to insurance or accounting. So he worked very hard in sales, and when behind a piano was free, happy, and at peace. I was therefore encouraged to follow my passions. My dad was so proud of me being the first person in the family to go to university, but also that I was pursuing a career in music, a path he was never able to take.
My musical identity is largely entwined with notions of what Burland et al refer to as having a ‘musical calling, emotional attachment and growth mindset, which has provided me with the motivation to overcome the challenges of this profession, because a musician without a ‘gig’ is a really sad thing, and the perils of freelance labour and technological change, with a pandemic and a cost of living crisis thrown in for fun, this can have it’s toll on not only a positive career outlook, but well-being. My research develops pedagogical approaches that nurture resilient, self-directed learners who are equipped to deal with the challenges of this career. Learners who have future foresight thinking. I design authentic learning environments in partnership with students with a collective vision of producing outcomes and impact beyond our own learning. Within these learning environments, I create interventions which lead to problem-solving, creativity, resilience, adaptability, collaboration, industry awareness and intercultural competence. My pedagogical models are transferrable across the creative industries, and applicable in both higher and secondary education.
[Slide 2 Vermilion Records]
Vermilion Records. Is one of my key pedagogical projects. Australia’s first student-run record label set up in 2017. Students from across music, production, film, dance, drama, entertainment, business, health, creative writing, journalism, design, all come together to find creative ways to develop, manage and promote emerging artists from across Qld. The sheer number of creative outputs is astonishing. Numerous live shows at recognised venues, a plethora of music videos, hundreds of recorded outputs doing well on streaming platforms, music magazines, and student-designed merchandise, all of which happens because as students revealed in research interviews, the stakes are high, the responsibility is real, the rewards are great, and it can only be achieved through collaborations built on trust, reciprocity and shared vision.
One of my research interventions was a high school song competition where successful winners are produced, recorded and promoted by Vermilion Records. Now in its 4th year, we have put out over 40 tracks by young people aged 14 – 17. Listen to this track by a young Maori artist from Marsden High. She didn’t even know that doing something you love was possible at a university. “you don’t know what it’s like living in these shoes, you don’t know where I’ve been or what I’ve been through”…This is what I mean about creating impacts beyond my students learning.
[Slide 3 India]
One of my funded projects has been to take the record label students to India, who in collaboration with young Indian Musicians are given the agency to collaborate, and create new musical products. My data consistently reveals how students adjusted and adapted to operate effectively within themselves and with others, can articulate cultural difference, - - demonstrating empathic adaptive and flexible behaviour and affective attitudes of openness, curiosity, discovery and respect. Observe this student interaction in Chennai, India, where a QUT student learns about intercultural collaboration through the vehicle of songwriting.
[Video]
While music might still not be seen as an essential basic need, and certainly in my Dad’s case back in 1959, not a suitable career path, would we want to live in a world without music? So, I want to empower music students with a positive career outlook, by putting them in charge of their learning, and exposing them to a range of contexts and situations. I believe that this kind of music education will deliver the music professionals of the future who will address issues of diversity and representation, who will listen to new voices and set new professional guidelines and expectations.