The free online workshops run on 8, 15, 22, 29 September 9am Canberra time and you can register here: admin@spor.com.au

In 1988, I wrote a musical with a Music teacher (Peter Hind) on the History of Canberra, the capital of Australia. The musical was called The Meeting Place. The word ‘ngabrra’ from which the word ‘Canberra’ is derived, means ‘meeting place’. The First Nations Peoples of Canberra knew this valley as where communities met. (https://www.nca.gov.au/education/canberras-history/early-history-act#).

The musical tells the History of Canberra over 12 time periods and documents the changes to the region and its historical significance. The musical was written and performed at the school over a week and sold out to audiences each night of parents and locals.

The purpose of the musical at a curriculum level, was that young people could study local history by experience rather than a text-book approach. This helped bring the school together in a Transdisciplinary approach as the Drama Department, Art Department, Music, English, Textiles, Technics and History Departments all worked together over six months to bring the musical to final performance. More than 250 young people participated in the performance as actors, make-up artists, prop makers, lighting, sound, multi-media and designers, costuming, script learning, musical/orchestra work and a host of support roles, all creating a sense of belong in the meaning of History. This is lived History, Annales History (https://safetyrisk.net/history-as-performance-understanding-safety-beliefs/).

One of the most important aspects of the nature of performance is learning by experience. It is in the experience of performance, where assessment is of little interest, that students learn through participation and all the elements of performance documented so well by Elam in The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama (https://archive.org/details/semioticsoftheat0000elam). You can see some of the young people below in performance. They are all now in their early 50s.

When young people learn through performance and experience, the breadth of education is unmeasurable. If you want to kill performance, just put everyone on a KPI plan. When enjoyment and lived experience become the motivation, the meaning of assessment disappears and the learning intensifies.

The benefits of learning through performance and live experience are one of the best modes of education and learning. Whilst text-book learning has its place, it doesn’t compare to all that these young people learned (through the hidden curriculum) over these six months.

One of the benefits of this musical was that participants learned the real meaning of meeting. This was anchored to an Indigenous understanding of meeting which is ecological, ontological, informal, non-assessable, Poetic and experiential. We see this idea of meeting captured in First Nations People’s art work that so often presents the circles and semi-circles of the Corrobboree. The Corrobboree is traditional Aboriginal Australian gathering where people interact with the Dreaming through song, dance, costume, and body decoration. This is what the musical encouraged. Through this musical the young people learned about the power of meeting (i-thou) not the power of holding meetings (https://safetyrisk.net/meeting-without-meeting/). Holding meetings is not meeting.

The whole experience of performance and musical experience is to learn through enactive thinking. This is where what you want learned, to be learned through embodied experiential learning. IN such learning no-one learns by ‘telling’ or lecture. Meaning and learning is absorbed unconsciously.

You can’t explain what is learned in musical performance by a set of propositions. There is no way to describe what is learned by co-ordinating with: the cast, crew, actors, singers, Historians, Language staff, support staff and parents in a community learning experience.

The power of the History was in the lyrics and the music of the songs and even now some 38 years later at school reunions, adults still recall the profound affect this had on their learning and education.

On of the things we focus on in SPoR is, enactive and Transdisciplinary learning. This is where 95% of all decision making is made. Such learning is absorbed and experienced through the body. It is felt, emotional and profoundly moving. Such learning is not brain-centric but body-centric.

If you want to learn more about this mode of learning you can register for the free online workshops starting on 8 September. Register here: admin@spor.com.au