Eric Bryce AM

The memories start flooding back. It was early February 1958 and I had completed my first week as the first specialist music teacher appointed to the South Australian Technical High Schools – three days at Norwood Boys and two days at Croydon Boys. My previous teaching experience was as music master at Barker College, Hornsby in New South Wales where, for nine months, my main duties were as chapel choir master and organist as well as taking some music appreciation classes and piano students. I had come to Adelaide with my wife and children to enrol as a part-time student in the Bachelor of Music course at the Adelaide University, there being no music degree on offer in Sydney at that time.

The first week was pretty difficult at Norwood. Music was held upstairs in the old stable block on the same floor as the school canteen with a curtain being the only partition. The students sat on narrow stools that needed little encouragement to topple over. The sum total of equipment was: 30 red and blue Oxford song books, one obsolete record player and the mandatory piano. Students entered the music/canteen area via two noisy, wooden staircases that loudly announced the departure of one group and the arrival of the next. The music lessons were accompanied by the working sounds and chatter of the canteen staff.

With the great majority of boys having no musical background and showing little interest in singing the traditional English songs, I could feel instinctively that I had to produce a different approach if I was first to gain and maintain the interest of the main body of students and, second, to achieve any level of personal satisfaction. These were the days when it was proudly announced that every class would have one period of music – but what a task (and ask). The initial answer came with the remnants of a jazz drum kit that I had brought with me where previously, by playing drums and working on a milk run, I was able to study music full-time.

On Monday morning of the second week I assembled the drum kit and awaited the first class – 3EF. They swaggered in, some with smirks on their faces expecting no doubt the usual singing and listening lesson. Without introduction I launched into a jazz drum solo that featured tom-tom sounds. The effect on the students was one of stunned surprise and amazement. From that moment major disciplinary problems for me disappeared. It must be remembered that television had not been introduced in Adelaide in early 1958 and that is one reason why the impact on the school population was so great.

Of course the next challenge was to try and structure a valid music course that included as its rhythmic base the use of a jazz drum kit. As I used to say at the time – my problems with the students diminished in equal proportion to the increase in questions related to the validity of my methods. There was not a great amount of opposition from the school administration, teachers or the Technical High School hierarchy although, at the end of the year, there was a mention from above that ‘… care must be taken that the moral tone of the school is not lowered.’

Everyone seemed to be happy that the students were, for the most part, enjoying their music lessons. Although I was a one teacher department and took every class in the school for music, I cannot proceed further without mentioning the names of three senior teachers; Vic Adolfsson, Mel Clayton and Alex Gemmell gave me great support and encouragement during these early years. I remember them with much warmth and have happy memories of our association.

Ironically the impetus for the development of music in the school was helped rather than hindered by the absence of a technical high school syllabus. I was allowed to experiment and slowly principles of music education, relevant to the school and its students began to emerge. With the support of the headmaster, the school council and the parents’ and friends’ association, instruments were acquired and the practical, functional bias of the music curriculum was established. Music within the school gained credibility and the push for status parity with other subjects gained momentum.

I recall the period 1962 – 1966 with fond memory. During this time Norwood Boys and Norwood Girls combined to perform four original music plays written especially and expressly for our students. The shows were a wonderful example of the spirit of co-operation between the various disciplines in the school where the music, English/drama, art, physical education, woodwork and metalwork departments combined to produce four exceptionally entertaining and, for this era, unique productions of commendable educational and artistic standard.

The school was blessed with many talented, creative and enthusiastic teachers but none more than Walter Wellburn – books and lyrics, Ben Evans – producer, and Des Parker – sets and art work. Walter, with a wealth of experience in United Kingdom school drama, pantomime and operetta, suggested that the variety of skills and talents within the school body could be utilised to better effect. He set to and produced the book and lyrics for our first effort, The Big Top Show, with the plot based on a circus troupe. The show was produced with great verve and vitality by the dynamic, imaginative and highly energised Ben Evans who, because of my hospitalisation half way through the production, completed the score and took over the role of musical director.

The two act extravaganza show-cased the multitude of talent within the school and was deemed an unqualified success by the students, staff and the community at large. It was written for the students taking into account the level of performance difficulty that would challenge but allow the growth of a natural expression.

Of the numerous staff members who assisted in so many ways I would like to mention Bill Benton who offered us constant support. Bill was a pillar of strength at Norwood – a benevolent despot whose reward and punishment dictum was respected by staff and students alike. Walter and I wrote three more musical plays. Each one slightly more challenging in content and each brilliantly produced by Ben Evans. One, The Enchanted Garden, was selected for production in the 1966 Festival of Arts and performed by students selected from 28 technical high schools.

During this time classroom music continued to develop and the struggle to establish it on an equal footing with other subjects began in earnest. For example, I quote from the final paragraph of my music report for the 1961 Norwood Boys Technical School magazine.

Our immediate aims could be fixed in the following directions.

A permanent music room fitted with desks and chairs and used exclusively for music; the hiring of instrumental teachers who would be guaranteed their fees through official sources; the recognition of an interesting examinable music course and the eventual establishment of music in the school on an equal footing with that which art now enjoys.

(I still have the 15 school magazines – 1958 to 1972 – that reflect the occasional lows but numerous highs of my time at Norwood Tech.)

In 1965 Norman Dowdy was appointed as headmaster at Norwood. He was exceptionally supportive of music and all school activities. In 1966 with his encouragement and after eight years of experimentation with course material the magazine states:

History was made at Norwood this year, as for the first time, a special third year elective music class was formed to undertake the pilot course that, when instituted generally, will begin to put music on an equal footing with art and craft.

The first big step had been made and it was up to the newly-formed Technical High School Curriculum Committee to adapt, modify and refine the structure and content for general use.

Some of the teachers who played an important part in developing an initial technical high school music syllabus were Margaret Fee, Bob Davies, Elaine Sleath, John McMenamin, Gwen Hofmeyer and John Bone. The music teachers in the technical high schools in the mid ’60s were, I think, untrained in the sense that they had not attended a teachers’ college but, in most cases, they possessed the kinds of attributes that were essential for successful music teaching at the time: they were all good musicians; they were, as the saying goes, ‘street wise’ having earned a living in the commercial world before entering the classroom. They believed that music should be enjoyed and were willing to step outside tradition to find the answers. Finally, they had personalities that engendered a positive communication with young people.

Margaret Fee was a dynamic teacher and, while at Nailsworth Girls Tech in the mid ’60s, broke with tradition and introduced drums into her very broadly-based curriculum. Margaret went on to establish a very successful music department at Modbury Heights High School and then to the South Australian College of Advanced Education where her vast experience in classroom music served as an inspiration to a very fortunate generation of student teachers.

Both Gwen Hoffmeyer at Dover Gardens Girls Tech and Elaine Sleath at Croydon Girls Tech ran happy and effective music programmes. While teaching within their experience and strengths they gradually broadened their school’s music curriculum to include instrumental ensembles and ‘hands on’ practical classroom lessons.

I remember Bob Davies – deceased – of Nailsworth Boys Tech and later Para Vista High School as an exceptionally skilled teacher/musician who, with his quiet, unassuming, completely relaxed and underplayed manner guided his students to very commendable levels of achievement. Bob was a real soul mate and the fact that he was denied, in later years, wider recognition and promotion to senior master was a great disappointment to those of us that knew his work and his worth.

Of course there were many teachers who, in their own way, made great contributions to technical high school music in those early years. John McMenamin produced the Mitchell Park Boys Brass and Concert Bands that achieved a very high standard. He drew enviable support from the school, parents and community and created an institution that was widely respected. It reflected his qualities of leadership, energy and dedication. Wally Fee was a most colourful personality. His sense of humour, turn of phrase and classroom manner were unique and always resulted in a very effective music department.

At the close of the 1965 school year I had notched up eight years’ service. Very hectic, challenging and rewarding (that is, in every way but salary wise). At that time there was no avenue of promotion for music teachers. We were approaching the boom years where many young qualified teachers with skill were promoted to senior teacher after four years service. I had taken out my degree in 1962 and had skill marks well above the level deemed necessary for promotion. I approached a superintendent regarding the possibilities of promotion only to be told that, if I went and gained a major in some other subject, I could be made a senior master immediately. I went home quite depressed. It appeared as if those of us who wished to remain loyal to our subject would not receive recognised status.

To compound the problem there was not any night class work available for music teachers. I had my wife and three boys to think of and, as a family, we seriously considered moving to Canada. It was at this point that, owing to economic circumstances, I began to accept more work as a commercial piano player. This was never a preferred option but fate deemed it so and ironically it led to the development of a skill that, in future years, saw me freelancing in different capacities with the ABC as well as adding another dimension to the notion of how I saw music in education.

Elma Gerny had been headmistress of Norwood Girls when the boys and girls began combining for the musicals previously mentioned. I had always found her helpful and very supportive. I’m not sure in what year she became an inspector but during 1966 she was responsible for inspecting technical high school music departments. After observing a couple of my music lessons she asked me why I was not a senior master. I looked at her blankly as if to say, ‘You tell me.’ Her immediate comment was, ‘We’ll have to do something about that.’

And indeed she did because, before the year was completed, I received notice that as from February 1967 I would be promoted to acting senior spending fifty per cent of my time at Norwood and the other as a roving adviser to technical high school music departments. The promotion meant a great deal to me and I shall always be grateful to Elma Gerny for pushing for the establishment of that initial position. More important in the overall scheme of things, a precedent had been established and an avenue opened in secondary schools for promotion within the field of music.

It was with great disappointment that we learned on the grape vine that as from 1969 technical high schools would cease to exist and come under the banner of the high school administration. All technical high school administrators would be absorbed into Further Education, the new department directed by Max Bone intended to extend community education. Our fears were well founded.

Having spent years experimenting and finding some answers we were at last on the threshold of establishing a philosophy of music education that would have particular relevance to technical high schools. Now we were to start all over again with administrators who had little idea of our accomplishments and, in some cases, had little regard for technical high schools in general. But even so, by 1969, a lot had been achieved. There were at least eight tech high schools that had established music as a subject of equal status to other disciplines and an avenue for promotion had been opened for school music teachers.

In 1967 the school population at Norwood Boys reached its highest point of growth with 800 students enrolled. The headmaster at the time was Norman Dowdy. He had completed three years as headmaster and was to complete another one and a half before retiring from the service. A total of four and a half years which made him the school’s longest serving head during my time at Norwood.

Before continuing I would like to sing his praises. He was a headmaster who went out of his way to show genuine interest in students’ progress. He would leave his office regularly and be seen encouraging boys and admiring their work in the art and craft blocks. He was a great believer in positive reinforcement as a general teaching tool and his assemblies and magazine reports reflected this. He encouraged the imaginative and creative and did not consider it necessary to always ‘go by the book.’ Of course he loved to delegate duties and consequently needed and most times received strong support from his staff. Having served in the Technical Branch since 1942 he was at one with what the techs had to offer and did not see them as a poor relation to, or try to turn them into second class substitutes for, high schools.

But he was one of seven headmasters that served at Norwood Boys Technical High School in a 15 year period. This turn-over rate of leadership had a very unsettling and destabilising effect on the school and I believe led directly to its decline. There was no continuity of leadership policy and philosophy and the school in the early 1970s became a poor shadow of its former self. By comparison the headmasters at Croydon, Le Fevre and Mitchell Park (Bill Richards, Fred Vickery and Bert Mitchell), for example, were living legends in their schools and in the broader community. They had established and developed their policies over a long period of time and their schools became a positive reflection of their leadership.

I think that the technical high school system at its best was a good one. The unashamed notion that not all students can or need to follow the pursuit of a purely academic stream to attain an acceptable level of education that would equip them for a positive place in society was a mainstay of their policy. In their heyday they led the way out of the unimaginative and blinkered educational traditionalism with the trade, art, craft, physical education, and music disciplines displaying a positive, industrious, creative and highly effective approach to learning.

Of course the PEB stream was there but the bulk of students were not led to believe that the only access to a rewarding and fulfilling career was by treading that path. I was always impressed with the number of happy, well-adjusted and successful ex-students I encountered long after they had left school who had not shown a high academic inclination while at school. They were living proof that one did not have to justify one’s existence by competing in the lemming-like pursuance of an academic award to establish for themselves a purposeful and dignified role in society.

Society itself sometimes plays a negative role when the reaching of a status symbol and the ‘Keeping up with the Jones’’ syndrome blind the mind’s eye to an honest appraisal of a given situation. Thus, ‘My child attends the local high school’ comment, in those early days, inferred to the listener a sense of superiority as opposed to those whose children attended a technical high school. As so often happens over a period of time one voice becomes a chorus and the weight of opinion eventually cast its decision against the case for technical high schools. I think they were wrong.

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