Teen musos earn NCEA credits for stage work

Student performers like these working with James Reid from The Feelers could earn NCEA credits for their efforts. Photo / Jason Hailes

Budding pop artists can now earn NCEA credits for their songwriting and on-stage performances.

The Play It Strange charitable trust, run by former Split Enz musician Mike Chunn, has joined the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) to accredit students for their musical work out of school time.

Mr Chunn says the NZQA's endorsement of the programme is "ground-breaking" and will help push New Zealand music towards the "revered" status of sport.

Many parents are more inclined to let their children enhance their sporting skills than tinker away on a guitar writing a song, Mr Chunn says. The result is an undernourished music scene and a system that is starving youth of their imaginations.

When he asked a class of primary school students how many thought they could write a song, most raised their hands. In a senior school class, just two raised their hands. But most considered themselves "okay" at sport.

He says Play It Strange is about trying to reverse the "almost subliminal decline of the imagination".

The trust, which has been running since 2003, encourages high school students to submit their own songs to be judged by top New Zealand artists like Jordan Luck of The Exponents, and the top 40 are selected for the annual CD.

The organisation also holds a Band of Strangers concert in which high school students perform alongside some favourite New Zealand artists.

Mr Chunn said Band of Strangers, which was held two weeks ago, was the "ultimate performance to assess on".

"It's like watching a kid play rugby with the Blues and assessing his talent." Under the arrangement with the NZQA, students who participate in the concert or song-writing competitions are able to be assessed by experienced music teachers and an NZQA moderator to obtain credits towards their final NCEA grade.

The inaugural song-writing assessment session will take place next weekend in the Play It Strange trust's Parnell offices, where five teachers will sprawl the 200 CDs across the floor and analyse the composition of the songs.

About 60 per cent of the students who submitted songs are studying music at NCEA level but any NCEA student can gain points towards the year's pool of credits.

Nick Roberts, head of music at Kaipara College in Helensville, northwest of Auckland, said the song-writing competition also helped the students' writing skills and team work.

Last year, Play It Strange dubbed the college "school of the year" for having the most songs selected for the CD. Mr Roberts said the trophy was sitting in a prominent position - students were so proud of their musical heroes. "It's another string to the bow of the school, to the culture."

The chief executive officer of College Sport, Manoj Daji, said he thought it made sense to make qualifications more relevant to young people.

Participation in extracurricular activities had the added benefit of motivating students in the classroom.

But Professor Jacqueline Rowarth at Massey University, who has advocated encouraging high school students to do "the hard stuff", was disappointed to hear that resources had been put towards something that was not a priority for the country.

She pointed out that NCEA assessors do not attend science fairs, which are also optional and take up a large chunk of out-of-school time.

"I'm not sure why the music is getting special treatment," she said.

Professor Rowarth is concerned that a lack of encouragement into subjects like science and mathematics will limit the students' prospects and hinder the nation's growth.

NZQA deputy chief executive Bali Haque said this was not the first time students had been able to gain credits through extra-curricular activities.

Hospitality students have after-school workplace assessment, outdoor education standards have been granted for activities at school camps and students can also gain credits for kapa haka.