Robin Stevens

Robin Stevens was formerly Associate Professor of Music Education in the Faculty of Education at Deakin University, Burwood and is now a Principal Fellow in the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Faculty of the VCA and MCM at The University of Melbourne. His early school music teaching appointments included Director of Music at University High School, Parkville.

Robin Stevens completed undergraduate degrees in music and in education and then a PhD (1978) at the University of Melbourne with a thesis on the history of school music in NSW and Victoria, 1848-1920. Reflecting his interest in

music education history, Robin has published in The Australian Journal of Music Education, The International Journal of Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, and The Journal of Research in Music Education, as well as writing several historical entries in The Oxford Companion to Australian Music. He was Founding Editor of the Australian Online Journal of Arts Education, Research Editor of The Australian Journal of Music Education, editor/compiler of the Bibliography of Australian Music Education Research 1936-2013 and a member of the Editorial Boards of the International Journal of Music Education (Research), Music Education Research International, Research Studies in Music Education, Australian Kodaly Journal and The Asia-Pacific Journal for Music Education. He was also Editor of Music in Action, a magazine for Australian music educators.

Robin Stevens is a member of the History Standing Committee of the International Society for Music Education, is a past president of the Australian Association for Research in Music Education, and has been Chairperson and then Treasurer of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Society for Music Education. His university teaching has included pre-service teacher education, graduate and post-graduate music education courses, and supervision of Higher Degree by Research students in music education. He was Principal Investigator for the Music Council of Australia’s research project on “Trends in School Music Education Provision in Australia” (2002-03) and has served as a member of the Steering Committee for the National Review of School Music Education (2004-05), of the Australian National Music Workshop Advisory Group (2006), of the Australian Government’s Music Education Advisory Group (Chair 2008-09) and is a member of the School Music Action Group (sMAG). Robin was also a member of the Board of Directors of the AMEB in Victoria.

He is co-editor of a book entitled Origins and Foundations of Music Education: Cross-cultural Historical Studies of Music in Compulsory Schooling (published by Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd, London, 2010) with Gordon Cox of the University of Reading.  This book is currently in preparation for a second, expanded edition to be published in 2015.  He is also compiler/editor of ISME’s International History of Music Education website.