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| History : |
Previous Control Number: UA19 Australia's first music degree was awarded in 1879 by The University of Melbourne. The first Ormond Professor of Music, G.W.L.Marshall-Hall, arrived in 1891, and as a practical complement to his lectures he in 1894-5 established the University Conservatorium of Music. A comprehensive musical training, quite unlike the purely academic departments of European universities in its balance of practical skills and theoretical knowledge, became a characteristic of the University of Melbourne course from the outset. The second professor, Franklin Peterson, introduced a public examination system at the Conservatorium which led to the creation of the Australian Music Examinations Board in 1918. Today AMEB (Vic) Ltd is a University of Melbourne venture which examines nearly 40,000 young music students each year. The Conservatorium was the nucleus of a Faculty of Music created in 1926 (and retained its identity officially until 1975). At its creation, the Faculty (i.e. the board of the Faculty) was to consist of: the Ormond Professor, no more than ten members of the Conservatorium (teaching staff), two members of the Conservatorium Finance Committee, five persons outside the Conservatorium, the President of and one other member of the Professorial Board. On 6 April 2009 the Faculty was merged with the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts VCA to become the Faculty of VCA and Music VCAM. The present Conservatorium of Music, a graceful white building on Royal Parade, dates from 1909 and is classified by the National Trust of Victoria. It contains an elegant 350-seat concert hall, Melba Hall, with the finest acoustics for chamber music in Melbourne, and is supplemented by space in five other buildings, Zoology, Education, the Centre for Studies in Australian Music, the Early Music Studio and the Baillieu Library. |
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University faculties, University committee |
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