High notes?

Noemi Zarb talks to Dion Buhagiar as he scorns colonial music diplomas

Dion Buhagiar, head of the Music Studies Division at the University of Malta and resident organist at St John's Co-Cathedral, lambastes the LRSM Diploma (Licentiate of the Royal School of Music) as a "phoney" qualification.

"How can it be credible when unlike the courses at university there is no guarantee that a visiting examiner plays the instrument of the student s/he is assessing?" Dr Mro Buhagiar asserts that the citing of the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Manchester of Music and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music on the LRSM diploma is undone by the phrase "Examined in Malta." Therefore, the Licentiate status in no way equals the Associate counterpart. "We are made to believe that they are equal, but the reality is very different. Any Maltese LRSM holder who furthered his/her studies abroad has been through such a rude awakening; in England they have to retrain in performance at the Royal Academy."

The maestro speaks with the vehemence of a man who knows the feelings of being utterly deceived which made him determined to "wage war against colonial diplomas". Seeking a new life in Canada way back in 1973 led him to read for the first of his degrees culminating with his doctorate on the compositional technique of the Maltese classical composer, Francesco Azopardi, a project which he developed with Professor Floyd Grave at the University of Rutgers in the US.

The first steps towards this goal, however, were almost derailed since his LRSM diploma was not recognised so that he was not given any advanced standing, meaning he was not exempted from any first-year credits. "I felt completely cheated, humiliated because all those years of study and practice had led me nowhere.

"I still remember how David Kealing (then assistant dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto) derided my LRSM as worthless - a barb that stung even more bitterly given that he himself was British commenting upon an organisation which boasts of its Fellowship with the Trinity College of Music."

This experience turned him into "a rabid enemy" of the "futile" system perpetrated in Malta, yet Dr Mro Buhagiar also concedes that this experience tuned out to be "providential" because it introduced him to a world of top-notch music teaching. Prof. Douglas Bodle, (the dean of the organ department at the University of Toronto) proved a revelation.

"Barely five minutes into listening to me play the organ he told me that my technique was non-existent and my touch totally incorrect. Imagine I had never heard of articulation, phrasing or the importance of relaxation! Sometimes, we'd spend 30 minutes on just one bar." Dr Mio Buhagiar was also incredibly lucky to be in Canada at the peak of the Cold War since he had a host of defected Russian tutors including Walter Buchinsky and Oscar Moravets. The genius of these men opened up a world which delved heart and soul into harmony, counter-point, orchestration, composition as well as performance.

The influences he absorbed plus second and third degrees have enabled Dr Mro Buhagiar to teach harmony, counter-point, composition especially the sacred genre, the University Vocal Ensemble together with organ analysis - both traditional and Schenkerian. According to Prof. Marcello Sorge Keller, the Music Studies Programme is the only one to offer both type of organ analysis in the Mediterranean region.

But how is the Music Studies Programme contributing to the formation of a fully qualified musician? "Changes have been very gradual," Dr Mro Buhagiar explains. "Music Studies first featured in 1979 as part of the Bachelors in Education Degree. By the mid-1980s a general Bachelors Degree was introduced. This was a big step forward, but I still felt that an Honours degree was necessary to specialise in composition, performance and musicology rather than have a hotchpotch of the three." This became available in the mid-1990s.

Another 10 years on, limitations still hound students who play instruments such as the trumpet that have to be assessed by a visiting professor or overseas, the latter compelling the student to foot the bill. The lack of Maltese specialists points to the ongoing predominance of piano and violin when it comes to taking up a musical instrument, though children are slowly becoming more open to other instruments. No formal arrangement exists with foreign universities to send over visiting professors. A regular flow of student exchanges between European and other universities is still a dream.

All this clearly limits student exposure to a broader spectrum and evolution of techniques, trends and networking. The use of video conferencing to link up with foreign music institutions has been suggested - an avenue worth experimenting though it's not exactly conducive to teaching performance.

Apart from a shortage of human resources, cultural and financial constraints impede the Music Studies Division from growing into a fully fledged faculty of music. The lack of funds is so appalling that €600 could not be paid for Malta to participate in the Polifonia Group Conference held in Malta last October and which brought together the heads of 12 European conservatoires. The Polifonia Group is an offshoot of the Association of European Conservatoires. Participating in this conference could have built new contacts while following what's going on in the respective music institutions.

While private music tuition seems to be on the agenda of many children, a study published last week cites that 16.1 per cent of primary school pupils and 50.6 per cent of secondary school students do not have a music lesson. Does this explain the meagre number of two first-year students?

Although concerned by these results, Dr Mro Buhagiar still reiterates that the hold of a colonial system is keeping students from furthering their music studies at university, which despite its limitations offers internationally recognised degrees.

"Unfortunately, this misconception has not changed. The Music Studies Programme at university hasn't yet grown big enough to challenge this perception."