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Zone magazine - the national UK music education magazine
Citation preview
zone
in colour
opinion
future dreams
the fms in belfast
project
a day in the life
report
product reviews
we
b &
mo
bile
july 2010 / digital issue 19
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3zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
zone
Sistema Scotand Big Noise, Sistema Scotland’s children’s orchestra
programme modelled on Venezuela’s El Sistema,
celebrated its second birthday on 6 June 2010.
Cathy Tozer reports on the programme and talks to
Nicola Killean, Director of Sistema Scotland
p9
Belfast DreamsDouglas Adamson and Cathy Tozer report on this year’s post-election
Federation of Music Services Annual Conference
p5
Fighting talkDeborah Annetts’ keynote address from musiclearninglive!2010
pulls no punches
p12
Sounding Board ‘If a government wants to change lives through music, they need to raise its profile as a
subject at Primary level’. Class teacher Janice Hadwin’s music education manifesto
p17
A Day in the Life of... Lawrence Reed, MA Composition Student at Bath Spa University
p19
Public-Private Partnership Nicholas Wilks reports on a Vivaldi performance project in Hampshire schools
p22
we
b &
mo
bile
july 2010 / digital issue 19
zone
Review: Musical Trixstarp26
Review: Recorder Rebelsp25
Editor
Cathy Tozer
Contributors
Douglas Adamson
Deborah Annetts
Janice Hadwin
Nicola Killean
Nicholas Wilks
Reviewers
Brian Cotterill
Cathy Tozer
Publisher
Ian Clethero
zonedigital is published by
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about zonedigital• zonedigital is the new online version of the national music education magazine,
zone, which was launched in 2001
• zonedigital is published online 5 times per year
• rolling music education news and events listings appear at
www.musiceducationzone.net
zonedigital main website publication address
www.zonemag.net
zonedigital is syndicated to other online networks including FMSbuzz
www.fmsbuzz.com
Next issue published September 2010
4 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 www.zonemag.net
Belfast Dreams
The Federation of Music Services’ Annual Conference – entitled ‘On the
Threshold of a Dream’ – took place in Belfast in June. Douglas Adamson
reports on the sell-out event which surprised many with its upbeat tempo and
the positive attitude prevailing despite the uncertain financial climate.
Spirits were raised when, just a few days prior
to the conference, the Government
announced that there were going to be no
changes to the Standards Fund Grant (now known
as the Music Grant) until 2011. This has provided
some breathing space for the FMS Executive and
their advisers to consider new business models,
possible revised structures and resource-sharing
with other music education bodies.
On Wednesday evening, 16 June, arriving at the
FMS conference, delegates were greeted by twenty-
five school children playing African drums in Lagan
Square outside Belfast’s Hilton Hotel. Directed by
the inspirational Nicky Sutch, Head of Percussion at
the Belfast City Music School, the children wowed
the audience with both African and Samba
drumming. BBC Ulster’s nightly ‘Arts Extra’
programme did a live link and interviewed Nicky and
John Witchell, FMS Chief Executive.
On Thursday, delegates were treated to another
musical extravaganza with a cross-province schools
group called ‘Celtic Fusion’ who melded djembes,
Irish Bodhran and Irish-Scots Lambeg drums with
instruments including violin, tin whistle, pipes,
concertina and keyboard. The group was
accompanied by girl dancers performing traditional
jigs, reels and hornpipes.
The conference title perhaps raised some eyebrows
– as many were thinking that the dream might turn
into a nightmare – but John Witchell sought to
dispel these doom-mongers, explaining that the
FMS membership had ‘been here before’ and that
they must see the changes ahead as opportunities
to strengthen the FMS’s position as the leading
5zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
‘Do before you get done to.’
6 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
levels and determine the ‘musical turn-ons of the
leading people in your local authority’. He also
stressed the need for ‘going flat out with
relationships, taking a positive attitude and sharing
knowledge’. Above all, he stated that: ‘You should
think for yourself and act for all.’ He also stressed
the interdependency that music education provides
and that this was the profound element that makes
music so special in the development and education
of children. Success for just some was not an option
and he called for the FMS to consider individual
membership of the organisation.
There were two discussion groups. Mark Phillips, the
Ofsted National Adviser for Music, did not mince his
words in the Thursday session, ‘Priorities for the
Future’, when he called for more honesty about ‘the
too many Primary schools where the provision of
music and singing was still not good enough… we
need to close the gap between high-performing and
low-performing schools’. He also thought that the
Wider Opportunities programme was not long
enough. Marc Jaffrey urged delegates to ‘tell their
stories about their Music Services’ successes and
to step up the dialogue with parents, schools and
local authorities… don’t be tribal on pay and
conditions… and learn to become cherished’. In the
same session, Deborah Annetts of ISM and
Christina Coker of Youth Music talked about working
together. ‘You are not a homogenous group’ said
Christina and Deborah reminded the audience that
‘91% of the public support music lessons in
schools’. Christina believed that real change would
only come from radical thinking and that the FMS’s
strategy was not yet clear. ‘Do before you get done
to’ was her prophetic statement.
On Friday, 18 Junethere was a panel presentation
of Music Service heads followed by discussion
groups where delegates were asked to list their
priorities for Music Services, picking one single
point to feed back to the audience. Interestingly,
provider of music education in our schools. ‘Our
expertise, quality of delivery and depth of resource
are unmatchable by any other organisation, the
FMS must play to its strengths. Music Services are
resilient and determined, flexible and responsive
and must take up the baton of leading and
managing change.’
Keynote speakers captured the mood of driving
change through taking personal control.
Inspirational speaker Roy Leighton was the
conference favourite with his message on planning
for the next three months not for many years ahead.
His personal anecdotes of his rise to fame and
fortune from a large, impoverished family were
testament to the power of self-belief and
determination to succeed. Sir Tim Brighouse, the
retired Chief Adviser for London Schools, gave, as
always, an intelligent, iconoclastic and witty address
advising Service heads to ‘set the weather’, urging
them to invest in professional development at all
7
there was little consensus amongst the ten
separate breakout sessions:
• Determine what we can deliver and NOT deliver
• Make KS3 music teaching a priority
• Enable more disadvantaged children to access
music
• More clarity on the Music Service offer
• Speak and sing out MS successes nationally
• Develop better relationships with teachers,
parents and governors
• Revisit pay and conditions (examine the Scottish
model)
• More staff development to enable better
relationship building
• Strengthen collaborations between Services in
the regions
• FMS to work more closely with government to
gain MS statutory powers as the commissioning
agent for music education
All the workshops were well attended and covered
subjects as diverse as Taiko drumming, new
business modelling, Music and SEN, Music Camps
in the Derbyshire Dales and more. Perhaps the most
popular was the new business modelling but this
also came in for some criticism as the work being
done by consultants Ernst and Young (who facilitated
the workshop) was still very much at the ‘work in
progress’ stage. However, valuable pointers were
given in challenging Music Services to examine their
fixed costs and look at ways these could be changed
in the light of budget cuts. Productivity and
determining Music Service income streams and
where profit lay also came under scrutiny.
On Thursday evening, delegates were invited to a
drinks reception held in Belfast’s magnificent City
Hall, an awesome Victorian building clad in marble
and carved oak. Donal Doherty, Head of Music at
Western Education and Library Board, conducted
the Derry Civic Choirs in a truly remarkable
performance of hymns and Irish love songs,
concluding with a moving rendition of ‘Danny Boy’.
John Witchell, on thanking Donal and the choirs,
said that they had taken to the audience ‘to
paradise and back’. This was no exaggeration!
zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
tunes – a jig, an air and a reel – and sending CD
copies to the other participants. Dancing teacher
Christa Darrall then worked with St. Cecilia’s
dancers to devise a dance sequence while Music
Service tutors Austin Gallagher (SELB) and Ronan
McKee (WELB) created the arrangements by the
simple process of jamming with the drummers.
Thus, the jig was underpinned by powerful Afro-
Celtic beats, the air provided a slower, quieter
central section and an unaccompanied drum
groove led into the final lively reel. The whole
thing came together in a three-hour rehearsal a
couple of days before the conference.
I talked to the participants before and after the
performance and their pride in being part of
‘Celtic Fusion’ was evident from their smiles and
excited chatter. 16-year-old Matthew Donnelly
who has been playing with SELB for five years
said, ‘It was interesting learning the drum beats
and listening to the traditional Irish music’. He
thought the performance was ‘the most
enjoyable part’ while Martha Guiney and Mairead
Savage (both 16) called it ‘outstanding’. Mairead
also ‘enjoyed the two different cultures of music’
and thought the project was ‘a unique
experience’.
Donal Doherty clearly shared the students’ pride
in their performance, calling it ‘the perfect way to
show the combination of cultures and the fusion
of all that with dancers and African drums’.
As the youngsters and their teachers hurried off
to catch their coaches while conference
delegates made ready to listen to the first
keynote speaker of the day, Head of Music at St
Cecilia’s, Fiona Logue, captured the mood of the
moment in her parting words: ‘It was wonderful
for the girls from St. Cecilia’s to have the
experience of working with pupils from other
schools and traditions. You just can’t bottle that!’
Cathy Tozer
This year’s FMS conference was a feast for the
ears. From the drummers who welcomed arriving
delegates to the choir who serenaded them at
Belfast’s City Hall, from the school band who
played for the after-dinner ceilidh to the harpists
who made next morning’s early start that little bit
sweeter, the standard was so high and the
delivery so impassioned that many were left with
memories that will last a lifetime. But the jewel
in the crown was undoubtedly ‘Celtic Fusion’, a
cross-cultural project and performance that
received a heartfelt ovation.
‘Celtic Fusion’ was the brainchild of conference
organiser and host, Donal Doherty, who
described it as ‘a musical representation of the
pluralist society that Northern Ireland has
become’. It took weeks of hard work to put
together the 20-minute performance involving
students from:
• Banbridge Academy, Banbridge, County
Down
• Our Lady’s Grammar School, Newry, County
Down
• Saint Cecilia’s College, Derry
• Southern Education and Library Board
• Western Education and Library Board
Teachers, tutors and pupils all pulled together to
devise, rehearse and perform this fusion of
traditional Irish music, dance and African
drumming. The traditional tunes were provided
by Cherry Mcdonald of Banbridge Academy
(bagpipes) and ‘Our Lady’s Traditional Music
Group’ (Irish flute, whistle, concertina, banjo,
keyboard and fiddles). Three students from Saint
Cecilia’s performed traditional Irish dances while
others joined SELB and WELB workshop
participants to play djembes, bodhrans, Lambeg
drums and percussion.
How was it put together? I spoke to Our Lady’s
Head of Music, Rosie Smyth, who told me it was
surprisingly easy, a question of choosing three
8 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
Photographs: Marc Marnie
9zone magazine digital edition 01 / mar 2010 © zone new media 2010
Scottish Executive as being in need of
regeneration and £120m earmarked for the area.
Problems are complex – a mixture of poverty,
unemployment, poor health and housing,
domestic violence and alcohol and drug abuse –
but
the
community of 5,000 or so inhabitants has
responded enthusiastically to Big Noise’s arrival
and, aside from the children’s involvement, there
is now an adult orchestra that meets once a
week.
So what have the last two years been like? It’s
difficult to tell from Big Noise’s website which
doesn’t appear to have been updated recently.
There’s lots about the first year in a document
entitled The Big Picture – Summer 2008-Summer
2009 which tells the story of the project from the
first day the children were given instruments to
their First Birthday concert, also at Stirling Albert
Halls. Along the way, children launched Big Noise
with a concert in a huge tent on the Raploch
Community Campus (a newly built complex of
schools and facilities which acts as a hub for
residents), recorded their own mobile ringtone
with help from the BBC Scottish Symphony
Orchestra and were invited to ‘Take A Musician
For a programme that was only conceived of
in 2006 and launched in 2008, Sistema
Scotland’s Big Noise has come a long way
in a short time. In an article in
heraldscotland.com, Keith Bruce called it ‘a
strapping two-year-old’ and certainly anyone
attending the birthday concert at Stirling Albert
Halls or watching video footage of the
orchestra on Big Noise’s Facebook page
couldn’t fail to be impressed by the sheer
scale of what Sistema Scotland has
taken on and achieved.
For those who don’t know, El Sistema was
established in 1975 by economist and
pianist José Antonio Abreu as a means of
engaging Venezuela’s many
impoverished children and young people
in a community music-making project
with a difference. The children were
immersed in an orchestra from Day One,
learning about music and instrument-playing
with their peers and growing, along the way, into
players of great skill and sensitivity. The project
had, and continues to have, an incredibly positive
effect on thousands of young people, focusing
their energy on something creative and beautiful
– orchestral music-making – and giving them a
musical education and a place to be away from
the streets. The Simón Bolívar Symphony
Orchestra, which is at the apex of the nation’s
system of 220 youth orchestras, has built up a
reputation as one of the most exciting ensembles
in the world and has been touring internationally
to great acclaim for many years.
In the UK, Sistema projects are up and running in
London, Liverpool, Norwich and, of course,
Scotland where Sistema Scotland launched Big
Noise – the UK’s first Sistema orchestra – two
years ago. Big Noise is located on the Raploch
Estate in Stirling, ‘one of the most deprived
places in Britain’ according to Guardian reporter,
Charlotte Higgins whose January 2009 article,
‘Now for a samba’, charts Big Noise’s first few
months. In 2004, Raploch was targetted by the
9zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
Home For Tea’. Big Noise’s team of musicians set
up a Summer School and After-School Club as
well as working in local Primary schools, Raploch,
Our Lady’s and Castleview, with children from
Nursery to Primary 3 (9 months to 8 years).
The Big Picture – Summer 2009-
Summer 2010 is currently in production
but won’t be published until September
2010 so as to include Big Noise’s first
cohort of woodwind, brass and
percussion teachers. These were
recruited at the end of the second
year and – after a two-week visit to
Venezuela – are currently designing
and implementing the next strand
of the Sistema model which is the
expansion from strings programme
to full symphony orchestra. In the
meantime, according to Director of
Sistema Scotland, Nicola Killean:
‘The second year has gone fantastically well
and the children are developing beautifully. Last
year when we had our transition from the Primary
1s who were going to join the After-School
Orchestra, we got over 70% children who started
and retained for the whole year which is brilliant.’
The programme is designed to grow each year
with the children. Thus, the oldest children at the
end of Big Noise’s first year (Primary 3s) carried
on into the second year as Primary 4s. At the start
of the third year, they are now Primary 5s.
According to Nicola Killean:
‘Next year, the age limit is going to increase a bit
more because we’re offering these new
instruments. So from next year onwards, it’s going
to be from birth to 11-12 years and then it’s going
to continue to grow as the children grow.’
She hopes that in five to eight years time they’ll
have children coming back teaching the other
children and explains that already older children
are acting as buddies for younger ones:
Big Noise in Scotland...
Sistema Scotland two years on
Big Noise, Sistema Scotland’s children’s orchestra programme modelled on
Venezuela’s El Sistema, celebrated its second birthday in June. Cathy Tozer report on
the programme and talks to Sistema Scotland Director, Nicola Killean
‘this is about social development, we’re
a social organisation and the orchestra,
for us, is the tool in creating that.’
of time. They work three days a week during the
academic year and full-time during holiday
periods when, according to Nicola Killean, the
children most need continuity. They are also given
ongoing training as part of their contract (in
everything from Kodály and Suzuki to readership
development and positive behaviour training) as
well as a period of observation and training in
Venezuela. This is important to Nicola because:
‘I do think that there is something about El
Sistema that you need to be there to understand.
To believe in it and to see the potential.’
Nicola herself has been to Venezuela four times
and is passionate about the El Sistema model:
‘There’s a feeling of constant momentum and
they are always busy, they are always working
harder than anyone you’ll ever have met. When
we were there, The Simón Bolívar Orchestra came
back from touring Europe on the Saturday. On the
Wednesday, they had Simon Rattle there
conducting a national children’s symphony
orchestra of about 380 children from all over
Venezuela. At the same time, they had Gustavo
Dudamel rehearsing an opera with the Simon
Bolivar A Orchestra and the Simon Bolivar Youth
Orchestra were going straight back into
rehearsals to put on another opera.
‘On top of that, they have 220 of these children’s
orchestra centres – nuclei – operating six days a
week all over the country, each with 3,000
children through the door every day. It just blows
your mind - in a good way! The momentum, the
Venezuelan spirit is that anything is possible. It’s
very much a can-do philosophy.’
Bringing that can do philosophy to the UK hasn’t
all been plain sailing. Sistema Scotland has its
detractors including those who feel that the
10 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
‘They’re all sitting next to a child and it’s like
having individual attention because as soon as
the teachers say, ‘Find your D string’ all of the
older children turn around and show the younger
children where it is and how to play it.’
Big Noise now works with 250 children per week
and has four different orchestras: a beginners’
orchestra for the children who are starting the
holiday programme; a chamber orchestra for
those who are showing particular promise and
two other orchestras where children of different
levels come together and play. During term-time,
teachers work in schools with Nursery children,
Primary 1 children and children with additional
support needs. Children in Primaries 2 to 5
attend the after-school programme on Tuesdays,
Wednesdays and Thursdays while individual and
duo lessons take place on a rota basis. During the
holidays, there are orchestra sessions every
weekday morning.
Apart from anythi ng else, this means that the
musicians who work for Sistema Scotland must
make a huge commitment to the project in terms
The Sistema Scotland Big Noise Orchestra
project features in musiclearninglive!2011,
The National Festival of Music Education,
3 & 4 March at the Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama, Glasgow
www.musiclearningive2011.com
Nicola Killean
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Big Noise Orchestra
www.makeabignoise.org.uk
Sistema Scotland
www.sistemascotland.org.uk
El Sistema Venezuela
www.fesnojiv.gob.ve/en.html
Nicola Killean, Sistema Scotland Director
project is undermining the validity (and therefore
funding opportunities) of already established
music education providers.
Nicola Killean is keen to emphasise that Big
Noise is first and foremost a social programme:
‘For us, this is about social development, we’re a
social organisation and the orchestra, for us, is
the tool in creating that. We’re not here to try and
take anything away from other arts or music
organisations.
‘I fundamentally believe that if we can make this
long-term and we can prove once and for all what
everyone believes – that the arts is a tool for
social change – then ultimately it will benefit the
whole sector.’
The social benefits of the programme are difficult
to deny and Sistema Scotland hopes to get the
next Big Noise centre up and running by Summer
2011 with a third planned for 2013. In the
meantime, with the new intake of woodwind,
brass and percussion teachers, Big Noise
Raploch is starting the summer holidays – and its
third year – with all the tools needed to create a
full symphony orchestra for the first time. Not bad
for a two-year-old!
11zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
Fighting talk
Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians, pulled no punches in
her keynote address to delegates at musiclearninglive!2011
The politicians have told us that the last ten years
have been very good for music education, with
a range of initiatives being delivered to redress
the impact of cuts made in the 1980s and 90s when
approximately fifty music services went under.
Remember, it was only in 1999 that the then Under
Secretary of State for Education Jacqui Smith
introduced the Standards Fund for Music, and so
much has happened since then. However, the
politicians now tell us it is time for cuts and change.
Here are just a few recent quotes:
• George Osborne has said ‘We will need to make
early in-year reductions in existing plans …
Programmes that represent poor value for
money … will all have to be cut during the
financial year’
• Nick Clegg has said: ‘We will be quite bold, or
even savage, on current spending’
• Gordon Brown has said ‘Labour will cut costs,
cut inefficiencies, cut unnecessary programmes
and cut lower priority budgets’
Just this week John Denham, the Community
Secretary, has claimed that ‘huge savings of
more than £20 billion can be made in the cost
of local services by looking at spending on all the
local public services in an area’
We are entering a period of great uncertainty, and
we need to ask ourselves what can we do to ensure
good quality music education is still available to
children. What are the things which really matter
and how can we work together as a sector to make
sure these survive, no matter which party is in
government, come 7 May 2010?
Music has been at the centre of celebration and
ceremony in every civilisation for thousands of years.
Music’s power to communicate all human emotions
has been a source of inspiration and consolation
throughout the world’s history. It has rich and diverse
patterns of rhythm and pitch and harmony – it is a
universal language that encourages and extends the
aspirations and ideals of all.
As John Ruskin said: ‘Great nations write their
autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of
their deeds, the book of their words and the book
of their art. Not one of these books can be
understood unless we read the two others, but of
the three the only trustworthy one is the last’.
The ISM is firmly committed to music education and
that commitment is based on the premise that
access to an excellent music education is a right for
all people, regardless of sex, race, creed, religion or
age. The UK has a musical heritage which it can
rightfully be proud of, and a great deal of this can
be attributed to the dedication, commitment and
professionalism of a very large number of teachers
and practitioners working in a wide array of settings.
So how does this aspiration compare with what is
being offered by the main political parties in the run
up to the general election? In the draft education
manifesto from the Conservatives, they talk about
a rigorous curriculum and exam system. The
proposal is to reform the national curriculum so that
it is more challenging and based on evidence about
what knowledge can be mastered by children at
different ages. In particular, the Conservatives wish
to ensure that the Primary curriculum is organised
around subjects such as maths, science and history
– there is no mention of the arts. There is also much
talk of ensuring that Ofsted adopts a more rigorous
and targeted inspection regime.
12 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
We also have the speech from Ed Vaizey, the
Shadow Culture Minister, which he gave at the
Yehudi Menuhin School on the 27th of January and
the very recently published Conservative Arts
Manifesto which proposes rationalising arts funding
in schools. In particular, the manifesto notes that
while there has been an emphasis on music in
schools, a blizzard of numerous initiatives has meant
that while the money is there, many people fall
through the cracks. They intend to consolidate the
funding streams for the arts in schools, and ensure
that the funding available is used to promote three
aims, namely: that every child in school will have the
opportunity to learn a musical instrument; that every
child has the chance to learn to sing; and that every
child is able to receive a solid cultural education.
The government’s proposals for education focus on
literacy and numeracy skills. The Children, Schools
and Families Bill, the latest education bill, is
currently in the report stage in the House of
Commons and still has all its stages to go in the
House of Lords.
There are two relevant components of the Bill for us:
the introduction of pupil and parent guarantees and
the introduction of the Primary Curriculum as
proposed by the Rose Review. To be implemented,
most of the regulations will need a ‘statutory
instrument’ to bring them into force. This is unlikely
to happen before the General Election. So this Bill
may not actually take effect. The Pupil and Parent
Guarantees set out entitlements that have to be
met but they do not necessarily come with any extra
funding and are not legally enforceable.
The guarantees give a music pledge, that every
Primary pupil should have the opportunity to learn
to play a musical instrument; and that every pupil
should have access to high-quality cultural activities
in and out of school.
The Liberal Democrats have pledged more money
for schools so that they can cut class sizes and offer
more one-to-one tuition. They have suggested an
extra £2.5 billion on schools. They feel the National
Curriculum is too rigid and want to replace it with a
more flexible minimum curriculum entitlement
offering greater choice and room for innovation.
Education is a hotly contested area with all three
main parties making education one of their key
priorities in the forthcoming election; and it is no
wonder that politicians fight over this particular
patch of ground given that twelve million of the
electorate have children, and all those children will
be going through the education system.
So education is all about votes. And, in the hurly-
burly of so much debate, it is all too easy for music
education to become lost. But it must not be lost. It
is too important to be lost.
To quote Plato: ‘Education in music is most
sovereign, because more than anything else rhythm
and harmony find their way to the inmost soul and
take strongest hold upon it, bringing with them and
imparting grace, if one is rightly trained.’
Music education has had significant support since
1999 when the government introduced the
Standards Fund for Music which is ring-fenced
funding, allocated to music education for Local
Authorities to distribute each year. Report number
2 of the Music Manifesto called for a commitment
to the Music Standards Fund until 2011 to enable
And it is not just music professionals who recognise
the importance of music education. The public
recognise its value as well. We recently
commissioned a poll through You Gov to establish
how much support the public give to music
education. The results of the poll were very
interesting. 91% of adults believe that every child
should have the opportunity to learn a musical
instrument in school.
And more than three quarters of the public back the
current level of funding for the Standards Fund. And
did you know, that when you break this down the
Standards Fund costs just 3p per person per week?
As a sector, we need to argue strongly for the
Standards Fund for Music to be maintained at least
at its current level, if not increased, to 2015. Not
only do we have a music education system which is
recognised as world class but we also have a
general public which is hugely supportive of music
education. We should recognise this fact and be
very proud. Perhaps music educators have been
hiding their lights under a bushel for too long.
Perhaps now is the moment for us to speak up
loudly and proclaim just how good music education
really is in this country and how much support it has.
Music education has become a political issue with
Ed Vaizey giving a keynote address on this subject
13zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
‘The Standards Fund is absolutely
critical to music education in this
country’
music services to participate fully in strengthening
and improving music education provision. It is
currently £82.5 million per annum. Responsibility
for using the £82.5 million Fund rests with each
Local Authority to enhance opportunities for pupils
to access high quality music education, giving
priority to instrumental and vocal opportunities at
Key Stage 2. The Music Standards Fund directly
levers in a further £136.5 million of investment in
music education, with approximately £25 million
from Local Authorities and a further £112 million
being contributed by schools, parents, sponsorship
and charitable support.
Without the leverage of the ring-fenced Music
Standards Fund, it is likely that a significant part of
the music education funding of £219 million,
together with infrastructure, would be lost. And
although infrastructure sounds like a boring word,
it is critical for it is only the infrastructure of Music
Services which can enable young people to come
together and work together in county-level
orchestras, ensembles and the like. The Standards
Fund is absolutely critical to music education in this
country. Let us not forget that before it was
introduced around fifty Music Services had been
lost because of inadequate funding. And now some
of those Music Services have reconstituted
themselves as a result of the Standards Fund.
to the Yehudi Menuhin School on the 27th of
January 2010.
In that speech, Ed Vaizey sets out his preliminary
ideas about music and cultural education. It is
commendable that he has decided that this is an
area he wants to engage with.
He identifies the ‘real problem’ as being a blizzard
of initiatives and states that he wants to bring
coherence, stability and long-term strategy to the
sector. Many of us would agree that there have
perhaps been too many initiatives, some of which
have not yet been assessed.
However, out of the blizzard, there have been some
real advances such as Wider Opportunities which
is supported by the Music Standards Fund and has
now been evaluated by Professor Anne Bamford.
The research demonstrated a number of positive
outcomes of the Wider Opportunities programme,
following a survey of Music Services, head teachers,
pupils and parents.
The evaluation of the Wider Opportunities
programme found that 96% of Primary schools
surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that it had
provided instrumental education to those children
who would otherwise not have received it. There
was overwhelming evidence that it had been an
enjoyable experience and that children’s confidence
has increased as a result of the programme. As one
pupil said ‘Sometimes we come in from playtime so
we can start early.’ This correlates with the research
which we carried out of our members. They told us
that Wider Opportunities had increased
musicianship and take-up. They told us that the
initiatives were viewed as helping deprived children
(boys in particular) become more involved in music
than they might have done. ISM members also felt
that initiatives like Wider Opportunities and Sing Up
had raised the profile of music in schools and in
society generally. And let us not forget that Wider
Opportunities has been made possible because of
the Standards Fund.
Sing Up has also been a successful and accessible
programme, focusing on Key Stage 2. Singing of
course is good for physical, psychological and social
well being, enhances a sense of group identity and
is great fun. Music is part of the Primary curriculum
and therefore it is the responsibility of Head Teachers
and Governors to ensure it is delivered. While Sing
Up has made a great impact, this must not deflect us
from holding Head Teachers to account for the
delivery of the music element of the curriculum. We
need to get to the stage where Primary schools can
deliver music by themselves with the support of other
groups rather than the other way around.
Ed Vaizey is right to ask the question, ‘Can my child
learn a musical instrument and, if my child is
talented, can I guarantee that they will be able to
sustain their talent?’ I would answer this question
by suggesting that if we are going to be sure that the
child can have access to all these things then Music
Services need to be a statutory requirement for each
Local Authority. It should not be left to their discretion
as to whether or not there is a Music Service in
operation. It should not be left to the Head Teacher
to decide whether music has an important role to
play in the school.
Ed Vaizey, in his speech, focuses on music
education being part of the cultural offering.
However, it is much more than this. Music is a
curriculum subject which helps to drive up
standards in schools. The Conservatives in their
education manifesto focus on Mathematics, English
and Science so is there a risk that music could be
edged out from the curriculum?
This would be most unfortunate given that not only
is music an intrinsic good, but in many studies,
music has been proven to assist in academic
achievement. For example, in the UK, in a sample
of non-selective specialist schools, specialist music
schools achieved the best results in A Level Physics
in 2007. A recent study, using data from over
45,000 children in the USA found that associations
between music and achievement persisted even
when prior attainment was taken into account. If
music is not included in the Primary curriculum,
there will be a negative impact on the other subjects
which children are learning.
Music education should be part of the education
entitlement for all pupils. It is also creative – as, of
course, are other subjects. But at its core, music
education has its own pedagogy underpinned by
knowledge, skills and understanding. It is an
academic subject in its own right. What we do not
want to see is music education being moved from
the DCSF to the DCMS. Such a move would make
music far more vulnerable to cuts and
marginalisation and indeed, cease to be a
curriculum subject.
I am strongly of the view that to make the most of
your creativity you need to have the skills and
knowledge to underpin that creativity. I was really
struck by this on reading the recent tributes to the
fashion designer Alexander McQueen. He learnt his
skills at the Savile Row tailors Anderson & Sheppard
and then later studied at Central St Martins. He
needed those very precise tailoring skills; he
needed to know the rules before he could start
breaking them. The same is true of music.
There are more facts and figures which are relevant
to music education. Music contributes significantly
to the UK economy; and the creative economy as a
whole makes up 10 percent of the UK’s GDP.
Currently, there are 1.97 million people working in
the creative sector. By 2013, it is estimated a
further 100,000 jobs will have been created. It is
also a fact that performing arts graduates are more
likely to be employed than most other graduates. No
wonder then that it was the Creative Economy which
was the only part of the economy which grew during
the recession. We should be nurturing this sector
and ensuring that we have the skills and the talents
with which to continue to support and grow it.
One of the things which comes up again and again
when I speak with music educators is the feeling
that there is a lack of professional development. The
breadth of music education from antenatal music
classes for babies to community choirs, individual
instrumental lessons for people of all ages to the
formal requirements of the school curriculum,
recording studios and rock schools to universities
and conservatoires, demonstrates the challenges
of creating a high-quality workforce who can deliver
a high-quality music education.
Of course, there are opportunities for professional
development but the reality is that isolation as a music
teacher is a real problem. Even music teachers
teaching within schools on a permanent basis can
find themselves feeling isolated from the rest of the
music world. Music teachers must feel they are
properly supported so they can continue to work as a
musician with their students and not just as a teacher.
Since music education relies on a workforce which
extends far beyond classroom teachers, it is
imperative that everyone involved in delivering music
education has both a thorough grounding in
understanding how to promote learning but also
access to high quality CPD on a frequent basis. Music
education in schools and higher education needs to
be underpinned by strong models of reflective
practice that empower quality teaching and learning
and reflection should be adopted within all stages of
teacher training and professional development.
According to figures collected by the DCSF, there
were 6,500 full time equivalent music teachers
working in secondary schools in England in 2007 of
which only 87% had a relevant post A level
qualification. Whilst this is higher than art and
design, it scratches the surface of the skills deficit
in music teaching. This is further compounded
when the demands of large-scale projects such as
Wider Opportunities and Sing Up are taken into
account. A major challenge for music education is
how to attract more highly skilled musicians from all
genres of music to undergo some form of rigorous
professional teacher training.
This is very apparent when one looks at conservatoire
students. Currently, only a small minority of graduates
from conservatoires gain QTS and research indicates
that their interest in becoming school music teachers
ranks extremely low compared to other career
choices in music. Surely it is time for music education
elements to be incorporated into conservatoire
courses to help change the attitude of these students
about music teaching.
Alongside all these various strands of music
education, we must not forget the importance of
music technology. There are some people who
believe that the growth of music technology is the
most fundamental change in the history of western
music since the invention of notation in the 9th
century. The music education sector must embrace
these challenges and ensure that they have the
skills to deliver a music technology curriculum
suitable for the future.
There is a shortage of published research in this
field, and yet, in terms of the Creative Economy and
the needs of the country, technology is going to be
a major player. We badly need to understand the
role that technology could play and to ensure that
we have the skills to deliver it.
This leads me to my final point: lifelong learning.
Why should music educators just be engaged in
teaching the young? We are all living longer. The
average age at which men in this country can expect
to live is 77.5 years and 81.7 years for women. The
days of permanent employment with just one or two
employers during a career are long past. The risk of
unemployment is a constant threat. Many people
decide to pursue a freelance career rather than
steady 9 to 5 employment. As the population seeks
a more flexible lifestyle, focusing more and more on
a work-life balance which is healthy and nurturing,
so the importance of lifelong learning increases.
Every human being is born with a certain level of
musical potential and music education must reflect
this. Access to music education must be available
from the cradle to the grave.
The ability to engage with music is just as important
to older people as it is to younger people. Engaging
in music can prevent illness, reduce the symptoms
of depression, improve overall well-being and give
people a new sense of purpose. As just one
example of this, Kuljeet Rana, a participant in a Sing
for Your Life programme run in Dartford said ‘The
music sessions relax me; they relieve my stress and
I feel that I am in a different world’.
Our recent poll commissioned from You Gov reinforces
this. The poll found that there is demand for learning
music with 62% of adults wanting to learn or already
learning a musical instrument or singing in a choir.
Given this demand, there is a clear need to cater for
adult music education. We need those working in
music to link up and ensure that all people, regardless
of age have the opportunity to engage with music.
The same is true for young children and parents.
There is clear evidence that new parents who adopt
singing at home improve their children’s social,
emotional and musical development and I am
delighted that both the Labour and Conservative
parties have committed to expanding the provision
of Sure Start centres.
There is so much wonderful work going on in music
education. Our music education is envied across the
world, and we should all be justifiably proud. Yes,
there may be the odd issue over coherence and
linkage. However, the music teachers I meet are
totally committed to providing a top-quality music
education to their students whatever their age,
whatever their background.
So coming back to my opening question, in a time
of political and economic uncertainty with the threat
of cuts, what should the music education sector do?
• First, we must proclaim that music education in
this country is of an international standard and
needs fighting for
• Second, we need to campaign for the Music
Standards Fund, namely ring-fenced central
government funding. The public back the
funding and we need to take action as a sector
to secure it to at least 2015
• Third, we must ensure that music remains part
15zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
‘Every human being is born with a
certain level of musical potential and
music education should reflect this’
of the National Curriculum. Music education is
not just a cultural offering. It is a subject in its
own right, the same as chemistry or maths. It is
not just about finding your creativity, and having
musical experiences. It is about progression in
learning and therefore it must maintain its
rightful place within the DCSF portfolio.
• Fourth, we need to hold Head Teachers to
account for delivery of music in the curriculum
and take steps to ensure Head Teachers fully
understand the benefits of a music education.
• Fifth, we need to create the workforce of the
future who will continue to make an
extraordinary contribution to the Creative
Economy and, to do this, we need coherent
professional development.
• Finally, we should celebrate the diversity in our
field. I, personally, have never been able to
understand some of the distinctions which are
made between different types of music. Music
is music. As musicians, our role is to ensure that
it is of the very highest quality and that the music
education which runs alongside it is also of the
very highest quality.
In this way, we can ensure that generations to come
can take part in, engage with and understand music
and appreciate it for its intrinsic value. And if there
is any doubt about this, remember we want life to
be more than solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.
To quote Plato again, ‘Music gives a soul to the
universe, wings to the mind and life to everything’
and ‘If a man neglects education, he walks lame to
the end of his life’.
www.ism.org
Sounding board
Key Stage 1 class teacher Janice Hadwin argues the case for Primary music education
to develop their musicianship skills and for them to
regard themselves as musical.
Compared to what is available today, I had a very
dry and sparse music education and I am not a
trained musician. Rather, I have discovered my
musicality in adulthood and although I will never
perform competently as a ‘musician’ – say, for
example, in an orchestra – I do regard myself as
musical and able to take part in musical activities
such as singing in a choir, playing in a group etc.
I was lucky enough to find my singing voice with Sing
for Pleasure which gave me an excellent
introduction to developing my voice and also
teaching young children. I have completed lots of
training for teaching music to Primary-aged children
including courses with Sing for Pleasure,
Manchester Music Service and The Voices
Foundation. Discovering my own musicality
developed and changed me significantly in many
ways; it improved my inner confidence and esteem,
helping me understand and develop my ability to
17zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
Iwas present at the final musiclearninglive!2010
Q&A forum on 26 February. Several topics came
up about which I feel very strongly and, although
I only spoke briefly, I have carried on thinking
through my thoughts and am happy for these to
have a wider audience!
I am a part-time Key Stage 1 teacher (in an Infant-
only school) and work for Sefton Music Service one
day a week as a classroom music teacher. I feel
absolutely passionate about the right of every child
Primary children and their muisic teacher participating in musiclearninglive!2010
express myself emotionally and giving me more
understanding about who I am as a person.
I feel there is a huge gap in our society’s perception
of what being ‘musical’ is. The first thing a lot of
Primary teachers (and parents) say to me is ‘I’m not
musical’ as though being musical is something for
the ‘talented’ or ‘experts’ or ‘specialists’ which is
just not true. I wonder how many people regard
dancing to music as being ‘musical’! I do think we
are on the right track when Paul Collard (in his
musiclearning!2010 keynote speech) talks about
involving parents. If parents are singing/
playing/dancing, children will follow suit.
Music is a skills-based, developmental subject that
needs to be taught in a systematic way with regular
practice, consolidation and progressive introduction
of new concepts, vocabulary and symbols that fit
with levels of development of the children (in a very
similar way to literacy and numeracy which is
probably why music goes hand in hand with the
three Rs).
If, for example, reading were only taught once a
week at best, there would be an uproar because a
significant proportion of children would not learn to
read fluently. I would also take a bet that the
majority of those children would be from
disadvantaged backgrounds. Does this ring any
bells from Paul Collard’s speech?
If we really want to revolutionise our music
education and give our children a music education
that leaves them with competent musicianship
skills and awareness so that they regard themselves
as ‘musical’, we need to look at the way music is
taught in Primary schools by day-to-day
practitioners. I have seen fantastic results in the
levels of musical ability and awareness in my Infant
children after a Voices Foundation Programme that
worked closely with class teachers over a year to
deliver a comprehensive skills-based music
curriculum. (We could not afford the second year so
were not able to continue a full programme after the
first year.)
18 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
There is evidence to show that those children who
learn a musical instrument perform better generally
in school and especially in numeracy and literacy.
These children are also learning music in a regular
and systematic way and the Wider Opportunities
Programmes that are most successful are those
where the class teacher is committed to practising
and consolidating through the week in between
lessons. I am concerned that the recent Rose
report seems to throw music into an arts umbrella
that leaves interpretation of the music curriculum
as very woolly.
Most Primary teachers can teach numeracy and
literacy standing on their heads and yet INSET time
is spent over and over again looking at these areas
and trying to make sense of the endless new
initiatives and assessment and target processes
and APP and tracking (in numeracy and literacy) and
small group support to raise children’s levels of
performance in numeracy and literacy to improve or
maintain league tables of SAT’s results etc., etc.
In my experience, very little time is spent by
government training teachers in subjects which they
are less confident teaching. Imagine the effects on
literacy and numeracy if musical skills such as
auditory memory skills, auditory discrimination skills,
reading visual symbols and so on were developed
(and funded) in the same way as the numeracy/
literacy hour and new Primary curriculum (already
the old Primary curriculum!). Teachers know how to
teach numeracy and literacy – give it a rest!
The solution to good music teaching in schools is
not to send in Ofsted inspectors to ensure music is
being taught. A lot of teachers don’t teach music
effectively because they haven’t the confidence or
haven’t had appropriate training. They need time
and help, not inspecting.
How many music services offer INSET to whole
school staff regarding their music teaching in
Primary schools? Imagine what could be taught in
Wider Opportunities Programmes if significant
musicianship skills and awareness and
‘If we really want to revolutionise
our music education....we need to
look at the way music is taught in
Primary schools by day-to-day
practitioners’
understanding were already in place. This is
achievable if taught systematically from Nursery
with the intention that children will become
musicians in their own way, just as we teach them
ferociously with the intention that they will become
readers and writers and mathematicians in their
own way.
I believe this is the way to a revolution in our music
teaching and this is the way to making millions more
children music makers and more rounded
individuals. Educators who are not music specialists
need to be made aware of the nature of the subject
and how it needs to be taught effectively. I wonder
how many Primary teachers were at
musiclearninglive!2010 as opposed to Music
Leaders/teachers. If a government wants to change
lives through music, they need to raise its profile as
a subject at Primary level.
musiclearninglive!2011 takes place on
3 & 4 March at the Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama, Glasgow.
Thanks to support from Creative Scotland,
places are available for Primary teachers
at specially subsidised rates.
For programme details and bookings
please visit
www.musiclearningive2011.com
4.30am I’m downstairs rummaging around with
some percussion while being careful not to wake
the family. I’m getting some weird and interesting
sounds out of scratching the edges and hitting the
sides. I can’t sleep so I fix up the portable CD players
and megaphone with batteries and test them out.
Will anyone turn up? Will the weather let us perform
outside?
5.30am I return to bed much more relaxed.
9.00am I stroll to Oriel Hall in Larkhall, Bath, where
my Community Music piece ‘5 ways’ is being
performed at 12 o’clock to launch the 2010
Larkhall Festival. The doors are locked so I huddle
up in the cold and think about why I’m doing this.
My MA in Composition at Bath Spa University has
led me down a path of developing improvisation
frameworks for community events. I want ‘5 ways’
to realise and reflect the five key objectives of the
Festival – engaging local schools and the
community; celebrating Larkhall; unlocking
creativity and developing skills; creating something
interesting, entertaining and important; and having
fun – using five distinct layers of sound:
1 Sounds of the village recorded by pupils from St
Saviour’s Junior School reflected back from
portable CD players and speakers mounted on
Bath’s famous pink milk float (I call this piece
‘the noise manufactory’)
2 Pupils from St Saviour’s Infants’ School
performing a series of rhythmic chants inspired
by Larkhall and accompanied by percussion,
including the use of objects found in the village
3 Local musicians and members of Bristol’s Cube
Orchestra interpreting an improvisational
framework designed for the event
4 St Saviour’s Junior School playing atmospheric
percussion - often in a sequence or cross-rhythm
5 The bells of St Saviour’s Church ringing
something different – including an awesome
'firing' of the bells
19zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
A Day in the Life of...
Lawrence Reed, MA composition student at Bath Spa
University
Saturday, May 1 2010 was the culmination of ‘5 ways’, Lawrence Reed’s Community Music
composition project for the village of Larkhall, Bath
20 zone magazine digital edition 18 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
21zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
10.00am It’s clear the weather is going to be
unpredictable so I opt to hold the majority of activity
inside the hall with some of the children processing
in and out. I arrange chairs in a semi-circle for the
performers and meet with festival organisers.
Photographers and video-makers arrive and start
setting up. Apart from making a record of the event,
we are creating a video installation as part of next
year’s festival.
11.00am My two daughters turn up with friends
and instruments. Members of the Cube Orchestra
arrive along with local musicians. I have to say that
getting musicians to commit to an unpaid
community event has been the hardest part of the
project but at last I can relax – our scratch orchestra
is taking shape!
11.20am We chat through the form of ‘5 ways’ –
essentially designed to move with the church bells
and link together the children’s percussive sounds
and chanting. The frameworks involve simple
guidelines around which players may improvise. I’ve
been working with these as part of my MA, perhaps
most notably the Acrophobia project in Trafalgar
Square where over fifty musicians turned up to
interpret a grid of notes while I conducted from the
Fourth Plinth. In that case, there was no contact
with the musicians beforehand – just the exchange
of the framework – so even having ten minutes to
run through some interpretations is a luxury.
11.30am Juniors from St Saviour’s arrive. We’ve
been working on the use of original percussive
sounds together and in sequences. An interesting
part of this work has been linking it in with the
sounds we recorded around the village two weeks
ago. That was a riot – fifteen children with three
microphones recording all sorts of sounds and
making a few of their own along the way! We
explored the very nature of sound and the concept
of what is ‘noise’ or ‘note’ and what falls in
between: ‘node’. We all became acutely aware of
the lack of silence anywhere and the richness of
sound around us.
11.45am I find a couple of mates who are prepared
to wander round with portable CDs playing (or
‘reflecting’) the sounds back into the environment
they came from. One last check outside and I see
the milk float has arrived and is blasting out the
noises the kids have recorded: the rustling of a crisp
wrapper, the hum of the local bus, an amazing
spontaneous velcro ensemble!
11.50am St Saviour’s infants gather with their
teacher, Sophie. The infants have been a real joy to
work with and one of the keys to this is that Sophie
has enthusiastically embraced the project and
carried the children along with us. The infants are
divided into five groups, all with a different chant of
their own devising. The words are designed to evoke
Larkhall while the rhythms are linked to the other
themes. In workshops, we’ve explored complex
counting games and cross rhythms and the
children’s aptitude has been a source of
amazement to myself and their teachers. They’ve
brought ‘made’ and ‘found’ percussion – brightly
painted cardboard shakers and drums, dustbin lids
and sticks to beat them with. Suddenly everything
looks very festive and there’s a buzz of excitement
as parents and festival-goers take their places on
chairs or crane their necks at the back.
12 noon My nerves and reservations slip away as I
pick up my megaphone, startle everyone into
silence and we’re off…
12.20pm Everyone makes their way outside,
chanting, playing, plucking, banging. The bells are
reaching the crescendo of their firing, the CD players
and milk float are blasting out the recorded sounds,
the kids launch brightly coloured helium balloons
into the sky and with a final roar it’s all over.
In terms of my own learning and the MA in
Composition, the results have been diverse. In
teaching the infants various mathematical rhythmic
models and creating chants, I’ve been amazed at
their natural ability.
I really think there is room to develop this further
with crossovers into vowel sounds and more. During
the collection of sounds from the village with the
juniors, I’ve been struck by what children notice and
how they categorise the sound around them. Also,
how they embrace the ‘noise, node, note’ model
and are quickly able to apply it. Involving the church
bells with their octave of notes in G was a terrific
experiment as well.
The project demonstrates how layers of sound from
a variety of sources can be assimilated and
overlapped while reflecting the same local themes.
I do believe it validates the idea of simple
improvisational frameworks and I shall continue to
work on this.
So… what about the performance?
The really important thing here is that there is no
right or wrong execution of an experimental
framework like ‘5 ways’. You can listen to a
recording and make judgements about the ‘music’
but the performance is all about the ‘here and now’
and the project is all about the process rather than
the product.
On reflection, I believe we went a long way to
achieving our key objectives: engaging local schools
and the community, celebrating Larkhall, unlocking
creativity and developing skills, creating something
interesting, entertaining and important and, above
all, having fun.
Further information
You can check out details of this project,
including recordings and the ‘5 ways’
improvisational frameworks, at
http://www.lawrencereed.com/events02.php
Details of the Acrophobia project can be found
at http://www.lawrencereed.com/events01.php
22 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
One of the most important principles of
musical outreach is using any resources
you have and using them to match a need
in the community. It sounds an incredibly obvious
thing to say but there is often resistance to it,
particularly when the resource is unique.
Winchester College is the only school in the UK to
have retained its original foundation of trebles and
they have a unique name – Quiristers. The statutes
drawn up by the school’s Founder, William of
Wykeham, over 600 years ago laid down the
provision of 16 Quiristers to sing services in the
College Chapel and, although their activities now
include external concerts, tours and recordings,
this still remains the heart of what they do. This
means that they are part of a choir in which they
sing treble (assuming their voices last) until they
are 13 or in Year 8.
In Winchester’s state schools, children make the
transition to Secondary school two years earlier
and, for boys in particular, this often signals the
end of any interest they may have had in singing.
It takes a rare courage to sing treble in Secondary
school. Singing can too often be associated with
what you do in Primary school, a sign of immaturity
or ‘geekiness’.
The Quiristers offer an opportunity to bridge this
gap, not least because they do continue singing
treble for another two years and take great pride
in it. Their repertoire includes secular as well as
sacred music and, for all their uniqueness, they are
refreshingly normal children with normal interests.
The question is how to bridge this gap in practice.
It is important to be realistic. There is no way that 16
boys can effect a revolution in singing in Hampshire
just because they are brilliant singers whose age
bridges the gap between Primary and Secondary
school. Any project would need to start at Primary
school level and track these children through into
Secondary school – not an easy task. The children
will not all go on to the same Secondary school, for
a start, although many of them will.
The way this project was developed was through
contacting Hampshire Music Service, my employer
when I was Director of the Hampshire County
Youth Orchestra (my post before I went to
Winchester College). We brainstormed ideas for
what we could do – what Winchester could offer
and what was needed in local schools. The
conclusions we reached were encouraging.
Winchester College could offer varied and plentiful
rehearsal and performance venues, boys singing
throughout Secondary age range (Quiristers being
of particular value in demonstrating bridging the
gap between Primary and Secondary schools) and
experience in choral repertoire.
Hampshire Music Service was happy to provide
organisational and administrative back-up (a real
godsend), connections with other musical work in
the county and established (and excellent) working
relationships with Hampshire-maintained schools,
a central role as Sing Up Area Leaders and
experience to older boys at Winchester College
wishing to learn and teach skills in musical
leadership.
We quickly settled on the idea of working with a
Secondary school, Wyvern College. Wyvern lies
south of Winchester in Fair Oak on the outskirts of
Eastleigh, which itself lies just north of
Southampton. The Director of Music Bryan
Postlethwaite and I agreed that the main aim
should be to focus on the transition between
Primary and Secondary schools, involving Wyvern
School Choir, Wyvern Community Choir (which
includes parents and staff), together with Wyvern’s
six feeder Junior and Infant schools. The scale was
ambitious but it had an enormous advantage in
working with partnerships and a structure which
already existed.
The concert would last about an hour. The
second half would consist of a performance of
Vivaldi’s Gloria with the combined choirs of
Wyvern Community Choir, Wyvern College Choir
and around 100 Key Stage 2 Juniors from Stoke
Park, Fair Oak, Durley and Upham. The first half
would comprise a number of short items,
including two or three items for Infant singers,
with the Quiristers incorporated into the joint
choir.
Public-Private Partnership:
Vivaldi at Winchester College
Nicholas Wilks, Master of Music at Winchester College, describes a performance project bringing
together schools in Hampshire
10 things you should knowabout Music Services…
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Music is working – over 2 million children are taught successfully by Music Services to play and sing every week
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4,000 bands, youth, school and county orchestras and ensembles
64
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Music Services work with children throughout their educational life: fostering a culture of rigour and aspiration, helping them progress on each step of their musical journey
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3Music Services have over 12,000 trained, qualified teachers working with children to attain the highest standards in and through music education
1 2Music Services are the backbone of music education – without them few children would have instrumental and vocal lessons
There were a number of reasons for choosing
Vivaldi’s Gloria, not least the fact that the work was
written with young voices in mind. There were also
the advantages that the Baroque idiom is both
demanding and engaging – the young singers
relished the challenges of learning an unfamiliar
style, singing in Latin and making sense of words
which celebrate a feeling of goodwill, regardless of
religious belief. Above all, the Gloria is hugely
enjoyable to sing. It is the type of music which has
a life of its own, needing only the smallest prompt
to spring into life and guide its performers to an
exciting realisation of the spirit behind the notes.
The Vivaldi also meant that we could include young
Hampshire string players, a ’cello continuo player
and a trumpeter from Winchester College, with
Hampshire Music Service teachers leading the
sections. There was a great bonus for singers and
players alike – Hampshire Music Service has
recently acquired a number of Baroque bows
which all the string players used and played
without vibrato – a marvellously stylish effect.
The logistics of the Vivaldi choral rehearsals were
challenging. Because Stoke Park and Durley are at
some geographical distance from Wyvern, I had to
alternate my visits to each area and, with a two-
week rotation between Fair Oak and Stoke Park, I
only saw the same children for 6 out of the 12
rehearsals. There was a real question as to whether
this would be enough time to learn all the material.
We found a pragmatic answer to this which was to
focus on a small number of choruses, including the
outer movements so that the children had the
satisfaction of starting and finishing the Vivaldi. I
also made a recording of the joint items for the first
half so that this could be used for rehearsals which
I was not taking in person.
I was also concerned that the children would forget the
music after a two-week gap between rehearsals. Their
ability to retain new and difficult music was
extraordinary. Although the learning itself took a long
time and wrong notes were alarmingly quick to establish
themselves, it was thorough and picking up where we
left off two weeks before did not prove to be a problem.
Towards the end of the rehearsal period, I included in
my visits a number of Quiristers who were doing this kind
of work for the first time and, throughout the Easter term,
I had the indispensible assistance of a boy at
Winchester College, an organist who wants to develop
his understanding of outreach work and whose
contribution to the success of the project (particularly in
some gospel repertoire) was invaluable.
More difficult was sorting out the repertoire for the first
half of the concert. I was anxious that the Primary and
Infant school children should enjoy themselves
through musical games and warm-up exercises and
that we should not be focusing too early on the
repertoire for the concert. We decided to incorporate
these musical games and warm-up exercises into the
performance by getting the children not merely to
demonstrate what they had been doing but to teach
their parents how to do it in the concert itself. We used
an Australian call and response welcome song to bring
the singers onto the stage, then taught the audience
how to match actions with consonants – alternately
standing and sitting whenever they sang the
consonant ‘b’, clapping on the vowel ‘o’ and so on.
The concert itself was a memorable occasion.
I was extremely relieved that using the Australian
welcome song to usher the singers on stage was
effective and that the choreography for the African
songs actually worked (I am the world’s worst
dancer so the children had to take a spectacular
leap of faith to believe that my direction would pay
off). For Hampshire Music Service, ‘It had such a
blend of elements and people and was truly
inclusive as well as being somewhat 'out of the box'
– with a great result in both 'halves' of the event.’
As for the Vivaldi itself, the experience is best
summed up by a member of the choir who wrote
to me afterwards in these terms:
What a fabulous evening! I’ve never considered
myself a singer and asked Bryan [Director of Music
at Wyvern College] who the choir was for. ‘Anyone
– to boost the endorphins.’ I consider my
endorphins well and truly boosted! Thanks for being
gentle with us. The majority of us have never read
music and we never dreamt we’d perform in Latin!
I do not think there can be much more eloquent
testimony to the importance of this kind of work
than that.
www.winchestercollege.org
wyvern.hants.sch.uk
24 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
OK, first up, a confession: I taught recorders for six
years but only to Year 2s. It was frustrating,
entertaining and hard work. I had all the usual
problems: finding a decent place to teach (the drum
teacher had the Music Room that afternoon so we’d
end up in the Dining Hall or the Parents’ Room or the
Library or… you get the picture); engaging 6-7 year
olds with a book that was written in the 70s; dealing
with the dichotomy between what the children would
have liked to do and what their fingers were physically
capable of doing and so on.
The hardest bit was – as always – getting the group
to concentrate and that’s why a scheme like
Recorder Rebels would have been if not a godsend
then a definite Big Help.
I say not a godsend because the scheme is aimed at
Years 3-6 so my Year 2s would have quickly run out
of things they could play. There are 13 pieces to learn
and they move from ‘Mister B’, which is a Reggae-
style introduction to Note B, through ‘Blow The Blues
Away’ (G, A, B, C and D) to ‘Life’s A Beach’ (D, E, F, F
sharp, G, A, B, C, D – see below).
When I first looked at the scheme, I wondered how
the authors expected pupils to pick up the fingerings
so quickly until I remembered that it’s not aimed at
Year 2s with tiny fingers and that when I briefly taught
Year 3s I was amazed at how much easier they found
the whole process.
And, of course, it’s taught over the course of a year.
The scheme is broken into six units – one per half
term – covering five areas of musical learning:
• Warm-ups: songs, games and rhythmic starter
activities
• Rhythm work: flashcards, notation reading and
Dalcroze activities (see example below)
• Song repertoire: suggested songs in a variety of
styles
• Instrumental: pitch flashcards, fingering and
technique (see example below)
• Instrumental repertoire: performance pieces
and suggested listening
In this sense, it can be used in a Wider Opportunities
context and although the authors recommend that
‘ideally a specialist instrumental teacher should
teach the scheme’, it is set out in such a way that any
musically minded Primary teacher could do so
equally well.
I think it’s great. Contemporary, challenging and fun,
I can imagine it makes teaching and learning the
recorder ‘cool’ (possibly for the first time in history). I
know my Year 2s would have loved to be Recorder
Rebels. Heck, I quite fancy being one myself.
CathyTozer
Editor
product review
recorder rebels
product: recorder rebels
what: ks2 whole class recorder scheme
teacher book & flashcards; pupil book
by: nathan theodoulou, samantha spence
and tara franks
price: £29.99+VAT (teacher bk + flashcards)
£6.99+VAT (pupil book)
£200+VAT (classroom pack - teacher
book, flashcards & 30 pupil books)
from: cambridge education ltd
www.recorder-rebels.com
020 7527 5829
25zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
26 zone magazine digital edition 19 / july 2010 © zone new media 2010 / www.zonemag.net
I’d never been asked to review a board game before.
New music, books, CDs and concerts, yes, but a
board game was a first. I love board games but
nevertheless decided to consult the experts – six
Year 5 boys from my form at school.
Musical Trixstar is a game for 2–6 players or teams,
the aim of which is to move around the board
starting at the time signature and finishing at the
double barline. Along the way, musical questions
and challenges are encountered, arranged in
categories from Adagio (easy) through Moderato
(medium) to Vivace (hard).
The game is very straightforward to play and
certainly great fun. We all found the Adagio
questions rather too easy but some of the Vivace
questions were pleasingly taxing for my 10-year old
games testers! We found that a game usually lasted
about 45 minutes (perfect for wet lunchtimes) and
the boys learnt a lot along the way.
I was impressed with the sturdiness of the game’s
construction, from the well-moulded musical instru-ment
playing pieces to the quaver counters and the board itself
with its spinning central wheel – well designed.
After a few games, I found that the boys at school
had adapted a few of the rules and their ideas
certainly make sense. They decided that they
product review
musical trixstar
product: musical trixstar
what: educational board game
by: musical trixstar
price: £44.98 including p & p
from: www.musicaltrixstar.com
info@musicaltrixstar.com
+44 (0)1629 700289
Do you have a product or publication for review?Would you like to become a reviewer?
Please email reviews@zonenewmedia.net
or visit www.zonemag.net/reviews
shouldn’t be allowed to use Mentor or Pass cards
when playing Accelerando (speed) rounds as this
made the game too easy. They also decided that All
Play rounds were too problematic and instead made
these into two-player ‘duels’.
Once we had established these House Rules, we
played the game regularly for a couple of weeks. We
didn’t tire of it (as many of the questions were
refreshingly different) and even ended up with a
league table in the classroom.
This is a great game: it’s fun, educational and, at
times, quite taxing. I believe that it could be a real
hit in any school with Primary age children or to have
at home. I particularly enjoyed one question which
required me to make the sound of a horse…
Brian Cotterill
Director of Music, Lanesborough School
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