The Power of Music Education Programs in Schools
The importance of music in our society needs no explanation. It is a universal language used for well-being, community, creativity and, more importantly, education. The music industry contributed £4 billion to the UK economy in 2021 and is empowering students of all levels to become more motivated and confident learners. Music education gives students a lifelong advantage and offers them benefits ranging from uncovering hidden passions and social development to academic achievements. Due to these merits, a new emphasis has been placed on music programs in schools in England as part of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education (NPME). This article aims to discuss the benefits of musical educational programs in schools and how they impact student development. Why music education is more vital than we may realise? The power of music is more far-reaching than originally realised but music curriculums around the UK are under threat. The Ofsted 2023 Report on Music Education outlined a shocking reality for many institutions: “Many school leaders reported that in the last few years they had decided to reduce the extent to which they were subsidising instrumental lessons, because of wider pressures on school budgets. Others had stopped providing instrumental and vocal lessons.” Even more shocking is that approximately half the primary schools visited did not currently offer any instrumental or vocal lessons. Learning about music and having the opportunity play is a critical part of a rich and rounded education. Outside of nurturing creativity and emotional intelligence, music is influential in many aspects, including: Cognitive Development Having the opportunity to play a musical instrument is critical in developing language, motor skills, enhanced memorisation and collaboration skills – especially when started early. Academic Achievement Research demonstrates that young people playing a musical instrument showed better academic outcomes and progress than those not playing. Emotional Wellbeing Music provides a unique outlet for self-expression and creativity, fostering a positive emotional environment within schools. Social Skills and Teamwork Musical education often involves collaborative experiences that contribute to the development of essential social and teamwork skills. What is the government’s plans? The NPME lays out a vision that enables all children and young people to learn to sing, play an instrument and create music together, whilst also having the opportunity to progress their musical interests professionally. This ensures that children in key stages 1 to 3 have at least one hour of classroom music teaching, with options to join your school choir, vocal group or ensemble. This is alongside opportunities to take music qualifications in secondary school. It also outlines how schools should support interests in music education outside of their curriculums, whether that means going to live concerts to listen to live music by your local community or performing outside of school. What can young people get involved in outside of school? There are currently 120 Music Education Hubs (MEHs) in the UK that are designed to support the musical aspirations and education of young people. These are supported by £75 million of central government funding to ensure that every child aged 5-18 has the chance to sing, learn a musical instrument, and take part in rewarding music experiences. Some hubs have a budget set aside for commissioning work and have a company of teachers from the music industry who deliver all manner of learning services to community groups, art organisations and schools. What can you do as a Music Educator? Keeping students engaged is your responsibility as a music educator. Utilising these tools and methods will have you on your way to becoming an invaluable advocate for music education: Ensure a diverse musical offering Offering a variety of instruments is a good way to keep your students pursuing music education and teach diversity of creativity. If you’re fortunate enough to be able offer lessons for larger instruments such as the cello, investing in cello insurance will help protect your investment for other students to enjoy for years to come. The same applies to any other instruments in your collection. Share your success on social media Utilise social media or school communications to promote any classroom accomplishment. This provides hard evidence of how musical programs have impacted your students and the real-life benefits. Getting your students’ families involved will help influence advocacy in your wider community. Familiarise yourself with local education funding Make sure you get up to date with the policies related to music education that will affect your institution. It’s also recommended that schools cultivate relationships with local government policymakers to keep the best interests of their students at the forefront of decision-making. Read more QA Education news
Jo Brand backs Glasbury Arts project to provide free harp tuition
Two big names from two very different parts of the arts world – Jo Brand and harpist Catrin Finch – feature in a new short film telling the story of a Glasbury Arts project providing free harp tuition to students in a secondary school on the Welsh borders. The film, released tomorrow (Nov 17), has been made thanks to the passion and commitment of award-winning cinematographer Richard Greatrex (Shakespeare in Love, A Knight’s Tale), who gave his time and expertise to enable Glasbury Arts, a small community charity in mid-Wales, to shine a light on the project and raise both awareness of the project and funds to enable its expansion. Harps in Schools features Catrin Finch, Head of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music and comedian Jo Brand, talking about how Glasbury Arts, founders of the annual international Glasbury Arts Harp Summer School, set up the experimental project to provide free harp tuition to students at Gwernyfed High School, especially those whose families cannot afford to pay. Catrin and Jo are joined in the film by students and parents explaining what the project has meant to them. Funding for state schools to provide free music tuition for young people ended in the mid-nineties when the government removed music from the core curriculum and most, not all, local authorities completely cut the funding. Today, if a state school wants to provide music tuition it has to charge parents, meaning that the majority of young people do not even consider learning to play an instrument. Harps in Schools provides a unique opportunity for young people, whose parents cannot afford to pay to experience the pleasure and satisfaction of a playing a musical instrument – “the beginning of a music service in our part of Wales” declares Catrin Finch. Visit glasburyarts.co.uk/film or visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSnOxDkWLYY to watch Harps in School, a short film made by award-winning cinematographer Richard Greatrex and his team about this innovative project. People can donate to what Jo Brand describes in the film as ‘such a good cause’, either via the link on-screen or by sending a cheque made out to Glasbury Arts Ltd at 5 Twin Oaks, Glasbury-on-Wye.
How Digital music project is boosting young communities
Craig Berens, COO at YMCA Newark and Sherwood, explains how the organisation’s Digital music project is helping to develop creative skills among young people. In 2008, 83.3% of young people aged 11-15 participated in arts and crafts activities. This number has fallen by almost 16% in the last ten years, according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. In fact, this year is the first time that less 11-15 year olds took part in the activities than those aged 5-10. Arts form a major part of the early school curriculum, helping young children to express themselves. Yet, at secondary school, creative subjects are being squeezed due to the increased focus on core academic subjects. Music, for example, is being cut back from many curriculums. And yet, new evidence has shown that arts education has a remarkable impact on students’ academic, social and emotional outcomes. This supports the Developmental Assets framework, which identifies the building blocks of healthy, successful, responsible lives in young people. It emphasises the importance of creative activities and recommends that young people spend at least three hours per week on music, theatre or other arts. With advances in technology and digital media, it’s important to make the latest equipment and facilities accessible so young people can uncover their creative musical potential. This technology is not just for having fun with music and arts – although that’s important, too. One children’s theatre found that performing for peers boosts confidence and self-esteem, and that students involved in drama demonstrate an elevated self-concept compared to those who are not involved in such activities. Almost all music programmes are now digital but will involve either a public performance or at least one that is in front of peers, often with feedback. It also develops young people’s individual strengths outside of school. Community-driven creativity Creativity is at the heart of youth development in a scheme in Nottinghamshire. YMCA Newark and Sherwood has announced the launch of its YMCA Digital project, which currently operates at Newark Academy. Originally set up six years ago by Nottinghamshire YMCA, Youth Music Support Workers help young people (aged 13-19) with the skills and platform they need to develop their creative passions in a safe, non-judgmental environment. YMCA Digital gives them the freedom to explore the areas that inspire them most, from songwriting to radio production and live music to DJing. It also advocates spending three or more hours per week in sports or club and being given useful roles in the community. The charity is currently building a state-of-the-art recording studio, rehearsal space and digital production rooms, which will level up the offering at the YMCA Newark and Sherwood Community and Activity Village. It will open in Spring 2021. Volunteers giving back “Although a main draw for young people is our equipment and facilities, the biggest appeal is definitely our inspiring staff team,” explained Ben Felstead from YMCA Digital. “All of our volunteers have been participants [in] our YMCA Digital courses, and they just don’t want to leave! They also want to give back to support projects that have helped them.” Believing in the potential of the community’s next generation, staff also support participants to work towards AQA accredited arts awards to translate their achievements into transferable skills. Tawanda Kambeu (TK) joined the charity’s digital movement when he was a teenager and loved the ethos and team so much he is now a Youth Music Leader. TK said: “I started off here as a young person myself when I came down to the group’s hub at NGY MyPlace in Nottingham, and it quickly became my home-away-from-home. “As I progressed on and the years went by, I began to near the age where youth funding stops, so I approached the team and said that I didn’t want to leave!” All young people need to have a creative outlet. Giving them the opportunity to cultivate their inbuilt creativity in and out of the classroom should never be overlooked. Ultimately, it gives them a place to belong to and contribute to and enables them to thrive as a creative individual, now and in the future.
4 Great Reasons to have African Drumming and Dance in Schools
If you’ve never experienced one of our Unbeatable Energy workshops before, you might never have considered the many ways that African Drumming and Dance can benefit children’s health, well-being and ability to succeed. Here are four reasons why an Unbeatable Energy workshop can help create a success in your classroom: 1. African Drumming and Dance brings cultural topics to life! 2. African Drumming and Dance boosts children’s confidence! 3. African Drumming and Dance gets children active which improves the brain! 4. African Drumming and Dance improves listening skills – not just in music! 1. African Drumming and Dance brings cultural topics to life! An African Drumming and Dance workshop provides a fantastic activity for Black History Month, an Africa topic or to include in a Cultural Diversity Day. It is an exhilarating experience for pupils and teachers alike when they make that first rumble all together with the African djembe hand drums. As each pupil plays on their hand made drum, they discover a whole world of history, tradition and culture – not just by passively listening or reading, but by actively playing and participating. This way they really experience the ethnic tradition and culture of West Africa. To quote a recent Headteacher at one of our schools ‘it is the hands-on activities like African drumming which children really take away and remember from cultural topics because they become active participants in the music as opposed to merely spectators.’ 2. African Drumming and Dance boosts children’s confidence! It happens frequently in workshops – a child who really struggles with maths and literacy, or is shy and socially disengaged in class, completely transforms in a drumming session. It is as if they have finally found the thing that ‘pulls’ them emotionally and gives them a sense of release. African Dance is also a fantastic way for children to build their self-belief. Dancers normally perform to a crowd either on their own or accompanied by one or two other dancers. In our workshops, children are invited to dance to their peers in the space inside the drum circle. This part of the workshop is entirely optional for pupils, but we provide some gentle encouragement by saying that the experience will make them one feel great afterwards. After a few of the more confident children have given it a try, we start to see a cascade of other children all wanting to have a go. In this way, some of the most shy and reclusive children amaze everyone by jumping into the circle and sharing their joy of the beat! The smiles on children’s faces after this session speaks volumes about their sense of achievement! 3. African Drumming and Dance gets children active which improves the brain! African Drumming and Dance is a fantastic way to for children to exercise and channel their energy. African djembe drumming builds strength and stamina in the upper body while dance improves cardiovascular fitness and is an all-over body workout. Obviously this is great for enhancing children’s fitness and wellbeing, but studies show that such exercise sharpens the mind; makes for happier children and improves their performance in other areas such as maths and literacy. 4. African Drumming and Dance improves listening skills – not just in music! It is a typical thing which you hear a teacher say in class music lessons – ‘listen!’ For good reason too because good listening is crucial. Like all music, learning African drumming is great for building a variety of listening skills. For example the ability to focus listening on an individual pattern within a poly-rhythmic piece of music (multiple rhythms being played simultaneously) or developing the listening skills required to understand the feeling of a rhythm when hearing against a regular pulse. Whatever the type of listening required, there is a common personal attribute that becomes essential for any budding musician – the ability to give oneself time to reflect and process what has been heard. Experienced African drummers who are learning something new always give themselves time to listen before they start playing, because they are all too aware that their mind can quickly make wrong assumptions of what they have heard, based on what they already know. Although the children often find it hard to resist playing straight away! The great thing is that children can not only improve their listening in music through African Drumming, but can also apply the same skill to social situations – for example in conversation. By giving yourself time to hear what someone is saying, you can stop one’s internal chatter from making assumptions; truly absorb what someone is being said and then create a greater sense of rapport – this is called ‘active listening’ a great life skill for a child to learn at an early age! If you are a school who would love a day of African drumming and dance workshops for your pupils or have an Africa Topic or Black History event coming up and think we could help, we’d love to hear from you! Visit us at http://www.unbeatable-energy.co.uk/education/ Special offer: 10% discount if your school books a workshop in September and October 2016. Just quote ‘QA Magazine’ in your enquiry to us to receive the discount.