MM Magazine Winter 2013-14

ISSUE 3 WINTER 2013/14
MUSIC Mark
MAGAZINE
leaders of high quality
music education for all
IN THIS ISSUE...
TEACHING AND LEARNING
MUSIC MAKING
TEACHING AND LEARNING: EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY
COMMENT
TEACHING AND LEARNING: SECONDARY
REVIEWS
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
INSPIRING PRIMARY TEACHERS AND

MUSIC SPECIALISTS IN 2014
An amazing selection of noisy stories, marvellous musicals, singing subjects

and dazzling piano for classroom teachers and music specialists.
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__________________________
Editorial
MUSIC Mark Magazine ISSUE 3 Winter 2013/14 Contents and Editorial
CONTENTS
MUSIC MAKING
COMMENT
The ethical significance of music-making
Wayne Bowman
Page 03
A story
Mary Earl
Page 06
TEACHING & LEARNING

Music at the Isaac Newton Academy
John Finney
Ten years of Musical Futures:
Take. Use. Innovate. Share
Abigail DAmore
Some thoughts on musical identity
Part II Students
Andrew Lindley
Page 08
Page 10
Page 12
TEACHING & LEARNING: EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY

Sound Foundations Early Years music project
in Redbridge Childrens Centres
Caroline Morris
Experienced music specialist required
to lead the musical life in a vibrant
primary school
Louisa Roberts
Informal music learning
in the Year 2 classroom
Lesley Linton
Page 16
Page 20
Page 22
The art of sampling music

Nilesh Champaneri
Page 30
Playing related injuries in elite young

instrumental musicians: A physiotherapists
perspective
Sarah Upjohn
Page 32
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

The Love Music Trust: For schools, by schools
Jonathan Savage
Page 37
The art of facilitation

Hannah Dunster
Page 41
BOOK REVIEWS
Sign & Song Vol 1
Diane Paterson
Page 45
Music cover lessons

Emma Coulthard
Page 46
Understanding Popular Music

Paul Hughes
Page 46
Digital Media in the Music Classroom

Emma Coulthard
Page 47
Composing with World Music

David Wheway
Page 47
Class Percussion Book

David Wheway
Page 48
The guided reader to teaching and

learning music
Christopher Dalladay
Page 48
Some thirty years ago HMI announced that what music we

teach is only slightly more important than how we teach
it, a sentiment often repeated since. The what, how,
where, when, who and why of music education serve to
focus the mind on the values we hold to and ultimately on
what we believe the significance of music-making to be.
For Wayne Bowman, distinguished philosopher of music
education writing from Canada, this is an ethical question
and related to what kind of person is it good to be. In
The ethical significance of music-making Wayne challenges
the lazy thinking about music education that we so easily
fall into. Equally challenging is Mary Earls short story
making a case for viewing our musical practices as
worldly, contested, value laden and, ultimately, political,
while Hannah Dunsters The art of facilitation makes clear
a distinctive set of values underpinning practice. From
East Cheshire Jonathan Savage likewise draws attention
to the way The Love Music Trust is bound and inspired by
its founding principles.
Ten years of Musical Futures are celebrated by Abigail
DAmore, serving as a prelude to a second contribution
from North America detailing an action research project
investigating informal practices in the early years. Not
unconnected are articles about the art of sampling in
supporting young peoples music-making and the second
part of Andrew Lindleys reflections on musical identity.
Across the phases comes Caroline Morriss report on an
Early Years project, Louisa Robertss reflections on the
reality of primary music leadership, Emily Crowhursts
resourcefulness with Year 7, whole class instrumental
learning within a general programme of music education,
and the third GCSE worksheet from Jennie Francis. A
different kind of who is a practising physiotherapist, with
an article of particular interest to instrumental teachers.
Year 7 In The Hall of the Mountain King

Emily Crowhurst
Page 28
This is our last issue as editors and we thank everyone

for their support, especially those who have ensured that
we were never short of copy! We hope Matilda EgereCooper, the incoming Publications and Communications
Co-ordinator, will gain as much enjoyment as we have.
Exploring pathways: The composing

process worksheet 3/5
Jennie Francis
Page 29
John Finney and Lis McCullough
TEACHING & LEARNING: SECONDARY
_________________
MUSIC Mark Magazine ISSUE 3 Winter 2013/14
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____________________
COMMENT | The ethical significance of music-making
Comment
The ethical significance of music-making

Wayne Bowman
Debates over the relative merits of musics
intrinsic and extrinsic values have a remarkably
long history in music education. For the most part,
however, these debates have generated more
heat than light. Zealous advocacy movements have
recently breathed new life into tired old debates
about the relative merits of musics inherent
and instrumental benefits, most often without
questioning the legitimacy of their segregation
into mutually exclusive (intrinsic/extrinsic) value
domains. Apparently, decades of argument
have done little to clarify our muddled thinking
about such affairs. One of the concerns of this
brief essay is to urge that the intrinsic/extrinsic
dichotomy is a perniciously false one, one that leads
to all manner of confused thinking and action, to
say nothing of wasted time and resources.
My other, more urgent concern is that we
acknowledge and embrace musical experience
and study as fundamentally ethical resources1 as
practices in and through which people wrestle
with and seek to answer the vitally important
educational question, What kind of person is it
good to be? Where intrinsic and extrinsic values
are held to be mutually exclusive, ethical concerns
like this are relegated to the latter category. They
are, accordingly, unfortunate diversions from the
genuinely musical reasons for making and studying
music. It is, I suggest, time we began thinking about
issues like these in ways that are more productive
and more useful.
The myth of intrinsic value

What are musics intrinsic values? On this key point
our thinking is frustratingly vague, evasive and
slippery.2 Such slipperiness is a useful strategic tool

where advocacy the art of political persuasion,
in music educations case most often backed by
lofty, unqualified claims about the global benefits
of musical experience and therefore musical
instruction is concerned.3 However, like all tools,
it has clear limitations and, I argue here, potentials
for misuse and abuse. More specifically, the
slipperiness that advocates find so useful turns out
to be quite well-suited to rationalising the status
quo: to justifying and sustaining current practice.
After all, if music and musical instruction are
intrinsically valuable, there is no particular need to
wrestle with questions about the kind of musical or
instructional practices at hand: they do what they
do simply as functions of what they are.
These claims to intrinsic musical and educational
value, then, handily exempt certain musical and
instructional practices from critical scrutiny.
Because their goods are intrinsic, they follow
regardless of how music is taught, or made, or
experienced. Indeed, they apparently obtain
regardless of what (or whose) music is studied
or made or experienced. Intrinsic musical values
follow automatically and unconditionally, it appears,
from any and all acts of musicking.4 And because
such benefits ensue regardless of what or whose
music is studied or made or experienced, we need
only assure that music and musical instruction
are supported. Its benefits, being intrinsic, are
inevitable results of exposure or experience.
This is all very neat: musics intrinsic values are such
that they accrue to any and all musical engagements.
Music (all of it) is important because of things it (all
of it, invariantly, because of its innermost nature)

does that no other human practice does. And musical
instruction, since the music with which it is concerned
is intrinsically valuable, is likewise inherently and
unconditionally good.
It follows, though not by logic I am inclined to
accept, that values that are not intrinsic those
connected with extra-musical concerns, say
are merely extrinsic, subsidiary, or derivative.
Because the aims or ends they serve may be
attained by other means, they are less important
than the intrinsic variety. Thus, value claims are
sorted into one of two opposed classes: those that
are legitimately musical, and those that are only
marginally musical, in virtue of their service to
extra-musical ends.
Key to this formulation is a dubious partition
between values that are strictly or purely musical
and those that serve non-musical ends. Intrinsic
musical values are ends in themselves, whereas
extrinsic values stem from musics service to
nonmusical ends. However, when we divide human
values into two distinct and opposing kinds, neither
has much real worth: musics intrinsic values are
largely divorced from the day-to-day concerns
of life and living, while its extrinsic values are not
really musical. These ways of thinking marginalise
many of musics most powerful potentials, seriously
undermining our efforts to establish the human
import of music and music education.5
The notion of value is always, I urge, value for
something else. Value is a function of ends
served. The claim that music is good in itself,
then, is circular and self-contradictory. Worse
still, it diverts our attention from issues that are
critically important to our understandings of and
approaches to music education.
The claims I am making here run counter to
convictions that are widespread and comforting.
____________________
They also challenge the status of practices generally

exempted from critical scrutiny by claims that
their value is simply intrinsic. It would hardly be
surprising, then, if what I am proposing here were
to encounter vigorous objections. However, we can
get along nicely without claims to intrinsic value,
and doing so strengthens rather than weakens the
case for music and music education. Music and its
study are not ends-in-themselves but (always, and
necessarily) means to other human ends. Goodness
is always an outcome of human acts of valuation:
it consists, to put it in terms reminiscent of John
Deweys philosophical pragmatism, in continuous
acts of balancing and rebalancing ends-in-view
ends that are concrete, tangible, and demonstrably
within reach. The idea of intrinsic value, then, is a
mirage, or worse yet a smoke screen: an illusory
byproduct of the continuous valuing activity in which
all humans engage as purposive beings. To argue
that all value is value-for, then, is simply to say
that all goods are instrumental, and to reject the
assumption that there exists a contrasting, intrinsic
realm of goodness. All value is instrumental. And the
opposite of instrumental value is not intrinsic value
but rather the absence of value. Something can be
valuable only to the extent it is a contributory good.
This in turn implies that all musical value is
contingent: dependent upon the success of its
contributory function and the desirability of that
to which it contributes. The value of music and of
music study and of musical experience (and on and
on) are not simply given or inherent, the inevitable
outcomes of having engaged in things musical.
They are good only to the extent they contribute to
human, or, in music educations case, educational
ends. No value (no, not even musical value) is
ultimate, unconditional, good without regard for
situational particulars or ends served. If and when
music is good, that goodness is always a function of
its contribution to ends beyond itself. The same is
true of music education.
Does this mean that the distinctive features of

musical experience are somehow irrelevant or
dispensable to our accounts of its value? Hardly.
It just means that its value depends on how its
potentials, powers, and affordances are actualised
in service of other important human ends. Is this
much ado about nothing? Again: hardly. These
are distinctions that make significant practical
differences. If we cannot retreat to intrinsic value
in defence of our actions, we are professionally
obliged to judge the desirability of rival courses
of action in terms of their discernible benefits (or
ends-in-view). Claims to the benefits of musical
experience and musical study are thus inextricably
linked to considerations like what or whose music
we have in mind, how it is taught or experienced,
and what observable evidence there may be that
claimed benefits are indeed being realised.
Surely, though, some ends are more momentous
than others? Of course that is so. Denying the
existence of intrinsic value does not reduce
all questions of musical value to questions of
popularity or matters of mere political exigency.
Some of the ends served by music are clearly more
humanly desirable than others. And if there is one
end that trumps all others, one to which all value
claims must ultimately be contributory (but which
does not depend upon its own contribution to some
further end), that end is human thriving or, as
the ancient Greeks called it, eudaimonia. Thus, the
best musical or educational practices are those
that contribute to human thriving. And yet, there
are many ways in which humans may thrive, none of
which follows inexorably or universally from a given
musical action or practice.
It follows, I think, that although music in itself does
none of the things advocates are fond to claim
for it it does not automatically or invariably
make people smarter, or more sensitive, or
more perceptive, or more considerate, or better
citizens6 certain musical practices, under certain

conditions, undertaken in certain ways, may indeed
effect outcomes that are more desirable than
others. The point is that it all depends. And my
further point is that this does not compromise or
trivialise the value of music or music education.
Acknowledging that musics distinctive power may
be used or abused may be contributory to ends
that are humanly desirable or undesirable does
not detract from musics educational potentials.
It only means that they are not guaranteed, and
that we are obliged as professionals to attend with
the utmost care to the numerous and diverse ends
served by musical and instructional practices. We
must choose responsibly.
In short, music names a tremendously diverse
and powerful set of human practices that may
serve ends both desirable and undesirable, both
beneficial and detrimental. Whether the value of a
given musical or instructional practice is good or
bad depends on whether, how, and the extent to
which it enables its practitioners or beneficiaries
to thrive. And that determination is best guided by
informed professional judgment.
Music, human thriving and ethical

discernment
Those familiar with virtue ethics may see that what
I am arguing for are understandings of music (and
approaches to music education) that construe them
as diverse human practices, practices whose value
depends upon whether and how they distinctively
enable their practitioners to thrive. As I have said,
though, there are numerous ways in which humans
may thrive, none of which follows automatically or
necessarily from musical engagement. The values
afforded by music-making depend on the kind
of music at hand, the ways we engage in it, and
the uses to which that experience is subsequently
put. We cannot escape the contributory nature of
human value or the ethical nature of acts of human
____________________
valuation. And musical value is no different than

any other value in that regard: all value is value for.
I have not argued against the notion of intrinsic
value with the intent of vindicating any and all
value claims for music and music education with
the intent of defending the many spurious and
sometime silly claims made on musics behalf. To
insist that all value is grounded (is value for) is not
to declare all values are equal.7 Indeed, choosing
musical and instructional practices with a view to
the ends to which they promise to contribute is
among our more pressing professional obligations.
Its just that we cannot rely upon a dubious intrinsic/
extrinsic sorting system to make professional
choices and decisions. We must ask, rather, which
among the various ends to which a given musical
or instructional practice may be suited we choose
to pursue, and why. We must ask how that pursuit
directs the actions in which we engage and what
constitutes credible evidence of successfully
reaching the ends we pursue.
Implicit in what I have been arguing is a
fundamental conviction that music is not a thing,
a uniform entity, or an object.8 It is, rather, a highly
diverse family of practices modes of human
action. What counts as appropriate or authentic
instances of human practices cannot be wholly
prescribed because, in the first place, practices
consist in patterns of human action: they are
living affairs that take their meaning at any given
time from the beliefs and attendant actions of
their practitioners. And because they consist in
constellations of human actions that are flexible,
diverse and variable, they are also always subject
to change. How much or how radically an individual
practitioners actions can diverge from those for
whom the practice exists is an open ethical question.
Practices are diverse constellations of action whose
diversity is crucial to their continued vitality and
evolution. At the same time, such diversity is not
limitless: there are restrictions as to what counts as

a genuine instance of a given practice. Negotiating
these porous boundaries is a crucial ethical task in
which all authentic practitioners engage. Deciding
what kind of actions are appropriate are true to
the ends the practice exists to serve and which
are not, are fundamental concerns for every
practitioner, even if the grounds for such decisions
can only be formulated tentatively or conditionally.
This is admittedly a rather abstract way of putting
things, but I have in mind something with which
most musical practitioners will be intimately
familiar on some level. What kind of musical
actions are authentic or appropriate to a given
musical practice is a question that cannot be
definitively or exhaustively stipulated. We honour
those who stretch the boundaries of accepted
musical practice in imaginative ways while we are
critical of those who violate them with impunity.
What constitutes acceptable musical practice
in, say, mainstream jazz? Who are its authentic
practitioners, those who are truest to the goods
the practice exists to serve? And who, on the other
hand, are the poseurs: those who mimic the practice
without engaging the nerve at its heart those
whose misguided efforts degrade the practice?
I pose these questions rhetorically, as examples of
the kinds of deep ethical discernment that guides
all human practices9 whether musical or other.
At issue for those who engage in practices are
fundamental questions about what constitutes
action that is right or wrong, appropriate or
inappropriate, virtuous or base. Because such
questions cannot be answered unequivocally, once
and for all, irrespective of situational particulars,
they invariably implicate further questions about
what kind of person it is good to be. Acting rightly
in situations like these is not something decided
in deliberative states divorced from the action
demands of the practice. Thus, the actions of a
person who is deeply devoted to a practice are

deeply linked to her character to action habits
that have been developed in service to the goods
of the practice, goods that are enriched by those
actions.
The point of what may seem a fairly convoluted
account is actually fairly straightforward. Human
practices are places where we learn and rehearse
right action: where we learn to formulate and
address the fundamental human question, what
kind of person it is good to be, what kind of people
we wish to become. Practices, musical and others,
are where we learn our most important lessons
about who we are and who we aspire to become.
On this account, human practices are profoundly
important ethical resources. And obviously I am
urging that we understand musical practices as
such. I am suggesting, furthermore, that this is a
considerably more potent argument for making
and studying music than (say) the development
of aesthetic gratification one of those intrinsic
claims of which I am wary. I am also suggesting that
it is precisely the contingency of human practices
that necessitates the deep personal engagement
that is linked to character.
Why musical practices, though? After all, these
potentials attend all practices. This is where we
would do well to invoke the distinctly sonorous,
corporeal and social nature of musical practices.
Music is not just another practice. Musics are highly
distinctive practices10 that engage us more deeply
and more powerfully than many others. That, I
believe, is where we should turn in defence of its
educational importance.
In Conclusion
I have argued against the idea of intrinsic musical
value here, not with the intent of vindicating
extrinsic value claims, but rather to suggest that
this way of bifurcating and partitioning values
____________________
________
is fundamentally misguided. I have expressed

serious misgivings about the validity of the intrinsic/
extrinsic dichotomy and the practices it privileges
and marginalises. My further and more pressing
concern, however, has been to advance an
understanding of music and musical instruction as
practices: as rich ethical resources for exploring
and developing potentials of character, identity,
and selfhood. It would be a significant mistake to
characterise these potential values as extrinsic as
if there were a realm of intrinsic values to which
they are somehow inferior. Like all values, their
importance is a function of the differences they
make: the ways they enable people to thrive.
Whether these musical and educational potentials
are realised or not depends fundamentally upon
what music is taught, how it is taught, and the
evidence by which we gauge the success of our
instructional actions. Such concerns, I submit, should
lie at the very heart of professional knowledge in
music education. And they, too, are ethical.
End Notes
1
By ethical I do not mean moral. The two differ from each
other in very important ways, although space restrictions
prevent their detailed consideration here. Suffice it to say that
I am not advancing the argument that music makes people
upstanding moral citizens! For more on the distinction between
ethics and morality see Williams 1985.
2
Aesthetic is a common answer that manifests each of
these tendencies (vagueness, evasiveness, slipperiness) in
abundance.
3
A need for musical instruction does not follow from the
assumption that musical experience is beneficial, but I shall not
focus on that here. I have sought to address this in Bowman 2012.
4
I use Christopher Smalls (1998) spelling rather than David
Elliotts (1995) not because I favour Smalls account as distinct
from Elliotts but only because my ear and eye find the former
spelling better suited to the hard final consonant in music.
5
The same is true, by the way, of philosophical inquiry. But space
does not permit pursuit of that point here.
6
Indeed, musical practices can readily be identified that do just
the opposite of each of these.
COMMENT | A Story
If all values are equal, the notion of value loses its meaning
after all.
8
Or, as Christopher Small (1998) memorably put it, There is no
such thing as music.
9
Clearly, this claim for practices requires careful definition
and needs to be distinguished from, among other things,
mere activities. While space does not permit such elaboration
here, Joseph Dunne and Alasdair McIntyre have written
beautifully about the distinctive nature of practices (see
Dunne 2005 and McIntyre 1981). Chris Higgins book (2011) is also a
remarkable and highly useful contribution.
10
The account I am sketching here is also distinctive in that it
rejects the idea that music is a single, unified practice. Music is,
rather, a far-flung constellation of diverse practices. One may
be an exemplary practitioner in, say, baroque musical practice,
while being hopelessly inept when it comes to jazz, reggae or
pop. Just as there are many ways humans may thrive, then, the
kinds of thriving to which our diverse musical practices lend
themselves are similarly diverse. Music is not an it but rather
a they a remarkably diverse family of practices, with diverse
affordances and values.
7
References
Bowman, W. (2012) Musics place in education. In G. McPherson
and G. Welch (eds) The Oxford handbook of music education Vol 1.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Dunne, J. (2005) An intricate fabric: Understanding the rationality
of practice. Pedagogy, Culture and Society 13 (3) 367-390.
Elliot, D. (1995) Music matters: A new philosophy of music education.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Higgins, C. (2011) The good life of teaching: An ethics of professional
teaching. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
McIntyre, A. (1981) After virtue. Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame
University Press.
Small, C. (1998) Musicking: The meanings of performing and
listening. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.
Williams, B. (1985) Ethics and the limits of philosophy. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
Wayne Bowman is Professor and Chair of Music Education at

Brandon University, Canada. He is former Editor of the online
journal Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. In
addition to numerous book chapters and journal articles, he has
published Philosophical Perspectives on Music (Oxford University
Press 1998) and the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy in Music
Education (Oxford University Press 2012).
bowmanwd@brandonu.ca
A Story
Mary Earl
When I was very young there

were about three LPs in
the house and one was No
surrender. We sang Orange
songs and it took me years to
recognise how political they
were. I probably thought
they were about oranges.
But when I did, I stopped
singing. If I had to be on
someones side I didnt
want the song. I just
wanted the music. And
knowledge of where the songs
came from spoiled that process for me. For
me this picture was just Ireland and that was where my
elder siblings were born and my parents lived, not the site
of an endless historically and politically significant set of
battles. I knew Lilliburlero as a song we sang out walking,
not fighting. But knowing the provenance was part of my
growing out of the sort of innocence that thinks music,
or anything else we learn, is value free. And Ive never
stopped being intrigued by that.
A long time later I spent some time
with musicians with other political
battles to fight. The Dufay Collective
took a programme of newly edited
mediaeval chansons and ballads
to the US in the 1990s. Political
correctness devastated their
tour (probably rightly on this
occasion). In venue after venue
half the programme was cut
before they started. Lyrics
anti-Semitic (they were). They
wanted the music. They wanted to perform their
new editions. They had the skills and the scholarship to
establish their performances as historically informed.
________
COMMENT | A Story
But the provenance skewed their ability to do so. If they

acknowledged the provenance they couldnt perform the
music.
So can music be value free? Possibly, if we just focus on
skills. But if youre putting together a CD or a concert
programme or, dare I say it, a scheme of work, surely not!
Perhaps we might be better off, then, working with a
contested musics model to address the controversies
and so aim to educate those we teach to include
the contested element in their thinking about music.
Knowledge does not best come clearly into view if we
simplify its complex provenance in order to eradicate
areas of contested values. We need to consciously bring
to light those contested areas and then take decisions
about what we want to do next. The consciousness is our
freedom (limited though that freedom will always be). The
rise and rise of musical fusions in a plural society like our
own is no accident. Abdicating responsibility for making
difficult choices by ignoring contested values doesnt work.
Why? Because education should be about the real world
and in the real world music does comes out of contested
situations. How can it not?
there which has never been

repeated and much fusion
music came out of it. His
orchestra exists to model the
belief that music can transcend
national and ideological boundaries. It is not value free.
C. The Blues comes out of the US and the Atlantic
Conclusion (or pause for thought)

So why does being musically educated have to mean just
being tutored in skills for playing instruments or being
allowed to be, for a few hours a week, self expressive?
Sooner or later, like it or not, the big world beyond the
technician (skill-based) musician will affect us all. And
performance that is merely skill-based wont attract an
audience anyway, generally. It will lack passion.
Slave Trade.
D. Work songs come out of situations like the army or

industrialised work forces in the 19th century or slavery.
E. The Rite of Spring caused a riot when it was first

performed, yet has influenced music for 100 years. Because
Stravinsky had no values? No, because it comes out of a
passionate clash of his values and those of the dominant
culture (zeitgeist) around him.
Music sings itself into being everywhere and takes a million

forms. But the flow is architecture. It makes a something.
And that something excludes something else. And what
makes us engage with that inclusion-exclusion dialogue
across the ages, across the forms and in the fusions, the
confusions and the global locality we live in is often that
we have found something of value in the musics it has
produced. What we think, what our pupils think, about that
dialogue must therefore be worthwhile, too. If only (but
not only) because facilitating, encouraging that dialogue
must enable them, as my response to the struggles behind
Lilliburlero did, all those years ago, to allow me to choose
whether or not to sing. Knowledge is powerful stuff. Handle
with care.
Mary Earl has taught and sung and played, in and out of schools, formally
and informally, since she was 21. Her academic background, however,
is in theology, philosophy and ethics, with a strong linguistic base (Greek
and Hebrew). Marys music education remains performance based and
largely informal.
A. William Byrd was a Catholic, and lived in hiding most

of his life in great houses (like those of Edward Paston)
in Catholic dominated Norfolk. He preserved the Marian
Mass for his patrons but was so popular with Queen Bess
(Elizabeth 1) that he got away with
it. He also wrote great Protestant
masses. Why was he having to live
this split identity?
mme22@cam.ac.uk
B. Daniel Barenboim has put

together an Arab-Israeli orchestra which plays music at
the boundaries, literally. Their tours recently included
a performance at the boundary of North and South
Korea. Having found it impossible to run the orchestra
in Israel (because of the West Bank controversy) they
now rehearse in Seville. Why? Because in the 13th and 14th
centuries there was a Jewish-Muslim-Christian harmony
F. Women werent allowed to play the viol in public for

centuries. Why? Because sitting with your legs apart was
deemed too sexual. So however good you were as a
performer (and we know some ladies were!) making a
living as a musician would be out of the question.
___________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING | Music at the Isaac Newton Academy
TEACHING & LEARNING
Music at the Isaac Newton Academy

The last three years have seen decisive shifts in
educational policy in England. Counterpointing
a National Plan for Music Education and
the creation of Music Hubs are changes in
curriculum along with new measures of
accountability likely to affect the place of music
in the curriculum. At the same time has come a
rapid growth in Academies, the introduction of
Free Schools, Studio Schools, Co-operative Schools
and University Teaching Colleges, and some of
these are designated Teaching Schools. With all
this comes a review of educational priorities and
fresh ideas about the organisation of music in
the school. Here I report on the establishment
of music in the curriculum of the Isaac Newton
Academy (INA), just one example of how music
in the school is being re-imagined in order to
recognise instrumental learning as integral to
general music education.
Every pupil a Big Band musician

Although largely hidden from the busy main road,
once in view the architectural distinction of INA
is clear to see, and on entry the dcor arrests in
equal measure. Waiting in reception the video show
tells me about pupil achievements as well as the
Bridges to Learning the habits of mind or learning
characteristics that develop a students character
and learning power enabling development into
well rounded individualsand resilient learners(INA
website http://www.isaacnewtonacademy.org/).
It is the start of the day and, not without gestures
of regret, a steady procession of pupils come to
deposit their mobile devices at reception for safe
keeping.
music making, and there are two further breakout spaces, a recording studio and eight practice
rooms.
John Finney
INA is in the Ark family of schools, with a sponsor

who is committed to all pupils learning a big band
instrument, an enthusiasm that Greg, the newly
appointed Head of Music, can easily share. Greg is
supported by two other music teachers: David, a
saxophonist, and Will, master of the rhythm section.
The school opened in September 2012 with180
pupils forming Year 7. Music, along with Maths, is
designated a subject specialism and described in
the schools brochure as a subject complementing
the depth of the academic core and as part of a
well-rounded education a curriculum emphasising
core academic subjects, while providing the
facilities and specialist staff to meet and stimulate a
wide range of interests.
The eight Year 7 classes each have two one-hour

music lessons weekly, one titled Big Band, the other
Music. Big Band lessons employ all three teachers,
music lessons one. Shortly into the first term and
after stating their preferences, all pupils were
assigned their Big Band instrument. Preferences
were mostly satisfied. Pupils take instruments home
and are expected to play for fifteen minutes three
times a week. The table shows the distribution of
instruments to the year group.
Trumpets
Trombones
Saxophones
Drums
Guitar
Piano
Bass
Guitar
32
32
60
16
16
16
At different stages of the warm up routine
After just a few weeks of Big Band lessons the second

half of the schools Winter Celebration show-cases
progress with a performance of Oh when the
saints featuring students selected from all classes.
Brightly coloured trombones catch the eye as much
as the slick accompanying combo catches the ear,
enhancing the musical texture and demonstrative
drive of the enthusiastic big band musicians.I
had observed a first term Big Band lesson where
routines were being established and first ventures
Greg provides harmonic support to the brass section
The department is spacious and well resourced.

There is a large room for whole class Big Band and
Music lessons. Another room is dedicated to digital
___________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING | Music at the Isaac Newton Academy
into whole class performance made. While sectional

work plays an important part in establishing warm
up routines and making sounds that become music,
there is always a coming together where foundational
musicianship skills are rehearsed as the Big Band: the
learning of aural and visual cues and the internalising
of structural patterns chief among these.
Funding has been confirmed that will support whole

class Big Band throughout Key Stage 3.
In Year 8, Big Band lessons and Music lessons are
working more closely together. The Senegalese
Drumming project currently underway brings
together Big Band instruments, voices and djembe
A Big Band lesson

I return in term 2 to observe a Big Band lesson and
on this occasion the whole class is working together
for the whole lesson. The material being worked is
Seven nation army and its globally celebrated riff
(see observation snapshot box).
Music teacher ready with trombone and foottapping, another ready with saxophone.
Two minute set up time including warm up
routines (1. Blowing, 2. Mouthpiece-buzzing, 3.
Long notes, 4. Together making chords).
Now a sustained immersive call-copy session
playfully working with the riff.
New section likewise.
Now building confidence to play through to the
end of the phrase.
Instruments down and listening to a recording
of the East London group Brassroots performing
Seven nation army.
There is an in-coming trumpet tune and listening
is focused on this and how a two-part texture is
made.
Now whole class riffing again with trumpet tune
played by teacher on saxophone. Key musicianship
challenge.
A good number distracted by the intruding
trumpet tune!
Next week back into three Big Band groups for
sectional work.
The whole class Big Band led by David
The Music lesson
Running alongside Big Band and their Seven nation

army is a twelve-week Music Theatre Project. This
second music lesson is workshop in style where
students play, sing, improvise and compose. There
is sometimes crossover of repertoire between
the two lessons and, where relevant, Big Band
instruments are used.
Greg tells me how the class had been captivated
by the colloratura singing in Mozarts Queen of the
night aria, but now the class are learning to sing At
the end of the day from the musical Les Miserables.
The class are the starving workers of Paris, and
they spend time moving into role before learning
the song dramatically modelled by their teacher.
The schools in depth evaluation of the curriculum
shows pupils greatest satisfaction is in their
Music and Big Band lessons, with their Music lesson
marginally ahead of Big Band.
Moving on
Now Year 7 has become Year 8 and Greg is
pleased that there is so much evidence of holiday
instrumental practice, and the new Year 7 pupils
are eager to walk in their predecessors footsteps.
There is good news too from head teacher Rachel.
Bass guitarist Khalid
working towards a performance of The spirit of

togetherness from the musical Umoja, for example.
Bass guitarist Khalid, now in Year 8, is one of those
who can be found lingering at the end of the lesson
in the hope that Greg can spare time for a jam.
But then I think of another secondary school not so
far from INA where the recent curriculum review
has placed music in a very different position. The
once a week Key Stage 3 music lesson has become
a once three-weekly lesson on a carousel with the
other arts.
No doubt we will continue to strive for one equal
music.
Music Mark would like to thank the head teacher, staff and pupils
concerned for the photographs included with this article.
_______________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING | Ten Years of Musical Futures: Take Use Innovate Share
inadvertently built a community of teachers and

practitioners committed to trialling new approaches
in the music classroom, quashing the status quo,
and finding new ways of engaging every student
in meaningful music activity. This commitment
to innovation and finding effective means of
supporting young peoples music learning reflects
the same drive, ambition and vision that the original
pathfinder teams and PHF had ten years ago when
Musical Futures started. Just when we thought an
exit strategy was inevitable, the fire of ideas and
innovation was reignited and the end date has
been extinguished for now.
Ten Years of Musical Futures:

Take Use Innovate Share Abigail DAmore
Now
Musical Futures (www.musicalfutures.org) was
due to culminate in July 2013 after ten years of
funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF).
But something unusual happened. To mark the end
of Musical Futures we decided to run a small-scale
pilot, in partnership with The Sage Gateshead, to
trial new ways of integrating vocal work and mobile
technology into secondary schools. The Find Your
Voice approach involved students exploring the
creative potential of their voices and of mobile
technologies through a series of performing,
composing and improvising activities based around
existing Musical Futures models. (You can read
more about this here: https://www.musicalfutures.
org/resources/c/mfpilot2013/)
As we had more than 200 schools apply to be
involved we opened up the pilot process to, well,
anybody. We took a calculated risk and posted
online our initial ideas, training materials and a
rough outline of the approach before we knew
whether it had any validity as a pedagogical
framework. Quite unexpectedly a hugely diverse
body of teachers and practitioners (in the UK and
overseas) enthusiastically worked through the
ideas; debated and discussed what worked and
what didnt; posted videos of work in progress
(see here for the online sharing space: http://
padlet.com/wall/mfsharing); and, most importantly,
supported and encouraged each other. It meant
that the central Musical Futures team could not
only refine the approaches and resources on a
weekly basis, but also react to the issues being
raised and publish additional resources, support
and guidance. For example, when students
vocalising in time was reported as a major issue,

we asked professional beatboxer Shlomo to
create a series of tutorial videos for how simple
vocal rhythms can underpin and support an a
capella group (see http://bit.ly/1cd5ASW for his free
tutorials). By the end of June we had an approach
to vocal work and technology that we knew worked
in a range of teaching situations; that teachers
themselves had shaped; and that we knew students
valued and responded to.
How it all started

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation (www.phf.org.uk)
instigated Musical Futures in 2003 as an actionresearch project with a series of questions
around why young people werent engaging with
music in school, and what viable, sustainable
and transferable models could support them.
The pathfinder phase where the bulk of the
pedagogical ideas were created, tried and tested
The process of piloting new ideas and

producing resources is not in itself particularly
groundbreaking. However, through this pilot we
2003
2004
2003
2004-2006
Paul Hamlyn
Foundation
launched
Musical Futures
Action research
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2006
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Series of
IOE research
Ongoing CPD
Launch of MF
MF transition
Partnership
Launch of
phase with
pathnders
involving 60
pamphlets and
rst edition
teacher
published on
take-up and
impact of MF
programme
delivered by
Champion
Young
Champions
network
project
published
with Youth
Sports Trust
delivering
#mfpilot2013
approaches for
introducing
schools
resource pack
Schools 280
workshops in
vocal and
published
events since
2009
schools leading
to 2012
Olympics
mobile
technologies
2006-2008
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Free CPD
In Your Hands
Publication of
MF begins in
IOE longitudinal
Scale-up of MF
Delivered
oered to
schools, Music
Services, Initial
CPD event
second edition
Australia
case study
in Wales,
conference for
celebrates
success of MF
teacher
resource pack
survey results
published: MF
potential for
Northern
Ireland and
Scotland
60 champion
schools
Teacher Training
whole-school
impact
2008
2009
2010
2011
2011
2013
Launch of
network of
Sting
announced as
Pilots for MF in
Wales, Northern
Play Learn Live

CPD conference
MF Champion
school featured
Relaunch of MF
website with
Musical Futures
Champion
Schools
Musical Futures
patron
Ireland and
Scotland
run with Roland

UK with a focus
on music
technology
in Ofsted best
practice case
study for music
teaching
more than 200

resources in
free, open
source resource
bank
10
_______________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING | Ten Years of Musical Futures: Take Use Innovate Share
expertly led by David Price OBE, ended in 2006.

Since then the spread of Musical Futures has been
phenomenal. It is used by more than 1,500 schools
in England, which means at least 185,000 young
people in England alone benefit each year (based
on an average class size of 20.5 students, with the
majority of the teachers involved implementing
Musical Futures with at least one year group,
with an average of six classes, per year). Musical
Futures has recently expanded into Wales, Scotland
and Northern Ireland with similar success. And
increasingly overseas schools and other education
organisations have used and applied Musical
Futures, with known pilots and programmes
established in Australia, Canada, Singapore, Brazil
and teachers independently using the materials in a
range of other countries including Italy, Cyprus, USA
and Thailand to name but a few. So what is Musical
Futures and why has it been around for so long? We
believe it is because of three core dimensions that
can be adopted by anybody, and transferred to any
music learning context: philosophy, pedagogy and
people.
Philosophy
Musical Futures is based on the premise that
music learning works best when young people are
engaged in music that interests them and that is
relevant to them. The ethos of Musical Futures
surrounds a commitment to closing the gap
between out of school and in school music activity.
It is about re-examining the role of the teacher,
and fostering strong student-teacher relationships
of trust and respect, even if this means shedding
the mantle of teacher as expert and drawing on
the vast knowledge, skills and musical interests
of students. Above all it is about fostering a
commitment to innovation in music education, to
keeping music in schools practical, authentic and
alive, and to constantly evolving music learning to
meet the changing needs of students.
Pedagogy
The pedagogy that sits at the heart of Musical
Futures hasnt changed from the models developed
during the pathfinder years. What has shifted
(and will continue to evolve) is our knowledge of
how teachers adapt and apply the pedagogy into
a range of classroom situations. The two main
approaches within Musical Futures are:
1. Informal learning (www.musicalfutures.org/
resources/c/informallearning) Devised and
developed by Professor Lucy Green at the
Institute of Education, University of London,
the informal learning model involves
students learning in the self-directed ways
that popular musicians do, starting with
music they are familiar with before moving
onto different genres of music and creating
their own music. The teacher takes on a role
of musical modelling, supporting, advising
and guiding, all based on objectives students
are setting for themselves.
2. Non-formal teaching (www.musicalfutures.
org/resources/c/nonformalteaching/) This
involves techniques drawn from community
music practice and comprises approaches
that are fully inclusive: group-based
activities in performing, listening, composing
and improvising, where teachers and
students co-construct content drawing on
the skills and interests of the students. The
main models developed are a whole-class
composing/improvising approach inspired
by the successful Guildhall Connect model,
and a band instrumental skills project for
providing students with skills and knowledge
on a range of instruments.
Typical impact of MF strategies on young people:

Improved motivation, self-esteem,
confidence in and attitude towards music
in school
Increases uptake of music at Key Stage 4
(or equivalent)
Demonstrable progression in musical skill
acquisition, particularly listening skills
Improved attainment
Typical impact of MF strategies on teachers
Improves teacher confidence with teaching
practical music
Teachers feel MF helps question and
improve their teaching overall, encourage
innovation, and has a long-term and
sustainable impact on their teaching
Changes the way teachers approach
delivering music in the classroom
People
Musical Futures started out as a fairly high-profile,
well-funded research project, overseen by a large
team of pathfinder partners, project managers,
researchers, web developers, PR gurus and others
in its infrastructure. However, since 2006 the scale
of the central Musical Futures team has been more
modest: a small team of part-time freelancers with no
office base, running Musical Futures among various
other commitments. It is important to mention this,
as Musical Futures is not a large, faceless, top-heavy
organisation as it is sometimes portrayed. The scale
of Musical Futures is purely down to the teachers
and practitioners who believe this is an effective way
to teach music, and who refine and innovate with it.
Through this we have built our network of Champion
Teachers those who have embedded Musical
Futures and who work with us to deliver practical
CPD and training for others (www.musicalfutures.
org/training). This training has been one of the most
successful elements of Musical Futures development
since 2006, with 280 training days delivered to more
than 3,000 delegates the by teachers for teachers
approach means training is practical, hands-on and
provides a realistic representation about how to
11
___
______________________
_____________________________
A story
Ten
Years of Musical Futures: Take Use Innovate Share
TEACHING & LEARNING | Some thoughts on musical identity | Part 2: Students
implement the strategies and make them work in real

classrooms with real students.
Some thoughts on musical identity

Part 2: Students Andrew Lindley
Get involved
There is no sign-up process to Musical Futures. Simply:
TAKE: Download resources from our website
(www.musicalfutures.org/resources) Attend
one of our free training courses (www.
musicalfutures.org.uk/training)
USE: Trial the strategies in your classroom
INNOVATE: Use our ideas as a starting point
to develop your own approaches that work
for your students
SHARE: Post video, audio, resources onto
http://padlet.com/wall/mfsharing. Discuss
issues you have on Twitter (@musicalfutures
#mufuchat) every Wednesday 8.30pm for
live chat with other teachers, or through our
closed forum:
http://musicteachersnetwork.ning.com/
Musical Futures is constantly evolving. Take a look
at the work that teachers are doing in schools
and, whether you hate it or love it, join us, debate
with us and help move forward an approach that
arguably has been the most successful secondary
music education initiative since the turn of the
century. Teachers who, in the current educational
climate, take a leap of faith and opt to trial
strategies that are often fairly risky, need support,
encouragement and to know that innovation is
worth celebrating. Music in school should not be
something that students have to join or sign up
to. It must be accessible to everyone, and every
child deserves the opportunity to participate and to
learn about how to learn music. No music classroom
should be without high quality, practical music
making. We believe it is our job to support this.
Abigail DAmore, Musical Futures Project Leader
Abigail.damore@gmail.com
A former peripatetic instrumental teacher now

working as a primary school teacher draws on
his experiences as a music educator and lifelong
learner to reflect on the different identities
relevant to those in music education. Readers
may like to reread his earlier article setting out
the background context and concentrating on
teachers (Music Mark Magazine Issue 2: 3840)
before considering this focus on the developing
identities of students.
Primary children
In a primary school with a strong focus on
music, there is ample opportunity for children
to experience it in many ways: as performing
instrumentalists on a wide range of instruments,
as singers, and as listeners. There is an easily
observable freedom of response to all kinds
of music to which the children are exposed,
expressed through movement and dance, singing
along, smiles, and quiet reflection. There is
little self-consciousness. At the present time in
the school described in my earlier article, the
vast majority of children accept an identity as
musicians whether they play an instrument, sing
or enjoy listening to music. This strong identity
throughout primary school and into secondary
has led to a greatly decreased dropout rate in
children and students taking instrumental and
singing lessons, with virtually none in primary
and very few in KS2/3 transition. The secondary
school to which they progress has started an
orchestra in recognition of demands by students,
in addition to the choirs, steel bands, soul and
pop groups and instrumental groups it already
offered. This can be taken as evidence that
children have developed a strong identity as
performers at least. This identity appears to be

carried forward into the secondary school we
feed, as anecdotally confirmed in conversations
with past students. Whereas most research
appears to suggest a drop off in music learners
across the KS2-KS3 transition, our pupils seem to
undertake more rather than less music during
KS3. This needs more research in order to
confirm.
Secondary students
Much has been written about the problems in
music in secondary schools. Hargreaves and
Marshall (2003) identify a dichotomy between
students musical identities, which tend to be
intrinsically linked to the pop music culture
outside school, and teacher identities, which
are mainly bound up in training in the Western
classical tradition. They go on to make a
distinction between music in school and music
outside school and differentiate between
identities in music (IIM) and music in identities
(MII) (ibid. 263).
In brief, we define IIM in terms of the ways in
which people view themselves in relation to
the social and cultural roles existing within
music (MII), on the other hand, refers to
the ways in which music may form a part of
other aspects of the individuals self-image.
(Hargreaves & Marshall 2003: 264)
Although both teachers and students have
strong musical identities, the problem, therefore,
is that these identities do not match (Lamont et
al. 2003: 229). Hargreaves and Marshall discuss
12
_____________________________
the concept of student identities as well as the

practical application of a musical identity and cite
surveys in the UK, Scandinavia and elsewhere
that show that
[L]istening to pop music is easily the most
common leisure activity of most teenagers
the typical 13-year-old listens for
approximately 2-3 hours per day, far longer
than the time spent on any other leisure
activity (Hargreaves & Marshall 2003: 265)
Listening to popular music in its various styles,
as well as being an important part of a students
day, is also a strong social motivator, a way
of identifying with like-minded peers, a sort
of badge of identity and a way of showing
the values and opinions held by that student.
This badge of identity is constantly changing
as each individual continues to construct his
or her developing identity. Research on the
construction of musical identity as a conscious
act in professional singers has been conducted
by Tiri Bergesen Schei who has coined the term
Identitation to describe the act of forming an
identity (2009). This activity is also prevalent in
young people, who use musical tastes as a strong
indication of the identity they wish to claim for
themselves, and it is a continuous process of
confirming, moulding, changing and building the
identity they wish to project.
In choosing to embrace a particular style of
music or not, students and teachers construct
an identity with which they feel comfortable and
project that identity into the social situations in
which they find themselves. However, musical
identity is bound up with prejudices and social
constructs in such a way that it can inhibit the
projection of ones own identity. The student or
teacher defines part of the picture and part is
added to that picture by the observer and the

assumptions they have made about the particular
musical style and person in question.
There are very many people who do not play an
instrument or sing, whether through choice or
lack of opportunity, who nevertheless express
a strong preference for one musical genre or
another. Yet it appears that there has been little
research taking into account the musical identity
of the listener. Christopher Small suggests that
although music can exist without any listener
other than the performer, the act of listening
as opposed to merely hearing includes the
listener as part of a performance, not just a
consumer of the music offered (Small 1977/1980).
Lucy Green noted that musicians learning in the
informal way common with popular genres were
motivated by their passion for the music (Green
2008). Although it could be argued that this can
be applied to any musician, it would appear
to suggest a very strong musical identity as a
listener before that of performer.
Whilst researching music in school, Hargreaves
and Marshall (2003) found that most children and
students enjoyed their music lessons but that
the enjoyment for girls declined slightly with age
and increased slightly for boys. Their data show
that the most popular activities in classroom
music are playing musical instruments and
singing (no mention of listening) as they provide
the skills necessary to compose and perform
independently. Research in music outside school
showed listening to and playing popular styles
of music to be a very significant use of free
time with over half the students in their sample
choosing to create and/or play their own music.
There has been a recent drive to make music in
secondary schools more relevant to students
own musical expectations, with varying degrees

of success. In my experience, there appears still
to be an underlying tolerance of students styles
of music tied up with an expectation that they will
eventually develop an identity in classical music.
Lucy Green, who has pioneered a completely new
style of secondary music teaching based on the
way popular musicians learn (Green 2002), states:
Not only do popular musicians love what they
are doing, but also from such a starting point
many of them go on to develop a deep passion
for music and a thirst for listening, often
seeking out and becoming familiar with a wide
range of different styles, including classical
music. (Green 2008: 9, my italics.)
From my own experience, there still appears to
be an expectation, a bait chicanery (a term
coined by Peter Dunbar-Hall, Chair of Music
Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of
Music), that in bringing students into a form
of musical identity through a style of music
relevant to them they will be led into classical
music at some point. A potential danger in some
interpretations of Lucy Greens ideas (described
below) and of the similar tenets of the Musical
Futures project (http://www.musicalfutures.
org.uk and see DAmore 2010) is that they reflect
a view that Western classical music is superior
to all other forms of music, which is counterproductive to the development of a musical
identity that the majority of people will be able to
accept as valid and not inferior.
Green writes of students identity as musicians
seen as being musical and compares it with
Christopher Smalls concept of musicking,
whereby everyone involved in music in whatever
way, including listening, is musicking (Small
13
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1998). Such ideas place music-making at the

heart of the musical experience and also involve
a passionate argument for music-making to be
at the centre of music education (Green 2008:
60). She observed that such musicians tended
to learn by copying from each other and from
recordings, playing along both alone and in
groups, rather than from notation, as was more
common with classical players. She provides
case studies of a range of musicians of various
ages, from both the informal popular culture
and the formal music education of the Western
classical tradition. As a way of encouraging more
young people to take part in music in school and
develop their musical identities, she suggests
introducing aural imitation, experimentation
and improvisation into the secondary curriculum
to replace the more traditional skills-based
approach adopted by most music teachers.
However, this raises an ethical question as far
as identity is concerned. The process of identity
formation (or identitation) is multi-faceted. It
involves not only how students are perceived but
also a carefully and consciously constructed selfimage that they wish others to see. The question
must then be asked whether it is ethically
sound to try and bring the young persons
music outside school into the establishment
via mainstream education. It must also be
established whether informal imitative methods
of learning are applicable to the traditional
formal methods. My own view is that as educators
we have a responsibility to guide our students
through our subject in an all-encompassing,
objective way and to introduce as many styles
as possible at the same time as being open to
students own music and the new knowledge
and appreciation we as teachers can learn from
them. This is in line with our responsibilities in
all other facets of education. One does not
need to be an expert in music any more than

in any other subject in order to be able to grasp
basic principles and understanding. It is the
ability to communicate ideas and enthusiasm
that is paramount. All of us are musicians in
the Christopher Small sense, as long as we have
listened to music rather than just heard it.
Many more young people are involved in popular
music making than classical, as evidenced by the
number of garage bands started by teenagers,
although this in itself does not mean that there
is more interest in pop music, only that it is more
accessible informally. North and Hargreaves
provide figures for the increase on spending on
recorded music and equate that to time spent
listening to it (North & Hargreaves 1999: 76),
estimating that, between 7th and 12th grades,
American adolescents averaged 10,500 hours of
elected listening to music.
Music is a hugely important tool for the student
in the creation of an identity, to the extent that
it can be thought of as a badge of identity for
many (Lamont et al. 2003: 230), as mentioned
above. I conducted an interview with a student
and observed that choice of music was very
important when fitting in with his peers. When
questioned about what music he listened to from
choice when he started to create his own musical
identity he had this to say:
whatever my peers were listening to at the
time, so it was, er, basically American rock slash
metal such as well it ranged from, er, Limp
Bizkit to Blink 182, [bands] such as that, and
it was also at that period I came across Rage
Against the Machine who continue to be one of
my favourites (Billy, 18-year-old student, May
2010)
Music is therefore, for this student, clearly an

important way of aligning himself with those
peers with whom he chose to be associated. He
went on to talk about the development of his
individuality and rapidly moving away from peer
group uniformity to develop his (continued)
interest into many different styles and genres
of music, although this was alongside the
maintained peer-group identity:
[Rage Against the Machine] were I think when
I instigated actually trying to find music for
myself cos they werent immensely popular
in the general community but Id heard them
mentioned so I got one of their CDs and I really
liked it so and that was the start of my the
broadening of my horizons into the larger pool
of music; that I hadnt really given it a chance
before [ibid.]
Billy plays piano by ear and has learned to play
in the informal way described by Green (2002),
although he did take piano lessons for a short
time when he was around five or six years old. He
has moved on from copying existing music and
followed his interest in film to creating original
music in a variety of styles for the films he has
made. Billy is also a drummer and has been
gigging around the North East since the age of
14. Again, he is self-taught, and although the
main style he plays is rock, he has a keen interest
in swing and jazz drumming. His perception of
the value of this was really interesting. Another
excerpt from the interview transcription:
Q.: In terms of music in general, listening to
it and playing it, how important is music to
you just generally as a person?
A.: Er, very its just one of the biggest parts
of my life Yeah, its a big, big, big part of
my life.
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Q.: So, do you think of yourself as a

musician?
A.: No. I think of myself as an appreciator
of music and musicians but I wouldnt
consider myself a musician cos basically
all I do is bang stuff and press stuff
[laughs] I cant play stuff that other people
have written and I dont consider playing
drums as being a musician, I consider it
more like a rhythmetitian or something

When asked about his memory of music at school,
in particular classroom music, his answers were
surprising but perhaps not uncommon:
Q.: What about classroom music?
A.: Classroom I cant remember
Q.: What, you cant remember at primary
school or you cant remember right
through school?
A.: Oh yeah, I cant remember at primary
school at all, doing music I remember
singing in the choir but thats not part
of the classroom Actually, I think I
remember something about the triangle
and cymbals But in, er, secondary
school, [well we had a drum kit bought
for us for a Christmas present by our
grandparents but we never really used it]
and we did, erm, drums, covered drums at
school in about Year 9 and I quite enjoyed
it then cos it seemed to quickly fall into
beating out rhythms and stuff, so and
then because Id done well in the class, a
group of students in my class who were,
er, members of the band I later joined,
erm, asked me to play drums for them []
and thats what decided me basically that I

was going to play the drums.
So here we have someone, apparently failed
by the school system, who had such a strong
sense of his self-identity as a musical identity
that he developed his music entirely outside
school (Lamont et al. 2003). Despite having
attained a high level of (self-taught) skill in
playing drums and piano, and having had violin
and piano lessons as a child at primary school
and home respectively, Billy does not value his
achievements in the way others might expect in
the way he thinks others do expect. This appears
to result from his perceived view of a musician as
someone who is able to represent other peoples
music from a written score. Earlier in the
interview, he had talked about being able to read
music but not with sufficient fluency to play from,
and he still has a strong desire to play the piano
more formally and to play a brass instrument or
clarinet in order to perceive himself as a proper
musician and to open up more music to him.
References
DAmore, A. (ed) (2010) Musical Futures: an approach to teaching
and learning, Resources Pack (2nd Ed.). London: Paul Hamlyn
Foundation.
Green, L. (2002) How popular musicians learn. Aldershot:
Ashgate Publishing.
Green, L. (2008) Music, informal learning and the school: A new
classroom pedagogy. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.
Hargreaves, D. J. & Marshall, N. (2003) Developing identities in
music education. Music Education Research 5 (3) 263-273.
Lamont, A., Hargreaves, D.J., Marshall, N.A. & Tarrant, M.
(2003) Young peoples music in and out of school. British
Journal of Music Education 20 (3) 229-241.
North, A.C. & Hargreaves, D. J. (1999) Music and adolescent
identity. Music Education Research 1 (1) 75-92.
Schei, T. B. (2009) Professional singers identitation. Unpublished
essay, University of Bergen.
Small, C. (1977/1980) Music, society, education. Hanover:
University Press of New England.
Small, C. (1998) Musicking: The meanings of performing and
listening. Hanover: University Press of New England.
Andrew Lindley is a primary school teacher in East Durham.

He was a peripatetic upper strings teacher before going into
classroom teaching.
a.lindley101@durhamlearning.net
Conclusions
This and the earlier article shows that identity
as a musician, as a teacher or student, and as a
person is in a constant state of flux both within
oneself and as influenced by the social group in
which one finds oneself. Musical identity is part
of this constant change and manifests itself in
changing taste as we move through life, although
it would appear that such change is at its height
in the years we spend at secondary school and
immediately afterwards. So long as educators
do not lose sight of the need to provide a
curriculum that encompasses the needs of all
students, there is a real opportunity to create
an engaging curriculum for all that allows young
peoples musical identities to develop according
to individual needs and preferences.
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Years music project in Redbridge Childrens Centres
TEACHING & LEARNING:

EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY
Sound Foundations Early Years music project in

Redbridge Childrens Centres Caroline Morris
This is the second article about a successful Early
Years music project. In the earlier piece, published
in Issue One of the Music Mark Magazine (Spring
2013), Caroline Morris described the background to
the project and how she devised and implemented
it in school settings. Here she reports on its
implementation and effect in Childrens Centres.
Youth Music funding allowed Redbridge Music
Service to deliver an Early Years music project
across a variety of settings for seven months
in 2012. The aim of the project was to provide
opportunities for children and families to take
part in regular, quality music making activities in a
range of Early Years settings, whilst training nonmusic-specialist staff to deliver musical activities
and identifying effective future provision in the
borough (see Morris 2013: 19).
Staff training at the centre of the project

The project consisted of two 12-week courses, with
different families attending the second course.
Each of the four Childrens Centres involved had
a session for babies and a session for toddlers
every week. Two members of staff from each
centre were identified to receive the music training.
In addition, one member of staff received more
in-depth training, in order that they might gain a
greater knowledge and be able to support other
staff in the future. It was essential to imbed staff
training into the structure of this project, rather
than it being an add-on, so as to ensure the

continuation of the sessions once the funded
project was over. All staff received three half-day
training sessions: at the start, mid-point and end
of the project. In addition to this they took part in
the weekly sessions, observing the music specialist
at first and then gradually taking the lead as the
project progressed.
The staff completed questionnaires at the start
and the end of the project in order to assess the
effect of the project on their skills, confidence
and understanding. The success of this method of
staff training is evident from the responses, which
revealed the following:
The curriculum
The curriculum was carefully designed and the
musical content selected in order to meet a
number of criteria as well as being developmentally
appropriate. For example:
1. Use of songs and rhymes which were not
in copyright so we could produce a parent
pack, which could be easily reproduced and
distributed to the families involved at little cost
2. Use of repertoire suitable for families with
English as an additional language, or with
little or no English language skills
3. Use of activities which non-music-specialist
Early Years practitioners would be able to
deliver without the music specialist in the
future
4. Use of activities utilising instruments and
materials that were motivating, inexpensive,
readily available, robust and versatile (egg
shakers, rhythm sticks, scarves, chime bars, a
gathering drum, hoops)
5. Emphasis on activities that supported the
development of speech and language. This
was identified by the Childrens Centres
and Early Years team in the Borough as an
Singing the Hello Song
Increased confidence in singing

Increased confidence in leading a range of
music and movement activities
Development of musical skills
Increased understanding of the role
of music in the EYFS and in the home
environment
Increased use of music activities in other
non-music-focused sessions
By the end of the project the majority of staff
who had taken part were able to lead the music
activities successfully and confidently without the
support of the music specialist.
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area of importance. The Childrens Centres

chosen for this project were identified by the
Early Years Advisor as being in areas in the
Borough where EYFS scores for speech and
language were in need to improvement
The weekly activities included a Hello and Goodbye
song, bouncing and rocking songs, steady beat
activities, free and structured movement activities
such as dances and circle dances, body awareness
rhymes, gross and fine motor movement activities,
playing a variety of instruments, and focused
listening. The way these activities were structured
across the 12 weeks had to allow enough repetition
for the children, parents and practitioners to
become confident and familiar with the activities,
while providing progression from week to week and
enough new activities to keep adults and children
engaged and motivated to regularly attend all of
the sessions.
Once the curriculum had been finalised, we
produced a parent booklet and CD containing all
of the songs, rhymes and instrumental music used,
so the parents could easily continue the activities
at home, thereby increasing the use of music in the
home and providing the children with the repetition
they needed in order to gain maximum benefit from
the activities.
Listening
Focused listening activities were incorporated into
the toddler curriculum to further support speech
and language. We used recorded sounds relating
to the subject of one or more of the activities in that
session and always followed the same procedure:
1. Everyone touches their ears and is still (if
children are unable to touch their ears, then
the parent gently touches the childs ears for
them)
2. Listen to the sound (it is important that no

one speaks or makes a noise while the sound
is playing and that the environment is quiet so
as not to distract from the sound)
3. Reproduce the sound with voices and an
action
4. Name the sound give it a label, put it in the
context of a song or activity and perhaps
show a picture or model of the sound maker
This listening sequence was introduced to me
while at the University of Miami and is found in the
Experience the Music curriculum (see Morris 2013:
19). Although it seems incredibly simple, it works
brilliantly to engage children in active listening
with a purpose and context. Once children are
familiar with the sequence, they enjoy the game and
parents and practitioners have reported increased
attention in listening in a range of situations, which
they attribute to this activity. Practitioners and
parents now also use the touching of the ears
in other situations beyond the music sessions to
encourage more focused listening, for example
when giving directions, or in phonics work.
Focused listening activity
The effects of the project

The effects of the music sessions on the children
and families involved were noted in staff
evaluations after each session. Parents were
also asked to complete a pre- and post-project
questionnaire.
Staff observations
Some of the general effects that the staff noticed
the music sessions were having on the children
included increased confidence (among both
parents and children), positive developments
in relation to speech and language, ability to
listen, positive effects on behaviour and ability
to participate in whole group activities, increased
cooperation and the ability to share, as well as
general enjoyment.
We have some children who lack confidence in
large groups. With the music sessions we have
seen changes in these children, and both staff and
parents have been amazed. These children have
felt confident enough to speak in front of the
whole group. Up until now, this had not happened.
Children who were shy became more confident and
some children who used to cry within the session
and were unsettled became settled and joined in
with the sessions, sang and took part in action
songs.
Staff reported instances where the music sessions
had encouraged parents who were in particular
need of support to attend the Childrens Centre.
In these cases families could be signposted to
other sessions and encouraged to access other
resources and services provided.
For one particular new, first-time mother, it was
the opportunity to attend the music sessions that
encouraged her to visit the Childrens Centre for
the first time. The first music session she attended
with her three-month old was the first time she
had left the house since her child was born. At first
the mother was quite withdrawn and reluctant to
sing, participate or engage with her child, hardly
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looking at him and holding him very still. Staff made

sure she felt welcome and supported her. As the
weeks went on she became more relaxed and
happy, and began engaging more with her child
and moving him around with more confidence.
As she became more involved in the group, her
confidence increased, and as a result her child
responded more to her during the activities. The
first time we saw them both smile during the class
was a wonderful moment. She also made social
links with other parents in the class. Until this point
she had been extremely isolated. In the pre-project
questionnaire she reported low frequency of
musical interaction, low confidence and low child
enjoyment. After taking part in the project she
reported higher frequency of musical activities at
home, higher confidence in rocking and bouncing,
and increased child enjoyment. When asked what
she noticed her child doing as a result of these
sessions she stated that he smiled more, was more
aware of sounds and was sleeping better due to
her use of the rocking songs she had learnt.
This was not an isolated success story. Over the
24 weeks of sessions, the Childrens Centre staff
recorded many observations of the positive effects
these sessions were having on the families involved.
They would speak with the parents at other sessions
during the week and be told, with great excitement,
all of the things they had done at home with their
child that week and of things they had observed
their child doing, which they had learnt in class or
attributed to the class. News of the music sessions
was spreading amongst the parents. Waiting lists
got longer and longer and parents even tried
to attend music sessions in multiple centres.
Parents at centres that were not running the music
sessions were demanding to know why not! For
me, this was even more valuable for assessing
the success of the project than the data collected
in questionnaires and our observations during
the sessions. It showed that the parents were
experiencing first-hand the positive effects of the
music sessions on their children and were excited

about it!
kinds of musical activities they did regularly with

their children at home. A content analysis of
responses revealed the patterns seen in Table 2.
Parent questionnaire results

178 parents completed the pre-project
questionnaire (Q1) and 120 parents completed the
post-project questionnaire (Q2). Analysis of the
data revealed the following:
95% of families reported an increase in the
frequency of music making at home
This project increased the frequency of all of
the following types of music making at home
singing, saying rhymes, bouncing, rocking,
dancing and listening
92% of families state that they use the
activities they learnt in the sessions at home
regularly
Post-project, parents reported engaging in
a wider variety of musical activities, whereas
pre-project, the predominant mode was
singing
When listening to music, parents now report
interacting with their children rather than
passive listening to background music
Q2 also revealed increases in both parent
confidence and child enjoyment in the different
types of musical activity due to participation in
these sessions (see Table 1).
Table 2 Activity types in the home

We can see an increase in the areas of singing,
dancing, movement, bouncing and rocking postproject and a decrease is noticeable in the mention
of rhymes. This may be due to parents stating
specific songs or activities in Q2 rather than the
generalised response Nursery Rhymes which
was common in responses from Q1. There is also a
decrease in passive listening and TV post-project,
with no mention of computer games or YouTube in
Q2 and no parents stated that they did nothing.
These results indicate that parents are engaging
in a greater range of active musical activities that
require them to participate with their child as a
result of taking part in this project. It also shows an
increase in the repertoire of songs and activities
parents are drawing on. Almost 10% of parents
mentioned the Tidy up song specifically in Q2
indicating that singing and music has become part
of their daily routines.
What have you noticed your child doing?

Table 1 Parent confidence
In both questionnaires parents were asked what
Parents were asked to describe changes they had

observed in their childs behaviour, which they
could attribute to attending the music classes. This
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question required parents to formulate their own

responses rather than tick a box. Possibly due to
the high proportion of parents with English as a
second language and lack of time to complete the
questionnaire, the responses were not as detailed
as we had hoped. However, content analysis
revealed the aspects seen in Table 3.
Changes in child behaviour attributed to music
class
Number of parents observing

this change (N=113)
More alert/attentive/increased awareness
34
Dancing/responding to music with movement
33
Singing
29
Increased enjoyment music and generally happier
29
Recognise/remember/show preference
27
Increased speech and communication
26
Increased listening and attention
20
Increased confidence
18
Increased social skills
13
Calmer, more settled
Table 3 Changes in child behaviour

Project legacy
As a result of this project, the Sound Foundations
music sessions have been rolled out across the
Borough in Childrens Centres and have become
part of their core programme, with music sessions
being offered weekly at 10 out of 17 centres. The
staff training is on-going, with more staff being
trained to deliver the curriculum by both myself
and a member of the Childrens Centre staff who
received more in-depth training. Activities are being
used in other sessions and the Hello songs are now
standardised and used in many sessions. Music is no
longer confined just to the music sessions as staff
recognise its power and potential.
The project has increased awareness of the role
of music in the EYFS not only among the staff and
parents directly involved in the project, but also
among the Childrens Centre management. As a
result of the management recognising the effects

of this project, I represent Redbridge Music Service
at the Redbridge Early Years Early Communication
and Language Steering Group, which meets regularly
with the aim of improving and standardising
speech, language and communication related
activities in Childrens Centres.
Parents who have taken part in music sessions at
their local Childrens Centre are signposted to Mini
Musicians, classes for babies and toddlers run by
early years music specialists at North East London
Music Education Hub (NELMEH). This has helped
to increase awareness in the community of the
groups available at Redbridge and Waltham Forest
Music Centres.
able to adapt to the needs of the group and alter

the activities during the sessions for maximum
effect. This skill requires high-order thinking,
experience, musical expertise and creativity on
the part of the music specialist. Music is obviously
valued as an important and effective offering in
Childrens Centres and training the staff to deliver
regular music sessions is more cost effective than
employing a music specialist weekly. This is often
the only way of ensuring music is included beyond
projects funded by bodies such as Youth Music,
however, it is through partnership working that the
best results are the most clearly evident.
Final thoughts
Many of the families involved in the project in
Redbridge were identified by the Childrens Centre
as having a particular need to attend. This could
have been related to speech and language
concerns, behaviour, confidence or a host of other
issues that staff hoped could be improved by the
music sessions. The complex needs of the families
in attendance sometimes made the delivery of the
sessions quite challenging, making it necessary
for the music specialist to adapt the activities
according to the needs of the group during the
session. This often meant that the music specialist
would take over from the Early Years practitioner
who was learning how to deliver an activity,
prioritising the needs of the group over the training
needs of the staff. Although the primary purpose
of the music specialist was to train the Childrens
Centre staff, it was often the partnership between
them in such situations that was the most beneficial
to parents and children and created those magic
moments. The Early Years practitioner brought
their experience of supporting the needs of
children and parent (and often their knowledge of
particular families), and the music specialist was
Reference
Morris, C. (2013) Sound Foundations Early Years Music Project,
Music Mark Magazine 1 19-21.
Photographs included here by kind permission of Redbridge Music
Service and the Childrens Centres involved.
Caroline Morris is Head of Early Years for Redbridge Music
Service, the lead partner in the North East London Music
Education Hub (NELMEH).
caroline.morris@redbridge.gov.uk
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TEACHING & LEARNING: EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY | Experienced music specialist required to lead the musical life in a vibrant primary school
Experienced music specialist required to lead

the musical life in a vibrant primary school
Louisa Roberts
In this piece the author considers how returning to
work in a school following an educational role out
of the classroom led her to reflect on some of the
common issues faced by music subject leaders.
Even though I had always known I would return to
teaching because I missed the school community,
the children, and making music on a daily basis
with young people, returning to teaching after
three years as an Area Leader for the KS2 Music
CPD Programme with Trinity Guildhall and The Open
University was a daunting prospect. However,
although there were unexpected challenges which I
hadnt envisaged there were unexpected successes
too which have made the whole experience both
wonderful and memorable.
Competent pianist preferred:

Preconceptions and expectations
Joining a small Church of England school in the
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in September
2011 as a music specialist, I was immediately involved
in preparation for the worship song in Friday
Assembly the focal point of the week. All pupils,
staff, parents and carers attend and, despite a
transfer day with the former post holder, I wasnt
really sure what to expect although I realised
such apprehension was common to anyone else,
however experienced, starting a new teaching job.
Most of the interactions I had had with parents up
until this point were linked to their sadness at the
previous post-holder leaving and to how brilliant he
was (and how rubbish I might be at playing the piano
given that my arm was in a sling). Ability to play the
piano is still seen as the yard stick for successful

music teaching in some parents and teachers
opinions. Thank goodness for backing tracks and
the wonders of unaccompanied part-singing, which
got me through that first term! But overcoming this
stereotype of what a primary school music specialist
is has become a steady process of winning hearts
and minds. I have been holding parent information
sessions and making myself available to discuss
our school approach and I am learning that it does
indeed take a long time.
Early in my career, I remember being asked by an
experienced teacher for a particular hymn five
minutes before assembly. On so many levels this
used to make me feel very frustrated. I would
explain that I was a musician not magician and,
piano not being my first instrument, it would be
helpful to have a few days notice to rehearse.
(This, of course, is part of the misconception that
one is either a musician or not a musician, and, if
you are a musician, then of course you can play
the piano.) Secondly, I was given no opportunity
to suggest more appropriate repertoire for this
age of children. (Was this because of a lack of
awareness of the implications of childrens musical
and other development? Or was it that the hymn
was not seen as part of their music education?)
Thirdly, I considered that telling rather than
consulting with a designated specialist shows poor
collaboration skills. Although that experience
of being merely a tool in the delivery of school
worship inevitably coloured my own expectations
when joining my new school, my experience here
has been quite the opposite, for many reasons. In

terms of musical learning, through professional
development and experience, I have become
more skilled in leading high quality singing in class,
choir and in collective worship which means I am
more assertive in my communications with staff.
Additionally, the school has an open approach to
musical worship traditions. Consequently, as subject
leader for music, I feel that I have almost total
ownership of music used for school and community
events, consulting with and consulted by the clergy,
staff and pupils in an attempt to choose a good
balance that appeals to all groups.
A reflective practitioner who constantly

strives to develop outstanding teaching
and learning: Ongoing practice based on
underlying principles
I was absolutely clear at the beginning of my
appointment that the musical vision of the school
music curriculum should be driven by the four
programme principles of the Key Stage 2 Music
CPD Programme (Access and Inclusion, Creativity,
Collaboration and Integration). In the following
sections I give some examples of how this has been
achieved.
Access and inclusion

My main concerns were around reducing the
cost of individual instrumental tuition, which was
inaccessible for the children from some of our
poorest families. I negotiated with the tutors that
some pupils could be taught in groups of four and
further reduced costs by including Pupil Premium
pupils. One of the tutors was apprehensive about
teaching groups, but after some gentle persuasion
and coaching, she now finds it more enjoyable
than individual tuition because of the way the
children interact together and raise the level of
achievement though competitiveness. The music
service (now the Tri-borough Music Hub) supports
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TEACHING & LEARNING: EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY | Experienced music specialist required to lead the musical life in a vibrant primary school
access for other families through a wide range

of instrumental tuition and activities at varied
locations on different days of the week at an
affordable cost.
There are many additional costs to learning an
instrument, such as books, CDs and exam fees.
With a successful application to the Mayors Fund
for Young Musicians (MFYM), I was able to target
and then mentor three pupils who were eligible to
become part of the first 100 MFYM Scholars. The
scholarships are for four years and will accompany
them through their transfer to secondary schools.
Accompanying those children and their parents to
the Mayors office to collect those awards bonded
us all in a unique way and many teachers will
understand how it was these sorts of special
experiences that I had missed when working outside
the school environment.
high attaining, had not got the prerequisite

organisational skills to perform collaboratively. The
first term started badly why on earth did I use a
song called Ding Dong as a starter? After attending
an Orff workshop at the NAME conference, I trialled
some jazz composition work and this convinced
me that we needed more of this highly structured
method within more familiar genres to encourage
composition and exploration. The Ting Tings song
Thats not my name (see, for example,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c2OfAzDTI) was
a must with its combination of a repeated ostinato
pattern as a bass line with exciting texturing of
catchy themes throughout. Pop music can be an
important medium in helping pupils assimilate
musical form and is a great starting point for their
own compositions, and the Pop4Schools website
(https://www.pop4schools.com/) supported our
adapted Year 6 curriculum very well.
Collaboration
Integration
The parents have been extremely supportive. Its

not every parents dream to cart a cello to school
and home again on public transport! Most of the
Year 5 parents attended our showcase in April and
are delighted that their children are taking part
in our mixed-strings project. In addition to the two
Tri-borough tutors, I assist with vocal work and
supporting the violins; our school secretary learns
the cello with the group; and the Learning Support
Assistant learns the violin collaboration in its
truest sense! Collaboration in large-scale events
both in and beyond the local area has provided
opportunities to work with children from other
schools and with other adults.
In spite of earlier secondary experience, I originally

trained in an Early Years context so the integration
of pupils experiences with formal learning has
always been high on my agenda. For the spring
term, the class topic was street art and graffiti so,
in music, we looked at the development of Rap,
Hip Hop and beat-boxing. From this, eight Year 6
children started a lunchtime Hip Hop club, which we
began to use as a playground for their informal
compositions at home. I found myself slipping into
some of the strategies that I used in secondary
schools and allowing pupils more freedom in their
ways of working and thats fine in primary too!
Creativity
My first Year 6 class on returning to the classroom
was particularly challenging and I really felt
that the only way to address this was through
creative teaching. This boy-heavy class, although
Applicants must have a proven track

record: Learning from experience
We are all products of our previous experience
and while writing this article I have realised how
much I have built on past experiences in what I
do now. For example, I learned so much from my
leadership role with the KS2 Music CPD Programme:

from working with 17 local authorities, I became
more skilled in partnership working this has
real relevance in joining up with the local hub
and other organisations to provide high quality
musical experiences for all our pupils. My teaching
experiences with bilingual pupils in Slough and
London taught me to keep it simple and use
repetition freely, and my background in Kodaly
methodology fits in with this as, drawing on previous
use of Growing with Music and on training through
the Voices Foundation and the Kodaly Centre of
London, I now use Jolly Music (http://jollylearning.
co.uk/overview-about-jolly-Music/).
CPD can be a career-enhancing experience.
One of my most unique and profoundly moving
experiences of professional development was when
the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC)
primary network group travelled to Parkwood
Hall School, a residential special school in Kent.
Throughout the day, we were shown how to address
the learning needs of SEN(D) pupils and part of that
involved being taught steel pans by the pupils of the
band. Asking pupils to teach others is a strategy I
subsequently used much more in my teaching.
Concerts are an important part of the

schools musical life: Balancing showcase
and curriculum
My best memories of primary school were on the
coach on the way back from a festival singing our
hearts out with a trophy in tow. And now I find myself
providing similar experiences for the children I
teach. If youre aged nine to eleven and you live
in West London, the Westfield Shopping Centres
Christmas Choir Awards is the best event EVER
(Pupil Voice speaking)! The remainder of the costs
to purchase 15 cellos for our mixed-strings project
was achieved through an unexpected windfall when
we won a category at these awards although
21
_____________________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING: EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY | Experienced music specialist required to lead...
collecting the giant 1000 cheque was even more fun

than the competition! However, the best moment
of all was trying to get on the bus back to school.
The driver was not happy because we didnt have
the letter from London Transport granting free
travel. I explained, We didnt have time to apply,
weve just won a singing competition! At this point
two children carried the giant cheque onto the bus.
All the passengers on the downstairs deck erupted
in cheers and applause and the grumpy bus driver
smiled and let us all on for free. And we sang all the
way home.
For primary schools in the RBKC borough, the
Christmas Festival at Kensington Town Hall in
December is an absolute must and ticks our boxes
for collaboration and integration. The part-singing
and Makaton signing add a dimension of challenge
for even the most able teachers! However, primary
pupils find these Makaton signs aid their learning
immensely. Families are allocated one ticket per
performing child making the tickets at our school
like Wonka Golden Tickets and it is wonderful
to see parents and grandparents waving and
enjoying every minute. Yet despite these and
similar occasions being wonderful showcases for
the school, and creating musical memories for the
children to treasure into adulthood, such success
would not be possible without the solid and regular
grounding that happens in class music sessions,
based on the principles described above.
Experienced music specialist required:

The next turn of the circle
This summer I became the Tri-borough Lead
for Primary Music Curriculum. Its exciting to be
promoting the use of the voice in the classroom
and supporting primary practitioners in delivering
National Curriculum music, while leading the
teachers forum on behalf of the Tri-borough Music
Hub is a responsibility that holds real relevance in
my career journey. It has always been my passion

that music services should be led by the demands
of their learners in many contexts. This is an
opportunity to ensure that partners and providers
put services exactly where the demand is. In my
Keynote speech to class teachers and co-ordinators
at our hubs recent Network Day, I urged staff to
get involved and were constantly pushing for wider
participation of schools and teachers through our
professional development and cluster events.
My situation is reminiscent of my days as an
Advanced Skills Music Teacher as Im in my
school three days a week while also supporting
other schools in the Tri-borough. Keeping one
foot in school is a brilliant way to trial different
methodologies and stay in touch with school
initiatives.
Im delighted to be able to say I love my job and
I enjoy every part of working collaboratively in
school and out. Long live the hub.
Louisa Roberts is Music Subject Leader at St Barnabas and St Philip

Primary School, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and
Primary Music Curriculum lead for the Tri-borough Music Hub.
Louisa.roberts@triboroughmusichub.org
___________________
Informal music learning in the Year 2 classroom
Informal music
learning in
the Year 2
classroom
Leslie Linton
Musical Futures has a global reach, notably in
addressing the development of pedagogy and
curricula at the secondary phase. In reporting on
a programme of action research in the early years
in Canada, the scope of informal learning is placed
in the context of well-established formal practices
leading to questions concerning music learning and
childhood more generally.
The success of the Musical Futures programme
has been well noted in the targeted grades of the
Canadian pilot project Grades 7 and 8 (English Y8
and 9) in the elementary school, and Grades 9, 10
and 11 in the secondary school (English Y10, 11 and 12).
However, I wondered about the disconnect between
pedagogical approaches facing younger students
and how this might affect their learning. Would an
informal approach in the early grades change the
musical skills that students acquired, specifically,
would they be the same as those prescribed in the
Kodly, Orff, and Dalcroze approaches prevalent
in Canadian elementary grades? With this in mind, I
developed a research study aimed at investigating
whether or not such a program could not only be
possible with very young students (in this case
Grade 1), but might actually benefit their learning
in the music classroom and further connect to the
type of learning they will experience with Musical
Futures in higher grades.
22
_____________________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING: EARLY YEARS & PRIMARY | Informal music learning in the Year 2 classroom
Theoretical framework
My starting points came from Lucy Greens
research (2002, 2005, 2008), Katherine Marshs
(2008) investigation of childrens music on the
playground and, further, Harwood & Marshs
(2012) development of childrens musical cultures
compared with Greens (2002) study on popular
musicians and informal learning. I found no
documented studies which apply the main tenets of
informal learning in the school setting to very young
children. Therefore, by joining Greens principles
of informal learning to young childrens playground
practices as Harwood & Marshs research (2012) has
done, and by adding a pedagogical connection to
the planned informal learning study, an approach
was devised as in Table 1.
Informal
Learning
Principles
(Green 2008)
Playground &
Out-of-school
practices
(Harwood &
Marsh 2012)
Planned
Informal
Learning
(Linton 2013)
1. The learner
chooses the
music for
personal goals.
1. The learner
chooses the
music to meet
social and
personal goals.
1. Learner
chooses the
music, from a
given selection,
to meet social
and personal
goals.
2. Copying
music by ear
is the primary
method of skill
acquisition.
2. Copying
music is
achieved
through aural/
oral and visual
methods.
Movement,
eye, ear,
and gestural
coordination
is essential for
learning.
2. Music is
presented
holistically
and copied
by ear. Music
is presented
aurally and
explored
visually.
3. Learning
takes place
in peer or
friendship
groups.
3. Learning
takes place
in friendship
groups or
familial groups.
There are
many levels of
participation
(observer to
song leader)
and children
participate or
withdraw at
will.
3. Learning
takes place
according to
friendship
groups, which
guide their
choices of
music.
4. Skills are
acquired in
a haphazard
manner, nonlinear manner.
4. Skills develop
according to
repertoire
selected.
Holistic
repetition is
preferred.
4. Skills are
explored
through
repertoire
and teacher
facilitated
activities.
Repetition is
encouraged.
5. Emphasis is
on creativity
through
listening,
performing,
composing,
and
improvising.
5. Communal
improvisation
and
composition
occurs
occasionally
according
to accepted
conventions.
5. Students
are able to
create through
listening,
performing,
and
improvising.
Table 1 Planned informal learning: An extension of Harwood & Marshs

(2012) comparative chart (Linton 2013)
Research design
Using this chart to guide the study provided a
framework from which I designed three informal
units guided by the following research questions:
Research question 1: Can informal learning

pedagogy, developed from the musical
practices of popular musicians (Green 2008), be
successfully adapted for (Grade 1) students?
Research question 2: What adaptations are
necessary for informal learning pedagogy
to succeed in Canadian elementary schools,
which are heavily focused on the more formal
approaches of Kodly, Orff, and Dalcroze?
Research question 3: Can the informal learning
practices of childrens playground activities
as described by Marsh (2008) and Harwood &
Marsh (2012) be transferred to the classroom,
in effect bringing childhood culture to the
classroom?
Methodology
This study utilised an action research methodology.
In this 6-month qualitative study, the regular music
specialist teacher and I worked alongside one
another to deliver three informal learning units
that I designed (see below). Approximately 460
hours of audio/visual data were collected, along
with researcher field notes, teacher field notes and
mid-/post-study interviews with all students and the
teacher.
At the conclusion of the study, the recorded video
was transcribed and further divided into categories,
themes and then specific codes. A codes to theory
framework (Saldaa 2012) was used to refine themes
and produce one overarching category.
Participants
This study took place in a Catholic elementary
school in a rural area in Southwestern Ontario. I
worked with two classes of Grade 1 (English Year 2)
students. Each class had 18 students with an equal
representation of males and females, as well as
a mixture of European ethnicities. The principal
arranged the schedule so that both classes
occurred at the same time of day (11:10-11:45) on
alternating days.
23
_____________________________________
The participating teacher was a music specialist

teacher with an Honours Bachelor of Music
Education, Bachelor of Education, Associate of
the Royal Conservatory of Music and additional
training in Kodly methodology. With over 20 years
of experience, she was a willing participant but was
also aware that she was still required to ensure that
students met the curricular expectations.
Description of informal units

Unit 1 Listening and copying vocally
Three songs were selected from a list generated by
discussion with the students, and approved by the
teacher and principal of the school. The three songs
were Trouble by Taylor Swift, Firework by Katy Perry
and Go, Diego Go, which is the theme song to the
Nickelodeon Junior television show Diego. I purchased
the sheet music and audio files of each piece, along
with three small MP3 players and three small portable
speakers. I used the freeware audio programme Pitch
Shifter to change the tempo of the songs, so each MP3
player had one song with three tempos: the original
song unchanged, medium and slow.
In this unit, the students selected their groups
according to the music they wanted to sing.
They were all given
lyric sheets for their
piece, along with a
task sheet. In some
lessons, they were to
set their own goals.
This was a new activity
for the students. Some
goals were verbal and
some were written on
the task sheet (see
Figure 1). At the end of
the unit each group
sang their song with or Figure 1 Student Achievement Chart
for the Diego group
without the MP3 player.
Unit 2 Playing familiar melodies by ear

In Unit 2, students formed friendship groups of
any size, and were given a xylophone along with
an instruction sheet with a list of familiar songs.
Their task was to figure out how to play the first
phrase of a selected song. The unit culminated with
performances either to the teacher, researcher or
the class.
Unit 3 Playing harmony and singing melodies by ear
The final unit involved singing a melody and playing
harmony on a ukulele at the same time, after
learning an unfamiliar song. I chose Beethovens Ode
to Joy and used English lyrics. The students indicated
that they were not familiar with the tune even after it
was played. I chose two YouTube videos to teach the
song to the students. The first was a flash mob with
a full orchestra and choir (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=kbJcQYVtZMo). The second video featured
the Muppets character Beaker singing the tune Ode
to Joy to the sound mee (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A). The video includes intricate
harmonies and is a 6-way split screen ending with
Beakers experiment exploding at the end of the
song. The students asked to see the video several
times as it is very entertaining (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 Students learning Ode to Joy from a YouTube video

of the Muppets character Beaker
I chose the key of C Major for this song for several

reasons:
Differentiated learning the C-chord
is easier to play on the ukulele than the
G-chord
Link with home some students were taking
piano lessons, and using this key meant they
would find it easier to pick out on a piano
Accompanying on classroom instruments
tuned percussion instruments are in the key
of C Major
The students were given a lyric sheet of the English
words, a ukulele, and two chord sheets for the
C-chord and G-chord. The students were instructed
to sing the song while playing the chords and told
that they could do this in any formulation they
wished. Some alternated chords between peers;
some conducted and sang while others played;
and some used percussion instruments. The unit
culminated with performances by each group. Some
students indicated that they had ukuleles at home,
however none knew how to play specific chords or
melodies, nor were they aware that the instrument
needed to be tuned a certain way.
At the end of the study, the students took home a
binder of all activities undertaken during the study.
I provided this binder to all students and included
lyric sheets, sheet music, colouring activities etc. so
that they could view their progress at any time.
Research question 1: Theme 1 Transitioning from
the formal to the informal
My initial attempt at dropping the students in at the
deep end as it is described in the Musical Futures
document, and successfully accomplished with
older students, presented extreme challenges to
students. One student asked me, When are you
going to start teaching us? After two years of
kindergarten and perhaps preschool or daycare,
these young students had already been well
socialised into the expected patterns of school:
that they are to listen to the teacher and only do
24
_____________________________________
what they are told to do. For example, kindergarten

students are told when it is playtime, when it is story
time, and how to walk down the halls. They begin to
rely on instructions as information and knowledge,
and when asked to do something without
instruction, they have a difficult time.
The formal versus informal approach should not
be thought of as a dichotomy, but instead as a
continuum (Folkestad 2006). In addition, the formal
approach is focused more towards how to learn
to play music, whereas the informal approach is
directed towards playing music (ibid.). Informal
learning pedagogy may enable teachers and
students to participate in emergent pedagogies,
thereby positively affecting their potential to
become lifelong learners of music. To address
this very important issue, I developed a process to
transition along the formal-informal continuum,
and used improvisation as the element which
disrupted traditional teaching and learning and
encouraged more flexible boundaries and musical
risk taking. I created a diagram (see Table 2) to
guide the various lessons, which occurred over
approximately one month.
Formal
Instruction
1. Music chosen by the teacher
2. Learned visually - through
music notation
3. Students organized into skill
groupings
4. Learning is based on a spiral
curriculum
5. Skill based, non-integrated
listening/performing
Communicating
through Music
Liminal Space where students and
teachers move between formal and
informal learning and communicate
through music.
The boundaries are flexible and
are not dichotomies rather a
continuum (Folkestad, 2006)
Improvisation is situated here at
the core of the learning and
teaching experience
(Wright & Kanellopoulous, 2010)
Non-formal Teaching
and Informal Learning
(Green, 2008)
1. Music chosen by students
2. Learned aurally - listening and
copying
3. Students learn in
peer/friendship groups
4. Learning is non-linear and
haphazard
5. Deep integration of listening,
performing, composing
Table 2 Transition from Formal to Informal with Improvisation as the link

(Linton 2013)
This diagram begins with the Formal Instruction

circle. The first point, that the teacher chooses
music, is a common occurrence in all music classes.
The second point refers to learning visually
through music notation. At an early age, such as the

Grade 1 students in the study, visual cues are very
important. Although formal notation was not used
in the study units, it was noted that the absence
of visual cues initially hindered their overall
performances in Unit 1. For example, I wrote in my
field notes:
I have been so puzzled by the difficulty the students
are having with Unit 1: singing along to their favourite
songs with the audio recording. I have watched them
struggle in their groups, on their own, and even
asked them why it was difficult (to which they had
no answer). I wondered what was so different from
regular music classes, and I even wondered if the Unit
design was wrong. Then today something amazing
happened. I watched the teacher teach them a new
song at the end of class. She played the intricate
piano part as she taught it because it was going to be
for their next mass. It was a very complicated piece,
with words they hardly knew how to pronounce.
To my amazement, they all sang the correct words,
correct pitch and rhythm. I had an Ah-ha! moment
that almost knocked me off my chair. All the students
were indeed learning visually but not by notation;
they were watching every move she made. They
watched her mouth, shoulders, eyes, eyebrows, and
her upper torso. These were their formal cues they
use for how to sing the song, and in Unit 1 I have
taken their formal cues away and forced them to use
their ears instead. I think they are experiencing the
sudden shift into informal learning.
As we went along through formal activities into
improvisation it occurred to me that many students
were uncomfortable. Some would freeze when
it was their turn, some would refuse, and others
looked worried and anxious. It was not immediately
evident whether they were uncomfortable being
the centre of attention, or with the musical activity,
or both. The teacher mentioned that it was difficult
to watch her students in an uncomfortable
situation. However, I encouraged her and the class

to continue with the improvisational activities.
It proved to have a notable impact on the
socialisation between students and bonding with the
whole class. They displayed moments of empathy
when a student showed discomfort, and after
a short while every improvisation received an
enthusiastic round of applause and shouts of Good
job! and Well done!
Musically, some students had extreme difficulty
with small, short improvisation activities and would
ask me to tell them what to do. Others began
the transition with more ease and allowed their
imagination to guide their actions. By the end of
the transition, all students were quite adept at
improvisational activities and were ready to move
to the informal part. Many began creating songs
at home and writing them down in their Language
class during journal time (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 Composition If I could fly with lines indicating duration

of specific notes
In summary, the transitional phase from formal

to informal appeared to be a critical aspect in the
development of their creativity and confidence.
Creative aspects were seen through the many
compositions that were brought to the class.
This seemed to connect music classes to other
classes, and to activities at home. Their confidence
increased as their improvisations were always
25
_____________________________________
met with applause and praise. The most significant

aspect, however, was the bonding and support
offered between students. Their kindness and
trust in each other while emotionally vulnerable
during musical improvisations demonstrated a
depth of maturity in empathic behaviour. This type
of relationship continued into their informal groups
and became an essential element of their learning
process.
Research question 2: Theme 1 Adapting

expectations to meet the potential of 21st
century learners
One of the most alarming aspects about
elementary general music education is the
lack of focus on the potential of the child as an
independent, intelligent and engaged learner.
Curriculum expectations dictating the skills required
in music for each grade have not changed in many
years, yet mathematics, science, and language arts
have all moved forward, so that children now learn
concepts in Grade 1 that may have been previously
found in Grade 3. Although music education is
not only concerned with the skills acquired, the
curriculum skill expectations are an indication
of what an influential body of music educators
believe children can do and most importantly, may
become what educators will allow them to do.
One of the informal units in this study showed that

students are able to play the C Major chord and
the G Major chord on the ukulele, alternating when
necessary, while singing in tune to the theme of
Beethovens Ode to Joy (see Figure 4). This skill to
play and hear the chord progression I-V is listed
in the Grade 5 expectations. It should be noted that
in my research classes all students were able to do
this with the exception of one special needs student
with decreased motor function in her arms.
The students formed groups of varying sizes,
containing anywhere from two to seven children,
and created different versions of the song.
Although all could switch from C-Chord to G-Chord
while singing, some groups split the parts: C-Chord
plays and sings, then another person plays the
G-Chord and sings. These spontaneous solos
were very interesting as students had to be
concentrating on the other person and following
exactly where they were in in the song in order to
join in with their partner at the right time. Some
groups added percussion instruments and some
groups had conductors.
Video 1.
Informal learning and 21st century learning skills:
Music teacher Nancy Duarte talking about how
students surpassed curriculum expectations
through informal learning.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH

Figure 4 Girl demonstrating the C-Chord. Note the lyrics sheet
in the background that she followed while playing, without
indicators of chord changes, and the green dots that assisted in
locating the G-Chord
In post-interview questioning, the majority of

students indicated that this was their favourite unit.
They liked playing the instruments and having the
freedom to choose how they were going to present
the song. They also indicated that they felt like a
real musician because they could play and sing.
Research question 3: Theme 1 Childhood

culture: What does it sound like?
This question is an important theme in the informal
learning process. At first, just like the older
students, it appears that there is very little learning
happening. To outsiders it might look chaotic, noisy,
unstructured, and that the children are not on-task.
Taking a closer look, however, shows a completely
different story.
For example, this event took place during a music
class when they were working on Unit 2. Their task
was to figure out Mary had a little lamb by ear and
play it on the xylophone.
Video observation Group of four students: two
girls, two boys.
All 4 students are playing different notes on the
small xylophones at the same time. One girl does
a glissando up and down, and then the other 3
copy and play glissandos. There is no conversation
between the students while they play the
glissandos. They watch each other and look to
each other, smiling occasionally. This continues
for about 2 minutes until the teacher enters the
room. She approaches the group and they stop
playing. The teacher starts singing Mary had a
little lamb on solfege and the students begin
playing mi-re-do as instructed. The teacher leaves
and they return to playing glissandos.
After approximately 3 minutes of constant
glissandos, they start playing Twinkle Twinkle
little star. The teacher returns and asks them
to play Mary had a little lamb. They play part
of the song but it appears far from completion.
26
_____________________________________
The teacher leaves again and the students play

glissandos non-stop until the entire class returns.
Each group is asked to demonstrate their progress
with Mary had a little lamb. As other groups are
playing the 4 students in the observation group
are quietly whispering to each other back and
forth. When it is their turn to play for the class,
the following occurs:
The girl begins the group by counting them in:
1-2-3. They play the entire piece together (2
phrases) in unison with every note correct. They
all play without letting the notes ring; they hold
their mallets on each bar. The piece ends with a
girl playing one glissando up the xylophone.
This situation is very interesting for a number of
reasons. First, we have a group of students who
initially appear not to be on task and need to be
reminded by the teacher to keep practising the
assigned song. Second, we see that this group is
actually quite well-coordinated and have decided
to be on-their-own-task by doing something they
find more engaging: the glissandos. Third, while
observing this video we might assume that when
asked to perform the piece, the students would be
unable to do so partly because they have not played
it through once and partly because they only played
glissandos for 15 minutes. However, they figured out
the notes before it was their turn; decided to change
the texture of the sound by holding the mallets on the
bars; one person counted the group in; and the same
person ended the piece with a flourish.
These students are obviously quite capable of
playing a simple nursery tune, which leads us to
wonder to what extent educators underestimate
the abilities of students, and misinterpret their
behaviours? Perhaps these behaviours may serve
as indicators that the students are capable of more
differentiated tasks.
Video 2.
Nancy Duarte discusses informal learning,
collaborative learning, differentiated learning, and
the teacher as facilitator.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH
The sociology of childhood and informal

learning
According to Morrow (2011: 21-22) there are three
main points to consider in the new sociology of
childhood:
1. Children are agents and active participants
in the construction of knowledge
2. Childhood is a variable of social analysis
because the ideas of childhood change
through space and time
3. Childhood is also structural in that it is
a permanent social category where the
members change but its relationship to
adulthood continues
The new sociology of childhood is still a relatively
young branch within the field of sociology and
has yet to find its way into the general social
structural analysis (Bhler-Niederberger 2010).
Understanding different perspectives is essential
to the new sociology of childhood, which challenges
researchers to question how we can better respect
children in our thinking; how we can elevate the
status of youth while drawing on the complexities
of the everyday experiences of children; and how
we can use the diversity of the discipline to keep
childrens best interests at the forefront (Morrow
2011). The results of this study will provide insight
into the appropriateness and success of informal

music pedagogy in facilitating primary students
agentic learning of music.
Conclusion
It is hoped that this study may result in a broader
conception of expectations of music outcomes and
schooling for young children that acknowledges the
role informal learning may play. Informal learning
may result in uncertainty surrounding the role of
the teacher. However, the shift in focus away from
the teacher to the learner is what is critical for
music educators. Those who have been immersed in
the western art tradition (whether as instrumental
players or not, teachers or students) may have
specific ideas of what constitutes teaching music
versus learning music versus musicking (Small
1998) and values associated with each. Addressing
these beliefs may require further research and
reform our expectations with respect to the values
involved in the teaching and learning of music.
Elementary music education may benefit from
informal approaches as students in this study
became extremely engaged in their own learning,
often seeking additional musical information that
was outside their current task. When given the
opportunity to become autonomous learners in the
music classroom, the students in this study became
collaborative learners, creative in their musical
performances, communicating with each other
both verbally (while in the planning stages: teaching
each other, encouraging each other, etc.) and
non-verbally (while playing music together), and
displayed advanced critical thinking skills through
their analysis, discussion, reflection and informed
responses to their musical tasks and projects.
In shifting the focus away from how the teacher
teaches and towards how the learner learns, we
may begin to remove expectations concerning
what each individual elementary music programme
should look like. The shift away from prescriptive
approaches and pedagogies may disrupt teachers
beliefs with respect to the nature and purposes
27
___________________
Informal music learning in the Year 2 classroom
of music education as well as challenge their

understandings of their roles as professional
musicians/teachers. This will in essence redefine
and re-form the nature of music learning and
the values associated with ways of learning in all
settings whether formal or informal.
References
Buhler-Niederberger, D. (2010) Childhood sociology Defining the state
of the art and ensuring reflection. Current Sociology 58 (2) 155-164.
Folkestad, G. (2006) Formal and informal learning situations or practices
vs formal and informal ways of learning. British Journal of Music
Education 23 (2) 135-145.
Green, L. (2002) How popular musicians learn: A way ahead for music
education. London: Ashgate.
Green, L. (2005) The music curriculum as lived experience: Childrens
natural music learning processes. Music Educators Journal 94 (4) 27-32.
Green, L. (2008) Music, informal learning and the school: A new classroom
pedagogy. London: Ashgate.
Harwood, E. & Marsh, K. (2012) Childrens ways of learning inside and
outside the classroom. In G. McPherson & G. Welch (eds) The Oxford
handbook of music education, Volume 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Linton, L. (2013) Informal learning in the Grade 1 classroom. Paper
presented at the 8th International Conference for Research in Music
Education, April 9-13, 2013, Exeter, UK.
Marsh, K. (2008) The musical playground. London: Oxford University
Press.
Morrow, V. (2011) Understanding children and childhood. Centre for
Children and Young People Background Briefing Series, no. 1 (2nd
ed.). Lismore: Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross
University.
Saldaa, J. (2012) The coding manual for qualitative researchers. Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Small, C. (1998) Musicking: The meanings of performing and listening.
Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press.
Wright, R. & Kannelopolous, P. (2012) Informal music learning,
improvisation, and teacher education. In S. Karlsen & L. Vakeva (eds)
Future prospects for music education: Corroborating informal learning
pedagogy. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Leslie Linton is a lecturer in Music Education at the University
of Western Ontario, London, Canada.She is on the Research
and Editorial Committee of the Canadian Federation of Music
Teachers Associations Steering Committee of El Sistema Aeolian
and isin the final stages of completing her PhD at the University
of Western Ontario.
llinton5@uwo.ca
_____________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING: SECONDARY | Year 7 In the Hall of the Mountain King
TEACHING & LEARNING: SECONDARY

Year 7 In the Hall of the Mountain King
Emily Crowhurst
The topic Music and Story made sense to Year 7.
After presenting a number of classic examples
from the repertoire, asking students to respond
with graphic scores and stories of their own as they
listened, I decided to work from Griegs In the Hall
of the Mountain King. It is a two-and-a-half minute
piece based upon a 16 beat structure: Intro, 4+2+2+8
with repetitions, an accelerando and an exhilarating
ending, which consistently induces a reaction of
frantic bobbing and conducting from its young
listeners. All this I kept in mind as the work unfolded.
The accompanying illustration shows how the story,
based on Ibsen, indicates possible expressive
musical features.
style, gradually laying the foundations for their

piece. Using a rhythmic and melodic template, all
pupils created and notated a musical motif/ostinato.
These were generated from a pupils earlier, simple
idea: A, G, F, E. This idea punctuates the 1st and 3rd
line of each distinct ostinato, thus offering a pivot
point and some continuity/structural coherence,
whilst allowing pupils to explore other pitch and
rhythmic combinations in between.
Timbre was central to the compositional process
owing to the way it creates mood. Musical ideas
were mood dependent, rather than characterbased, and continuously adapted to convey such
changes as a result of plot development and
subsequent character reactions, for example,
shorter, quieter, getting faster, etc.
Individual motifs were reviewed by the whole class
and, as you will hear in the accompanying sound
file, three were selected. The chosen composers
rehearsed their groups and I observed, with
great interest, their methods of practice. A quick
discussion about practising and soon they could
play the more difficult sections. Then it was time to
bring in chords, and of course, percussion, which
had been explored in earlier workshop-ing.
In the first three lessons we worked together as a

whole class to create the musical material. Students
explored timbre, melody and rhythm in a workshop
The process was one of drawing out ideas; testing

them together, selecting-rejecting, providing time
for small group and individual making of material
brought to the whole, sifting and sorting all
leading to a piece with Grieg in mind.As the piece
came together I played the bass guitar, serving to
ground the performance.
28
______________
Year 7 In the Hall of the Mountain King
The agreed structure:

Introduction: Unison rhythm on the note A
Middle Section: Ostinato 1 solo

Ostinato 1- all

Ostinato 2- solo Texture gets thicker

Ostinato 2- all

Ostinato 3- all

Gradually tempo gets faster,

dynamics get louder!
Ending:
3 sudden stops restart ostinato

faster & louder each time.

All end on the note A!
Two lessons were needed for assembling the piece

and for intensive rehearsal, making the piece into
something that sounded satisfying. Managing a
controlled accelerando with Year 7 was not easy.
______________________________________
TEACHING & LEARNING: SECONDARY | Exploring pathways: The composing process worksheet 3/5
Exploring pathways:
The composing process worksheet 3/5
This is the latest in a series of worksheets by Jennie Francis that
complements her original article Composing at GCSE exploring
pathways in Issue 35 of the NAME Magazine (Spring 2012)
The following sound clips are of

compositions by pupils using the
worksheets:
1. Moving over you
2. Cello and piano
3. Valentino
Lesson 6 was when we listened to a recording of our
class piece and then time for the music of Grieg, a
composer like Year 7. There was much discussion.
Can music really tell a story?
4. Folk jig
Emily Crowhurst is a music teacher at

The City Academy, Hackney.
emily.crowhurst@googlemail.com
5. Video game music
29
________________
MUSIC MAKING | The art of sampling music
Music Making
The art of sampling music

Nilesh Champaneri
Young people draw on a variety of resources
to create their music. This article reflects the
authors passion for the technique of sampling, a
foundational technique in the production of Hip Hop
and other popular music genres, and makes a case
for sampling to be used in educational settings as
a source of creative expression providing musical
opportunities for all young people.
Introduction
Although unaware at the time, I was first exposed
to sample-based music during the 1980s through
the works of artists such as Malcolm McLaren
and Steven Steinski Stein. By 1986 I had become
fascinated with the production techniques within
Hip Hop music and my first conscious experience
of music being sampled was the song Eric B for
President by Eric B and Rakim. The producer of this
song, Marlon Williams, an influential and pioneering
Hip Hop Radio DJ and producer, had sampled
drum parts from Funky President by James Brown
and the result was the newest and most exciting
sound that I had ever heard. Since that time I have
witnessed the enormous and varied development
of popular music, with a corresponding increase
of sampling methods used within a whole range of
contemporary genres.
What is sampling?
Sampling for music production a skill that takes
years to perfect is an often misunderstood
practice. The practice was originally for sonic
preference rather than to simply copy musical
passages, although electroacoustic artists and
Hip Hop artists make

use of each of these
approaches. In simple
terms, the sampling
method involves
choosing a recording;
cutting a section
from the recording
(a bar or two or even
a single note); and
placing this section
into a composition.
This assembling of
fragmented sounds
can be created
from a pallet of
sounds sampled from different time periods in
unexpected juxtapositions, and the skill, involving
creative decision making, lies in all three stages:
the selection, the extraction and the placement.
Schloss (2004), in his book entitled Making beats: The
art of sample-based hip-hop, addresses the ethics,
techniques and skills required to develop the art of
sampling music to a high level.
Sampling is generally considered to be a process
for music production, which usually takes place in a
recording studio environment. Early on, artists who
sampled were troubled with issues in performance:
there were no musicians involved apart from
maybe vocalists performing to a running tape
of their music often a dull experience for an
audience! As a result of on-going innovation, the
sampler left the studio environment and was used
in performance for contemporary compositions by

Francois-Bernard Mche and Michel Waisvisz, for
example, who, in The Voice Catcher from Steim (1994),
used a sampler in their performance to process
sounds from an audience in real time (Davis 1996).
More recently acoustic artists such as KT Tunstall
and even stand- up performers such as high profile
comedian Reggie Watts have realised the impact of
how live on the fly sampling using loop pedals can
enhance a performance to make music that is more
interesting and creative.
Ethical debate
Artists who sample the music of others to use in
their own works have come under criticism on
many occasions. Vitamin D has argued that it is
more about taking a sound as opposed to taking a
composition (see Schloss 2004:164). Daphne Keller
30
________________
MUSIC MAKING | The art of sampling music
(2008) points out that despite sample-based music

now being well acknowledged, the law still views
creative expression as private property. However
she maintains that the law does not have to work
this way. Creative expression need not be in the
same category as property ownership. According
to Lindenbaum (1999) the system of copyright does
not represent the creation of music correctly as it
considers creating music as an original act and fails
to see it as an event in culture and tradition.
The legal implications of sampling has created
a subsidiary industry, fattening the pockets
of lawyers, older artists, defunct labels, and
sample clearinghouses, who conduct the actual
busywork of acquiring rights and negotiating
fees. (Fernando 1995: 242)
Copyright issues are of a complex nature and artists
who belong to a particular musical culture may feel
offended. They may not always appreciate their
music being sampled and being intertwined with
another sound or musical culture. However, most
cases of music sampling are seen as beneficial to the
sampled artist with the prospect of their music being
revived or re-recognised, leading to substantial
amounts of revenue being earned. For example, the
song Its like that recreated in 1997 by the DJ Jason
Nevins used samples from the original Run DMC
version recorded in 1983. The song then became
popular worldwide earning Run DMC large amounts
of revenue plus a re-launch in career prospects.
Sampling in education
My experiences of working with a wide range of
diverse young people in many youth sectors have
led me to think that there is a strong link between
Hip Hops expressional art forms and its ability
to have a positive influence on young peoples
creativity within the arts. This leads to a case being
made for our music students to be given knowledge
of these compositional techniques, especially if

these students wish to pursue the career of a
popular music producer. Introducing alternative
arts can be one of many ways of implementing Ken
Robinsons ideas of creating an education system
that nurtures and cultivates creativity and which
caters for multiple types of intelligence (2001; 2009).
Robinson wants us to have a better understanding
of young people who may not be academic but
artistic. I decided to investigate whether young
peoples music could be a base for their music
learning and carried out a qualitative case study
style research project at the school where I work
(KS4), using questionnaires (n50), interviews (n2)
and a focus group (n5) that involved a range of
pupils as participants (Champaneri 2010). One of the
main finding was that the young people in the study
value opportunity highly.
Expression through Hip Hop can sometimes appear
simple and easy but once analysis has taken place
it is evident that the development of a high level of
sophistication within sampling practice provides a
sense of satisfaction and pride. The study indicated
a need to develop a wider and more diverse range
of opportunities in music education for the inclusion
of all students irrespective of cultural, class and
social backgrounds.
An earlier investigation (Champanerie 2008) showed
students were able to be creative, have fun and
enjoy their experiences in music classes by learning
new technology and techniques such as sampling
to make music. These experiences enhanced
musical capabilities in pupils who had not thought
of themselves as musical. The study suggested
that motivational levels could be hindered where
opportunities for those students in need of
alternative and relevant resources were denied.
The implementation of a wider range of schemes
and courses can help students to gain recognition
in their chosen aspect of music education.
In conclusion
Human culture is always derivative, and music
perhaps especially so. We hear music, process
it, reconfigure it, and then create something
derivative but new (Keller 2008: 135). The rapid
growth of technological innovations creates new
genres within subgenres. The practice of sampling
music is a powerful form of creative expression,
with technology helping to produce music in
innovative ways.
References
Champaneri, N. (2008) Can music technology be used more widely
in schools a motivational tool to reinforce better engagement in
the learning process? Unpublished BA dissertation, The University
of Northampton.
Champaneri, N. (2010) Applying Hip Hops musical expressional
art forms through music technology to encourage and motivate
creativity within music education. Unpublished MA dissertation, De
Montfort University of Leicester.
Davis, H. (1996) A history of sampling. Organised Sound 1 (1) 3-11.
Fernando, S. (1995) The New Beats: Exploring the music culture and
attitudes of Hip Hop. Edinburgh: Payback Press.
Keller, D. (2008) The musician as thief. In P. D. Miller (ed.) Sound
unbound: Sampling digital music and culture. London: MIT.
Lindenbaum, J. (1999) Music sampling and copyright law.
Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies.
Available from: http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol/studentpap/
undergrad%20thesis1%20JLind.pdf Accessed 10 October 2013.
Robinson, K. (2001) Out of our minds: Learning to be creative.
Chichester: Capstone.
Robinson, K. (2009) The element: How finding your passion changes
everything. London: Allen Lane.
Schloss, J.G. (2004) Making beats: The art of sample-based HipHop. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
Nilesh Champaneri is a teacher in Music Technology and DJ
Technology at The Beauchamp College, Oadby, Leicester. He is a Hip
Hop culture historian and also works with local artists, organisations
and schools, conducting community workshops to develop DJ-ing
techniques, performance and music technology production.
NCH@beauchamp.org.uk
31
__________________________________________
MUSIC MAKING | Playing related injuries in elite young instrumental musicians: A physiotherapists perspective
Playing related injuries in elite young

instrumental musicians: A physiotherapists
perspective Sarah Upjohn
This is a presentation of the results of an audit of
playing related musculoskeletal injuries sustained
by pupils in a specialist music school. It shows which
part of the body sustained most frequent injuries,
and which instruments generated the most injuries.
Risk factors for playing related injury are clearly
identified. The implications for instrumental teachers
are discussed, and suggestions for targeted injury
prevention strategies are made.
Introduction
I am the physiotherapist at a specialist school for
elite young musicians. This article is based on the
result of an audit of playing related musculoskeletal
injuries sustained by pupils between October 2008
and December 2011. In addition to detailing injuries
related to different instruments, it clearly revealed
risk factors for playing related injuries. This has
enabled targeted injury prevention advice to be
developed.
The school has about 170 pupils aged between
nine and 18. Most pupils board at the school and
many are international, coming from South East
Asia, Europe and Eastern Europe. The majority of
them progress to continue studying instrumental
playing at conservatoires in the UK and overseas.
The school curriculum and timetable are designed
so that each pupil has an individually tailored
programme of study. This includes instrumental
lessons, practice time and performance
opportunities as well as academic education.
Instrumental practice sessions are timetabled
throughout each day in order to enable the pupils
to put in the many hours of practice required to

develop expertise in instrumental playing. My role
was established in response to the Health Promotion
in Schools of Music Project, which was set up in 2004
and which, in September 2006, published a number
of declarations and recommendations for action
(Chesky, Dawson & Manchester 2006). Amongst
these was the statement that performance injuries
are preventable and it recommended that a health
promotion framework be adopted by educational
establishments that are training musicians. This
idea reinforces work by Spahn et al. (2002), who
identify a strong indicator for the need for health
promotion courses to be taught to music students.
This is supported by work in 2004 which identified
a higher prevalence of health problems in music
students compared with other students, and
suggested that prevention and health promotion
measures, specifically tailored for music students,
should be used (Spahn et al. 2004). Zander et al.
(2010) found that playing related symptoms are
already found in between 25% and 79% of university
level student musicians. These were found to
be predominantly caused by overuse endured
by certain body parts. This highlights the need
for injury prevention programmes aimed at preconservatoire level students. I began working in the
school in October 2008. My role as physiotherapist
at the school is to advise on the management
of, and to treat, a variety of playing-related
musculoskeletal injuries. These are injuries to soft
tissue structures (muscles, tendons, ligaments and
nerves) sustained as a direct result of instrumental
playing.
Emergent findings from an audit of physiotherapy

treatment records between October 2008 and
December 2011
In accordance with guidelines set out by
the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (the
professional body for physiotherapists working
within the UK) and regulations set out by the Health
and Care Professions Council (the UK registration
body for professions allied to medicine), full and
comprehensive notes were written about each pupil
seen for physiotherapy. These notes contain an
initial assessment of the problem, including details
of the onset, and then include details of treatment,
progress and outcome. An audit of these records
has revealed details about the incidence of injuries
for each instrument (see Fig. 1); about which parts
of the body became injured most frequently (Fig. 2);
and about whether the injuries were chronic, acute
or recurrent (Fig. 3). The emergent findings also
clearly identify five risk factors for playing-related
injury, and this allows us to consider implementation
of targeted injury prevention strategies (Fig. 4).
Fig.1 Incidence of playing related injuries out of total number of

players per instrument
The figures do not represent the number of players

injured per instrument (Fig. 1), as some pupils had
more than one injury, or a recurrence of the same
injury, but they provide a useful illustration of the
level of incidence of injury per instrument.
32
__________________________________________
Fig. 2 Incidence of injuries, by anatomical region
For the purpose of this audit, the spine describes

the area from the base of the skull to the base of
the pelvis, the upper limb describes those structures
situated between the shoulder joint at the top of the
arm, and the ends of the thumb and fingers, and
the shoulder girdle describes the area between the
neck and the top of the arm (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 4 General triggers for playing related injuries (October 2008

December 2011)
The pie chart (Fig. 4) shows that the majority (82%)

of the injuries were either postural in origin (46%)
or were caused by overuse (36%). This finding
is echoed by Kreutz et al. (2008) who reported
from two UK conservatoires that playing related
musculoskeletal pain was common, and that
significant proportions of health problems among
music performance students emerge from such
factors as posture and fatigue, rather than being
specific to the instrument played.
Overuse injuries: Overuse injuries typically

occur when someone carries out a repetitive
task frequently and over a sustained period of
time. There are many synonymous terms used to
describe overuse injuries (repetitive strain injuries,
cumulative trauma disorder, occupational overuse
syndromes, work related upper limb disorder),
but all describe the scenario of increasing pain in
muscles, ligaments, tendons or nerves and gradual
loss of function. Commonly seen in computer
users or factory workers on a production line,
they are also seen in instrumental musicians. For
instrumental musicians, tiny movements make a
significant difference to function and ability to play,
and a relatively minor overuse injury can have a
significant and devastating effect on playing ability.
Posture: Posture related aches and pains arise
when habitual postures or movements place an
adverse load on anatomical structures such as
muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments. This results
in pain. Postures that we adopt when performing
familiar tasks are habitual and subconscious and,
The 18% of injuries not related to posture or overuse

originated from a variety of factors including stress,
change in biomechanics due to a rapid growth spurt,
carrying percussion instruments, hypermobility
syndrome or pre-existing pathology.
Fig. 3 Classification of injuries
Acute injuries (Fig. 3) are characterised by a rapid

onset after a specific incident. They have every
chance of healing given the right circumstances.
If an acute injury is not given the opportunity to
heal, it can become a chronic injury. These are
usually low grade injuries that grumble on, causing
persistent pain and dysfunction. These are much
more resistant to treatment. Recurrent injuries are
repeated episodes of an acute injury.
It is clear that the playing related injuries at the

school are predominantly caused either by overuse
of soft tissue structures (simply put, playing too
much without sufficient opportunity to rest and for
recovery to take place) or by playing with posture
that places adverse biomechanical loading on soft
tissue structures and joints, inevitably causing
eventual dysfunction and usually resulting in pain
(Culf 1998). The severity of the injuries seen at the
school ranged from inconvenient to career ending.
Fig. 5 Preventable playing related injuries
33
__________________________________________
typically, we often have no idea of our posture, nor

of the positions or movement patterns that we are
using. Many instruments place us in positions of
asymmetry, increasing the risk of eventual postural
pain.
Both overuse injuries and postural dysfunction are,
by definition, preventable (see Fig. 5).
Major risk factors for injury

Five risk factors for the onset of playing related
injuries clearly emerged from the audit (see Table 1).
Risk factors for injury in elite young
instrumental musicians
1
Sudden increase in playing time
Introduction of new repertoire
Posture
Growth spurt
Stress
Table 1
1. Sudden increase in playing time

Our pupils reported sudden increase in playing
time in response to preparing for exams,
competitions, auditions, concerts and assessments,
and also during orchestral courses, when not only
do they play for longer periods of time each day
in a highly organised way, but players who usually
stand to practise (for example, violinists, viola
players, and woodwind players) sit to play. This
places unfamiliar demands on the body. The body
of knowledge from sports science about the way
the body adapts in response to training is useful
here. The SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to
Imposed Demands) asserts that the human body
adapts specifically in response to demands imposed
on it. For adaptation (or change) to occur, the body
requires a stimulus (or a demand or a stress).
In response, specific biological changes occur in

bone, tendons, muscles and ligaments, and also
in the central nervous system. However if the
demand is too high, or recovery time is insufficient,
then adaptation can be inhibited, there can be
a decrease in the capacity of the physiological
systems, and a condition of over-training arises.
In athletes acute overtraining occurs when
muscles are worked to exhaustion, while chronic
overtraining can result in muscles becoming
weaker. This adaptation to imposed demands
and the subsequent risk of overtraining applies
whether we are talking about what a pupil can play,
how they play it, and how long they can play for.
2. Introduction of new repertoire

While the introduction of new repertoire is frequent
and necessary, practising new pieces that have new
or unfamiliar technical demands can result in pain
until adaptation to the new demand occurs.
Posture
Habitual posture that takes a person out of
anatomical neutral (symmetry, head balanced
above pelvis, and spine lengthened) places stress
and strain on soft tissues and joints, and can result
in pain.
Growth spurt
Our pupils are growing. This sets them apart from
adult instrumental players. Some children and
teens seem to grow slowly and steadily, and others
have periods of rapid growth (growth spurts).
When children grow rapidly, first the long bones
grow, and then the soft tissues (muscles, tendons,
and ligaments) accommodate to the new frame.
Immediately after a growth spurt, muscles are
relatively weaker, as they operate across a longer
lever, soft tissues are less flexible, as they are
stretched over a larger frame, and the child or teen
may be less coordinated as their body map (the
internal representation of themselves in their own

sensory cortex) adapts to their new dimensions and
new shape. Soft tissues are particularly vulnerable
to injury immediately following a growth spurt, and
this is not the ideal time to change to a larger or
heavier instrument, nor to dramatically increase the
amount of time spent practising, nor to introduce
new technically demanding repertoire.
Stress
Our pupils become stressed for a variety of
reasons. A few examples of common sources
of stress are: concerns about family life, about
friendships at school, about academic work,
about musical progress, and about up-coming
performances. Stress can increase tension in
muscles and can change posture. This can increase
vulnerability to injury. Stress can also interfere
with sleep and lack of sleep can make students
more vulnerable to injury for two reasons: 1)
Sleep is restorative for the body, and inadequate
sleep interferes with physical recovery; 2) Fatigue
interferes with ability to concentrate, and technique
can deteriorate.
Injury prevention in elite young

instrumental musicians: Implications for
instrumental teachers and parents
Having established that most playing related injuries
are preventable, and having identified five specific
risk factors for injury, we are now in a strong
position to help our students to remain injury free.
Each one of us has a duty of care towards our
pupils. The special relationship that can develop
between a pupil and their instrumental teacher
places the teacher in a position of particular power
and responsibility. Part of this must include taking
steps to minimise pupils risk for injury. This can
be done if the teacher has a working knowledge
and awareness of individual risk factors and an
appreciation of how risk increases if more than one
risk factor is present (Table 2).
34
__________________________________________
Steps towards injury prevention
Injury Risk
Be aware of:
Sudden
increase in
playing time
Q: How much playing is the pupil

doing?
Q: Has this increased suddenly?
Q: Are they taking frequent
breaks during practice
sessions?
Q: Are they doing stretches
before playing and after
playing?
Introduction
of new
repertoire
Posture
If the technical demands of

a new piece are completely
different from current pieces,
then start slowly, and do small
amounts at a time, until the
body has accommodated to the
new demands.
1. Sudden increase in playing time

Pupils often increase the amount of time spent
practising when preparing for exams, auditions,
competitions, assessments and concerts. This is
wonderful, but sudden, large increases in amount
of time spent playing can result in overuse injury,
as muscles and tendons are not conditioned to
the increase in workload. A better approach is
to gradually increase playing time, to allow soft
tissues to accommodate to increase in demands.
Increasing by 10% each week is generally safe,
unless other risk factors for injury are present. Be
mindful of the following questions:
Q: How much playing is the pupil doing?
Q: Has this increased suddenly?
Q: Are they taking frequent breaks during
practice sessions?
Q: Does the child play the violin,

the piano, the cello, or the
flute?
The British Association of Performing Arts Medicine

(BAPAM) recommends a maximum of 45 minutes
playing before taking a 5-minute break.
These have the highest

incidence of posture related
playing related injury
Visualisation techniques are used in the field of

sports science and are an effective strategy for
rehearsing and improving motor skills. This is
believed to be because they generate anticipatory
signals that are understood to be the basis on
which motor commands are organised (Fery &
Morizot 2000). This scientifically proven technique for
improving and consolidating motor skills could be
used in instrumental practice, particularly when the
pupil wishes to continue practising but risk factors
for injury are present. You can suggest that the
pupil practises by visualising the movement pattern
Growth Spurt Q: Is the child growing rapidly?
Stress
Q: Is the child feeling more

stressed than usual?
How many risk factors are present?
Table 2
It is useful to be mindful of these five major risk

factors. In the following section I have provided
more information about injury prevention relating
directly to these five risk factors.
that they are trying to perfect, and visualises the

sound that they are trying to produce.
Q: Are they doing stretches before playing
after playing?
Encourage your pupils to start thinking of
themselves as musical athletes. The demands placed
on the body by instrumental playing are high, and
any instrumentalists body needs to be in good
physical condition to cope. Stretches of affected soft
tissue structures before and after playing is useful.
2. Introduction of new repertoire

The SAID (Specific Accommodation to Imposed
Demands) principle applies here too. Any new
physical demand requires time for the body to
accommodate.
Be aware of the technical demands of new pieces. If
it is completely different from current pieces, then
start slowly, limiting time spent on the new piece
initially, and thoughtfully organising practice so that
the new piece is played in the middle of a practice
session, once the player is warmed up, and before
they become fatigued.
Augment learning of a new piece by listening to
recordings, and by sitting down with the music
without the instrument, and thinking it through.
3. Posture
Q: Do your pupils play the violin, the piano, the
cello or the flute?
These instruments produce the highest incidence of
posture related injuries, and are worthy of special
consideration:
Violin: Ensure that the shoulder rest and chin
rest are adjusted as the child grows, to keep
the head supported with the neck in a neutral
position, and to prevent excessive shoulder
girdle elevation.
35
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Piano: Encourage the pupils to sit heavily on

their sitting bones rather than to sit up and
off their sitting bones. If your body weight is
being supported by your spine, muscle tension
is reduced as muscles are required to do less
work to hold you up.
Cello: Ensure that the spike is adjusted as the
child grows.
Flute: Pay particular attention to whether or
not the pupil is excessively rotating the spine or
shoulder girdle to position the flute.
Whatever the instrument, be aware of your
pupils posture as they play, and aim for them
to be standing or sitting with their weight evenly
distributed, and with their spine lengthened.
Alexander Technique lessons can be wonderful for
increasing body awareness and changing posture.
4. Growth spurt
Q: Are your pupils growing rapidly?
Be aware that they may be less well coordinated
(like a clumsy puppy), and their soft tissues will
be particularly vulnerable to injury while they are
relatively weaker, and relatively less flexible. This
is not the right time to introduce complicated new
repertoire, with new technical demands, or to
change to a larger or heavier instrument.
Advice for everybody

Pain: Pain is the bodys way of alerting us that
something is wrong: if something hurts STOP
PLAYING. Apply an ice pack for 20 minutes as soon as
it is convenient, and rest the affected area for 48
hours. Continue to apply ice for up to 20 minutes per
hour for the first 48 hours.
If the pain returns once the pupil resumes playing,
or persists despite stopping playing and applying ice,
stop playing and SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE.
Fitness: Regular exercise can help reduce stress,
and increase concentration. In addition to
these benefits, improved strength, flexibility, cardiovascular and respiratory endurance will
all help with the significant physical demands of
instrumental playing. Yoga, pilates,
swimming, walking, jogging, running, are all safe,
fun and hugely beneficial.
References
Chesky, K., Dawson, W. J. & Manchester, R. (2006). Health
promotion in schools of music. Medical Problems of Performing
Artists 21 (3) 142144.
Culf, N. (1998) Musicians injuries a guide to their understanding
and prevention. Tonbridge Wells: Parapress Ltd.
Fery, Y.-A. & Morizot, P. (2000) Kinesthetic and visual image in
modelling closed motor skills: The example of the tennis serve.
Perceptual and Motor Skills 90 (3) 707-722.
Kreutz, G., Ginsborg, J. & Williamon, A. (2008) Music students
health problems and health-promoting behaviours. Medical
Problems of Performing Artists 23(1) 3-11.
Spahn, C., Richter, B. & Zschocke, I. (2002) Health attitudes,
prevention behaviour and playing related health problems
among music students. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 17
(1) 22-28.
Spahn, C., Strukely, S. & Lehmann, A. (2004) Health conditions,
attitudes towards study, and attitudes towards health at the
beginning of university study. Music students in comparison to
other student populations. Medical Problems of Performing Artists,
19 (1) 26-33.
Zander, M., Spahn, C. & Voltmer, E. (2010) Health promotion and
prevention in higher music education. Results of a longitudinal
study. Medical Problems of Performing Artists 25 (2) 54-65.
Conclusion
Playing related injuries are predominantly
preventable. With understanding of the mechanisms
of injury and with insight and overview of the
physical and emotional demands placed on our
pupils, in and outside the lesson and practice
room, changes can be made when risk factors are
present. We are in a position to enable our pupils to
develop as musicians while remaining injury free.
Sarah Upjohn is a specialist physiotherapist who works with

instrumental musicians. She is studying for a Doctorate of
Education at the University of Cambridge.
spu21@hermes.cam.ac.uk
5. Stress
Q: Are your pupils feeling more stressed than
usual?
Be aware if something seems not quite right.
Is it academic exam time?
Are they happy with home/school life?
Are they preparing for a major competition, concert,
or assessment?
36
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LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT | The Love Music Trust: For schools, by schools
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

The Love Music Trust:
For schools, by schools
Jonathan Savage
The Love Music Trust (http://www.lovemusictrust.
com) is the music education hub for Cheshire East.
This short article is a reflection on the process
behind the establishment of the Love Music Trust
in 2012; an exploration of the philosophical basis on
which it was formed; and a brief account of its work
over the last year.
Introduction
Before reading what follows, I would encourage
you to watch a short video that captures, in ways
that words will not, the sheer enjoyment and thrill
of music-making that the Love Music Trust has
CLICK HERE TO WATCH
managed to initiate, sustain and develop across

schools in Cheshire East this year.
Reflecting on the process behind the formation
of the Love Music Trust, it is hard to believe that
just over eighteen months ago the idea for a
new charity to facilitate music education services
across Cheshire East was being discussed between
the then Head of Music at Sandbach School, the
Headteacher and myself. These discussions
followed the announcement of an open application
process for music education hub funding in
November 2011. But before I go into details about
what happened from November through to the

submission deadline in March 2012, it is necessary
to go back a little further into the history of an
educational institution.
Forming the Love Music Trust

Sandbach School is a school with a long and
prestigious history. Originally founded as a
Parish Charity in 1677, it has educated the boys of
Sandbach since then in various forms primarily
as an independent school; then, in 1955, through a
contractual arrangement with the local authority
which allowed all boys in the town, regardless of
ability, to be educated freely; and since 2011 as a
Free School. Recently, Sandbach has become the
municipal centre of Cheshire East, with the Local
Authority offices and councillors moving to newbuild offices in the town.
As a parent of two sons being educated at the
school, I was aware of the high quality music
education on offer through the schools curricular
and extra-curricular provision. This was led and
managed by the Head of Music, John Barber. In
2007, as part of the package of materials to support
the introduction of the revised secondary National
Curriculum (produced for the DCSF by the National
Association of Music Educators (NAME) and CfBT),
I had chosen Sandbach School as the location for a
film about how musical networks can be built and
developed through a systematic and sustained
approach led by a dynamic teacher and with a
supportive senior management. You can view that

film here:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH

The accompanying case study to the film
emphasised that:
1. Pupils at Key Stage 3 benefited from working
with a range of musicians. In this case, these
included instrumental tutors and pupils from
peer groups and other groups in the school.
2. Closer links between instrumental learning
and classroom music were forged and
maintained in Key Stage 3 curriculum
activities. This benefits all pupils (i.e. not just
those receiving the instrumental lessons).
3. The financial costs of developing these
broader links were met through wellorganised musical activities throughout the
community.
4. The support and guidance of a senior
management team created a climate in
which musical networks were initiated and
sustained for the benefit of pupils, as well as
for the music staffs continuing professional
development.
Here, in a microcosm, was, for me, a music
education hub.
It was these thoughts that underpinned my
conversation with John Barber following a
rehearsal of one of the schools musical ensembles.
He was enthused and, together, we presented our
ideas to the schools Headteacher, Sarah Burns.
Without Sarahs sustained enthusiasm and
commitment to lead this new venture, it is fair to
say that the Love Music Trust would never have got
37
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off the ground. Thankfully, she grasped the vision

immediately and has proved a wonderful advocate
for the Trust throughout its formation and beyond,
into its first year of operations. During meetings
in December 2011, we formed and wrote a vision
document for the as yet un-named hub. We spoke
privately with a few potential partners to get their
feedback. But there was one massive potential
hurdle to overcome.
The Local Authority music education service
was delivered through a small team led by Chris
Bastock. The Cheshire East Music Service had
existed for many years, with a previous leader
serving as the Chair of NAME. Clearly, without the
express support of the Local Authority, our plans
for a new music education hub, led by schools for
the benefit of schools, were dead in the water.
So, it was with some trepidation that Sarah, John
and I met up with Chris in early January 2012. We
outlined our plans and shared with him our vision
document. During that meeting we discussed his
reservations, we issued assurances regarding our
intentions and, to his credit, Chris grasped hold of
the vision and became a powerful advocate for
our plans too, particularly with his Local Authority
managers.
Following this, of course, many further private
discussions were held with senior Cheshire East
Local Authority leaders. Working collaboratively
with council officers, we established the various
legal frameworks that were needed for the
transference of staff, assets and other items to the
new charity, subject to the successful application
for Arts Council England (ACE) funding.
At this point, the end of January 2012, several key
things happened. Firstly, we decided on a name
for the charity. The Love Music Trust name was
not the first one out of the hat. Original ideas
centred on a Latin phrase that we thought might

appeal to Michael Gove! Thankfully, the door was
firmly slammed on that idea. Love Music came
from about through a timely delivery of a Love Film
envelope through the post one morning. Trust was
always a key word for us as a team. Amazingly, a
search on the Companies House database revealed
that both Love Music and Love Music Trust were
available company names. We chose the later. It
is remarkable what energy a name gives to a new
enterprise. With a name in place, we went into fullsteam consultation mode.
Our consultation spread far and wide across
Cheshire East. We sought letters of approval from
primary schools, secondary schools, FE and HE
providers, private companies, musical ensembles
and other prominent individuals across our county.
With one exception, every organisation was
supportive and every individual, bar one, was very
happy to get behind our ideas. We discussed the
idea with parents and young people too. All were
supportive.
A key part of our plans involved this key phrase
by schools, for schools. This phrase emerged
during one of our planning meetings and seemed
significant. It was noted and became something of
a catchphrase. For example, the CPD strand within
the Love Music Trust is characterised as being by
teachers, for teachers. I will return to this below in
my concluding comments.
Finally, a lot of writing was done. From the
beginning of February all the way through to
the submission of our bid to ACE, we sketched,
wrote and edited our ideas in response to the
various questions that we were required to
consider. We also debated key issues such as the
Trusts governance structure, the consultative
frameworks, quality assurance mechanisms, legal
frameworks and relationships with key partners,
and much more besides. We established a steering

group and its members broader feedback was
invaluable. This work was not for the faint-hearted.
But it all helped shape our collective understanding
of what was required to create and manage a new
charity to serve the young people of Cheshire East
effectively.
The Love Music Trust philosophy

The Love Music Trust is underpinned by a simple
philosophy. It is by schools, for schools. This
mantra came about due to our concerns that a
potential division could emerge that saw music
education as being something that was delivered to
schools by external providers. At the time, there was
a considerable degree of uncertainty regarding
the position of music as a National Curriculum
subject. This has partly been resolved by the recent
publication of new Programmes of Study for Music.
(However, we should all remember that this is not
a national curriculum in any normal sense of the
word.)
The Love Music Trust itself is seen as being part
of, both physically and conceptually, a school. Its
offices are in a school. Many of its ensembles and
groups are led within schools across the breadth
of Cheshire East. It is governed by a group of
Trustees, many of whom are also school governors
(of which more below). It is closely associated with
Sandbach School, a school with a rich history and
a celebrated music department, but not led or
governed by Sandbach School.
For those of us who worked in the early days of
the Trusts formation and for the Love Music Trust
today, music education is best facilitated and
delivered by schools. Schools are the principal
vehicle whereby all pupils, regardless of their
parents income, their race, creed or religion,
can receive their core educational entitlement.
A rich curriculum-based, systematic, coherent
and developmental music education is crucial. I
would go as far as saying that it is a human right.
This curriculum offering, in turn, needs to work,
38
______________________________
symbiotically, with a well-designed and delivered

instrumental programme that covers a broad
range of instruments and does so in a development
way too. Grounding and supporting the work of the
Trust in a school is the most logical step.
By schools, for schools was also the key
determining principle in the governance structures
that underpin the Love Music Trust. Trustees are
drawn principally from the governing bodies of
primary and secondary schools across Cheshire
East. Initially, these include colleagues from the
secondary schools with music specialisms such as
Fallibroome Academy in Macclesfield, Malbank School
in Nantwich and Poynton High School. Alongside these
colleagues, the headteacher of Sandbach Schools is
a trustee together with representatives from other
key partners, including the Royal Northern College
of Music (represented by Professor Martin Harlow),
Manchester Metropolitan University (thats me!) and
a representative from the Local Authority. However,
the school-based colleagues form a majority on the
board. Also, importantly, the trustees representing
Sandbach School form a minority of the schoolbased trustees.
So, although the Love Music Trust falls within the
overall governance structures of Sandbach School,
Sandbach School does not own the Love Music
Trust in terms of its governance. It is independent.
We felt that this was crucially important. The Love
Music Trust is there to serve and support the
Cheshire East musical community, in all its various
activities (both school and community based). It is
not Sandbach School seeking to broaden its empire.
Moving forwards
Following receipt of Arts Council funding in May
2012, much work was done very quickly to get the
Love Music Trust ready for the September 2012
opening. Legal issues were completed with the
Local Authority and all existing Cheshire East staff
became Love Music

Trust employees. At
the time of writing,
the Love Music Trust
is just embarking on
its second year of
operations.
As of today, the Love
Music Trust supports
the curriculum and
instrumental provision
in 114 of 124 Cheshire
East primary schools.
In the vast majority of
these it is delivering
Wider Opportunitiestype programmes of
one years duration.
It has also recently
completed project
work in 18 out of
21 Cheshire East
secondary schools. Follow on tuition, i.e. the year
after Wider Opportunities, is provided through
a commissioning agreement with an external
organisation, and the vocal strategy across
Cheshire East is being developed in conjunction
with Ex-Cathedra and their Singing Playgrounds
programme. The culmination of this programme
will see the Love Music Trust schools taking part in
a celebration event at the Bridgewater Hall in July
2014.
In terms of extra-curricular ensembles, the
Love Music Trusts wide range of ensembles
showcase talented young musicians, providing
encouragement and invaluable experience for
young people with high musical aspirations. From
inception the Love Music Trusts ethos has been to
support existing provision rather than duplicating
ensembles. Current partners include Congleton
Youth Orchestra, Co-operative Wind Bands (Crewe),

Fodens Youth Band, Lions Youth Brass, Macclesfield
Youth Brass Band, the One Connection Choir and
Poynton Youth Brass Band. Alongside these wellestablished ensembles, the Love Music Trust has
developed its own youth and senior choirs, junior
and senior percussion ensembles, big band and
other groups.
The Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) programme that the Love Music Trust has
developed is managed by Phillip Kennedy, a teacher
of music at Fallibroome Academy in Macclesfield.
True to the tagline of by schools, for schools, the
CPD activities for staff, teachers across Cheshire
East and others has been facilitated through links
with local schools and by building on their various
areas of expertise. It has been well received by all
who have attended the various sessions.
39
______________________________
On the 14th July this year, the Love Music Trust

celebrated the end of its first year in style at
Gawsworth Hall (near Macclesfield) with a truly
sensational music filled day. Young musicians from
across Cheshire East embraced the beautiful
surroundings, giving inspiring, sympathetic, joyful,
and uplifting performances throughout the day in
three concerts.
This event marked an explosive finale to the first
year of The Love Music Trusts operation. Plans
are well ahead for the next year, and the one after
that! Like every organisation, there are challenges
ahead. Like many music education hubs, we are still
awaiting news about future Arts Council England
(ACE) funding streams. However, the Love Music
Trust is working hard to bring in alternative funding
revenue through its own service delivery and other
fund raising activities.
As we know, music education is going through a
significant period of restructuring across the UK.
Much of this has been driven by political factors,
many of which have, perhaps indirectly, questioned
the position of music education as a central part of
every young peoples formal schooling. The Love
Music Trust has an alternative vision. It believes
that the best opportunity for every child to receive
a quality music educational experience is when it is
situated within schools, and delivered by schools,
themselves. At every level of the organisation,
it is seeking to empower schools to deliver an
outstanding music education for all their pupils.
Where the Love Music Trust has led over the
last couple of years, I do believe that others will
follow. Private, profit making companies will seek
to dominate music education services in the years
to come. Random one-off workshops, short-term
projects, hit and run performances and the like may
capture the childs interest for a short while but the
short-termism and profiteering that approaches

like this offer must be seen for what they are
and resisted. They are no replacement for the
sustained quality of music education that schools
can provide through a well-designed curriculum
and instrumental programme.
Music education is too important to be privatised.
Whilst private companies working in this area
can usefully enhance the core activities of music
education hubs and their public funding, they
cannot and should not replace them. As part of
their core educational experience, every child
has the right to a systematic, developmental and
coherent music education. In my view this must
embrace and promote the interrelated musical

processes of performing, composing, listening
and appraising. Working closely and engaging with
schools systematically, regularly and sensitively is
the only way of ensuring that this can happen year
in, year out. This is the important work that the Love
Music Trust is undertaking in Cheshire East. Long
may it continue.
Jonathan Savage is a Reader in Education at Manchester
Metropolitan University and Managing Director of UCan Play, a
leading supplier of music, audio and video equipment to schools
and colleges.
j.savage@mmu.ac.uk
40
____________________
following four questions to ensure their creative

processes are of the highest, personal, artistic
quality.
LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT | The art of facilitation
The art of
facilitation
Hannah Dunster
A facilitator is defined as a person who makes an

action or process easy or easier. However it is not a
simple skill. It is a complex role, requiring training,
flexibility, artistic vision, on-going practice, constant
self-reflection and a range of leadership skills.
This article serves as an introduction to facilitation
in creative contexts as there are many different
approaches and responses to facilitation.
I believe facilitation is an art. In this article I will
focus on the methods of Soundcastle, an arts
company who lead community projects in a diverse
range of contexts. Their primary goal is to promote
and facilitate the creation of new music, which is
entirely reflective of the creative voices of the
participants. I will discuss Soundcastles combined
approach of artistic, leadership and facilitation
skills and the benefits of employing all three of
these aspects within a creative environment.
Further, I will outline three group activities, which,
with a facilitatory approach, can empower the
musical voice of each individual present.
Facilitators must be high-quality artists who possess
the skill to embrace collective collaboration, step
back from a commanding position of leadership
and leave their ego to one side. They must be able
to interpret the artistry of the group, challenging
participants to achieve clear, creative goals. The
facilitator does not provide answers but sets
processes in motion that give the participants the
tools to discover things for themselves. To do this,
a facilitator requires in-depth understanding of
the community, environment and artistry of the

group within which they are working, as well as a
flexibility of artistic vision for the musical material
contributed by the participants. The facilitator
must then be able to shape these musical ideas
into meaningful compositions giving all of those
involved a sense of group ownership.
In an analysis arising from the Guildhall Connect
programme and summarised in Peter Renshaws
Engaged passions, the artistic skills required for a
facilitator are as follows:
Having the skill and judgement to create and
frame a project that will work (e.g. making
artistic decisions about the musical language
and structure of the project; delineation of
roles and responsibilities, managing people
within a collaborative context).
Knowing how to enable the participants
to hear, see, feel and understand the
connections that are integral to the creative
process. Encouraging people to get on the
inside of musical experience. Engaging their
aural, bodily and emotional memory in order
to internalise sound, rhythm and musical
structure.
Establishing a sense of high expectation for
the group and individual participants, by
presenting a clear indication of the musical
quality that might be achieved.
Creating a balance of pace that allows time
and space for artistic development and
creative momentum.
(Renshaw 2010: 67-68)
Soundcastle, as well as following the above,
constantly ask themselves as facilitators the
What am
I doing?
This is in reference to personal

practice. What exactly are your goals
and aims in this context and how do
you intend to achieve them? Who
are you working with? What is their
background and how can they best
contribute to the group?
How am I
doing it?
This is to encourage continuous

thought, practise and self-appraisal
of your action in context. How can you
improve your processes and make them
more relevant to the varying contexts
in which you work? How can you change
your involvement depending on the
energy in the room? How is the group
progressing collaboratively and
artistically and how can you contribute
to aid their ideas and challenge them to
leave their comfort zones?
Why am I
doing it?
This is one of the most important

questions you can ask yourself as
a facilitator. It requires you to be
reflective and constantly assess your
own self-fulfilment as well as that of
the people youre working with do
you have the passion for this project
or even this career? Are you instilling
passion in others?
Where
am I
doing it?
This refers to the context in which you

are working. Where is this community
from and what is the space in which
you are working together? Is it
representative of your group? Or is
it a completely new environment for
all involved? How secure are your
participants there? The environment
you enter as well as the supportive
environment that you as a facilitator
create within the project itself is a vital
component of developing the artistic
processes for a project.
41
____________________
Asking these questions helps to avoid relying on a

formulaic methodology, ensuring that every activity,
from icebreakers to group compositions remains
relevant to each unique project. The primary driver
is always artistic but each project has to respond
creatively to the social, cultural, psychological
and physiological needs of its particular context
(Renshaw 2010: 74). Further, Soundcastles specific
approach to this is to ensure a high level of support
for every individual within a project. Ideally there is a
team of four facilitators working within a group. The
lead facilitator guides the session, sets the activities
in motion and is responsible for a constant overview
of all artistic material. The three support facilitators
have a subtler role. They contribute to the collective
energy in the room; ensure that every voice in the
group is heard through engaging in smaller group
activities; help to encourage and focus the attention
of individual participants; and set a high-quality
musical example through their own musicianship. The
presence of a support facilitator at every level of the
artistic process ensures that each individual musical
voice is encouraged, heard and acknowledged.
Group activities
Every project should hold activities, games and
processes designed by the facilitator to reflect
the unique nature of their group of participants.
However, the following activities can be useful
starting points to discover a group musical identity
and encourage facilitation between the participants
themselves. These activities can be adapted
to work with many age groups including young
musicians, aged between 8 and 18 years. Through
a combination of improvisation, collaboration
and shared leadership, these activities avoid
pigeonholing young musicians into particular musical
genres and enable them as a group to start building
their own soundworld.
Activity 1: Yes and
3. Select pairs to perform and ask the other
This is an icebreaker with its origins in improvised

theatre. It serves to encourage every participant in
the room to start thinking both creatively and as a
facilitator.
participants to shout BLOCK! if at any point a

suggestion isnt allowed to materialise. This is an
exercise in which imaginations can run wild and
hilarious scenarios can ensue!
1. Ask for a volunteer to be your partner and help
Its purpose is to facilitate listening skills and

encourage openness from participants. Sometimes,
the action of blocking others gives the sensation
that our own opinions matter more. The practice of
saying Yes and inserts a bit of distance between
ego and collaboration, helping to acknowledge
other perspectives with openness. This is a vital
concept when working as a group. The activity
can also be extended into musical improvisation.
Participants are encouraged to listen to the musical
material of their partner and build upon it rather
than immediately blocking and steering it in a
different direction, metaphorically expressing Yes
and with their contribution.
you to demonstrate the activity. Explain that you are

going to make a statement or suggestion and that
your partner will follow with Yes and accepting
the premise and then adding on to the situation. For
example:
A: Shall we go for a picnic?
B: Yes and lets take some fish and chips.
A: Yes and we can eat them on the beach.
B: Yes and we can build a sandcastle while
were there.
The aim of the exercise is to build upon the on-going
ideas of your partner and avoid blocking them. For
example:
A: Shall we go for a picnic?
B: Yes and lets take some fish and chips.
A: Yes but theyll get cold before we can eat
them.
Or
A: Yes and are you sure you wouldnt prefer
strawberries and cream instead?
2. Ask participants to work in pairs and give them

some time to practise the activity.
Activity 2: Pass the line

This activity encourages group support in
instrumental improvisation and works well as a
warm-up. It is a circle activity, best carried out
sitting down on the floor in a relaxed set-up.
1. Start in silence. Holding an imaginary paintbrush,

paint an invisible line in the air. You can be
adventurous with the shape, style and energy of the
line.
2. Pass the line to the person next to you in the

circle. It is their turn to paint a new line before
passing to the person next to them. The initial silent
atmosphere creates a sense of ritual, focusing the
members of the group upon each other.
42
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3. When the line has been silently passed around

the whole circle, explain that you will now perform
the same exercise but this time, everyone in the
group will sing the line as it is being painted for
example, the higher the line, the higher the note;
a straight, horizontal line may represent one, long
note; a travelling downwards line may represent
a descending sequence of notes. Choose a vowel
sound and sing in unison as the line is passed again.
4. Ask for two volunteers to bring their musical

instruments to the circle. Explain that you are now
going to repeat the activity as a group, but this time,
the two instrumentalists will play the line in whatever
way they see fit.
5. Start two lines simultaneously (one for each
instrumentalist) on opposite sides of the circle. This
way, each instrumentalist will be reading different
musical patterns and a duet will start to materialise.
Each painter of the line directly facilitates the
instrumental improvisation of the two performers.
harnesses the creativity of every individual, directly

combining leadership, artistic and facilitation skills
within the participants themselves. Leadership is
demonstrated in the direction and body language
of the participants as they paint the line. Artistry
is explored through the shape and pattern of the
line created as well as the responding instrumental
patterns. Facilitation is revealed as the invisible
line inspires without dictating the improvised
instrumental melodies.
Activity 3: Directing a structured, group

composition using improvisation
This activity aims to facilitate individuals in leading
and structuring a piece of instrumental music,
which is entirely improvised. It is essential that the
participants have some previous experience of
creating rhythms and melodies. This activity is best
carried out in a circle and ideally each participant
will have an instrument or be a confident singer.
1. Discuss and demonstrate as a group the different

meanings behind groove, melody and drone.
6. Reflect as a group upon the music created. How

could the improvisation be improved? How can the
group facilitate that?
7. Depending on the size of the group, you could
continue the activity with up to four simultaneous
lines. Discuss the musical elements you could add in,
e.g. dynamics, timbre, drones, grooves/riffs etc.
Your role as facilitator includes encouraging the
entire circle to be responsible for the musical
outcome. During the instrumental section, urge
the painters of the two lines to listen to each other
in order to complement and build upon each
others musical ideas. Those in the circle waiting
for the line to arrive can be imagining where
the music needs to travel to next. This activity
2. Create four different hand signals as a group. 1.

Groove, 2. Melody, 3. Drone, 4. Do whatever you like.
3. Agree upon four further hand signals to
demonstrate Crescendo, Diminuendo, Stop and
Carry On.
4. Emphasise that once a participant has started

playing, they are to continue until you direct them to
stop.
5. Lead by example and act as director for the
first composition. Think about how you would like
the composition to begin. Using the hand signals,
indicate the instrumentalist(s) you would like to
start playing and give them the appropriate signal
for Groove, Melody, Drone or Do whatever you like.

As the improvised responses start, continue and
construct a spontaneous composition based on the
musical ideas the participants are delivering.
6. At certain points, listen carefully and select

certain instrumentalists you wish to Carry On.
Give everyone else the signal to Stop. In this way,
you encourage the participants to listen to each
other and become selective about which grooves,
melodies etc. are working particularly well together.
7. Think about how you artistically structure the
piece in terms of building grooves, contrasting
sections, dynamics and instrumentation as well
as having a clear beginning, middle or end. Use
your body language to settle the beat of the
grooves and prevent them from getting sluggish or
speeding up.
8. Once the group has completed their first
improvised composition with you as director,
encourage another participant to come forward.
It is now their turn to lead with signals, experience
the role of director and guide the structure of the
piece. Give as many participants as possible the
opportunity to direct a composition.
9. In between pieces, facilitate moments of

discussion and reflect on the outcomes of
the improvised compositions. Were there any
particularly exciting moments in the music? How
did the instrumentalists feel? How did the director
feel? How could the soundworld of the group
develop further? Could the signals be clearer or be
extended?
10. At this stage, if you feel the group could be

stretched further, you could develop a greater
range of hand signals. For example, special effects,
43
____________________
counter melody, chaos, come back in with what

you were playing before. Once a groove gets
going, you could explore conducting to make it
faster or slower. You can even explore signals for
repeating structures e.g. developing A-B-A sections.
The options for this activity are wide-ranging and
change with every group.
11. Finally, it can be exciting to record the

compositions. Participants are often surprised
at the quality of their own creativity and dont
believe it until they hear it. Can you use any of the
improvised ideas as a starting point for a set, group
composition? Next time, you could use the same
signals, but agree beforehand on set grooves,
melodies, breaks, chord sequences etc. inspired by
the soundworld of the group.
As facilitator of this activity, it is important that you
reassure participants that no contribution is wrong!
Every idea is valid. Plus, if a participant starts
playing something and decide they dont like it,
reassure them that they can always stop, think and
start again with something else. They do not have
to stick with the first thing that comes out of their
instrument. Encourage the director to consider
the musicians involved. How long have they been
playing for? They are not robots! Has one person
been playing a drone for the entire piece? Keep the
content interesting for the instrumentalists.
Through carefully setting up, monitoring and
facilitating this activity, you are in turn, once again,
extending the roles of leader, artist and facilitator
to the participants themselves. They contribute
clear leadership in terms of one director giving
signals and controlling the structured outcome
of the piece. The facilitation comes into play
through giving the instrumentalists the freedom
to make artistic choices, honing their listening
skills and directly engaging with the music in terms
of style, genre and musical detail/content, thus

discovering and developing a group soundworld
together. The director also uses their artistic skills
to tie all the improvised ideas into an immediate
structure. Through doing this, they get a taste for
compositional possibilities and begin to form an
idea of the creative tendencies of other group
members. In this way, different musical voices are
given the space to be heard, building a musical
identity and sense of group ownership. This is
especially important with young people who need to
feel that the music being created is authentic and
representative of themselves.
Conclusion
These three activities each aid the facilitation of
a supportive, creative environment as well as
promoting the discovery of the musical soundworld
of the group. They explore an openness of
approach, how to listen to and build upon the ideas
of others, encourage skills of facilitation between
the participants themselves as well as discovering
different artistic approaches to structuring a
composition based on the group sound.
reflection and on-going development. It is unwise

ever to think it is a skill you have perfected.
However, working on the combined balance of
artistic, leadership and facilitation skills will not
only ensure a high quality outcome for project
participants but also importantly, for yourself as
a creative artist, ensuring an on-going passion,
integral to this line of work.
Reference
Renshaw, P. (2010) Engaged passions: Searches for quality in
community contexts. Delft: Eburon Academic Publishers.
Hannah Dunster is Co-director of Soundcastle, a community

arts company (www.soundcastle.co.uk). Soundcastle also offer
practical Continuing Professional Development training sessions
for those who wish to discover or develop their facilitation skills.
hannah@soundcastle.co.uk
To summarise, creative facilitation needs to be

rooted in the reality of the participants and their
environment this is what communicates musical
meaning for the participants and, ultimately,
an audience during a performance situation. A
facilitator achieves this by becoming absorbed
into the group rather than standing apart as
a leader and sets a creative process in action
without dominating the artistic outcome. They are,
in many ways, an artistic collaborator, working
in partnership with the project participants. This
is what gives the participants a sense of shared
ownership over their art and the satisfaction of
creating a musical soundworld truly reflective
of themselves as a unique group. The art of
facilitation requires practice, research, self-
44
____________
and ideas for lessons and extension

activities are written with each song.
BOOK REVIEWS | Sign & Song Vol 1
BOOK REVIEWS
For this section short reviews of selected teaching materials are
commissioned from corporate members of The UK Association for Music
Education Music Mark. Also published are longer reviews of significant
theoretical-pedagogical publications from any publisher. If anyone
would like to suggest a suitable book for review, please contact the
Magazine Editor.
Reviews of instrumental tutors and repertoire will be available on the
Music Mark website and all suggestions for such resources should be
sent to Jem Shuttleworth, Operations Manager, at
jem.shuttleworth@musicmark.org.uk
Sign & Song Vol 1:

Enabling language
development for all
through the combined
use of Makaton signing
and music
10 original songs, with supporting
CD (backing and learning tracks)
and DVD (Makaton signing
demonstration).
Music, lyrics and illustrations by Caddy
Cooper. Cooper Music Records/Sign
& Song Press, supported by Slough
Music Service and developed with the
guidance of the Makaton Charity.
74pp. 29.95 plus delivery (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-9571912-0-4.
Order via email: signandsong@gmail.
com, or from the website at http://
www.coopermusicproductions.co.uk/
Sign_and_Song.html
Sign and Song is

a set of 10 songs
about everyday
activities that
aims to enable
children with
communication
problems enjoy
taking part in the
singing activities
through the use of Makaton signing.
Having learned the signs from the DVD
the teacher, parent, carer or teaching
assistant can then use the backing
tracks on the CD to sign and sing with
the class/child.
The DVD is easy to follow, showing
how to sign the songs using Makaton
on two levels: basic and more
advanced. The CD has the songs in
2 versions: with vocals and without.
The book has the Makaton signs
written above the melody line, while
piano accompaniment are at the back
It is good to find a set of new songs

with Makaton signs. At first glance the
pages of the book look very busy and
a bit daunting however, the signs are
clearly explained on the DVD making
them accessible, even to those who
have never used them before.
The songs are based on different
activities that the pupils can do
throughout the day and have obviously
been written whilst working with groups
of children of differing levels of
ability. Some have quite a lot of words
while others have a lot of repetition,
making them accessible to children
with language difficulties and limited
vocabulary. Dress Up Box and Weekend
Fiesta are especially good for this.
Weekend Fiesta has very few words, a
sense of purpose and a memorable
chorus what a good way to finish a
week!
The opening song, Great to See You,
introduces the idea of saying hello
in different languages, which will
be enjoyed by many children and
will facilitate the discussion and
exploration of other cultures and
ideas. The different cultures of the
Hellos from around the world are
emphasised and complemented by the
signing. The Window on the Bus will give
a group great fun, encouraging them
to sing about what they have seen
during a journey or just throughout
the day. Lets Paint a Picture in 3/4 time
introduces a song with a calm mood
a useful standby! Look Here Look
There has good fun sound effects in
the accompaniments and could lead
to great exploration of sound making

with a class. Breakfast, an effective use
of the blues, is sung at an easy speed
to follow. Something Else to Do helps
pupils who use PECS (Picture Exchange
Communication System) to change
the plan for the day by introducing
a change of picture on the picture
timetable. It can be a difficult moment
when something fundamental changes
in the timetable and this song is
designed to smooth such a transition.
On the CD/DVD each song has an
accompaniment of a different style,
genre or timbre which relates to the
text or meaning of the songs. There
can be a problem when using a backing
track of how to alter the speed and
the pitch to suit the class, especially
when some songs are fast and have
a lot of words, but the written music is
provided to support playing without the
CD. The work of the teacher/parent/
TA using the book could have been
made easier with the addition of song
numbers and guitar chords, as well
having all the songs written in easy
keys avoiding those with five flats or
sharps keys that are a bit inaccessible
for many classroom instruments and
instrumentalists! Some of the songs
would also benefit from editing to make
them more easily playable.
However, all in all, this is a set of songs
that will make a good introduction to
Makaton signing and singing for many
children.
Diane Paterson
Inclusive Music Team Leader, ArtForms Leeds
Secretary YAMSEN: SpeciallyMusic (http://www.
yamsen.org.uk/)
45
_____________
BOOK REVIEWS | Music cover lessons:
Music Cover
Lessons:
Minimum Preparation Maximum Learning
by Helen Tierney,
2012, London: Rhinegold Education,
64pp 39.95 (pbk + CD-ROM)
ISBN 978-1-78038-606-5
In many secondary schools across
the UK there sits a lone Music
Specialist if they even get time to
sit trying single-handedly to run a
busy department full of pupils with
differing needs and abilities. When
the Music Specialist is not in, cover
lessons have to be taken, often by
a member of staff with no musical
experience, and with minimum
resources and preparation. This
superb volume presents a range of
interesting and varied lessons that
will ensure that pupils keep learning
and no time is wasted.
The author really has thought
of everything, and her direct
knowledge of real situations
makes this publication a real gem.
There are ten topics in all, each
taking a genre or historical period
linked to those studied at GSCE
e.g., African Music, Jazz, Blues,
Medieval etc. Each lesson includes
teachers notes, factsheets, written
activities and practical activities,
and is supported by a CD-Rom
with pictures, YouTube clips and
templates.
Even if there is
unfortunately
no audio or
internet in
the room,
lessons can be
delivered using
factsheets and
worksheets. The
lessons are clearly explained, and
the tasks are varied and relevant,
in order to enable the non-specialist
teacher to deliver a good musical
experience.
There are some really sound
ideas in the pupils sections, such
as asking them to write a quiz,
using the factsheet as a guide, or
writing a diary entry describing
a performance in the medieval
period. There are helpful lists of
suggested listening tracks, and
some simple practical activities if
instruments are available.
This is an excellent addition to
the shelves of any busy Music
Department, and indeed, would
be very useful for revision, or
general KS3 teaching. Rhinegold
have shown with this publication
that they are listening to teachers
and responding to a real need.
Even better, countless pupils will be
saved forever from the dreaded
Instruments of the Orchestra word
search.
Emma Coulthard
Music Development Officer
Cardiff County Council
_______________
BOOK REVIEWS | Understanding Popular Music
Understanding
Popular Music
by David Ventura,
160pp. 14.95 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-78038-249-4
The aim of this title is to reveal the
copious facets of arguably the most
important genre of music of the last
60 years. Given this remit, the potential
audience for David Venturas timely
text extends from music enthusiasts
and hobbyists through to scholars and
academics. One persons motivation
to flick through this treatise might
be simple curiosity, whilst many
others will find themselves revelling
in one finely-tuned chapter after
another, partaking in either subject
consolidation or counsel.
The book is divided into seven
chapters, ordered in chronological
fashion, starting with the 1950s through
to the millennium and beyond. Each
chapter is divided into musical topics,
for example amongst references in
Chapter 6 about the 1990s there are
separate sections for Britpop and R&B.
One can already imagine the demand
for several revisions by its author,
for surely as time passes so musical
trends either find themselves on a
carousel or morph into new breeds.
And therein is an intrinsic tension
waiting for resolve: when it comes
to penning a book such as this, what
does one leave in and what does
one leave out? With such scope this
book could have

been divided into
several books,
but nonetheless
David Ventura
has provided us
with a must-read
solution.
An important
feature of this book is how the text
is punctuated by the dissection of
musical examples. For instance, we
can follow the structure of Peggy
Sue by Buddy Holly in the chapter on
the 1950s, and read similarly about
Led Zeppelins iconic Stairway to
Heaven in the chapter on the 1970s.
And whilst the reader might have
benefited from an accompanying
CD of musical excerpts, this is more
than compensated for by the playlists
that have been created and which
are available on iTunes, Spotify and
YouTube. In addition to this, readers
can also access extra online content
to enhance their understanding
through using a dedicated
registration code available with each
purchase.
There are many uses for a book of
this type although it has clear benefits
in the hands of all music students
whether they be in KS3, 4, or 5, not
only influencing familiar aspects of
music education but also sparking
new interests in areas such as
music technology and sociology. In
authoring Understanding Popular Music
David Ventura has created a reading
list text for many years from now.
Paul Hughes Head of Music
Edenham High School, Croydon
46
__________
BOOK REVIEWS | Digital Media
Digital Media in the

Music Classroom
by James Cross,
128pp, 9.95 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-78038-250-0
In an age when music teachers are
increasingly expected to be able to keep
up with rapidly changing technology, it
can be a real challenge for even the most
seasoned teacher to find the time to take
it all in. This marvellous little book is a real
treasure, which will help the time-poor to
integrate technology into lessons at their
own pace, and give a good grounding
in the most important platforms and
applications to excite and engage even the
most reluctant pupils.
The book opens with a clear introduction,
which is followed by nine chapters (each
presenting a particular tool), a section
on copyright, and a very useful glossary.
There are sections on video, audio
mobile devices, blogs etc, each laid out
clearly, with an introduction, general tips,
classroom ideas and recommended online
resources. In the digital video section,
there are some really good ideas, such as
getting pupils to make their own revision
videos, and upload them to share with
their peers. The useful section on VLEs
(virtual learning environments) shows how
we might support learning at home, using
familiar sites, such as YouTube, that are
easily accessible to all.
The chapter that I found particularly
interesting was that on the use of blogs.
Used creatively, blogs have the potential
to be an amazingly powerful learning
tool, encouraging
communication and
reflection. Cross
explains the various
types of blogs,
how to set one up,
and ways in which
they can be used
to enhance the
learning experience,
he helpfully clarifies
the differences between tools such as
Tumblr and Wordpress, giving readers
enough information to choose what would
best meet their needs.
Throughout the book, James shows a real
understanding of what it is like to work
in a busy school environment, and all of
his ideas are practical, never reliant on
having lots of expensive gear. What is also
very positive is that he doesnt fall in to the
trap of the tail wagging the dog, which
happens so often when using technology.
It is very apparent that the pedagogy
comes first, and the technology must
support and enhance learning. Pupils use
technology to increase engagement, not
as passive recipients.
The final two sections Copyright and
a Glossary are very useful, and the
definitions given are easy to understand,
even for the least confident teacher.
Not so long ago, I remember Music
Technology being described as Spending
24 hours putting up a tent, to camp in it
for 20 mins. Not only is that no longer
true, this book goes a long way toward
dispelling the myth, and will give music
teachers a solid grounding and a few good
ideas with which to embrace the brave new
world of 21st century music teaching.
Emma Coulthard
Music Development Officer
Cardiff County Council
_______________
BOOK REVIEWS | Composing with World Music
Composing with
World Music
by Andy Gleadhill,
2010, Bristol: Audible Music
(spiral bound pbk + CD) 52pp. 30, web
25, Edu 21 from Drums for Schools
(http://www.drumsforschools.co.uk)
ISBN 978-0-9570115-7-1
Composing with World Music is in four
sections, introducing teachers to the
musical styles of African Drumming,
Brazilian Samba, Indonesian Gamelan
and North Indian Ragas. The book does
not suggest an age range or target
audience, although it refers to young
people. My impression is that it will
appeal to confident music teachers of
secondary or even upper KS2 pupils.
The book offers ways to develop some
basic understanding of concepts and
ideas of the styles presented, but will
almost certainly be too challenging for
the generalist primary teacher.
Various key issues are addressed early
on, such as the term World Music,
ensuring tokenism is avoided; the
value of using authentic instruments
where possible; and the purpose and
value of introducing the various styles.
The format of each section offers
a short guide to the musical style
being explored, and each section has
student worksheets that encourage
simple rhythmic and melodic
composition through, for instance,
call and response, creating melodies,
developing ensembles, improvisation
and cycles. There is an accompanying
CD with audio samples, and this should
prove valuable to teachers who find

the rhythm grids or phrases tricky.
However, the lack of illustrations and
explanations of many terms suggests
it is aimed at teachers who are already
rhythmically confident and with some
musical knowledge. The ideas in
sections one and two, African Drumming
and Samba, might be achievable for the
generalist teacher, perhaps through
initial CPD, or the support of a music coordinator/specialist within the school.
Elsewhere the terminology can be quite
technical, which is perhaps at odds with
the intention of simplifying concepts
and techniques.
Although not stated, there is clear
progression within each of the four
sections, and then across the book
itself. By section four, Indian Ragas,
there is more than enough to challenge
the most competent and confident
music teacher or ambitious student.
This publication would suit confident
music teachers wishing to develop their
knowledge and resources as well as
secondary students self-study.
David Wheway
Senior Lecturer, Primary Education
Canterbury Christ Church University
47
______________
BOOK REVIEWS | Class Percussion Book
Class Percussion
Book
by Andy Gleadhill
2012, Bristol: Audible Music
(spiral-bound pbk + online video support)
43pp. 30, web 25, Edu 21 from
Drums for Schools (http://www.
drumsforschools.co.uk)
ISBN 978-0-9570115-1-9
Class Percussion Book is intended as
a resource to introduce readers to a
range of percussion instruments, playing
techniques and practising short phrases
eventually developing into six class
performance pieces. Overall it should
prove a useful resource, although in
places greater understanding of the
concerns and misunderstandings of the
generalist music teacher could have
been addressed. However, it should
prove helpful for primary class teachers
wishing to develop their childrens playing
techniques, as well as introducing ideas
for structuring performances and
encouraging improvisation. No specific
target age group is given (although KS1 is
mentioned), which may be a mistake for
the casual browser. It would most likely
suit teachers and children at KS2.
The first section of the Class Percussion
Book has useful guidance on names of
instruments and playing techniques. This
is further supported by short on-line
tutorials. The illustrations used in the book
are useful, but do suffer somewhat from
poor picture quality.
Grid notation is used in place of formal
western notation, which should make
the ideas more

accessible for music
generalists. It also
makes more sense
for developing
percussion playing.
As such grids are
often introduced
through higher
education music
courses and CPD
this should feel familiar to many teachers.
The sample grids range from quite simple
to some more challenging rhythms. Audio
examples would have been useful, as the
rhythm grids and written phrases often
depend on oral transmission. However,
the on-line video clips do clarify things to a
large extent.
There is potential for some confusion
regarding terminology. For example long
and short sounds are suggested for
playing a guiro, without making it clear
that the beat needs to be maintained. This
may appear obvious to the teacher with
some musical background, but may well
be confusing for the generalist teacher of
music. Additionally the difference between
beat and rhythm is not addressed. Again,
the on-line tutorials address these issues
although they might have been made more
explicit.
The final six performance pieces provide
a useful resource, with advice on ways of
performing, and the sample on-line video
demonstrating how to build the ensemble
for Twinkle twinkle little star.
This publication would suit primary music
specialists or primary music generalist
teachers, perhaps with a little support.
David Wheway
Senior Lecturer, Primary Education
Canterbury Christ Church University
BOOK REVIEWS |
The guided reader to teaching and learning music
_______________
The Guided Reader
to Teaching and
Learning Music
edited by Jonathan Savage,
Abingdon: Routledge, 2013,
228pp. 24.99 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-415-68266-4,
95 (hbk) ISBN 978-0-415-68265-7,
18.05 Kindle ASIN: B00G6MPBD2
I rather like the idea of a Reader: a
collection of literary extracts based on
a common theme and drawing on some
of the key ideas and research focused
on that theme. In this book, Jonathan
Savage not only draws together a
range of texts, but also provides food
for thought through commentary
which includes introductions and
summaries, questions for consideration,
investigations for the reader to work
on, and prompts to develop deeper and
wider thinking. As such, this book has the
potential to become a core text for those
working in music education teachers,
trainees, teacher educators, music
undergraduates, and so on.
This is not a handbook for teaching
practice nor is it a practical workbook
full of ideas to try out in the classroom.
However, it is designed to stimulate
reflection and a possible re-positioning;
to provoke questioning of the status
quo; and to invigorate the music
educationalist who may feel stale or who
may have lost his/her first passion for
music and the education of developing
musicians. Typically each chapter
consists of four linked readings together
with a summary, investigation(s),
and starting points for thinking more
deeply and broadly. The latter of these
frequently bring in
other short extracts
for exemplification,
amplification and to
provide contrasting
or complementary
ideas to the area
under discussion.
The chapters, or
themes, eleven in
total, include The
power of music, Your musical pedagogy,
Musical approaches to assessment,
Technology and music education, and
Researching music education.
I found myself challenged early in the
book chapter 1, in fact, on The power of
music when reading the extract from
Swanwick (1999) in which he presents his
model of metaphorical transformations.
This is a model I had seen before
and thought I was quite familiar with.
However, the relationship between this
and the other readings selected in the
chapter, together with the associated
concepts explored in the succeeding
passages from Savage himself, made
me re-appraise my thinking of this
model and how it developed the notion
of flow and of the use of metaphor in
teaching and learning. Metaphor, indeed,
was somewhat of a theme throughout
the book with Savage and the various
other writers he presents to the reader,
frequently using metaphor to elucidate
and make easier to understand the
concepts under discussion. For example,
I found particularly useful the metaphor
of centrifugal forces used by Savage
himself when discussing the extension
and enrichment of the music curriculum:
A centrifugal teacher is a teacher who
looks outwards from their curriculum
area and embraces new opportunities
for curriculum development and their
pedagogy (2011: 103).
48
_________________________
BOOK REVIEWS | The guided reader to teaching and learning music
Another common theme throughout

the book is that those involved in music
education should be clear on their
personal music pedagogy. This message
is first aired in chapter 3, Your musical
pedagogy, in which Savage urges
us to develop and be certain of our
pedagogy, as this provides a foundation
to our teaching of others as they
develop their musical skills, knowledge
and understanding. He does this by
presenting a range of frameworks for us
to consider as starting points, including
developing our own musical experiences
through a collaborative approach that
will allow for increased authenticity
(Swanwick 1999). This theme of pedagogy
and its centrality to teaching and
learning is subsequently developed in
later chapters, for example in discussing
musical development and progression
(chapter 4), music education inside
and outside the school (chapter 7), and
technology and music education (chapter
8). Partnerships of varying types and
styles in delivering music education are
yet another theme which runs through the
book as an identifiable thread, giving
cohesion to the sequence of entries.
As much of the content of this Reader is
drawing on the research, thinking and
writing of eminent scholars in the field of
music education, it is highly appropriate
that two chapters are concerned with
research and seeking to support and
encourage action research by teachers
and others involved in music. To this end,
chapter 9 focuses on the general place of
educational research and methodologies
with another lovely metaphor from both
Sudnow (1978/1993) and Oldfather & West
(1994) comparing research with jazz
and chapter 10 on how teachers can be
involved in developing action research

based on their own practice.
The final chapter in the book brings the
earlier themes together in a selection
of readings which encourage teachers
to keep fresh by reflecting on their
practice, up-dating their knowledge,
and looking to how music education can
develop as result of new technologies,
teaching and learning styles, changes
in society and the changing needs of
students. The chapter, and the book,
concludes with the impassioned plea
that doing the same old thing is not
going to be good enough; that through
considering the challenges posed by the
selected readings and commentaries, we
keep thinking hard about what it means
to teach music musically (216).
I have found this to be a valuable
and stimulating book full of relevant
and important readings which I would
recommend to all music teachers,
teacher educators, trainees and
all involved in the developing the
musicianship of others.
References
Oldfather, P. & West, J. (1994) Qualitative
research as jazz. Educational Researcher 23 (8)
22-26.
Savage, J. (2011) Cross-curricular teaching
and learning in the secondary school. London:
Routledge.
Sudnow, D. (1978/1993) Ways of the hand: The
organization of improvised conduct. Cambridge,
Mass. & London: The MIT Press.
Swanwick, K. (1999) Teaching music musically.
London: Routledge.
Christopher Dalladay
Senior Lecturer
University of East London
49

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ISSUE 3 WINTER 2013/14

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