CONTENTS
SUMMARY BACKGROUND THE NEED THE MARKET THE PLAN TIMINGS PRICING COSTINGS FUTURE PLANS DEVELOPMENT APPENDIXES
3 4-5 6-7 8-11 12-13 14-15 16 17-21 22 23 24-25
MOSAIC MUSIC PUBLISHING will focus
SUMMARY
on producing a range of high-quality music and educational resources for use in instrumental teaching. MMP will focus specifically on music and resources to support whole-class instrumental teaching, and resources that aid the development of general musicianship skills in the context of learning an instrument. Initially these resources will be produced for woodwind and brass instruments.
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BACKGROUND In the last decade the face of instrumental tuition has changed significantly as a result of government initiatives. David Blunkett’s pledge to give every primary school child the opportunity to learn an instrument has lead to the introduction of whole-class instrumental tuition across the country. Initially titled, ‘Wider Opportunities’ (Wopps), now ‘Whole Class Ensemble Tuition’ (WCET), these programmes are usually provided by local music services and take place on a wide range of instruments. As yet there is no required qualification for instrumental teaching in the UK, and instrumental teachers are not required to be classroom-trained before teaching whole-class programmes. There is no set curriculum for these classes, and while some providers do give guidelines, the choice of what to teach is often left to the individual teacher. There are no teaching resources on the market designed specifically for teaching instruments in whole-class settings, so teachers are required to piece together materials designed for other settings, or to make their own. As a result, both the content
and quality of the projects vary wildly across the country. Prior to the introduction of Wopps and WCET, instrumental tuition was given largely on an individual basis. This is hugely different to teaching a whole class. In an individual situation, a teacher can judge when the student is ready for the next step, in a class situation they are required to differentiate between the levels of ability of around 30 children, challenging the most able, while not leaving anyone behind. The rate of technical progress of students in a whole-class situation is incredibly slow compared to in individual lessons. Teachers are struggling for suitable resources, particularly those which cater to beginners. Most tutor books designed for individuals learn three notes in the first lesson, in a whole-class situation this can take the best part of a term!
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My market research has suggested that over 50% of teachers use their own homemade resources in whole-class tuition. Only 20% use published materials, but when asked how well these suit their needs on a 5 point scale (1 being very poorly and 5 being extremely well), no one chose 5, and most of the answers hovered around the middle of the scale, suggesting teachers are trying to make things fit their needs, and not always successfully.
THE NEED
I suggested a list of activities that you would expect to find in a balanced whole-class instrumental curriculum and asked teachers to tick which activities they included. Some of the activities did not fair very well. I then asked,
‘Are there any items stated above that you would like to use, but currently do not. If so why do you not currently incorporate them?’’’ 45% said that they would like to include other activities, and the main reason for not doing so was feeling unsure about how to teach them. The second most common reason was lack of resources, and the third the amount of time and the complexity of planning the activities. When I asked the same teachers if they would be interested in a place that they could access high-quality resources for whole class instrumental teaching, and what kinds of resources they would want, 97% said they would be interested and ticked a large range of activities. 6
THE MARKET MUSIC SERVICES
In the current economic climate, music services are under ever-increasing financial pressure. They do not have the resources to train staff in the way that they previously would have. I have heard countless horror stories of recent graduates being thrown into classroom situations with no teaching experience, no curriculum, and no idea of what to expect, and have seen many inexperienced but potentially talented teachers quit as a result. Ofsted’s remit has recently expanded to include the inspection of Music Services. They acknowledge the importance of developing all aspects of a child’s musicianship, not merely their ability to play an instrument. 8
As indicated in my market research, some teachers shy away from certain areas due to not knowing how to go about teaching them, or due to a lack of resources. A balanced lesson is a must for a good Ofsted report, and a good Ofsted report and high quality teaching are imperative to the survival of music services in a climate where funding is very difficult to come by.
for inexperienced teachers with helpful hints and tips. More experienced teachers will be able to take the resources and use them in their own lesson plan instead.
The curriculum will be designed to incorporate a variety of activities over the course of each term, so that teachers are more easily able to deliver a well-balanced course, including some activities that they may previously not Mosaic Music Publishing will provide a have been comfortable teaching. balanced curriculum for whole class tuition, with a set of clear and structured lesson plans, and the resources to carry them out. The instructions on each lesson plans will be clear, and be designed as a starting point
TEACHERS
The battle currently raging between Michael Gove and the teaching profession is hard to miss. Teachers are under more and more pressure and are increasingly swamped by extra work. Producing new and exciting resources is a time-consuming job; particularly when it comes to writing music. It requires specialist skills and equipment, which many instrumental teachers do not have. In some areas, teachers are required teach an instrument that they are not very familiar with, or teach a mixture of instruments at the same time. When you haven’t studied an instrument in depth it can be very difficult to choose appropriate music and design a realistic curriculum.
From reading the comments on my survey, the top three frustrations were: • • •
Not enough music which caters to complete beginners Not having separate parts to differentiate between abilities Not enough variety in resources
Another frustration cited by teachers was ‘lack of time’ in lessons. In my own teaching I have found that the best way to overcome the problem of short lessons is to use activities that perform more than one function. For example, instead of teaching a song, then teaching a piece of instrumental music, and
then doing an improvisation exercise, I would write a song, based on a tune the children could play on their instruments, with a section for improvised solos in the middle. Three separate activities are now one activity, and the lesson has a much better flow. This can be done with all lessons, but it is something that is impossible for teachers who do not compose or have the facilities to make their own backing tracks, and for those who do is prohibitive in terms of the sheer amount of time and effort it would take. Mosaic Music Publishing will provide a range of resources that specifically respond to the needs of teachers in whole class situations. I am confident I know what these are, through my own experience, which has been backed up by the results of my market research.
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SCHOOLS Many primary schools have music clubs and ensembles, even if they do not buy whole-class instrumental tuition through a music service. Primary schools generally employ a music specialist, who caters for music throughout the school. Many schools have a recorder group for example, which functions on a similar basis to whole-class instrumental teaching. The resources I intend to create through MMP would be suitable for use by music specialists, for instrumental groups, and also the non-instrumental activities would be useful in class music lessons. Classroom teachers are generally required to participate in whole-class situations, and learn an instrument alongside their class. Some of the more simple activities and musical games would be suitable for use by non-specialist class teachers, in their classrooms throughout the week as well.
CHILDREN While the pursuit of learning an instrument has value for its own sake, the by-products of such an undertaking can have a huge impact on every child’s future. Involvement in music has so many benefits to a child’s development, both academically and socially. While as a teacher I am aware of the educational value of music and its implications for children, no child chooses to learn an instrument because they want to educate themselvesthey do it because it is fun! The resources used in lessons are imperative to the children’s enjoyment and motivation. As soon as it isn’t fun, many of them will either become disinterested and stop practising, or just give up altogether. In a whole-class situation they are not able to give up, so they become disruptive instead! I love teaching whole-class music, because it is so much fun. I know the sorts of music that my students get really excited by and love to play, and how to gauge the difficulty level appropriately to challenge them, without making the outcome unachievable. I am confident that through MMP I can deliver a range of resources that the children will enjoy learning through, and that will be fun to teach. 10
PARENTS Learning an instrument is always infinitely more successful with parental support, so keeping parents involved in the process is an important endeavour. Children enjoy showing their parents what they have learned on their instruments, and practising at home, and parental encouragement goes a long way in helping progress. Most people are aware that practice plays an important part in learning a musical instrument, but practice can take more forms than playing. In some areas instruments are not allowed to be taken home so children are unable to physically practise, however there are many activities, which would still benefit their musical development away from the instrument. On the MMP website I intend to create a homework area, where children can download free practise charts to encourage them to practise and perform at home, musical quizzes relevant to the point they are at in my lesson plans, and where they can purchase an mp3 of the backing tracks to the songs they are learning at school to practise with. 11
THE PLAN
In the first year I will focus on producing materials for the 5 most common instruments in wholeclass tuition (recorder, flute, fife, clarinet and trumpet). My business will be affected by the academic calendar; the best times to sell to music services being the end of the financial year, when they either have budget to spend, or they are about to set a new one, and just before the beginning of a new academic year if they are looking to buy a curriculum. As I am planning to launch my sales in December, I intend to focus initially on selling directly to teachers. I think most teachers looking for resources will be likely to want to access them quickly, downloading them to print at home. This means focussing initially on the online part of my business. My website will be designed by Pocketsite Design, who I know have designed similar websites for other small publishers. The functionality of my website is very important to the success of the business, and I know that they will be able to give me what I need on this front. So that they are easily able to track down what they need, the website will allow teachers to search by: • Type of resource • Instrumentation • Genre • Notes used • Rhythms used The catalogue will be linked within itself, so if I chose to download a lesson plan I could access a link to all of the resources I would need for that lesson. I would then have the option of buying the whole resource pack as a bundle, or just selecting individual items. The website will accept payment by credit/debit card, and PayPal for ease and security of ordering. For hardcopy items, the website will automatically calculate postage and packaging costs, based on the weight of the items ordered.
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All of my music will be registered with the Performing Rights Society (PRS) for royalty collection purposes. Breach of copyright is always a major concern for music publishers, and is of particular concern to me as I will be allowing people to download pdf files. With the help of Pocketsite Design I am looking into ways that make the files as secure as possible without imposing impractical restrictions on the user. This includes allowing pdf resource files such as lesson plans and games which are in text format to only be printed once, and restricting the sharing of files. Obviously there are ways around all such security measures, however I hope to deter all but the most determined by making it as difficult as possible! While I am confident teaching and composing for woodwind instruments, I am not a brass specialist. In order to produce effective resources for brass, I have enlisted the help of brass teacher and composer Chris Wilcox, who will adapt some of my materials so that they are suitable for brass instruments, as well as writing some of his own. I have worked with Chris at Redbridge Music School for several years, and am a fan of his music. He has a lot of experience teaching whole-class brass, and has written several large-scale commissions for Redbridge Music Service, as well as some excellent pieces for wider opportunities. I am happy that his style of composition will fit in with what I am aiming to produce. Chris, and any other composers whose work I may publish in the future, will receive a 20% royalty on hardcopy sales, and a 40% royalty on downloads, owing to the difference in production costs and also the sale price of the products, both of which are considerably less for online sales. 13
TIMINGS
ACTIVITIES Write Materials - Term 2 Write Materials - Term 3 Design Books/Stationary/CDs Register works with PRS Rent Office Record Backing Tracks
I intend to produce my resources one term at a time. The first term will be written before September, and terms two and three will follow. In between producing the resources for each term I will get the materials uploaded to my website for download. When the first term is complete and uploaded to my website, I will launch my sales, and begin marketing to teachers online through the use of social media. After the completion of terms two and three I will begin producing the materials in hardcopy, placing adverts in Music Teacher Magazine, and begin contacting music services directly in time for the end of the financial year. 14
Produce Hardcopies Produce Backing CDs Design and Build Website Launch Sales Advertise Products - Social Media Design Flyers for Direct Marketing Direct Marketing Campaign Adverts in Music Teacher
SEPT OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG
PRICING ONLINE ITEMS Backing tracks £0.99-£1.49* Backing track bundles £1.99-£2.49* (includes multiple speeds) Individual exercises/games £1.49 Sheet music 1 Lesson plan with resources £5.99 Term of lesson plans with resources £34.99
*Prices vary due to length and complexity
It is important that online items sell relatively cheaply, as I will be relying on teachers returning regularly. If the items do not appear to be good value, or are too expensive to allow teachers to return and download new pieces whenever they want, then the online sales won’t be viable. I am able to sell the items cheaply, as beyond the upkeep of the website, there is no physical cost in their production. By ensuring a wide variety in resources, and regularly adding new items, I hope to keep teachers revisiting the site to download more items. While the profit margin on these items is relatively small, I intend to eventually be selling them in large volumes. 16
HARDCOPY ITEMS
To produce a hard copy resource pack for a each term will cost me approximately £3.30. I will sell this for £50, bearing in mind 1 piece of band music, which music services buy regularly, costs around £50, I think this is good value, and a realistic price for them to afford. This is especially important, seen as music services may want to buy schemes for several instruments. I intend to offer a discount for purchasing a year’s worth of materials, pricing the 3 books together at £120 instead of £150, as well as discounts for music services wishing to buy several instrumental programmes at once. After the initial programmes have been sold, I intend to offer supplementary packs to add to the resource packs. While many of the exercises in the packs may stay the same year to year, teachers are always looking for new songs to teach so that they are not doing the same thing, particularly for school concerts.
BUDGET
COSTINGS
ITEM
COST
DESIGN
£2,000.00 (budget) £500.00
Website Design Graphic Design
EQUIPMENT
A3 Printer inc. Toner Long Arm Stapler Office Supplies e.g. A4 Paper
PRODUCTION COSTS
750 Book Covers 750 CDs Paper and Staples for 750 Books
WORKSPACE
Landline & Broadband 1 years PO Box Address Office Space
MARKETING
2 Music Teacher Adverts Flyers & Postage for Direct Marketing
TOTAL COSTS:
£1,634.04 £22.49 £30.00 (budget)
£365.00 £1,143.00 £337.45
£300.00 (budget) £313.01 £2,400.00 (budget)
£730.00 £140.00 (budget)
£9,914.99 17
DESIGN
I have received a quote for my website by Pocketsite Design of ÂŁ2000, and I will also need some graphic design work for my book covers, illustrations, stationary and flyers. I have a quote for this work from my sister, Claire Evison, who works as a freelance graphic designer. She has quoted me ÂŁ500.
EQUIPMENT
In order to produce hardcopy music and resources, the most cost-effective way will be through printing and finishing them myself. This will allow me to print as many copies as I need on demand, as opposed to having to do a full print run. In order to do this I will buy an A3 black and white printer, high quality paper, and a long arm stapler. This will allow me to print and assemble the book inserts and paper resources myself. I will also need to by some other stationary, such as sticky labels for my book covers.
PRODUCTION
For colour book covers and any glossy printing, I will use an external printing company. The book covers will have one generic design for all of my products with a space for a printed sticky label on the front to identify the product. This is more cost effective than producing individual designs, and means I can carry a stock of covers, printing my resources to order if necessary without having to wait for an external printer. 18
WORKSPACE
MARKETING
Currently I am lodging and only have one small room, so I will need a workspace to house my equipment and stock of hardcopy materials. Renting a small office space in the London area is around £350-400 per month plus any running costs. In order to do this more cheaply, I will move to a bigger flat and work from home. Adding about £200 to my monthly rent will mean I can rent a space big enough to work from home.
In order to market my business I will take out an advert in ‘Music Teacher’ magazine. The magazine has a circulation of 20,000 monthly readers and is an ideal place to market anything to do with music education. A quarter page advert costs £365.
I will need to install a business phone line and broadband. Packages are priced at around £25 per month, however the company I choose will depend on the broadband coverage in my area. As I am not yet settled in one place, I will use a PO Box address for my business, in order to avoid the difficulty of changing business address when I move. Also as I will be working from a residential area I think that this looks more professional.
I will also use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter to promote my business online, and will run a direct marketing campaign to music services sending them information with a promotional code for all of their staff offering them a free download from my website. I also intend to employ several free marketing strategies, such as a recommend a friend scheme, to encourage more traffic through my website in the early stages. Customers will be signed up to my monthly newsletter when they order from my website unless they choose not to be, or anyone visiting my website can add themselves to my mailing list. Through my newsletter I will offer discount codes and promotions as well as information about new products. Through my website I will be able to offer various discounts and promotions, by creating coupon codes. Providing specific discount codes for each marketing campaign will allow me to track which adverts bring in the most customers, and allow me to gauge the best places to advertise in the future. I also will allow my customers to submit feedback and suggestions via my website, so that I can continue to develop resources in the areas they find the most useful. 19
CASHFLOW PROJECTION 2014/15 ACTIVITIES INCOME Deutsche Bank Sales
£5,000
TOTAL INCOME
£5,000
COSTS Graphic Design Office Space Phone/Broadband A3 Printer Stapler Paper/Staples Office Supplies CD Production Website Design PO Box Registration Music Teacher Advert Cover Printing Direct Marketing
TOTAL COSTS MONTHLY BALANCE 20
SEPT
OCT
NOV
DEC
JAN
FEB
APR
MAY
JUNE
JULY
£10
£5,000 £20 £20 £70
£270
£290
£290
£200
£10
£20
£270
£290
£290
£200
£20
MAR
£70
AUG
-£400 -£100 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£200 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£25 -£1,634
-£22
-£337 -£30
-£2,000
-£1,143
-£313
-£375 -£365
-£375
-£140 -£615
-£225 -£2,225 -£625
-£225 -£3,315 -£1,105 -£225
-£600
-£225
-£225
-£225
£4,385 £4,160 £1,935 £1,320 £1,115 £2,820 £1,785 £1,830 £1,520 £1,585 £1,560 £1,335
MID-TERM TARGETS
In years 2-4 I will work on expanding my range of programmes to include other instruments such as saxophone, mixed brass, and also string programmes. I will also work on resources for ‘continuation’ projects, which take place after children have learned for 1 year as a class. These will work on developing further what they have learned in my one-year programmes.
LONG-TERM TARGETS
In the long-term I aim to offer a comprehensive service for wholeclass music tuition in woodwind, brass and strings. This will mean taking on a strings specialist to advise as well. I hope eventually to allow music services to buy a subscription to my website, which will allow their staff to access and download materials from all programmes. Music services will also be allowed to choose whether they add access for their students, which would mean students would also be able to download their backing tracks for free to practise with at home. 22
FUTURE PLANS
DEVELOPMENT BEYOND WHOLE CLASS TUITION I have several further ideas to continue developing my business, including publishing tutor books for individual lessons. Tutor books often focus on teaching students to read notation and learn the notes of their instrument, however there are many more skills involved in becoming a well-rounded musician. I would like to write a tutor book, which focuses on developing areas such as improvisation, aural skills and composition alongside learning an instrument, tying everything in together, giving more well-rounded lessons from the beginning. Beyond tutor books, students tend to progress onto learning pieces of music, or to study books designed to challenge their instrumental technique. While this is obviously an important part of learning, again other skills need to be developed at the same time. I would like to develop follow-on books which are designed specifically to help with key areas students can have difficulty with such as sightreading, aurals and scales. These books would aim to relate these areas to the pieces the student is learning at the time, making them tasks more relevant and easier to follow.
GUILDHALL PUBLISHING
The staff of the Guildhall Saxophone Department, are currently in the process of writing a set of music and educational materials designed for advanced saxophone students. They are looking to get these published as a ‘Guildhall Edition’, and have enquired about the possibility of Mosaic Music Publishing taking this on, should the business launch as planned. This would be an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of my business, gain a wider customer base, and expand my range of resources. 23
CATHERINE EVISON - COMPANY DIRECTOR
APPENDICES
Catherine first graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2007 with first class honours. Before returning to study for a Masters Degree in 2012, Catherine worked as a peripatetic woodwind teacher for a range of schools and music services. Her teaching experience ranges from teaching earlyyears musicianship classes with mums and babies, to whole-class instrumental teaching in primary schools, to teaching the saxophone at City University. For the past four years Catherine has worked at Redbridge Music Service, where she teaches saxophone, clarinet and flute, and takes a range of ensembles including the Junior Wind Band, Clarinet Club and Saxophone Ensemble. She teaches Whole-Class Ensemble Tuition (WCET) on fife, clarinet, saxophone and flute in primary schools, and in 2011 trained with the borough’s pioneering early-years music programme to deliver general musicianship classes in children’s centres, nursery schools and to Key Stage 1. Between 2007-2009 Catherine worked for Saxtet Publications, initially as an administrator, before being promoted to manager, where she gained experience in the field of music publishing, dealing with copyright, contracts, printing and copying, and music sales. The company also published some of her work. In 2012, Catherine was commissioned by the World Saxophone Congress to write a piece for massed saxophones for their education project in St Andrews, and she has also composed for The National Saxophone Choir of Great Britain and the Grimsby and Cleethorpes and District Youth Orchestra. Catherine is an active composer-performer, and regularly performs her own music for saxophone and electronics. In 2014 she reached the semi-finals of the Royal Overseas League solo woodwind competition, and the final of the Needlemakers Prize. 24
CHRIS WILCOX - COMPOSER
Chris Wilcox studied the tuba at the Colchester Institute and later at Trinity College of Music where he graduated in 2003 with a postgraduate diploma. A year later Chris toured Japan with his quintet Docklands Brass who were the winners of the Philip Jones Brass Chamber Prize. As a soloist, Chris has performed the Gregson and Ellerby Tuba concertos and he continues to perform regularly in the London area. Previous teaching posts have included Brass Co-ordinator for Redbridge Music Service and Head of the Deptford Music Centre in Lewisham. As a composer, Chris has written a large amount of educational music and songs. Previous commissions have included work for the History Channel and Sky TV. In 2012 Chris premiered his work ‘Olympic Visions’ at the Royal Albert Hall which received widespread praise. In 2014 Chris returned to the Albert Hall to conducted 3 further works for symphony orchestra and choir: What if?, Be The Change & My Dream. 25