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the SCHOOLS MUSIC ASSOCIATION part of the Incorporated Society of Musicians SPRING 2017 No. 193
Supporting Music in Schools
SMAe the
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ULLETIN
Hon. editor: Carole Lindsay-Douglas carole@lindsaymusic.co.uk tel: 01767-260815
Reminder! SMA competition to write a work for children at KS2
In this issue •ISM-SMA Member Ruth Adams tells us about her work •Report on the SMA Training Day •News of Government funding for Music Education • Composition competition
Don’t forget to send in your entry. The closing deadline is midnight on 31 March 2017. Are you writing something at the moment? Or perhaps you have a work which you wrote in the past? So long as it is entirely original and has never been previously published or won an award, then you can submit it. There is no charge for entry. There is a £1000 prize on offer (to be shared equally between the writer/s and the school/s in which they work), and the winning work will also be considered for publication by ISM Corporate Member Lindsay Music. The Rules & regulations are printed overleaf. . .
Jo Vaizey, who presented a wonderful session entitled ‘Tuneful Technology’, here explaining the finer points to delegate Debbie Nicholls on the SMA Training Day, held in Letchworth, Hertfordshire on 21 October last year.
Even more great news about the benefits of playing a musical instrument! There have been many who have endorsed the fact that playing a musical instrument makes for a better human being (academic improvement, relaxation, social integration and so on), but now a new factor can be added to this list of benefits.
ISM-SMA COMPETITION TO COMPOSE A WORK FOR CHILDREN (8-12 YEARS) Eligibility The competition is open to all teachers currently working with young people in a school The composition This is to be a work for children aged 8-12 consisting of songs and narration (or cast) based on a folk tale or original story The work should be of 30-40 minutes duration and contain a minimum of five songs The songs can be in unison or two parts The accompaniment should be for a keyboard but there can be additional parts for children to play consisting of melodic instruments and pitched and unpitched percussion The work can be written for concert performance or for a staged presentation The spoken part can be for a narrator (or narrators) or can be written for varying characters The work can be written by more than one person Prize There will be a prize of £1,000 donated by the Schools Music Association, shared 50:50 by the creator/s and the school/s in which they work The winning work will be considered for publication by Lindsay Music The judging panel reserves the right to withhold the prize Judging Panel The judging panel, members of which will not be permitted to enter the competition, will be Dr Douglas Coombes MBE composer and conductor, Susan Cox director of Inspiring Music the Music Hub for Central Bedfordshire, Reg Fletcher former music adviser and director of Fletcher International Training, Jay Deeble Chair of the SMA Steering Group, Mary Edwards music edcuator and choir director and Carole Lindsay-Douglas music publisher. Terms and conditions The work must be entirely an unpublished original and complete work The work must not have won a prize in any other competition Entries must not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party Scores must be computer processed (Finale, Notion, Sibelius etc.) or handwritten clearly in black ink to a professional standard on A4 size pages, and accompanied by a recording of the music Entrant/s may submit only one work Four hard copies of the score must be submitted To ensure anonymity to the judging panel, the real name/s of the writer/s must not be on the score. On these scores a code-word should be placed. All names with addresses, telephone numbers and e-mails should be in a sealed envelope with the code word clearly written on the outside of the envelope. The entrant/s will retain the copyright, with the exception of the prize-winner, who for the purposes of publishing will be required to assign copyright to the publisher in accordance with standard publishing practice should Lindsay Music take up its option to publish. Scores are sent in at the entrant/s’ own risk. At the end of the competition, scores will only be returned if a stamped, addressed envelope is included. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Submitting a work for the competition will indicate that the entrant/s accept/s these rules and conditions Timetable Entries must be received by midnight on 31 March 2017 The winner will be announced no later than 31 July 2017 by publication on the following web-sites: www.ism.org and www.lindsaymusic. co.uk Address for entries All entries should be sent to:- Carole Lindsay-Douglas, ISM-SMA Steering Group, 24 Royston Street, Potton, Bedfordshire, SG19 2LP
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It has now been found that playing an instrument could also be useful in treating childhood brain development disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism. A recent study has identified that a music session creates an increase in connectivity between certain areas of the brain in areas such as hearing, motor, cognition, emotion and social skills. The areas of the brain involved are those typically linked to complex cognitive processes, such as problem-solving and critical thinking. Where these areas are lacking in connectivity, ADHD and autism can often follow. The researchers in Mexico used MRI scanning techniques to map the brains of 23 five and six-year-olds who were receiving instrumental tuition. Nine months later the children were found to have a growth in nerve fibres. Previous studies have linked ADHD and autism with decreases in fibre connections in the white tissue.
Government announces £300 million for Music Education
Good news in a Government annoucement from November 2016 in relation to the £300 million allocated for music education. Announced as being for the next four years, though one of them is the one we are currently in, this is intended to cover music education up to 2020. But can this really ‘cover’ all that is needed? The monies will be delivered by the 121 Music Hubs in England, allowing children to play instruments and sing in choirs and bands. So far, so good? Possibly! It is certainly welcome that the government still supports music education on one hand, but this is countered by other aspects of policy that seem determined to do anything but support music! In real terms, funding is down by about a third on pre-austerity times with little or no additional money coming in from Local Authorities. The music teaching infrastructure has been dramatically reduced and the knock-on effects are legion: many teachers are being forced to go self-employed with little secure and predictable income; there has been a reduction in the amount of schools offering music and a reduction in the take-up of music GCSE. All of this is rapidly leading to a situation where access to music lessons is largely becoming based on parents’ ability to pay.
Music in my school Ruth Adams- Head of Junior School Music at The Abbey School, Reading, writes about her working life As a teacher of music now in my 21st year of teaching I don’t think I have ever been busier. All teaching jobs are busy and it is the love of what I do that keeps me going and striving to improve the provision for the girls in my school. I trained as a primary school teacher specialising in music. Following my training I was unsure if I really wanted to teach and took some time out to consider my career. Eighteen months later (following working in an office) I realised that I did want to find my place in the
teaching profession. I made the decision that I wanted to teach music more than anything else and wrote to all the local schools in Berkshire offering my services as a music teacher and supply teacher. From these letters I secured two hours of teaching music in a primary school on a Friday afternoon – well I had to start somewhere. Over the next seven years I built up my hours to include teaching one year nine lesson a week (which increased to a year 8 lesson too), two other primary schools employed me to teach music and I taught the piano and brass in a couple of schools also. I spent my time travelling to a group of schools as a music teacher, a piano and brass teacher and also did one day a week as a class teacher. I loved what I did but found it very hard not being part of a school and was known as ‘the lady who did music!’ After three years I had applied for a Head of Music job at an independent school in Reading but was not successful in the interview. Four years later the job came up again. I was encouraged by my family to apply, as by this stage, the constant travelling to different schools (and the huge amount of productions etc each school required) was taking its toll on me. This time I was successful and started at The Abbey School in 2003 as Head of Junior School Music. The Abbey is an Independent girls’ school for 3 – 18 year olds. There was just me teaching the music and at the time we were a two form entry and only went to Year five as Year six was
based at our Senior School. I had seven Peripatetic Staff to manage and 47 lessons a week to timetable. The change from only spending an afternoon in any one school at a time, to being in a school full time took some getting used to, but one that I now embrace. The department has grown and there are now two full time class music teachers. (This is due to year six returning to the Junior School and becoming a three form entry from year three.) In addition I have fifteen peripatetic staff and over 200 individual music lesons a week taking place. I am very lucky in my school as I have always worked under headteachers who have an interest in music or who support the arts. Each class gets two music lessons a week (35 minutes each) and one year group singing session (35 minutes). This equates to one hour and forty five minutes music every week. I have researched other schools and have yet to find another school who gives this much – well certainly not in the area I live in. In our class lessons we concentrate on the listening, performing, improvising and composing elements of the curriculum and the singing is obviously done in the year group singing lesson. We have devised a scheme of work for singing that allows the girls to develop their voices and skills so that by the time they leave us at the Junior School all girls can sing in parts confidently. In our year six production last year fifty-six girls sang solos and 13 narrated – it was a difficult decision to make as all of the 69 girls were capable of singing on their own. This doesn’t mean we don’t sing in our class lessons – each class will need to prepare a musical item for their class assembly and each year group will do a production during the year and the Upper Juniors will also have a carol service to prepare for. Already this first half term (Autumn 2016) one class has sung Let it Go in 20 different languages, and another class has sung a rap about take away food! Between the peripatetic staff and the two full time music staff we run four choirs, an orchestra, a drop in club (for those working towards exams or performances who need that extra bit of help), ensembles for harps, guitars, strings, flutes, clarinets and saxophones and in the past for brass and cellos too. There have been separate clubs for belleplates, composition and percussion too in the past – there are only so many days in the week and we rotate the ensembles to give variety. I work closely with the PE department to ensure that the girls can take part in both music activities and sports clubs. We plan our clubs to make sure that the same year group isn’t required by both departments. This has worked brilliantly – in this year’s Year 6, 58 of the 66 girls are in the choir and on another day most of them go to hockey club. Working as Director of Music isn’t just the teaching (which is the best part!) but includes a lot of admin and organising one’s time to do everything is not always an easy task.
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Part of my job is to timetable the 200 lessons that happen each week and to ensure that they are on a rotation so that it isn’t the same lesson missed each week. When a girl learns two instruments I try to ensure that she has one of her lessons outside of academic lessons – not an easy task but a bit like a jigsaw and when it all fits together I get a real sense of achievement – sometimes it takes a couple of goes but we always get there in the end. I also spend time organising concerts and repertoire, hymn practice, choir rehearsals, leading insets and sorting out entries for local and national competitions, being a form tutor one day a week, as well as doing the obligatory duties that are required in school The highlight of the job is of course working with the girls. Seeing girls that I have taught for six years going through to Senior School as music scholars and then going on to university to study music gives me a great sense of pride. I am still in touch with my music teachers from Secondary School and hope that some of the girls I have taught will keep in touch with me and let me know how they are getting on.
SMA Training Day 21 October 2016 Letchworth
It was a super day and many thanks to the excellent speakers and for making it all happen for us. Some real “gems” to bring home and reflect upon and use. J.P. Delegates came from far and wide – Barnsley, Isle of Man, Southampton, Bury St. Edmunds and more locally. As one would have expected, the sessions by Andy Gleadhill and Sue Nicholls were highly engaging, extremely practical and full of exciting, yet simple tips to enhance classroom practice. The afternoon began with Ruth Kenward of Starshine Music. Ruth gave us a well-paced presentation which had everyone on their feet (no dozing after lunch) and made good use of technology to illustrate points that she was unable to demonstrate with the delegates themselves. The day was completed with an outstanding session from a first-time presenter, ISM-SMA member Jo Vaizey, a young teacher from North London, whose fearless, enthusiastic and passionate approach to the effective use of iPads in the classroom had everyone convinced of their benefits. Those who attended previous SMA Conferences will remember Jo as a delegate, and your editor predicts that she will be in great demand as a speaker to help demystify technology in the future. Below are just a few snapshots of the day. As you can see it was highly interactive.
This display about composer Gustav Holst, as well as the film composer Alan Menken (see page 3) are just a small part of the colourful display in Ruth Adams’ music room at The Abbey Junior School in Reading.
above: Sue Nicholls (in the blue jacket) and delegates taking part in an action song, in her session entitled ‘Music at the heart of your curriculum at KS1 & 2’
Above: Andy Gleadhill exciting delegates about the possibilities of world music. Right: Ruth Kenward involving delegates in a dance sequence from one of her musicals.