SCHUBERT IN SCHOOLS
2018-19
SCHUBERT IN SCHOOLS is a pioneering project, developed in partnership by Music in the Round, its Singer-inResidence Roderick Williams obe and pianist Christopher Glynn. With a pilot in 2016 and a full Phase 1 in 2018-19, it provides opportunities for students at Key Stage 3 (age 1114) to create and compose, often for the first time, inspired by the timeless music of Franz Schubert. The immense value of this project lies in the direct connections it makes between young people and worldclass professionals, its capacity to inspire and unlock young people’s creative imaginations and self-confidence, its bringing down perceived barriers between styles and periods of music, and the ownership that young people take of the universal language of music-making through being immersed in whole-class singing and composing.
“It’s a marvellous experience. Music shouldn’t just be in a classroom. I want more of this” Teacher, Sheffield
The memorable 2018-19 phase of this project, which this booklet celebrates, was delivered by a strong network of partners including Music in the Round, Roderick and Chris, Music Education Hubs, leading music education experts, schools, venues and promoters, digital multimedia producers and young people themselves.
Music in the Round works in areas around England where there is little or no access to high-quality arts experiences. Through this, over the last decade we have developed a model of good practice which ensures a rich and far-reaching experience for both teachers and young people in creative projects. It was at the heart of Schubert in Schools. FOUNDATIONS: We established strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with key people and organisations, and ensured that schools and Music Hubs were invested. TRAINING & ONGOING SUPPORT: Introductory and follow-up teacher CPD sessions were delivered online, through live and pre-recorded broadcasts. RESOURCES: Roderick, Chris and education experts created a wealth of digital and printed resources to support and inspire both teachers and students. CLASSROOM WORK: Teachers delivered the project over a period of months in the classroom. CULMINATIONS: We brought together schools and professionals to share, workshop, and perform. DISSEMINATION: Through an online archive, audiences worldwide can enjoy celebrating the students’ creations. FOLLOW-UP: Ensuring its legacy and ongoing impact.
Central to the project – especially because of the need to ‘demystify’ the music of Schubert and show its direct and immediate links to the music of today – was a set of detailed, practical, rich, engaging resources, designed to support practitioners in the ways they most needed, offering accessible ways into the music and words of 19th-century Germany. To create the resources, we commissioned experts Peter Taylor, Singing Projects Co-ordinator at Sheffield Music Education Hub, and Andrew J Smith, BBC creative consultant and internationally recognised as a composer dedicated to working in music education and outreach. Especially key was offering ‘starting points’ for both singing and composition, so that teachers had accessible and straightforward ways to begin the project with their students. Comprehensive 50-page resource books were distributed to teachers in the post, and a digital version could be downloaded from our website.
The resources were excellent. This made a big difference in being able to deliver the project. The YouTube events were helpful in having advice on how to deliver it Teacher, Milton Keynes This was an inherently digital project from the outset. In a highly ambitious move we created a bespoke set of over 50 videos for use in classrooms, including introductions and performances of every song by Roderick and Chris, vocal warm-ups and technical advice, composition inspiration and technique, extension activities, analysis and much more – which teachers were able to use in introducing and exploring the project. We have since been told that a lot of these materials have been useful in other lessons and topics beyond our project. A number of the new compositions by schools contained digital elements such as backing tracks created in the classroom. Through this, the existing knowledge and skills of both staff and students were put to good use in a new format.
We enjoy our relationship with Music in the Round. Getting the students into a professional venue and working with professional musicians was really valuable Teacher, Doncaster
It was essential to train and upskill teachers in singing and composition – a key need that we have identified through our work over many years with secondary schools and that has been highlighted in Sound and Music’s 2019 #CanCompose report . We broadcast four online webinars live from Sheffield during the project, which teachers around the country could view live as well as send in questions and comments that were responded to in real time. This innovative solution enabled us to meet the geographical challenges of working with schools around England, and because the sessions could also be watched again ‘on demand’ after broadcast, gave teachers the bespoke support they needed in an accessible and practical way.
Once up and running in the classroom, it quickly became clear that our concept worked! Teachers reported that their students had quickly taken ownership of the material and begun their own creative responses to it, and that in many cases the work had had an impact on the wider school community beyond the classes that were taking part. I was blown away that as soon as I played the music through the first time, they were humming and singing the melodies. They’ve been really open to this style of music Teacher, Barking
Schubert in Schools built towards Culmination Days, staged at Music in the Round’s partner venue in each area, in which schools came together with Roderick, Chris and some of our staff. Each day included warm-ups, sharing and workshopping of the performances and compositions that students had prepared, and finally a ‘red-light’ recording session in which Soundhouse Media recorded and filmed all the material. Roderick led each day differently, in response to what the schools brought: one day focused on stage direction; the next on vocal coaching; the next on storytelling and lyric-writing. Performing on the same stage as real musicians made me feel like when I’m older I can be doing the same thing and inspiring other young people to want to do this as well Student, Milton Keynes Inner-city kids performing and sharing their own music with world-class classical performers and audiences. Amazing! Ian Naylor, Sheffield Music Education Hub
Every day brought incredible moments of insight and discovery for everyone involved. The most powerful thing was that everyone – from world-class professional musicians to classroom experts and inspired young people – shared the same stage on an equal footing. This approach is central to Music in the Round’s philosophy, and Schubert in Schools proved its value.
This project is bringing first-class music into the lives of our students, and helping to energise and motivate our teachers through working with skilled practitioners Borough Councillor, Barking and Dagenham
The day was lovely – very beneficial for the students. I felt included and valued as a music teacher and we all felt encouraged with our work so far. I was so pleased to see the students feeling confident enough to show some of their composition ideas and even performing to one another Teacher, Sheffield
In the culmination days, Roderick and Chris and the young musicians co-created the performances together; an extraordinary experience of human connection and shared creativity. The huge value of Winter Journey is that it provides a way of exploring universal human emotions and experiences – love, loss, grief, hope, desolation – through which everyone can understand and express themselves in familiar and new ways.
All the compositions and performances were filmed and added to Music in the Round’s YouTube channel, establishing a globally available archive showcasing the brilliant achievements of all the young people involved in Schubert in Schools. Some of the films have had several thousand viewings – proof that the students themselves, as well as a wider audience, took pride in what they had created here. Schools, too, were able to share and shout about this extraordinary experience online.
The boys are now not afraid of singing and they no longer see It as something they can’t or shouldn't do Teacher, Barking
The project exceeded my expectations. My initial thought was ‘they are never going to be interested in Schubert! Or singing!!’ And by the end of it they were belting it out and loving it! Teacher, Barking
Our project was quite tightly focused on a limited number of schools and participants, so that benefits could be maximised. We directly engaged around 700 students and 25 staff in the long-term learning project, plus wider school and concert audiences of several thousand. All told, our videos have been streamed over 10,000 times. The huge and deep success of this iteration of the project only strengthens our conviction that the Schubert in Schools model and materials can enrich and enliven ALL young people’s lives.
The range of schools proved that any school with a music teacher who is willing to give things a try can use this music with their students. They have got so much positivity out of being involved with this – an experience that will last a lifetime Peter Taylor, Sheffield Music Education Hub
I think it’s really important that everyone has the chance to do music because it can be a life-changing experience Student, Sheffield
Schubert in Schools helped to overcome some of our challenges in delivering classical music projects to do with resources and the attitude/willingness of schools Music Hub
We conducted a follow-up survey six months after the project, in summer 2019, to assess the project’s longerterm legacy and impact. Teachers reported: Composition had been our biggest challenge at Key Stage 3, but now all the students want to do is compose!
Two of our pupils have taken up singing lessons and boys’ singing is now more accepted within school. Our next step is to bring singing to every music lesson and introduce styles of music that pupils are not common with or have misconceptions of. Confidence in singing has grown massively. A group of year 9 boys who at first refused to sing will now willingly do so. They are better bonded as a class too. The students still talk about the project and the amazing day at the venue. The composition activities are used in their own composing work.
Keep up the amazing work and project Plus, we know that the two Sheffield schools with whom we conducted the original Schubert in Schools pilot project, in spring 2016, continue to use the resources and lesson plans in their Year 7 curriculum to this day.
They learned a lot about this music and this will help them in their GCSEs. They realised they can appreciate ‘classical’ music and approach works by other composers (for example Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven on their GCSE syllabus) without just thinking they are boring Teacher, Barking
Our main learning from this large-scale project is about capacity: of the organisation to manage and deliver such an important and ground-breaking project; but also of schools to understand the offer and make room for it in an already over-busy and stressful environment. Delays in securing funding also set back our approaches to schools. The project was multifaceted, and in fact the original offer also involved other partners. It was too wide-ranging for schools to really grasp; we will make future iterations of Schubert in Schools or similar projects more focused, responding to the specific needs, challenges and opportunities in school identified this time around.
It’s amazing to perform on the same stage as these amazing musicians who we don’t usually see every day, and to put our point out there that we are musicians too Student, Milton Keynes
The project was especially successful where our local partners were able to build strong partnerships with their Music Education Hubs and the schools themselves. We will carry on working with this year’s teachers as ’ambassadors’ for future Schubert in Schools tours, and will continue to develop relationships with potential partners such as music colleges, YCAT and other Music Education Hubs in order to maximise the impact of future work.
In direct response to the significant and overwhelmingly positive impact of Schubert in Schools, we have developed a three-year programme for Secondary Creativity and Composition, to take place with nearly all our national partners around England, with Schubert in Schools at its heart. It will give many young people their first taste of performing and composing alongside professionals, and will inspire them to continue their musical exploration at a higher level. We are thrilled to be able to broaden the reach of Schubert in Schools with such a large-scale undertaking that’s at the heart of Music in the Round’s long-term plans. We would love EVERY young person at secondary school to have the amazing experience of singing and composing together.
The key point for us is that you don’t have to consider yourself a musician in order to make and enjoy music; creativity is for everyone, and the strength of doing this project in the first weeks of secondary school is that it creates entire cohorts of creative, confident, musically literate young people. We loved being partners in this project and it had a considerable impact on our community. We want worldclass professional musicians to be a regular presence in Barking & Dagenham, and we have already started working with Music in the Round and partners here on plans for the future! Barry Burke, General Manager, The Broadway, Barking
I knew quickly it was going to be accessible for the students because of the way the resources and activities have been set up. They really wanted to sing this material, and I’d not been able to get them into it until this project. Beyond this, there’s so much more we can do with them, and so much we’ve taken away for ourselves Teacher, Milton Keynes
Schubert in Schools was jointly led by: Music in the Round, England’s leading national promoter of chamber music (www.musicintheround.co.uk) Roderick Williams obe, baritone Christopher Glynn, pianist Groves Artists (www.grovesartists.com) with key partners Peter Taylor and Andrew J. Smith (singing and composing experts) Sheffield Music Education Hub – and other Music Hubs around England Soundhouse Media (www.soundhouse-media.co.uk) The Broadway (Barking), The Stables (Milton Keynes), CAST (Doncaster)
Thanks to generous funding from: Liz and Terry Bramall Foundation Sheffield Town Trust Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust Mayfield Valley Arts Trust Individual donors Friends of Music in the Round Arts Council England Sheffield City Council
Video archive online at tinyurl.com/MitRSIS The ‘Story of Schubert in Schools’ documentary is at tinyurl.com/SISStory Teaching resources at tinyurl.com/SISteaching More information and future plans: kate@musicintheround.co.uk