Musical Futures an Approach to Teaching and Learning
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Musical Futures An approach to teaching and learning RESOURCE PACK: 2ND EDITION Musical Futures An approach to teaching and learning RESOURCE PACK: 2ND EDITION Compiled and edited by Abigail D’Amore Paul Hamlyn Foundation 18 Queen Anne’s Gate London SW1H 9AA ISBN: 978-1-905500-19-2 Open access. Some rights reserved. As the publisher of this work, Paul Hamlyn Foundation has an open access policy which enables anyone to access our content electronically without charge. We want to encourage the circulation of our work as widely as possible without affecting the ownership of the copyright, which remains with the copyright holder. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License. The following are some of the conditions imposed by the licence: s -USICAL &UTURES AND THE AUTHOR IS CREDITED s 4HE -USICAL &UTURES WEBSITE ADDRESS (www.musicalfutures.org.uk) is published together with a copy of this policy statement in a prominent position s 4HE TEXT IS NOT ALTERED AND IS USED IN FULL THE USE OF EXTRACTS UNDER EXISTING FAIR USAGE RIGHTS IS not affected by this condition) s 4HE WORK IS NOT RESOLD s ! COPY OF THE WORK OR LINK TO ITS USE ONLINE IS sent to Paul Hamlyn Foundation for our archive To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.5/ Cover image: Rubberball/Getty Images Inside images: Emile Holba (www.emileholba.co.uk) Musical Futures An approach to teaching and learning RESOURCE PACK: 2ND EDITION 5 Foreword 8 Welcome and Introduction 16 Implementing Musical Futures 30 Co-constructing a Curriculum 34 Embedding Musical Futures NON-FORMAL TEACHING 44 Introduction 47 Guide to Classroom Workshopping 76 Whole Class Instrumental Work: Year 7 88 Band Instrumental Work 95 Non-Western Music 101 Guide to Songwriting 116 Image Junction 123 Case Study: Morpeth Secondary School INFORMAL LEARNING 130 Introduction 133 Implementing Informal Learning 144 In at the Deep End 149 Modelling Aural Learning 154 Informal Composing 158 Informal Learning with Other Musics 164 Case Study: Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill ORGANISATION AND DESIGN 174 Developing Extra-curricular Provision 185 Equipment and Music Technology 194 Buildings, Space and Musical Futures 203 Musical Futures and External Observers: Advice for Dealing with Senior Managers and Inspectors 210 Appendix 1: Evaluations 213 Appendix 2: Musical Futures Publications 214 Credits and Acknowledgements Musical Futures Foreword 5 Foreword I’m delighted to be able to introduce this second edition of the Musical Futures resource pack. As a former teacher myself, I’m very aware of the pressures that come with the job and of the need to be able to get hold of high- quality materials for use in the classroom. I’ve always been passionate about music and its life-changing capacity. As an aspiring musician I was lucky enough to experience the thrill and immediacy of playing in bands. Whilst I understand PHOTO: PAOLO ROVERSI PHOTO: PAOLO the importance of absorbing the nuts and bolts of music theory, and of playing under direction, there are few things as spontaneously creative as a bunch of friends, a set of instruments, and seeing where the music takes you. Most professional musicians take this daily miracle for granted, but for the majority of young people it’s a mysterious ‘gift’. It seems to me that these resources – many of which echo the way I learned to play informally – are about making those kinds of experiences available to all young people in school. They may not go on to become professional musicians but they’ll begin to understand music from the inside out and perhaps transfer the confidence they gain from working in groups to other aspects of their learning, and indeed their lives. The success of Musical Futures shows that music teachers are willing to try unconventional approaches and put themselves in situations where they don’t always feel comfortable, if it means that their students make more music, more often. I‘m thrilled to be able to support this project, and I hope more music teachers will feel sufficiently inspired by these resources to give them a try in their schools. Sting PATRON, MUSICAL FUTURES SECTION 1 Introduction 8 Musical Futures Section 1: Introduction IMPLEMENTING MUSICAL FUTURES Musical Futures An approach to teaching and learning RESOURCE PACK: 2ND EDITION Welcome to the second edition of the Musical Futures resource materials. Since July 2006 when the official pathfinder work finished, Musical Futures has transformed from a pilot project into an approach to teaching and learning that is now recognised as a major initiative in secondary music education. The first edition of the resource materials shared what works and what doesn’t. It also enabled teachers, practitioners and others pays tribute to the project managers, teachers, to take the models and ideas developed by music educators, academics, and perhaps the pathfinders, and to adapt, adopt, refine, most importantly the young people, who develop and personalise them in their own were involved in the pathfinder programmes teaching or other educational situations. This of Musical Futures for developing ideas and started a process whereby teachers/practitioners models that could so successfully be replicated. try Musical Futures, overcome challenges, These resource materials do not have one witness benefits and impact on students, author – they represent the work of many and then become natural advocates for the people, and we hope that resources will approach and ultimately support others. In continue to be developed by teachers, turn, this led to a real need for Continuing practitioners and others who join Musical Professional Development, networking Futures. and opportunities to share good practice, which we responded to in the first instance I sincerely hope that you find this second edition through a national CPD training programme useful, and adaptable to suit your needs and and subsequently via our Champion Schools those of your students. Musical Futures survives initiative. We now estimate that more than because of the innovation and inspirational 1000 secondary schools are running Musical work of those who take it on. Futures (which has increased from 60 during the pathfinder years), as well as the approaches being embedded into Music Service, Local Authority and Initial Teacher Training policy, and adapted by overseas colleagues. Therefore, this pack is more than a second edition. It is a culmination of years of work, feedback and ideas from those who have tried Abigail D’Amore Musical Futures and have openly and honestly MUSICAL FUTURES NATIONAL COORDINATOR Musical Futures Section 1: Introduction 9 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION q AN INTRODUCTION 1: TO MUSICAL FUTURES SECTION Musical Futures is an approach to teaching and learning. It is a new way of thinking about music-making in schools that brings non-formal teaching and informal learning approaches into the more formal context of schools. Through Musical Futures, we frequently make use of the terms formal, non-formal and informal. The definitions we have given to these are: FORMAL Taught by adults in schools, colleges, etc NON-FORMAL Led by adults in community contexts INFORMAL Led by young people: s 7ORKING ALONE WITHOUT THE CONSTANT PRESENCE OF ADULTS s 3TUDENTS AS TEACHERSTEACHERS AS STUDENTS s .O ENTRY BARRIERS TO LEARNING Musical Futures is not a scheme of work. It is a series of models and We believe approaches that can be personalised by teachers, practitioners and others. It is based on the belief that music learning is most effective when young music learning people are engaged in making music, and when their existing passion for works best when music is acknowledged, reflected on and built-upon in the classroom. young people are At its heart is a commitment to: q Find ways of engaging all young people in the 11–18 age range in making music meaningful, sustainable musical activities q Make music learning relevant to young people, and connecting their in-school and out-of-school interests and experiences q Enable young people to experience practical music making, to understand the processes of music making, and for music making to contribute to their overall social, educational and personal development This tends to happen in Musical Futures by: q Students working through a variety of non-formal and informal teaching and learning styles, ensuring that their individual learning needs are met q Valuing students’ personal musical interests q Motivating students first, before moving them into other musical and learning styles q Making use of aural learning, that fully integrates listening with practical music making, improvising and composing q Teachers and practitioners flexing their teaching and learning styles to act as facilitators and through showing rather than telling, guiding and modelling rather than instructing q Students acting as peer leaders q Technique, notation and other forms of written instruction being part of the process, but rarely the starting point 10 Musical Futures Section 1: Introduction INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION 1: q BACKGROUND The Musical Futures journey began in 2003 when the Paul Hamlyn FURTHER READING SECTION Foundation, an independent grant-making foundation, instigated an A series of pamphlets outlining the initiative to find new and imaginative ways of engaging all young philosophy and development of Musical people, aged 11–18, in meaningful music activities. The starting point Futures are available for free download for Musical Futures was to understand the factors affecting the from www.musicalfutures.org.uk/c/ apparent disengagement of young people with sustained music- pamphlets making activities, at a time in their lives when music is not only a passion for many young people, but plays a big part in shaping their social identity. A year of consultation was followed by two years of ‘Pathfinder’ action research projects, where teams in Leeds, Nottingham and Hertfordshire trialled a number of learning models to find ways of engaging all young people in music-making, both in and out of school.