On Music in Education: Participation, Music and Self-Esteem

More Than A Show

It is the end of term for one of the Birmingham primary schools I work in as a vocal teacher for Services For Education Music Services. We have been spending one session a week for the last four weeks learning songs to sing in a whole-school show for parents and carers. There are some songs everyone is singing, some that two classes sing together and then a small-sized choir sing as a separate group. This time I have even managed to get a few solos for those brave kids who love the limelight (that turned out to be over half my classes so I had to find a lot of solo lines – very brave lot at this school!).

The tension is building and the sense of anticipation is tangible.

Everyone has a part

One-form entry schools have an advantage over bigger schools in some things. One of them is that there are generally spaces big enough for the whole school to come together and participate in joint events.

This is also where the performing arts come into their own.

The end of term Easter assembly demonstrated a vibrant, positive and excellent sharing of a whole school’s work in a single event. Each child had a role to play within their individual class, whether it was singing the songs, reciting poems, taking part in a dance routine, playing recorder or ringing hand bells (I’ll come back to these later).

Engaged

Throughout the hour that these children were performing I did not see a child that didn’t participate when it was his or her turn. From Nursery through to Year Six, each child was engaged and ready to perform to the best of his or her ability. I had tried to choose fun and catchy songs, it is true, and every child had the opportunity to contribute and chose to do so.

Born to Sing

From the earliest stages children can sing. My experience of running mother-and-baby groups has long-since confirmed to me that children are innately musical and respond to music, given the opportunity. My experience in the primary classroom is that the vast majority of children will sing together and fully embrace this form of communal music-making if they are given positive encouragement and teaching.

The idea that music is an elite subject with fewer and fewer people able to access it is ridiculous to me. Music, as experienced here through singing, is one of the only subjects I can think of where the majority of pupils are already predisposed to access it and born with natural ability. My observation is that music is a wonderful leveller, an opportunity for all children to feel fully part of a communal experience.

This leads me back to the hand bells.

Building self-esteem and confidence … with bells on

Eight children were chosen to learn two pieces for the show. To play the hand bells in a group, you have to read a score which splits the music into bars of beats and the numbers of the appropriate bells are written at the appropriate beat. This means it is crucial that performers know exactly when to play the correct bell and keeps up with the beat. It requires concentration and co-operation.

The children chosen for this performance were hand-picked for a learning experience that was different from the other classroom-based subjects. As I watched their performance I was amazed at the level of concentration shown and their competence to produce a really pleasing musical sound. These children had the opportunity to achieve and relished it! Music provided them a unique opportunity to shine in an education system that often made them feel failures.

Building Memories

The show went well. In fact, the children surpassed expectations and were fantastic. The atmosphere in the room was so positive and appreciative at the end, with so many happy, smiley faces everywhere you looked.

Positive memories were made that morning. Some children will remember their particular roles, some will remember a sense of being together with their schoolmates. I will remember a whole school taking part in this celebratory event, with music being the platform from which every child was given an opportunity to be involved and succeed.

I hope this event helped a few children to grow a little bit taller inside themselves as they received the applause and congratulations from their audience.

I hope that children nationally will continue to be given these opportunities that music so naturally and easily provides, opportunities that build self-esteem and confidence.

I am convinced that both well-being and academic results would improve as a consequence.

Photo credit:

Jake Guild: https://flic.kr/p/RKvcps