We
are conscious that our report can only touch on the many examples
of good practice to be found in these submissions. Set out below
are some of these.
Aberdeen's
City Music School, one of Scotland's three music schools is
special in the sense that it has an extensive outreach programme
and commissions leading contemporary and classical composers
to work with schools throughout the region. And out of one major
arts project (North Sea) came an education resource pack for
teachers seeking to continue developing the work.
Bury,
tantalisingly, hint at good work but withhold the detail.
Cardiff
have extended instrumental tuition in their schools and launched
a number of world music initiatives.
The
Wales Music Development Fund has enabled Caerphilly to
maintain the high standards we recognised last in 1999. Among
several notable features of the year were the appointment of
four FTE music tutors and two FTE choral animateurs together
with the acquisition of 500 new instruments.
Despite
a serious staff shortage, Doncaster continued with their
week long Music Centre Festival featuring all twelve orchestras,
nine bands, guitar, recorder and chamber groups and two choirs.
Adults were offered small-group tuition on all instruments,
and, during the year, 109 took part.
Harrow
Music Service worked supportively with several other London
LEAs, invested in a good range of INSET and made imaginative
provision for disaffected pupils and those with special needs.
The LEA's generous support for Harrow Young Musicians ensured
a wide range of performance opportunities.
Herefordshire
Instrumental Music Service is now making its mark with exciting
initiatives, including a centre for early music, the development
of a school for harp tuition, a new string programme for infants
and school-based staff, world music and singing programmes,
large-scale residential music courses and the commissioning
of new brass and orchestral works.
Last
year's Diploma winning Highland Council Education Service
continues to defy the logistical odds with a substantial investment
in Scottish traditional musics, comprehensive training and support
to meet the diverse needs of community radio groups and their
volunteers, and targeted work in three areas comprising the
most excluded young people in the 15-24 age group.
It
was a rare pleasure to hear from Islington and we look
forward to several promising developments being extended and
consolidated as a partnership between the private company under
contract to the Authority and existing music provision.
We
have previously registered our growing interest in the performance
of Kingston upon Hull's Music Support Service. Indeed,
it only remains for the multi-genre festivals, the work with
professional musicians and the community arts provision generally
to be integrated with schools music provision and the Service
will make the headlines.
Lincolnshire's
submission, despite featuring important developments that fall
out of the year in question, provides hard evidence of a music
support service that is growing in confidence. An intensive
programme of singing projects seems to have dominated the year,
though a partnership with a professional string quartet proved
to be enjoyable and valuable for students and staff. Jazz featured
both in school and out-of-school projects and workshops, including
an interesting resurrection of the tradition of reconstructing
a well known pop tune as a jazz work. If the Authority had been
able fully to fund the youth service's policy of promoting music
and the arts, this could have been an award-winning entry.
It
is impossible to ignore an entry which features a Bassoon Blowout
and the UK's first Tamboo Bamboo Band. Indeed, Luton's
engagement with their multi-cultural communities is so much
in evidence and successful that it was recognised by OfSTED.
That is not to say that the more Euro-centric music forms were
neglected; far from it.
Norfolk
mean business: they have appointed an adviser for the promotion
of the arts with a main music service brief. And shortly after
the year-end, a dedicated adviser, to be Head of the new Music
Education Service, takes up post. While performance opportunities
in brass and jazz ensembles featured strongly throughout the
year, it is good to learn that the county youth orchestra is
to be re-established with more support for orchestral playing
through linked and targeted instrumental tuition opportunities.
We
have been told by North Lincolnshire of some good ground
work leading up to Key Stages 1 and 2 for both pupils and teachers
and of an especially fruitful partnership, over three months,
with the North of England Chamber Orchestra.
North
Lanarkshire's successful support of their wind bands, choirs
and Rock Festival, which is central to their overall educational
achievement policy, was extended to other musics. For example,
Scottish Opera staged a range of workshops throughout the year.
This Authority is beginning to demonstrate the most consistent
commitment to music education of all the authorities in Scotland.
Oldham's
impressive year of achievement was demonstrated by a variety
of choral work, an intelligent pre-school project and early
years musical development, a good range of projects and workshops
involving professional musicians and work with unemployed teenagers.
It would, for us, have been even more notable had we seen evidence
of the completed Asian music programme, which based workshops
in almost all LEA schools, being integrated into the overall
music curriculum.
Oxfordshire
continued with much of the excellent work that won them a Diploma
last year. We were pleased to receive evidence of growing activity
as part of the Development Plan for Lifelong Learning. We also
like the Authority's policy and means of maintaining a clear
link between the music service and the school curriculum. The
advantages of that policy can be seen throughout this submission.
We
are not surprised by OfSTED's recent positive report of Portsmouth's
Music Service. We have referred elsewhere to the successful
collaboration with Southampton and the Isle of Wight in the
Solent Music Project. This submission, however, is special for
a youth service music programme that provides for the musical
needs of the Service's mainstream clients, including young women's
groups, as well as disaffected young people and offenders. Such
is the success of this project that we will be bringing it to
the attention of the National Youth Agency as a particularly
good example of youth service provision.
Renfrewshire
drew our attention to a thoughtful joint music and drama project
that focused on supporting the teaching of the expressive arts
5-14 curriculum in primary schools. The linking theme was the
Christmas message and subject specialists were commissioned
to work with a cluster of primary schools, which as well as
enhancing pupils' experiences, also provided valuable in-service
support to the schools' staffs.
Rochdale
had a good year. We liked the idea of primary school workshops
using 'A' level and GCSE students as well as instrumental staff,
demonstrating twelve different instruments, in the course of
delivering live instrumental workshops to primary schools.
Sefton's
Music Support Service made a substantial commitment to the commissioning
of new music for performance by LEA ensembles, the success of
which was facilitated by fruitful partnerships with the Royal
Northern College of Music and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
Society. World musics and jazz were also prominently featured
in the work of the Service.
We
detect the makings of good all-round provision in Somerset.
Of particular interest was the adoption of a policy, in response
to the Noise at Work regulations, for the protection of 'at
risk' instrumental teachers who are now provided with moulded
ear plugs and, along with all new staff, with base line audiometric
testing and repeat testing. We shall be seeking to give this
policy and practice wider publicity.
Our
tip for the music service to watch is Slough. Given that
it has only been fully financed since April 2000, with a part-time
music adviser arriving only seven months earlier, this Service
is already getting many things right through close partnerships
with a range of music professionals and agencies, sound INSET,
effective collaboration with other LEAs, sensitive and imaginative
provision for pupils with special educational needs, a real
commitment to working with the youth service and a good range
of performance opportunities.
Many
of those elements feature strongly in an excellent submission
from Staffordshire Performing Arts; indeed this would
have been an award winning entry had the year been more musically
universal in its provision.
Stirling's
commitment to youth participation in the organisation and creation
of music is further evidenced in their submission which, like
Portsmouth's, is notable for the opportunities provided throughout
the year. We shall be drawing this to the attention of the Scottish
Community Education Council as yet more very good practice in
this area.
In
our report of 1999, we paid tribute to Swindon for their
recovery from crisis. Indeed, since becoming an LEA the music
service has doubled the volume of instrumental tuition in schools.
It was a good year all round with new initiatives to promote
minority brass and string instrument playing, an increase in
the number of live concerts in schools, a senior music festival
to complement the already established infant and junior events,
the launch of a 'rock school', the commissioning of a successful
vocal cantata for 8-11 year olds to mark the opening of the
National Heritage Museum and much more.
Thurrock's
three music schools were pivotal to the growing number of performance
opportunities provided on a variety of instruments, and, as
a policy priority, the Music Service extended provision for
young musicians with special educational needs. INSET was focused
on good practice in instrumental teaching and, in partnership
with the LEA advisory service, training packages were customised
for individual schools following an audit of need.
The
Trafford Music Service was radically re-structured to
improve access and awareness of existing provision. We look
forward to reading of the fruits of what was clearly an important
turning point for music education in the Borough.
Waltham
Forest ran 142 music workshops for their schools and supported
28 borough groups and bands, though we received no details of
levels or genres.
The
two Wandsworth Junior Centres for Young Musicians increased
the number of free places to 35 per cent and provided additional
classes in brass, cello, oboe, steel pans and choral music.
The Service supported 44 students at the Centre for Young Musicians
and we congratulate them on their continuing role as one of
the most generous supporters of the Centre in London.
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