Music
Case Study 1
A group of students – members of a school’s steel band – was keen to encourage recruitment of younger students. They decided to offer a six-week course of ‘taster sessions’ for 20 year 6 students from their two main feeder primary schools at a cost of £15 per head. The sessions were organised after school, in the summer term, before the students’ transition to secondary school. The students worked with their steel pan tutor to plan the programme. The tutor’s role was to lead the sessions while the older students mentored the younger children. Fees collected paid for the tutor’s time. The students visited the primary schools to market their scheme in assemblies, wrote leaflets for interested children to take home and involved primary teachers in the selection process. Children who successfully completed the course were guaranteed places in the steel band when they joined year 7. The music students gained experience of designing, marketing and implementing a business plan and managing a budget in a different context.
Case Study 2
As part of her GCSE music: ‘Performing during the course’, a year 10 Turkish singer, with considerable experience of performing solo at local cultural events, decided to develop her expertise in directing an ensemble. She advertised for 15 students from key stage 3 who were interested in forming a Turkish choir. The choir was intentionally open to all students of any ethnic background as she hoped it would raise awareness of and respect for Turkish music and culture. A pattern of regular rehearsals and school-based performances were established. As the choir’s reputation grew, an opportunity arose to perform at a prestigious concert hall as part of a city-wide schools’ event. The student not only selected and arranged the music, and trained the choir, but also secured their parents’ help in producing colourful costumes for the performance. As a result of the high quality direction and leadership skills of the student, together with her professionalism, perseverance and creative approach, the performance achieved high grades as part of her GCSE coursework assessment.
Case Study 3
A group of students – members of a successful school jazz band – was motivated by the visit of a famous jazz player. He talked about his career and the enterprise knowledge and skills needed to succeed as a professional musician. As a result, the students decided to extend their own skills by volunteering to assist in the running of the band. They established themselves as a ‘trainee management group’ and put their proposal to music department staff responsible for running the band. Staff shared information with them regarding the range of management tasks involved. Gradually, more responsibility was handed over as the students developed. They were encouraged to come up with ideas for improving the running of the enterprise. The group decided to hold a marketing and publicity campaign to encourage more bookings and recruitment of new members. Some of the group promoted the band at a local jazz club, resulting in a booking. They negotiated a good price with the manager and were responsible for planning and arranging the event. The students developed an understanding of business planning, practised communication and interpersonal skills and gained a valuable insight into the life of a professional musician.
Case Study 4
A GCSE music group was approached by GCSE leisure and tourism students to help make a video on local tourist attractions. Although the school was located in a deprived inner-city borough, it had a wealth of historic character and was a centre for the arts – the challenge was how to best promote these aspects. The music group was commissioned to compose background music for the film. The students decided to work in small groups, taking responsibility for a specific section of film footage. They used a range of means for inspiring musical ideas and sought the views of leisure and tourism students on what could help to reinforce the meaning they were trying to get across. They also used sounds from the local environment. Once the completed music was recorded, the students worked in the music studio of a local college to fit it to the visual images. Copies of the resulting resource were sold at a school fair. Being commissioned to compose creates excellent motivation for students to complete assessed coursework. They experienced problem solving and decision making in a team situation, and took responsibility for their own actions.
Case Study 5
As part of an Enterprise Week, key stage 4 students worked with a local theatre group to create a ‘mini-musical’. Planned lessons introduced a range of skills and knowledge which students could apply to their enterprise challenge (they were not told in advance what they would be doing). The team decided individual roles and responsibilities and established an outline for the musical. They were required to produce a business plan. This was seen by a local bank manager who approved funding. They then worked in small groups according to tasks. The music group aimed to meet the tight deadlines by choosing familiar songs for characters and rewriting the lyrics. They also decided to improvise and record atmospheric music for the opening and closing dance sequences. Some members participated in the production of advertising posters and leaflets, as well as selling tickets around the school. A professional performer was assigned to each group and acted as an adviser for the week. This cross-curricular project offered an opportunity for students to find creative ways of meeting deadlines, to demonstrate organisational, leadership and management skills and to handle uncertainty.
Case Study 6
For the performance requirement of their GCSE music course, students planned a concert at a local special needs school, during which their performances were captured on video for GCSE assessment. They visited the school beforehand to talk to students and staff in order to gauge the kind of music that might appeal to their audience. The visit provided an opportunity to learn at first hand about the attention span of children with special needs. Students also looked at the venue and assessed the resources available, e.g. electrical sockets. Back in school, they worked on the programme in groups and pairs of students were assigned technical responsibilities according to their ability, e.g. for planning and checking sound and lighting equipment. The students negotiated with GCSE art students to create wall posters to be delivered to the school in advance. They devised an evaluation form for teachers to use with their classes, after the event, in order to gather feedback on their performances. In preparation, they worked with students from a local music college – the groups used each other as a critical audience – and conducted the dress rehearsal in front of year 7 students. The project supported completion of coursework in a professional context, as students developed management skills, open-mindedness and business understanding.
Case Study 7
A school with performing arts college status planned to redevelop its music department as part of a move into new, purpose-built accommodation for the arts. Key stage 4 music students were invited to review the architect’s plans and to make recommendations on the facilities and resources they would like to see in the light of their experience of the existing department. An initial meeting was held between the architect and music department staff to discuss the plans and the priorities for the department, including teaching and learning requirements. Students worked together to prepare a presentation on their views in an innovative and creative manner. Groups developed their ideas in a variety of ways, e.g. carrying out research on the internet into resources for schools, investigating other schools renowned for their music facilities, contact with a local music studio and the musicians working there, conducting market research within the school community on other students’ preferences and ideas. The audience for the presentations included representatives of the architect’s team, senior management, music staff and the governing body.
Case Study 8
As part of the ‘Composing’ element of their GCSE course, year 11 students worked in small teams to produce a series of short musical pieces, each of which demonstrated a specific musical style from one of the required areas of study, e.g. 12-bar blues, variations, reggae. The resulting compositions (or arrangements) were recorded onto a CD for distribution to year 10 music students as an introduction to the different styles – and to help them build up ideas for their own compositions. The year 11 students also designed the CD cover and wrote a booklet to accompany it. This included programme notes on each composition, outlining how each group went about creating the music, their objectives for the piece and a set of questions for the listener to test themselves on what they heard. Where appropriate, some examples of notation were also provided. Students were involved in evaluating their own work and meeting deadlines. They had experience of writing music for a purpose and demonstrated the skills of decision making and working in teams to resolve problems.
