The key findings presented here draw on data generated from focus groups .... classical music, and their work mirrors that of other charities seeking to .... particularly at the most senior levels noting that only 13.2% of BBC staff were non-white. ...... that 'we didn't used to have a timetable at primary school' and they were not ...
Transitions and Trajectories: a case study examining the primary-secondary transition of adolescents involved in a dedicated primary-level violin programme Dr Victoria Armstrong Final report, January 2017
Contents Contents Acknowledgements Executive Summary
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1. Introduction and context
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1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
The case study: the string programme Lack of diversity in British classical music Formal instrumental tuition and educational disadvantage Identity, motivation and genre The primary-secondary transition
2. Methods and Methodology 2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.2
Methods Phase I Phase II Sampling criteria for case study participants Ethical considerations
3. Outcomes of the research: Phase I Primary school 3.1 3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3 3.1.4 3.1.5 3.1.6 3.1.7 3.2 3.3
Pupils’ reflections at the end of Year 6 Continuation and Progression The importance of teacher-pupil relationships The social aspect Performing and concert attendance The lessons Widening the curriculum Valuing a range of musical styles, cultures and practices Pupils’ expectations of secondary school Conclusion
4. Outcomes of the research: Phase II Secondary School 4.1 Secondary schools’ approaches to the primary-secondary transfer 4.1.1 Music scholarships 4.2 New teachers, new approaches 4.3 Meeting pupils’ expectations 4.4 Conclusion 5. Recommendations
6 7 10 12 15 18 18 18 18 21 22 24 24 24 26 26 27 28 30 30 31 33 34 34 38 41 42 44 45
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References
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Appendix A: Focus Group interview schedule Appendix B: Case Study interview schedule Appendix C: Case Study parent interview schedule Appendix D: Non-case study interview schedule Appendix E: Head of Music interview schedule
52 54 57 59 62
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Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to acknowledge the contribution of Anna Hunter, who assisted with the second phase of the data collection component during the period January-July 2015. Her tenacity and good humour were much appreciated during this very intensive period of the project. I would also like to thank all of the pupils who participated in Transitions and Trajectories for their enthusiasm and openness, and their willingness to embrace the aims of the project wholeheartedly. Thanks must also go to the parents who gave so generously of their time, and were also incredibly supportive of the project. I would also like to thank them for their warm welcome and kind hospitality Anna and I received as we visited their homes throughout the course of the study. Thanks must also go to the Heads of Music who gave up their time to talk to us during a busy period in the school calendar. Finally, I would like to thank the funding organisation for their support of this research. However, the views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation. They have not been identified in any part of this report as they wish to remain anonymous.
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Executive Summary
In recent decades the involvement of third sector music education organisations in providing children and young people with access to high quality music experiences (both as performers and as audience members) has been a significant feature of the UK music education landscape. This research is a case study of one such organisation focusing on a group of 11-12 year olds all of whom had been involved in a sustained, high-quality violin teaching programme running in two inner-city primary schools in one of the most deprived boroughs of London. The programme ran throughout the entirety of their primary education (2008-2014) and was provided by a small London-based charitable organisation. From Reception (when they first started school) through to the end of Year 6 (the last year of primary education), this cohort received a mixture of weekly large and small group lessons, were provided with opportunities to perform at venues such as the London South Bank Centre and the Wigmore Hall, and had all taken ABRSM exams (ranging from grade 2 to grade 5). The pupils participating in this study were the first cohort to complete the full programme of study since its inception, and they transferred into secondary education in September 2014. For the most part, current research into the primary-secondary music education transition includes a high proportion of pupils who have never had formal instrumental lessons and may have experienced very little in the way of high quality music education. In contrast, the musical experiences of the pupils participating in this study are atypical for their age and stage of education across the whole school population. Given the challenges and problems that often characterise pupils’ experiences of music education when they transfer from primary to secondary school, this cohort provided a unique opportunity to examine what aspects of their musical experiences, if any, might lessen or at least act as a buffer against some of these challenges during the first year of their secondary music education. The research questions aimed to explore:
What are the barriers and/or challenges experienced by the pupils during their first year of secondary school music? To what extent, if any, do the pupils’ experiences of participation in an intensive music programme mitigate these transition challenges? What factors best support the pupils’ continued participation in music making?
The key findings presented here draw on data generated from focus groups and interviews with the pupils, interviews with a number of Heads of Music in the transfer secondary schools, and interviews with the participating pupils’ parents. Key findings: What are the barriers and/or challenges experienced by the pupils during their first year of secondary school music?
Unless the pupils had been awarded music scholarships, schools often had little or no information about incoming pupils’ prior musical knowledge and experience. While data capture appears to work adequately in a small number of schools, a far
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larger number appear to have ineffective systems and information is either lost or not followed up; There are inadequate systems in place for the primary schools or the music organisation to pass on relevant information to the secondary transfer schools for all pupils; The sheer range and diversity of secondary schools that pupils transferred to in terms of school type and music education provision profoundly shaped the pupils’ attitudes towards music in their first year of secondary school, with a large proportion becoming disillusioned and de-motivated; Pupils who had been highly motivated to continue with instrumental lessons at the end of Year 6 found themselves unable to secure instrumental lessons at secondary school and were often placed on waiting lists for up to a year which had a significant impact on progression and motivation; The primary schools and the music organisation could do more to support parents to help them find out about scholarships and bursaries. For those parents with English as a second language, or with little relevant social or cultural capital, this resulted in differential outcomes for their children even though all pupils had participated in the music programme; Despite pupils’ high expectations of secondary music at the end of Year 6, in many cases, classroom music in Year 7 was not sufficiently challenging and pupils became bored and de-motivated by the end of the first year of secondary education; The organisation’s focus on performance does not make sufficient links with the KS2 and KS3 curriculum and could include more improvisation and composing as this was an aspect of their musical learning that pupils were looking forward to at secondary school; As the pupils in the study had experienced such an immersive musical experience, some expressed feelings of isolation and alienation in schools where music was not valued; this was often linked to school type and whether or not they had been awarded a music scholarship, and the value school’s placed on music and arts subjects more generally; At primary school the excellent pupil-instrumental teacher relationships fostered during the music programme had contributed positively to pupils’ reasons for continuing to learn an instrument, but at secondary school, pupils reported that their instrumental teachers failed to acknowledge their prior learning, musical interests, and current skills level, and this too contributed to them either giving up or losing motivation to practice.
Which aspects of the pupils’ experiences of participating in an intensive music programme mitigate these transition challenges and ensure their continued participation in musicmaking?
While not all pupils expressed an interest in continuing to play violin, the majority were motivated to continue with music, and were interested in learning a new instrument which suggests that involvement in high quality instrumental lessons and music learning during primary school provides a good foundation for longer term engagement with music-making.
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Having already learned an instrument, there is a strong likelihood that pupils will continue with instrumental lessons at secondary school where there is such provision; Proficiency on an instrument enables pupils to better engage with a wider range of musical activities and opportunities, and encouraged them to get involved in different types of music ensembles and groups available to them at secondary school; Pupils (and by association, their parents) are likely to accrue higher levels of social and cultural capital which assisted in their transition to junior music conservatoires and independent, selective schools in particular.
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1. Introduction and context 1.1 The case study: the intensive primary music programme) Recent research into the primary-secondary transition and music education invariably includes a high proportion of children who have had little or no consistent formal music tuition throughout their primary years (Symonds et al., 2011). In contrast, and what makes this case study unique, is that the adolescents involved in this study had all received sustained, high-quality music provision throughout their primary education provided by a London-based charitable organisation1 therefore, collectively, their musical experiences are atypical for their age and educational stage. One of the organisation’s many goals includes helping to develop a life-long appreciation of classical music as the majority of the children who participated in this music programme came from backgrounds with little or no exposure to classical music. While such provision by no means guarantees an enduring interest in classical music, it has been shown that those who have had some experience of formal instrumental training are more likely to have positive attitudes towards a wider range of musics (Lamont, Hargreaves, Marshall & Tarrant, 2003). The organisation provides group musical instrumental provision, principally on violin, to children in inner-city London state primary schools. The programme began in 2008 in two primary schools2 and the research reported here focuses specifically on the first cohort of pupils to complete the programme during the period 2008-2014. The two participating primaries were inner-city community multi-ethnic schools with above average numbers of pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) 3 and those who have English as an additional language. School A has around 350 on the school roll, and was rated outstanding in its 2012 Ofsted report. The largest minority groups are those from Black Caribbean and Black African heritage. In addition to the lessons provided by the music organisation, they also had a specialist classroom music teacher, and a school choir. School B has nearly 250 pupils on the school roll and the largest groups of pupils are from Black African and White British origins. Its 2014 Ofsted report noted that the school required improvement in a number of areas including teaching quality, pupil achievement, and leadership and management. In both schools, a music specialist came in once a week and activities appeared to focus on singing. In School B, provision had appeared to be patchy as pupils recalled certain teachers leaving and not being replaced The music programme delivery in both schools was the same. The cohort under examination began lessons when they first started primary school. In Reception class (the first year of
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Schools make a financial contribution to the organisation for delivering the programme, but parents are not expected to make a financial contribution during the first half of the programme, and a minimal contribution should their child continue with lessons at Key Stage 2. 2
Although they have extended their programme into other schools in the area, this study only focuses on the first two schools to participated in the scheme, and whose pupils were the first to participate. 3
Family socio-economic status (SES) is a potentially key determinant of a child’s educational attainment, with those from less well-off backgrounds, on average, less likely to achieve well in school. In the UK, a family’s eligibility for free school meals (FSM) is seen as a proxy indicator for deprivation albeit with limitations (see Hobbs and Vignoles, 2007; NIA, 2010). Eligibility for FSM is based on a number of factors (DFE https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals).
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schooling, aged 5), they participated in weekly musicianship classes. At Key Stage 1 (up to age 7), they began learning violin, with those showing the most promise continuing lessons into Key Stage 2 (age 7-11). At this point, the most advanced pupils were selected for the specialist programme (in this cohort, n=4). In addition to the core violin programme, extension activities were provided which included individual lessons alongside music theory tuition, and there were additional performance opportunities. All four of pupils selected for the specialist programme were awarded scholarships to study at a junior department of a London conservatoire (a Saturday school for 8-18 year olds) and took up their places at the start of their first year of secondary school in September 2014. In addition to being selected on the basis of ability, other key criteria for selection to this specialist programme included coming from a community under-represented in classical music such as those from a minority ethnic group4, and those from families on low incomes. The rationale for these selection criteria reflects the organisation’s wider concerns and aims to increase diversity in elite institutions and ensembles. This approach reflects to some extent what Perry and Francis (2010:3) would describe as a ‘philanthropic intervention’ when addressing the social class gap by focusing on raising the educational aspirations of individuals and their families. While its remit is broadly inclusive for the first three years of schooling, the selection process thereafter at Key Stage 2 reflects further trends in this philanthropic approach in that it focuses on the most able and the ‘high achievers’ preparing them for entry to prestigious music conservatoires, and music scholarships to independent fee-paying schools. It has therefore been extremely successful in this regard as all four of the pupils selected for the specialist programme are either attending a junior department as outlined above and/or have been awarded a music scholarship to study at an independent school. ` 1.2 Lack of diversity in British classical music The organisation’s aims reflect wider concerns regarding the lack of diversity in British classical music, and their work mirrors that of other charities seeking to redress this imbalance. For example, the Kuumba Youth Orchestra, set up in 20095, also aims to nurture excellence and encourage more young people from minority ethnic backgrounds to take up an orchestral instrument in order to develop the next generation of professional musicians in the field of classical music. Both the organisation involved in the research project and Kuumba share a dual remit which aims to contribute to the diversification of the music workforce but also to encourage long-term engagement and interest in classical music amongst those social groups who are traditionally less likely to do so, with Kuumba specifically targeting young people from African, Caribbean and Asian backgrounds. This lack of engagement in certain types of music activities by minority ethnic people is certainly borne out in recent research, and intersects with issues of social class. Studies have shown that there are low levels of attendance at mainstream arts events by Black and Asian communities (Bunting et al, 2008). More recently, the Warwick Commission (2015:33) found that the ‘wealthiest, better educated and least ethnically diverse 8% of the population 4
I have adopted the term ‘minority ethnic group’ throughout rather than ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’ (BAME) as the latter term has a number of limitations. It can imply that BAME individuals are a homogenous group, and singling out specific ethnic groups can be divisive and exclusionary. Furthermore, it is generally perceived to refer to non-white people, which fails to consider white minority ethnic groups (Equality Challenge Unit). 5
See http://www.kuumbayouthorchestra.com/ for further information about their work.
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forms the most culturally active segment of all’ and that the same 8% accounted for 46% of attendance at live music events. For many families, going to the theatre or an art gallery are a normal part of everyday life but this is often not the case for those from disadvantaged backgrounds and more needs to be done to promote cultural education in schools to address this (DCMS, 2016). It has also been noted that barriers and inequalities persist for young people from working class and minority ethnic backgrounds hoping for a career in the arts and cultural industries. A recent survey (Create, 2015) involving 2,539 respondents working in all areas of the cultural industries found that 76% had at least one parent working in traditional or professional middle class jobs. Eighty eight per cent of respondents said they had worked for free at some point in order to get a foothold in their profession. These findings support concerns that the arts are increasingly dominated by the middle classes, and those who cannot rely on financial support from parents to undertake unpaid work and internships are considerably disadvantaged. Having to pay rent, and pay back student loans often preclude taking on unpaid work and research shows that arts graduates from poorer backgrounds without alternative sources of income are compelled to lower their career aspirations (Ball, Pollard and Stanley, 2010); those from minority ethnic groups may be particularly affected given the intersection between ethnicity and poverty in the UK. Platt’s (2007) extensive literature review provides a helpful overview here noting that rates of child poverty in the UK were highest amongst Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Black Africans; overall, children from minority ethnic groups were poorer than their white counterparts. It is argued that these families are likely to experience an ‘ethnic penalty’ (Heath and McMahon, 1997, cited in Platt, 2007: 62) defined as ‘the disadvantage associated with a particular ethnic group that remains once relevant characteristics have been controlled for’, and which include level of education, income from employment and discrimination. Therefore, it is important to examine the role of wider structural factors when accounting for the lack of diversity in certain sectors of the arts, especially the classical music industry which is dominated by those from white, middle class backgrounds, particularly white males. This is supported by Create’s (2015) recent findings and their assessment that the arts sector is becoming a ‘closed shop’; as their survey compellingly demonstrates, one’s gender, ethnicity and social class affect the likelihood of both entering, and sustaining, a career in the arts, and as noted above, family income and socioeconomic status are key factors here. These disparities are also in evidence regarding the uptake of formal instrumental lessons. Although the number of children playing instruments is increasing, a recent ABRSM report (2014) highlighted the continued social class disparity in the uptake of instrumental lessons. In their survey, 74% of children from higher socioeconomic groups had instrumental lessons compared to only 55% from lower socioeconomic groups. Financial expense was cited as a key barrier and was a disincentive to instrumental learning, with 40% of children from lower socioeconomic groups stating they had no opportunity to learn at school. This was corroborated by those teaching in state schools, with 64% of teachers believing that the main reason for discontinuity of lessons was linked to financial constraints. In 2012/13, it was noted that minority ethnic students constituted 8% of the student population at the five UK music conservatoires and 10% of minority ethnic students studied music at a UK University (Scharff, 2015). Born and Devine (2015) point out in their study, that while their research shows that over 80% of students studying for any type of music degree is white, this figure actually mirrors the ethnic make-up of the population in England 9
and Wales6, therefore it is important to take this into account when interpreting statistical data. More interestingly and adding more nuance to the discussion, based on recent UCAS7 data Born and Devine’s study (2015) revealed significant demographic differences between students studying ‘traditional music’ (TM) and those studying ‘music technology’ (MT) at undergraduate degree level. They found that music technology degrees, with their vocational orientation, were overwhelmingly populated by males (90%), usually white and from lower social class backgrounds, but enrolment on these degrees included a far higher proportion of minority ethnic students who made up 15% of those studying for a MT degree compared to only 6% studying for a TM degree. They found that those admitted to TM degrees attended selective schools at twice the rate of the national average, took music Alevel and scored higher in their A levels. In contrast, MT degrees had lower A-level entry requirements, and attracted a greater proportion of its students from non-selective schools, the majority of whom were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. In light of this research, it is not surprising that minority ethnic musicians in classical music occupations are significantly under-represented in the UK (Arts Council England, 2014) with recent data collected on the ethnic backgrounds of players in 17 British orchestras showing that only 1.7% were from minority ethnic backgrounds (Scharff, 2015). This under-representation also extends to the field of music composition. In 2015 The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) carried out research to examine the demographic of composers receiving awards and commissions from their organisation. They found that in the 2013 British Composer awards, the winners of all 13 categories were male, 12 of whom were white. Of the 299 composers commissioned by BASCA, women and minority ethnic groups were severely under-represented – 94% of commissioned composers were white compared to only 6% from minority ethnic backgrounds, and women made up only a tiny proportion of both nominees and winners during the period 2010 to 2015. The under-representation of certain social groups in the classical music sector is not new and has been well-documented but there this is growing attention paid to issues relating to ethnicity and classical music, and solutions are being sought to address this problem by the larger mainstream organisations as well as charitable organisations. For example, BBC Radio 3 hosted a ‘Diversity and Inclusion in Composition’ conference in the autumn of 2016 in order to develop strategies to enhance inclusion of BAME classical musicians. While this is laudable, other initiatives by the BBC are likely to counter-act this aim. They recently developed ‘Ten Pieces’, an educational initiative for primary and secondary age pupils to introduce them to ‘the world of classical music’ and to help schools deliver the music curriculum. Unfortunately, of the 20 pieces chosen, 17 are by dead white males, and only two female composers are represented, reproducing the traditional white, male, ethnocentric canon of Western classical music. This results in an organisation bemoaning the lack of diversity in classical music while simultaneously reinforcing it. Writing in the Spectator recently the Labour MP David Lammy criticised the lack of diversity within the BBC, particularly at the most senior levels noting that only 13.2% of BBC staff were non-white. He stated that ‘If those decision makers are overwhelmingly white, middle-class men from 6
The 2011 Census carried out in England and Wales showed that White was the majority ethnic group at 48.2 1 million (86%). Within this ethnic group, White British was the largest group at 45.1 million (80.5%) http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/ethnicity/articles/ethnicityandnationalidentit yinenglandandwales/2012-12-11 [accessed 14/5/2016] 7 UCAS is the organisation responsible for processing applications to Higher Education Institutions in the UK.
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metropolitan London or the Home Counties, who hire people in their own image, then content and programming will lack the fresh perspectives and authenticity that will speak to minority communities’ (2016). This is an example of what Scharff (2015) describes as ‘vertical segregation’ where particular groups are under-represented in positions of power and prestige. Examples such as these further highlight the wider structural and institutional challenges facing any attempt to widen diversity in British cultural life. 1.3 Formal instrumental tuition and educational disadvantage The intersection between ethnicity and social class as it relates to equality of access and outcome as outlined above pose significant problems for the classical music sector. This informs the thrust of the charity’s music programme which focuses on providing violin lessons in schools in deprived London boroughs, and takes forward the recommendations made in the 2006 Music Manifesto and the ‘National Plan for Music Education’ (DfE, 2011) which made a commitment to give all children the opportunity to learn a musical instrument for a minimum of a term, but ideally for a whole academic year: Most children will have their first experience of music at school. It is important that music education of high quality is available to as many of them as possible: it must not become the preserve of those children whose families can afford to pay for music tuition. While music touches the lives of all young people, the disadvantaged can benefit most (DfE, 2011: 3). In their report on the state of music education in English primary schools carried out between 2008-2011, Ofsted (2012:7) recommended that ‘different initiatives, including whole class instrumental and vocal programmes, are planned as part of the overall curriculum vision for music in the school’. Schools are now required to provide high quality music education for all their pupils, supported by the 123 new music education hubs introduced in September 2012, work previously undertaken by the local authority. The hubs bring together a range of providers with the aim to improve partnership working, which includes charities, and it is noticeable that the role of the third sector in formal music education has become increasingly important in recent years in helping to achieve these policy aims. The Arts Council recently undertook a mapping exercise to identify the number of music education charities in England, their locations and remit (Kane and Clarke, 2012).8 In 2010/11 they identified 2,413 active music education charities, with a combined annual income of £609million, 24% of whom were based in London, with 28% specifically working with children and young people. Despite the increased role of the third sector in music education provision, it is recognised that within the formal and non-formal music education sector ‘no single organisation [could] hope to provide the full range of tuition and experiences that constitute a sound music education’ (DfE, 2011: 5) and it is increasingly understood that a more collective approach should be adopted to improve provision and quality of teaching. Unfortunately, the government’s ambition that every primary-aged pupil should have access to free whole class or group instrumental tuition for at least a year has fallen short of its
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For the purposes of their report ‘the definition of music education charities that was used as a base was: where one or more core areas of the organisations’ work involves either delivering music education directly to children and young people, lobbying, providing and/or delivering CPD or relevant resources materials’ (Kane and Clarke, 2012: 6).
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targets (Ofsted, 2012). Although it is now a requirement that all children should learn to play an instrument throughout Key Stages 1 and 2, Ofsted (2012:13) found that some of the Wider Opportunities programmes lasted for a term or less, and therefore were of ‘little benefit to pupils’ long-term musical progress or to the overall music curriculum’. Often children have no engagement with formal music tuition after primary school, and access to instrumental tuition continues to remain the preserve of children from more affluent backgrounds (ABRSM, 2014). To help address this, the Department for Education has funded three ‘In Harmony’ projects (social music programmes inspired by the charity, El Sistema England9) in Lambeth, Liverpool and Norwich with the aim of driving forward their policy. The use of social programmes delivered by music charities is seen as central to improving access to high quality music education in areas of economic disadvantage and the government is committed to supporting such organisations in the future (DCMS, 2016) to achieve its long-term goals. Despite the proliferation of classically-oriented social music projects and the provision of instrumental training specifically aimed at under-represented groups, it should be noted that providing classical music instrumental learning opportunities to disadvantaged learners is not new. One well-documented programme was the Tower Hamlets String Teaching Project (Swanwick & Jarvis, 1990) which was initiated by Sheila Nelson and ran from 1975 through to the late 1980s. Similar to the case study organisation, it aimed to provide quality instrumental provision in primary schools, focusing on violin and cello in the East End of London in areas of socioeconomic deprivation with a high proportion ethnic minority pupils. It provided lessons to 1000 string players in 20 schools taught by 35 qualified string teachers. Like the organisation under discussion in this report, it provided high quality performance opportunities at the London South Bank and the Royal Albert Hall. Teachers were drawn from professional orchestras, and also students from the London Music Conservatoires. Large group lessons were supported by smaller, weekly ‘back-up’ lessons, which removed the ‘volunteer’ system in that whole classes were taught as part of the normal school curriculum, and were non-selective. Initially, Nelson adopted the Suzuki method but felt there were significant limitations to this approach which was later supplemented by what was known as the ‘Rolland’ approach to string teaching which incorporated movement training, and aspects of the Kodaly method to ensure the pupils were developing high level musicianship skills. Swanwick and Jarvis noted from their lesson observations that a defining feature of the sessions was its variety including performance, rhythmic training, singing, sol-fa, ensemble playing and technical exercises. The repertoire was lively, rhythmic and often in a popular style and the music often written and arranged by the instrumental teachers. Furthermore, the teachers worked with the generalist class teachers to provide inservice training. It pre-empted contemporary concerns regarding the lack of continuity for pupils pupils transferring to secondary school. For a short period, they financed string lessons in eight secondary transfer schools but it was not successful because it was both difficult to administer and maintain (Swanwick and Jarvis (1990). The project was funded by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) until it was disbanded in 1990. More recently, the National Concert Hall Primary Strings Project (set up in 2007) involved 20 schools in the Republic of Ireland, with an over-arching intention to ensure that all children have equal opportunity of access to high quality instrumental tuition. It aimed to equip class 9
See http://www.sistemaengland.org.uk/in-harmony-lambeth/
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teachers, string teachers, and school management with the skills and knowledge needed to implement a whole school instrumental programme during the school day, providing mentoring and training to support this scheme. However, the participating schools were required to find their own funding for the initiative (as no state funding is provided for instrumental music programmes). They were also responsible for hiring music teachers but this proved challenging as there were no clear guidelines regarding roles and responsibilities, qualifications or pay scales. Over half of the schools had to replace their music teacher within the first year. These problems demonstrate the complexity of setting up and maintaining such initiatives long-term and the multiple challenges involved for both schools and the organisations responsible for supporting and delivery instrumental provision. 1.4 Identity, Motivation and Musical Genre It is important to contextualise the emphasis on classical music adopted by the music organisation under discussion in this study within the wider context of a classroom music curriculum because one of the underlying assumptions, based on previous research, is that the primary-secondary transition, and the first year of secondary education, plays a key role in whether or not pupils maintain motivation and continue with instrumental lessons. There have been concerns about the over-reliance of Western classical music in school music curricular underpinned by a musical ideology in which ‘classical music lays claim to the greatest value, by possessing transcendent qualities such as universality, complexity, originality, or autonomy’, and is superior to popular music which is characterized as ‘ephemeral, trivial, derivative, and commercial’ (Green, 2003: 264). But since the implementation of the National Curriculum for Music from 1992 onwards, the school music curriculum in England has diversified to encompass popular music, ‘world musics’, folk, jazz and other genres in order to broaden the curriculum and appeal to a wider range of learners for whom a diet of classical music has limited appeal. Composing is now more prominent in both primary and secondary music classrooms, accompanied by greater use of music software such as Logic and Cubase to support compositional activities, not confined to classical music genres. The imperative for examining the content of the curriculum and the need to adopt a more inclusive definition of ‘music literacy’ - that goes beyond the ability to read notated music - is a well-documented problem linked to declining motivation and the drop off in interest and participation rates in formal school music in early and late adolescence (ABRSM, 2014). As children get older their continued engagement with school organised music requires greater musical freedom; successful musical provision means engaging with young people’s own interests, passions and motivations, particularly with regard to musical genres. Adolescents become more critical of school music and maintaining motivation and interest relies on a number of factors including the opportunity to perform and share with others, and ensuring lessons are sufficiently challenging (Barrett and Smigiel, 2007). Increasingly, adolescents make distinctions between ‘their’ music and school music but Key Stage 3 (age 11-14) music rarely resembles young people’s own music-making undertaking out of School (Wright, 2008) resulting in a palpable lack of connection between the cultural contexts of school, home and community (De Vries, 2010). Although education may ‘introduce students to
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content and experience that their life circumstances do not provide’, often pupils are required to engage in music that bears no relation to their daily lives (McCarthy, 2009:31). Hargreaves and Marshall (2007) note that pupils are often reluctant to share information about their out-of-school musical activities because they are not convinced that teachers would be interested. Young people’s musical identities and musical preferences shift over time (Button, 2006; Leung and McPherson, 2011), and their musical habitus ‘tends to signify their affiliation to a particular social sub-culture’ (Wright, 2008: 398) therefore it is important to acknowledge a wide range of music styles, cultures and traditions in music education such as pop, jazz, gospel, folk, blues, reggae, hip-hop as well as classical in order to promote long-term engagement with music. To ignore this variety is likely to result in young people viewing music education as irrelevant to their lives (Kelly and Van Weelden, 2004) and leads to their alienation from formal musical education (Wright, 2008). Therefore ‘a uniform approach to classroom music, however well conceived and instituted, rides roughshod over these sensitive relationships and may well serve to distance pupils from their music education’ (Wright, 2008: 398). Consequently, while there is no simple answer to these challenging questions, educators increasingly acknowledge the importance of valuing learners’ own interests and assert that their experiences and social interests should be permitted in the classroom to ‘set aside, or stand against, familiar and “official cultural forms”, thereby recognising and valuing students’ own cultural knowledge whilst building the cultural capital necessary for students to engage confidently with high culture (Jones, with Franks, 1999:50). In addition, as schools have become more ethnically diverse, in both the UK and elsewhere, this shift in focus mirrors wider concerns regarding the need to develop a ‘multicultural curriculum’ which embraces the wider diversity of musical cultures (Hebert, 2010), and which values cultural diversity, difference, respects social justice and equality, and promotes a curriculum in which the cultural practices of all ethnic groups are equally valued (Miralis, 2006). Music education should pay greater attention to the experiences, needs and interests of the pupils themselves in a time of cultural transformation (Campbell, 2002). It is deemed crucial that these perspectives are taken into account as formal school music holds a privileged position in identity formation and even in culturally diverse communities, the choirorchestra-band paradigm continues to dominate and ensembles rarely mirror the sociodemographics of school populations and therefore ‘cannot foster an inclusive sense of cultural identity’ (Mantie and Tucker, 2012: 261). While concerned about how this produces hierarchies of knowledge, Mantie and Tucker (2012) recognise the problem of assuming that ethnic minorities want to play music of their particular heritage; an approach which can result in cultural essentialism. Green (2003) makes a similar point noting that only selecting music according to the nature of the local community demonstrates an ideology of ‘insular multiculturalism’. Music educators often feel obliged to ‘globalise’ the curriculum and while this is viewed positively it can result in little more than ‘musical tourism’. Hebert (2010) asserts that this reduces the multicultural movement to little more than ‘equity pedagogy’ which may be ‘out-of-date’ anyway as young people appear adept at mastering flexible forms of identity construction, accepting ‘plurality as a fact of their contemporary lives’ (Drummond, 2005: 9). These studies emphasise the fact that minorities are not one of a kind; groups and individuals may strongly indentify with different identities regarding colour, national origin, regional heritage, religious identification and these interact with wider social identities relating to gender, ethnicity and social class. 14
Another aspect of this relates to how music is taught and more attention is now paid to pedagogical approaches which take into account young people’s music interests, and the wide range of skills and competencies they bring into the classroom. This includes both those who have had formal instrumental lessons and those who are self-taught, and requires music educators to acknowledge that pupils are now more likely to demonstrate expertise in different music literacies that does not privilege notated music traditions. This broader definition of music literacy highlights the importance of developing a more inclusive educational approach, such as that which underpins the music education programme ‘Musical Futures’ 10 which utilises a pedagogical approach drawing on popular musician’s informal learning practices, and fosters and rewards ‘a range of musical skills and knowledge that have not previously been emphasized in music education’ (Green, 2008: 1). This is in sharp contrast to classical music pedagogies which often replicate conventional music education practices of the past, relying on repetition, teacher-centred pedagogy, with its emphasis on transmission and performance. rather than a wider range of creative practices involving composing, improvising, arranging and listening (Baker, 2016: 24). Musical Futures goes some way to addressing this within its pedagogical approach – although there are some limitations due to its focus on popular music repertoire - pupils are able to develop personal autonomy as the work is not teacher-directed and they engage in group practical work around a piece of music of their own choosing, all of which have been found to result in higher levels of motivation in classroom music. These are important issues when considering how best to balance the intentions of music education programmes which largely focus on Western art music when implemented in school communities characterised by their social and ethnicity diversity. McCarthy (2009: 30) notes that ‘the social and cultural contexts of musical actions are integral to musical meaning and cannot be ignored or minimized in music education’ which raises questions about musical value, musical identity and issues of social justice in music education. This can result in a cultural hegemony that relies on notated music and a particular conceptualisation of ‘musical literacy’ which can ignore the rich cultural diversity of music making beyond the school. Blacking (1987: 147) counsels that: Music education should not be used to emphasise culture, because as soon as that happens there arise arguments about cultural hegemony, as well as false notions of what culture is. It should emphasise human variety and ingenuity. McCarthy (2009) argues that a rounded music education should be one which connects with musicians in the community, and enables pupils to find musical contexts that match their musicianship strengths and interests. This moves the discussion away from focusing on particular music genres and challenges music educators to think about what it means to be musical, and to challenge forms of ‘institutionalised musicality’ (Cavicchi, 2009) which can often contribute to the disconnection between school music and young people’s musical practices. These arguments alert us to the fact that music programmes which focus on introducing minority groups to Western art music are not without their tensions because of the complex
10
See https://www.musicalfutures.org/ 15
identities prevalent in contemporary multicultural Britain due to social mixing, cultural sharing and globalisation (Modood, 2001; 2008). Ethically, philosophically and pedagogically it has been considered an issue of social justice and equality to engage children in a wide range of musics (McCarthy, 2009), and for curricula to be culturally responsive in order to acknowledge and value the multiple perspectives and pluralities within diverse school communities (Hoffman, 2012) and yet children’s diverse cultures are not always adequately reflected in their music education: Understanding curriculum as representative of a set of underlying interests that structures how a particular story is told through the organisation of knowledge, social relations, values and forms of assessment (Giroux, 2005: 197 cited in Hoffman, 2012: 65) Approaching the curriculum as a musical story requires educators to question this story – whose stories are being told, and what characters are represented (Hoffman, 2012). The participating music organisation have made a clear justification for their focus on Western classical music in light of the lack of diversity facing the sector and its delivery of the programme is within a multi-ethnic context, therefore the content of the programme could not be described as multicultural in that the music learned and performed does not draw on the range of cultural traditions from the groups represented within these schools in terms of race, ethnic origin or social class (Lundquist, 1991, cited in Miralis, 2006: 22-22). This is of particular relevance for the pupils participating in this study and will be discussed later when presenting the findings of the study. 1.5 The primary-secondary transition There has been a growing interest in the primary to secondary transfer and the challenges facing year 7 pupils as they make the transition from primary to the first year of secondary school. For clarity, I will adopt Marshall and Hargreaves’ (2007) definitions where ‘transfer’ refers to the practical movement of pupils, and ‘transition’ considers their broader emotional and intellectual experiences. Moving from primary to secondary school is a critical moment in a young person’s educational journey but one that remains fraught with challenges. Galton, Gray and Ruddock (1999) highlighted that while schools’ transfer processes were becoming more effective, involving a range of pre-transfer acclimatisation activities and post-transfer induction events, a number of problems arose during the transition period. These included a noticeable dip in pupil progress and performance, a loss of motivation and enthusiasm for learning as pupils were often reviewing work they had done before because teachers rarely attempted to find out what they have previously learned based on the principle of the ‘fresh start’. This lack of curriculum continuity has been reported in a number of studies, whereby the ‘start from scratch’ approach adopted by schools was most prominent (Mills, 1996; Galton, Gray & Ruddock, 1999; Marshall & Hargreaves, 2008; Symonds et al., 2011). Secondary music teachers worked on the principle of the ‘fresh start’ paying little attention to what pupils had learned before. This is particularly frustrating for those pupils who have previously received prior instrumental tuition and there is a lack of differentiation for these learners (Symonds et al. 2011). Even where secondary and primary schools liaisons are in place, and they participate in joint musical events, primary teachers often reported that
16
curriculum discussions with their secondary counterparts were dominated by ‘top down’ planning and recommendations which did not acknowledge pupils’ prior learning (Marshall and Hargreaves, 2008). This point is reiterated by Fuller and Thomas (2005) who noted that transitions were more successful when Year 7 teachers built on pupils’ prior learning experiences. In addition, they identified five ‘transition bridges’ which supported effective transitions, two of which involved curriculum and pedagogical continuity, as this enabled teachers and pupils to build on their prior learning. The other three were effective administration, developing autonomous management of learning so pupils were active participants in the transition process, and social and personal issues to help students overcome the social hurdles of making friends and coping with the demands of secondary school (such as setting up buddy systems). They found that effective transition practices allowed parents greater involvement in induction events, which enabled them to become more familiar with the secondary school and its processes which are often very different to those found in small primary schools. Mills (1996) early study identified five approaches to secondary music teaching which contributed to an unsatisfactory secondary music education transition. She identified a ‘sheep and goats’ approach which involved auditioning and testing for music ability and then organising pupils into groups based on those results, and which she noted was particularly challenging for boys due to the nature of the repertoire and having to sing solo. Similar to other research noted above, there was an assumption that pupils entered secondary school with very limited musical experiences, and this was exacerbated by the tools used to gather information from pupils, such as getting them to complete a questionnaire, which did not adequately capture either their prior knowledge of musical ability. Marshall and Hargreaves (2007) made a similar observation in their study noting that initial lessons in secondary school were largely information gathering through paper-based formats such as quizzes and tests. Mills (1996) also found teachers’ expectations of pupils’ musical understanding and capabilities were too low. The nature of classroom activities was also found to be limiting – pupils were not challenged, were praised regardless of the outcome, were provided with a limited range of resources, with little access to actual musical instruments - resulting in a lowering of expectations by pupils themselves. Significantly, even though studies have shown that pupils are initially enthusiastic about the opportunities provided at secondary school, having access to a wide range of instruments and music-marking activities, while enjoyable, was not enough – pupils needed to feel that they were making progress, and that the tasks they undertook were sufficiently challenging (Kokotsaki, 2015). When work is challenging, pupils report increased self-confidence when composing in particular which encouraged them to start writing music at home and also had a positive impact on their musical self-perceptions as they took pride in succeeding at more demanding activities (Symonds et al., 2011). In Kokotsaki’s (2015) recent study, the aim was to bring together schools in the North East of England to share ideas about how to improve the primary-secondary transition in music. It identified six secondary schools, three deemed to be doing this well, while the remainder needed to improve. Examples of good practice included regular visits from secondary music teachers to feeder primary schools, allocating a ‘designated transition worker’ to support Year 6 pupils, and providing summer transition events that enabled primary pupils to take part in secondary music activities, approaches which have been noted in earlier transition research (Marshall & Hargreaves, 2008) Schools in which the transition process 17
was less effective cited a number of problems: lack of financial resources; insufficient music staff and lack of support from Senior Management. However, even in the good practice schools, a decline in positive attitudes towards music was noted throughout the year. There also appear to be few opportunities for specialist music teachers (who are likely to be the most familiar with pupils’ progress and aptitude) to offer their professional input into the transfer process as they are often working in a number of different schools. Their workload precluded taking on the additional responsibility of providing individualised transfer records for all but the most talented or musically active pupils (Marshall & Hargreaves, 2008). While there appear to be pockets of good practice, and some effective approaches to transfer and transition, it is noticeable that the same concerns appear repeatedly in the research literature over a considerable time-span. Procedures seem to rely on localised initiatives within schools, or across boroughs, but are not necessarily particularly systematic, and may not necessarily be effective or impact positively on practice.
2. Methods and Methodology 18
2. Methods and Methodology The study was carried out using a qualitative approach, using both focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews. Data collection was carried out in two phases, between June 2014 and July 2015. The study focused solely on those pupils who had participated in the full six year programme from reception to the end of Year 6 across the two participating primary schools. In total, this amounted to 31 pupils, although only 26 chose to take part in the study Phase I comprised focus groups with the twenty six Year 6 pupils in their last term of primary school (June/July 2014) and Phase II involved data collection at different stages of year 7 during their first year at secondary school (until the end of July 2015). The latter phase comprised four components: pupil case studies, follow-up one-to-one interviews with the original focus group pupils and their parents, one-to-one interviews with case study pupils’ parents, and individual interviews with secondary Heads of Music. All focus groups and interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically coded using the qualitative software Atlas-ti.™ The research questions aimed to explore:
What are the barriers and/or challenges experienced by the pupils during their first year of secondary school music? To what extent, if any, do the pupils’ experiences of participation in an intensive music programme mitigate these transition challenges? What factors best support the pupils’ continued participation in music making?
2.1 Methods 2.1.1
Phase I Focus groups with Year 6 pupils (July 2014): focus groups interviews (Appendix A) were carried out with the pupils towards the end of their last term at primary school. There were thirty one pupils in the complete cohort, but only twenty six participated in the interviews (males n = 9; females n = 17) in friendship groups of 3 or 4 (eleven from School A, and 15 from School B). Five pupils either did not turn up for the focus groups or their parents refused permission to participate11.
2.1.2 Phase II
Case studies of 5 Year 7 pupils (January-July 2015): Six pupils (three boys and three girls)12 were selected to participate in the case studies which involved three interviews with each of them (January, March/April and June/July 2015)13 during the second two
11
These five pupils were therefore not included in Phase II of the project. Unfortunately, one of the girls withdrew some months into the project by which time it was too late to recruit an alternative participant. 13 For a number of reasons it was decided not to work with the case study pupils in the first term of school. Having contacted parents about their child’s participation, some expressed concern that they did not want their child to be over-loaded during this period of change and wanted them to be able to settle into secondary 12
19
terms of their first year at secondary school Before the research commenced, each of the participants was visited in their home with their parent or guardian present to discuss the project, outline their involvement and to gain informed consent from the parent and adolescent participant. The three one-to-one interviews with the children were carried out in their homes using the same interview structure (Appendix B) each time. The interviews became more conversational as the pupils became more familiar and comfortable with the researchers; therefore maintaining the overall structure allowed for a level of continuity but was sufficiently flexible to provide the participants with opportunities to introduce new issues or topics that were important to them
Semi-structured interviews with the case study pupils’ parents (June-July 2015): These interviews were carried out with either one or both parents (Appendix C) depending on the pupil’s home situation, and generally lasted around 60-90 minutes. In two cases, both parents were in attendance, in the other three, one parent was interviewed.
Semi-structured follow-up one-to-one interviews non-case study (NCS) pupils and parents (May-July 2015): The aim was to interview as many pupils as possible who had participated in the Phase I focus groups. This was a challenging aspect of the project as contact details had changed and some parents and pupils declined to participate in this phase of the project. In total, eight pupils were interviewed. Discounting the case studies, this meant that 13 of the original cohort were not interviewed. Participating pupils, including the case study pupils (n =13), transferred to 14 different secondary schools which was of particular relevance for the project. Given the diversity in school types it was hoped that this would allow for a more in-depth understanding of the transition process to better understand the factors that affected uptake, motivation and engagement with music in Year 7. Consequently, focus groups were neither desirable nor practical for this part of the data collection. It was not originally the intention to include the NCS parents’ views (other than a number of specific questions outlined in Appendix D) but, given that all of the one-to-one follow up interviews at the end of the Year 7 were carried out in the pupils’ homes and the researchers were not known to the family, it was inevitable that a parent would sit in on the interviews. They would occasionally interject or a conversation between parent and child would spontaneously evolve in response to a particular question, and this became a rich source of data. Once the data had been transcribed, consent was sought from these 8 parents to include this additional data, and all agreed to it being used for the purpose of this study. There are no boys in the NCS interviews. Nine participated in the original focus groups, and 3 were chosen as case studies, but the remaining 6 either did not wish to take part in the follow-up interviews (n=2) or their parents did not respond to our request (n=4). Of the two boys who chose not to participate, one continued to play violin, having secured a place at a specialist music school, while the other boy had stopped having instrumental lessons altogether. While not the focus of the study, the issue of gender did arise on a couple of occasions in the participants’ narratives in relation to motivation. While this had not been an issue at Key Stage 1, when the pupils got to around age 8, there was some evidence of gender stereotyping of instruments as playing the violin was
school without additional distractions. It was decided that we would therefore hold preliminary meetings with parents and pupils at the end of the first term, with a view to starting the project in earnest in term two.
20
seen as a ‘girl’s instrument’ and this resulted in one of the boys being censured by their male peers: As they were changing into the next stage [Key Stage 2], he was like ‘I don’t really want to do it’. He was one of only a small number of boys doing it and all the boys in his class were just making fun of him because it was mostly girls doing it (Father, CS1) Fortunately, this did not prevent CS1 from continuing, but it suggests that the overrepresentation of girls within the cohort may shape how pupils think about the gender stereotyping of musical instruments, and view certain instruments as being more ‘appropriately’ masculine or feminine. None of the girls in the cohort reported having been pressured by their peers to give up. Table 1: Non-Case study pupils Non-Case Study pupil NCS 1
Gender
School Type
Scholarship
Instrument
Female
Yes
Violin
NCS 2
Female
Yes
Violin
NCS 3
Female
Yes
Violin
NCS 4
Female
Yes
NCS 5
Female
Violin, but changing to piano Violin
NCS 6
Female
NCS 7
Female
NCS 8
Female
Co-ed independent Girls independent Girls Comprehensive Girls comprehensive Co-ed comprehensive Girls comprehensive Co-ed comprehensive Co-ed comprehensive
Yes No No No
None – on waiting list None – on waiting list None – through choice
Semi-structured interviews with secondary Heads of Music (June-July 2015): Interviews were requested with the Heads of Music of all of the 14 transfer schools. Given that both parents and pupils had been assured that they would not be identified at any point during the research, the interviews with the Heads of Music were aimed at providing an overview of how their school approached the primarysecondary transfer, and how they managed the Year 7 transition generally, rather than with regard to particular pupils, which would not have been either ethical or practicable. The intention was to then map this on to the pupils’ data regarding perceptions of transition to ensure triangulation of the data. However, gaining access to the schools proved difficult. Fourteen were eligible for participation, but interviews were secured with only six Heads of Music: Comprehensive non-selective girls school, n=3 Independent selective girls school, n= 3 21
Co-educational independent selective school n=1 Co-educational non-selective comprehensive, n=7)14 Six teachers were interviews (Appendix E). Invitations to participate started with a letter to the School Head, an email and follow-up phone call to the school. Three schools declined to take part, and the remaining five did not respond to the invitation to participate. While this offers a somewhat incomplete picture, it was possible to identity a number of important variables including perspectives from three of the school types noted above. Table 2: Secondary Heads of Music Participant
Gender
School Type
HoM 1
Male
Girls, Independent 6th form
HoM 2
HoM 3
HoM 4
HoM 5
HoM 6
2.1.3
Scholarship Criteria Minimum Grade 5
and Ensembles
ABRSM Symphony Orchestra, 3 choirs, wind band Male Co-ed, No Scholarships Rap group, Comprehensive choir, mixed band. No 6th form Female Girls, No ABRSM minimum: Choir Comprehensive informal audition with selection based on No 6th form aptitude and potential Female Co-ed, No ABRSM minimum: 2 Wide range of Comprehensive pieces plus interview. ensembles including jazz, 6th form rock, steel pans, orchestra and choir. Male Co-ed, Not asked to play; Choir Comprehensive scholarship awarded th based on aural 6 form awareness and musical aptitude Male Co-ed, No scholarships Orchestra, wind Comprehensive band, music th technology club, 6 form samba and jazz. Sampling criteria for the case study pupils
Given the requirements of the 1998 Data Protection Act which schools must abide by, the most effective way of gathering information regarding which secondary schools pupils would be transferring to in the following September, their stated intentions whether or not to
14
Between them, the participating pupils attended 19 different secondary schools, but four were not included as the pupils who transferred to these schools did not take part in Phase I of the project and were therefore excluded from the second phase. The fifth school was a specialist music school and it was decided not to approach them. The selection process, the small numbers entering the school each year, the purpose of the school and the extensive range of music activities were markedly different from the other schools and was therefore an outlier given its specialist status.
22
continue with instrumental lessons and if they had been offered a scholarship was via the pupils themselves during the focus group interviews. This information was used to select six pupils for the case studies, and it was important to include as wide a range of variables as possible in terms of gender, school type, instrument, and whether they had been awarded a scholarship or not. In addition, all of the six case study pupils had transferred to different secondary schools. As gaining an understanding of the contextual factors that shaped the case study pupils’ experiences of the Year 7 music transition, this was a key criterion for selection. Table 3: Case Study pupils Case pupil CS1
study Gender Male
CS2
Male
CS3
Male
CS4
Female
CS5
Female
CS615
Female
School type
Scholarship
Instrument
Co-ed Independent Co-ed comprehensive Co-ed comprehensive Girls Independent
Yes
Violin
No
Violin
Yes
Co-ed comprehensive Co-ed comprehensive
Yes
Guitar and Drums No instrumental lessons (choice) – planning to continue violin and take up piano in Year 8 Guitar
No
Piano
No
2.2 Ethical considerations Before the research could commence, the research proposal was submitted to the Principal Investigator’s University Ethics Committee for approval, which was granted. For Phase I of the project, as the researcher was not known to the two schools or pupils, access was facilitated by two members of staff working for the music organisation who provided contact details for the participating pupils’ parents. Consequently, they would have been aware who was eligible to participate in the Phase I focus groups. However, raw data were not shared with the school or the music organisation to ensure participant confidentiality and all findings presented in this report have been anonymised. Parental and pupil consent were sought by the researcher before the focus groups were undertaken. Phase II, carried out in the first year of secondary school, did not involve the primary schools or music organisation in any way and it was made clear to all of the participants that the study was being carried out independently from the them; neither the school nor organisation were given access to the raw data and they were not informed who had taken part in the
15
Withdrew from the project halfway through, and therefore references to her data will not be presented in this report.
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second phase of the project. Participant information and consent forms were provided for all pupils, the case study parents, non-case study parents and the Heads of Music. At the beginning of the pupil interviews and focus groups, the aims of the study were explained to them verbally, and they were given the opportunity to ask questions before deciding if they wished to take part. Every effort was made not to put pressure on the participants and to assure them that there would be no adverse consequences should they decline to participate. As with all participants, they were aware that they could withdraw at any time, and could refuse to answer any questions should they wish to do so. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. When interviewing the Heads of Music, for the reasons outlined above, neither the music programme, the organisation running it, nor the pupil/s at that particular school who had participated in the programme were mentioned. It was hoped that teachers might allude to the organisation spontaneously, but none of the teachers did so. Mention was made of local ‘In Harmony‘ projects and another referred particularly talented pupil’ who had been involved in an ‘El Sistema’ programme. 16 This suggests they were either unaware of the organisation’s work in the borough and/or they had not encountered any year 7 pupils in the 2014-15 cohort who had participated in the programme. The Principal Investigator and the Research Assistant had undergone a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, and certification was available to the two primary schools, parents and guardians.
16
Given the secondary schools’ locations, this is likely to be a reference to ‘In Harmony Lambeth’ which is part of El Sistema England http://www.sistemaengland.org.uk/projects/], a charity whose mission is ‘to transform the lives of children, young people and their communities through the power of music making, as part of the international Sistema movement’. It is inspired by El Sistema Venezuela [https://www.elsistemausa.org/elsistema-in-venezuela.htm], an organisation not without its critics (cf. Baker, 2014)
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3. Outcomes of the research: Phase I Outcomes of the research: Phase I In this section, the findings from the Year 6 focus group are presented. The aim was to elicit their views about their experiences of participating in the music programme, their levels of motivation and their intentions regarding continuing instrumental lessons at secondary school, and their aspirations for secondary school music. This would act as a ‘benchmark’ when following the pupils through their first year of secondary school. Given the aims of the research, and its focus on a particular case study, it was important to find out pupils’ perceptions of the programme to try to understand which aspects best support longer-term engagement with music, those which may act as a de-motivator well before they enter secondary education, and, in light of some of the issues highlighted in previous transition research, those which may help facilitate a smoother transition into secondary school. The data presented here therefore acts as a ‘base-line’ in helping to understand and contextualise some of the issues reported in the findings from Phase II of the project as it relates to the pupils’ actual experiences of their first year of music education at secondary school. 3.1 Pupils’ reflections at the end of Year 6 3.1.1 Continuation and Progression Overall, there was general enthusiasm for the programme, and all of the pupils agreed that it had been a ‘great opportunity’ to learn an instrument which many of them thought would not have been possible otherwise. At the end of Year 6, there was wide variation regarding their intention whether or not to continue having instrumental lessons, but there were no differences between the two schools, with similar numbers of each in the three categories below: Intention to continue with violin: Intention to give up altogether: Intention to give up violin and take up a new instrument:
9 pupils 5 pupils 12 pupils
It appears that, even before they get to secondary school, their enjoyment and levels of motivation with regards to playing the violin were starting to dip, and this reflects the general pattern noted by the ABRSM (2014) whereby the majority of children stop playing an instrument at around 11 years old. With regard to the case study cohort, for a few the novelty of learning the instrument had worn off, and at least four were continuing with the violin because their parents insisted they do so. When asked who was most enthusiastic about them learning the instrument, with two exceptions they all stated ‘Mum’ or ‘Dad’, and this was reflected in the high level of parental supervision many of them experienced during their practice sessions. For some, their continued engagement with the violin was the result of ‘rewards’ from their parents, such as being given ‘extra computer time’ (cited as the most desired ‘reward’ by the male pupils), or extra pocket money. Practicing the violin takes on a transactional hue, this is unlikely to support the development of intrinsic motivation: Girl: My mum says, ‘Go and have another half hour’, and after that I get treats. I’m not saying I only do it for treats, but it’s nice to get something in return when you’ve worked hard (School A).
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While it is acknowledged that practice supervision is generally required for young children in order to develop good habits and learning strategies (Hallam, 1998) research suggests that parental supervision is not associated with high level outcomes or progression (McPherson et al, 2012) and the pupils’ comments appear to support this claim. Over half of the pupils had only continued playing the violin through to the end of Primary due to parental pressure, as parents often wanted them to get ‘just get one more grade’ before they were allowed to give up. As one boy at School B stated, ‘Only once I’ve done my Grade 5, will my mum let me decide if I want to keep going or want to stop’. On average, the pupils practiced their instrument for about 20 minutes two to three times a week, four pupils said they did 10 minutes a day, while four said they did no more than 20 minutes a week. For many, practicing was confined to weekends. Those on the specialist programme reported doing daily practice for about an hour. Pupils reported practicing longer when exams were imminent but several commented that they ‘played for longer’ if they were working on a piece they really liked. Those who planned to give up violin offered a number of reasons which included ‘not liking classical music’, ‘boredom’, ‘had only been doing it because their parents wanted them to’, and ‘wanting to concentrate on doing new things, like sport’, or ‘wanting to play a different instrument’. The disconnection between ‘their’ music and what they were expected to play was also a contributory factor which is perhaps not surprising given that these young people were starting to develop strong views about their own musical interests: Sometimes it’s really, really different to like my sort of music and then I find it quite hard to play it (Girl, School B). I’m getting bored of it and I’m starting to do a lot of rock music with my mates (Girl, School A). It’s not my thing. I don’t like playing it [the violin] that much (Boy, School A). The group of five who planned to give up instrumental lessons completely at secondary school stated that they would all have liked to have given up sooner but parental pressure had prevented them from doing so. Those pupils who intended to continue had demonstrated a high level of proficiency on the violin already, and were highly motivated to continue; they had been awarded scholarships at their respective secondary schools and/or had been awarded a place to attend the junior department of a London Conservatoire that coming September. Only one of the pupils who intended to continue with the violin had not been awarded a scholarship anywhere. In particular, perhaps not surprisingly given the outcomes for the pupils who had been on the specialist programme, they were keen to attribute their on-going engagement to organisation. As one girl noted, ‘without them, it would not be possible for people like us to progress. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here right now, so I’d like to say thank-you if I could’ (Girl, School B). It is noteworthy that this group all stated that their level of enjoyment had actually increased in the last year of primary school as their greater technical facility enabled them to play more complex music, and perform in trios and quartets with others of a similar standard which had been both personally and musically rewarding. This echoes Leung & McPherson’s (2011) observations of musical high achievers in Hong Kong, whereby continued engagement and maintaining levels of motivation were linked to positive self perceptions which included a sense of self-worth and doing well, and having a sense of achievement evidenced by winning prizes and passing exams. Only two pupils explicitly 26
referred to the music itself as the key motivator for continuing, and positioned themselves as ‘different’ to others in their cohort as ‘people like me who really like music’ (Girl, School B) or described themselves as ‘loving music and I love to listen to music all of the time (Boy, School B). They presented themselves as being intrinsically motivated to learn the violin because of their inherent love of music. Encouragingly, those who wanted to give up the violin at the end of Year 6 suggested that participation in the six year music programme had contributed significantly to the greater likelihood that they would continue having instrumental lessons at secondary school but perhaps on a different instrument: If I hadn’t had violin lessons I don’t think I would be really into music. I wouldn’t really be wanting to do it at secondary school if I hadn’t had the experience from this. (Boy, School B) I think if I hadn’t played the violin I wouldn’t have really engaged in that much music. I mean, maybe, well, my parents will have still played music and stuff so I would have listened to lots of music, but I don’t think I’d be as involved in it as I am now (Girl, School B). The majority expressed an interest in playing drums or electric guitar in order to ‘be in a band’. This was the case for both boys and girls. The piano was also a popular choice. There was enthusiasm for trying something new, or formalising their learning on an instrument some were already teaching themselves to play, learning informally with their friends, or learning from tutorials available on YouTube (particularly popular with those teaching themselves how to play guitar). 3.1.2 The importance of the teacher-pupil relationship A theme which appeared across all of the focus groups was the value they placed on the quality of teaching and the positive relationships they had formed with their teachers who they described as ‘enthusiastic’, ‘encouraging’ and ‘hard-working’. When asked about ‘what they had enjoyed most about their lessons’, one of the ‘best things’ they identified was their teacher. They felt they had been taught well, and had always been encouraged to do their best, even when they found things difficult: There’s something about him that just makes us keep going (Girl, School B) It appears that they have had the same teacher for a long period of time, and the pupils appreciated the stability and continuity this provided, and this gave them the confidence to continue and to not give up when they found things challenging. 3.1.3 The social aspect Although not a theme evident across all focus groups, some mentioned the social aspects of music-making with other people and the formation of friendships which was positively commented on by pupils in both schools: Because, for me, music is sort of a passage between me and everyone else. What I mean is like music is a way for me to connect with everyone else (Girl, School A) Well, I’ve gained loads of friends through music (Boy, School A) 27
Several of the pupils mentioned that in the last year of primary school, they occasionally met up at weekends to play the violin together, and this had helped keep them focused and assisted in the preparation for their ABRSM exam, and a number of strong friendships had formed over the years. 3.1.4 Performing and concert attendance Pupils all mentioned how much they had enjoyed the performance opportunities provided over the years, and all had mentioned their most recent performance where they received their gold medals. This was a source of pride and was seen as an important achievement. However, not all performance opportunities had been experienced positively as some of the children said they had occasionally played at concerts where they largely sat and watched while one of the ‘really good kids got to play a solo’, which they said was ‘boring’ and ‘didn’t make me feel good’. Children’s beliefs about their musical competence decrease as they get older so this type of ‘showcase culture’ may act as a barrier to progression even before they get to secondary school, because they start to doubt their own musical competence and what it means to be ‘a good musician’, and whose contributions are valued (Zeserson, 2014). Certainly, this was borne out amongst the small group of pupils selected for the Specialist Programme who talked about ‘feeling special’, and having a different status to other pupils in the school. For example, they enjoyed the praise they received from their class teacher and other pupils when they played their violins during ‘Golden Time’ (an end of week reward time utilised in some Primary schools to incentivise good behavior, and where children can take part in clubs and activities of their choosing): We can amaze people with how talented we are (Girl, School A) This was also linked to an imagined future which involved being a ‘famous solo violinist’, ‘travelling the world’ and ‘becoming a famous music person’, although the idea of musicmaking per se did not feature in their narratives. This is perhaps not surprising given that the content of the programme focuses on the development of musicianship based on the model of the professional musician (Wright, 2009) and may also reflect the Specialist pupils’ exposure to musicians working at this expert level. There was little interest in ‘classical music’ per se as the only time many of them listened to it was if it was a piece they were learning for a concert or for their ABRSM exam but, other than that, none state that they sought out similar music to listen to. However, there was a significant appetite for live music and those who were given the opportunity to attend a classical concert had enjoyed it, but it appeared that this only applied to a handful of pupils as not all could recall going to a concert where they were not also playing: IV: Have they taken you to any performances? G1: Usually we play in performances. We don’t watch stuff G2: We don’t watch anybody (School A) The majority of pupils wanted the opportunity to go to more professional concerts as they appeared to have had little exposure to listening to live classical music and this was an aspect of their music programme they would liked to have been done differently. 3.1.5 The lessons
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While the social aspect of playing an instrument was important to the participants, there was some dissatisfaction with group teaching and a large number of the pupils in both schools complained that there was too much repetition which they described as ‘boring’. In addition they did not like having to wait while other people’s mistakes were corrected which ‘slowed you down’ and it was ‘annoying because it’s wasting lesson time’. From their accounts there seemed to be significant variation with regard to group numbers with some stating they had worked in groups of three while others said they had worked in groups of eight, and in larger group sizes the pupils did not always feel they were making progress: G1: Sometimes, when other people make a mistake, they think it’s the person who hasn’t made a mistake. That’s why, if there’s seven of us, we should play individually, one by one. G2: Sometimes when somebody makes a mistake over and over again it stops your lesson. B1: Yeah. You get it right and they’re slowing you down. (School A) There were concerns expressed about the frequency and timing of violin lessons and exams as some participants were worried that they had missed out on important things happening in class. This seemed particularly associated with the timing of ABRSM exams which had apparently clashed with their Key Stage 2 SATs (scheduled in May of the academic year). These competing demands were described by several students as ‘really stressful’, ‘rubbish timing’ and ‘too demanding’, and reflect the very real pressures children experience in having to do well in national curriculum tests to meet school targets set by central government. There was also an appetite for learning more about the composers they were studying, to better understand their historical location, and to ‘know a bit more about the music’ in general. As one girl (School B) observed, ‘All we know is their name. We should learn more about the composers and what things like “Baroque Era” mean. They just say it but it doesn’t mean anything’. It appears that the focus on performance alone is not an entirely satisfactory learning experience, and it is evident that the participants were keen to learn more about the composers they performed. 3.1.6 Widening the curriculum In relation to those pupils who had considered giving up playing or learning a different instrument, a key factor related to the types of music they learned and the lack of musical variety in their lessons. Even participants who intended to continue with the violin were also vocal in their criticism that the ‘range of styles’ could be better to ‘make learning the violin more fun’. When asked what sorts of music they were learning, they responded ‘Classical’. When asked to describe what they meant by classical music, between all 26 participants, they named four composers (Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart) and reverted to describing this music using terms such as ‘slow’, ‘sad’, ‘old’, relaxing’, ‘not very energetic’ ‘it’s about playing scales’, ‘graceful, like a wavy line’, ‘1800s’, ‘goes on for a long time’, ‘calming’, ‘emotional’ and ‘smooth’. Without exception, pupils from both schools felt there was a lack of variety in the teacher’s repertoire choices and they wanted to play more ‘energetic stuff’, ‘up tempo’, ‘jazzy’, ‘not just do exam pieces’, ‘funky music’. There was widespread enthusiasm for what they described as the jazz pieces they had worked on. The music they had most enjoyed learning was described as ‘upbeat’, ‘lively’, and ‘had swingy moves’. It also provided 29
opportunities to improvise in their lessons and this was one of the key reasons why a significant number of the pupils said that while they quite liked playing classical music, they ‘liked jazz more’: Girl: When it’s classical we just have to go straight into it, you just have to know how to play it. When the teacher came in, we had up make up our own rhythm to the song. Classical is nice but jazz gives you a feeling you want to dance. Girl: In a way it helps because if you’ve played different types of music you can learn from that and take some of it, and put it into another type of music. Boy: It’s like you play something and nobody else has heard it before. It’s unique. The teacher usually just goes round and tells you what to do but I want to be independent. It’s good to be independent sometimes. (School A). One of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences cited by pupils was participating in a jazz session with ‘a man who did a thing with his bow, like it was a saw’. Playing ‘funky music’ is seen as ‘cool’, and jazz is ‘more personal’, it allows pupils ‘to make up our own stuff and you can dance to it’. They described this experience as one of the most exciting and memorable things they had done during their time at primary school, and they all wished they could have had more opportunities like that. Again, the opportunity to improvise and compose was cited as one of their most enjoyable musical experiences, but it appeared that there were limited opportunities to do this in their violin lessons: Girl 1: Girl 2: IV: Girl 1: IV: Girl 1: Girl 3:
This man called [X] was really fun, because I think he does double bass I think he has an electric violin. That’s cool. I want one of those. Did you prefer doing the jazz sessions? Yes, because it was different, and because we got to make our own solos. Do you get much opportunity to do that, to make up your own music? Not really. No. It’s something I really want to do more of when I’m at secondary school (School B)
Girl 1:
Sometimes we make up our own music with the jazz people that come to our School. Was that one of your favourite bits? Yes! Is that something you’d like to do more of? Yes! Why is that? It gets to grow your imagination Because you can express your feelings in a piece and just let everything go. (School A)
IV: All: IV: All: IV: Girl 2: Girl 3:
Not only did they like improvising and composing because it provided opportunities for personal creativity and the development of a wide range of musical skills, but they expressed high levels of enjoyment and personal satisfaction in playing their own pieces. There was a strong sense of ownership and pride in their work, and a number revealed that they were ‘writing their own stuff at home’: Girl: I think once you’ve composed a piece, it’s yours. It’s your idea. No-one can take it away from you (School B) 30
Girl: I call myself a song-writer. I do it out of school. I don’t want anyone to know though. I just keep it to myself (School A). Furthermore, as the pupils were at different levels of instrumental proficiency, ‘ability’ is not just linked to demonstrating technical proficiency and it provided the pupils with opportunities to show their skills and talents in other ways: Boy: We all did it [wrote our own piece] and some of them were really complicated and it was fun to do because you could see everyone’s style of playing and see how everyone used the notes in different ways. (School A) When recalling these experiences, the participants became very animated and it was the only time they talked about the music itself as enjoyable or meaningful to them. Having the opportunity to engage in expressive trial and error through improvisation and free activity are ‘more likely to generate the kind of pleasurable emotional ambience for new learning of emotion structure links, than are achievement-oriented forms of technical or repertoire practise’ (Sloboda and Davidson, 1996: 186, cited in McPherson et al, 2012: 2010). 3.1.7 Valuing a range of musical styles, cultures and practices As noted above, although a key part of the organisation’s remit is to foster long-term engagement with classical music, for a significant number of the particpants, their exposure to this repertoire had not encouraged them to listen to more of it, they only listened to it when it linked directly with the pieces they were studying for the exams, and it bore little relation to the sorts of music-making and listening activities they engaged with at home with families and friends. At School A, virtually all of the pupils spontaneously mentioned their singing lessons and choir performances with a music teacher who came in once a week, and they were very positive about these because the teacher did ‘different’ music to that which they learned in their violin lessons, such as jazz standards, show tunes, and pop music. It also appeared that he took into account their different cultural backgrounds, and gave them a degree of autonomy and ownership over the repertoire: G1: Whatever choice we want, we tell him and he will do that. He helps us sing more, and he’s bringing different language songs. G2: Yeah, what’s that song called? G1: C’est la Vie G2: They’re doing it like in Arabic, in my language and in his language, French. You can transfer it and translate it to our own country. While engagement with classical music in some homes (such as going to the Proms, or listening to Radio 3) was mentioned, in the main there was little engagement with it in most of the pupils’ homes but this should not be taken to mean that their musical lives were impoverished or lacking. In fact, when asked about their music activities at home, it was evident that many of the pupils had rich cultural lives, which in part revolved around the musical heritage of their parents, in a couple of cases was linked to their parents’ jobs (such as film editing) or interests (painting and the arts in general) or the interests of their older siblings (such as going to see musicals in the West End), and for many it was evident that music was an important part of family life. They also listened to a lot of music that reflected the musical tastes of their parents (e.g The Beatles, Prince, Tracey Chapman, David Bowie) and one pupils reported having a ‘music night’ once a week where he, his sister and parents 31
listened to music as a family (mainly pop and some film music) or performed pieces either individually or together, often playing or singing along to the music: Girl: We have a big, big mix in our house. So sometimes it’s something pumpy, pop, maybe. Sometimes it’s classical. Sometimes it might be people singing. Well, it really depends. It’s really different. Reggae, everything. (School B). A significant number of the pupil participants had parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who played or had played a musical instrument either now or in the past. While some had given up as teenagers, others had continued to play and had played in University orchestras, or in local amateur ensembles, or still just played ‘for fun’. Several of the pupils mentioned having different instruments around the house, including a Mbira, bass guitar, piano accordion, ukulele, drum-kit and keyboard. Around half of the pupils stated that their musical listening involved ‘songs in our language because I’m not from this country’ and they were exposed to a lot of music from their parents’ cultural heritage: My dad really loves Ivorian Music. My dad likes to sing. He sings Chinese songs. Because my mum, she’s Mexican, and she listens to loads of Mexican music. I’m from Ghana so we have different music there. My grandma died and we went to the funeral and there were lots of people there singing and playing different instruments. I recently sang some songs in Ethiopian (that’s where I’m from) for a fund-raising thing, an Ethiopian charity. It is important to acknowledge these wider musical and cultural experiences as they play an important role in the formation of these young people’s musical identities. This will ensure the diversity of the children, their families and their experiences (Derbyshire, 2015) are acknowledged. Furthermore, the recognition of this diversity is likely to support musical and educational inclusion, and will reduce any tendency to assume that these young people have had little exposure to positive musical experiences outside of the classroom. 3.2 Pupils’ expectations of secondary school music education There was tremendous enthusiasm for secondary school music, and pupils anticipated that it would be ‘exciting’ with ‘lots of new things to do’. They appeared to have been impressed with the facilities they had seen on their open day visits and expectations were high. When asked what they were most looking forward to at Secondary School the responses fell into three main categories and were equally represented in the pupils’ responses: learning a new instrument; having a wider range of performance opportunities; and being able to compose, and learning to use music composition software. Learning a new instrument As noted above, 12 of the pupils were planning to give up violin lessons and learn either drums, guitar or piano. None expressed an interest in learning to play a brass or woodwind 32
instrument. One boy mentioned that he had wanted to learn the clarinet at primary school rather than the violin, but thought it was now ‘too late’ to start learning it as it looked like a ‘difficult instrument to play because of that thing you have to do with your mouth’. One girl had said she had considered continuing with the violin and learning the guitar at the same time but she had been told there were ‘lesson clashes’ so she would not be able to do both and would have to choose. She chose the guitar, and was awarded a scholarship to cover the cost of her instrumental lessons. This was not the case in all schools as one of the boys who had been given a music scholarship was able to have both individual guitar and drum lessons at his school. Wider range of opportunities All of the pupil participants had attended secondary open days, and the range of ensembles was commented on positively, particularly where there were ‘different sorts of groups, not just classical’ available. This might include a steel pan band, jazz orchestra, samba group, Garage Band workshops, or Djembe ensemble. Those planning to continue playing the violin were looking forward to taking part in the orchestra and playing quartets. At one of the independent schools where two participants had been awarded music scholarships, the extra-curricular provision was exceptional boasting four orchestras and around 30 string, wind and brass chamber groups, and there was a marked contrast in the types of provision this school offered in comparison to state schools that the majority of the pupils were transferring to. There was also a perception that music at secondary school would involve pupils who ‘genuinely wanted to play’, as they said they sometimes got ‘fed up’ as not everyone took their violin lessons seriously at primary school: Girl: I’m looking forward to playing in an environment where everyone loves music. It will be really good because there’ll be people like me that really like music. (School B) The opportunity to participate in performances abroad appeared to be a real incentive to continue playing an instrument. The responses came from those transferring to both feepaying and comprehensive schools: Boy: My school is very good musically. countries (School B)
They have music trips to like different
Boy: My school has a choir which goes to festivals every year. (School B) Boy: In my school, if I do well, we might be going to Germany at Christmas to do a concert (School B) While it was evident that their violin teachers had played an important role in their musical development, several pupils mentioned that they liked the idea of having ‘different music teachers’, and ‘new ways of doing things’. For those who planned to continue having instrumental lessons, without exception, they all mentioned that they were looking forward to having one-to-one lessons (or a higher level of individual tuition in the case of the specialist programme pupils), with none being aware that, in some of the transfer secondary schools, Year 7s were taught in small groups for the first year. Composition and improvisation
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Composing was mentioned repeatedly in their focus groups as the most keenly anticipated aspect of their secondary music experience. From their comments, it appears that secondary schools placed significant emphasis on this aspect of the curriculum at open days, and this was often in the context of music technology. Some appeared to have state of the art dedicated music suites containing Apple Macs with ‘stuff on it so that we can compose any kind of music we want’, ‘advanced computers that can do special effects, including music’, and ‘we can do computer animation with music in it and film music’. This is not surprising given their animated responses reported above in relation to a jazz workshop they had participated in. 3.3 Conclusion Generally, the twenty six participant pupils’ involvement in the music programme was a very positive one and it was acknowledged as having kindled a greater interest in music and, for a small number, a real passion for the violin. There was wide variation across the cohort in terms of motivation (how much time was dedicated to practicing the violin, and their intention to continue with violin lessons, or a different instrument). This appeared to be linked to a number of factors including repertoire, and the perceived irrelevance of certain types of music to their own musical interests, and how this linked to their wider cultural experiences. It is perhaps a little disappointing that the programme, with a handful of exceptions, has had limited impact in encouraging the pupils to engage with classical music more widely, other than in relation to their lesson repertoire. Their aspirations for secondary music further reflect this as they were looking forward to taking part in ensembles which performed a wider range of styles and genres and were not focused on classical music. Their enthusiasm for composition lessons was palpable, and they were looking forward to being able to learn about, and work with music technology, in order to write their own music.
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Outcomes of the research: Phase II 4. Phase II: The secondary school experience The findings presented here reflect quite a mixed picture of the transition year regarding pupil participants’ continued engagement with music and the quality of that engagement in their first year of secondary education. For some, the cultural and social capital accrued from their experience participating in the music programme at primary school resulted in an almost seamless, untroubled transition and there was a palpable link between school type here as this was only in evidence for those attending selective, independent schools. This is not to say that there were not any challenges, but in comparison to their non-selective comprehensive school peers, these were far less significant and did not impact negatively on their transition. The findings suggest that the greatest challenges were faced by those attending comprehensive schools where wider school issues such as funding, behaviour management, the status of music as a curriculum subject and the problem of waiting lists for instrumental lessons had a palpable and sometimes negative effect on their transition year. When trying to negotiate the unfamiliar practices and processes of their child’s new school, parents experienced a number of difficulties including poor communication, lack of information about the availability and application procedures for music scholarships, and the inability to build any kind of relationship with their child’s instrumental teacher. With regard to the pupils’ perspectives about transition, there were both positive and negative experiences. However, there is limited evidence to suggest that their primary music experience better prepares them for challenging the negative issues they encountered, which were mainly linked to curriculum and pedagogy, and wider school structures. This section will offer an overview of the approaches to transfer and transition taken by the six schools whose Heads of Music agreed to be interviewed, and opens out to include the experiences of pupils and their parents. The findings suggest that there is no uniformity in approach and practices are localised and contextualised in relation to the schools’ values, demographic and institutional culture, and are also contingent on resources and funding. 4.1 Secondary school approaches transfer and transition As noted earlier, six Heads of Music were interviewed and they encompassed both selective and non-selective schools, single-sex and co-educational. In each of the schools, the average Year 7 intake was between 130 to 150 pupils (usually 4 or 5 form entry), although HOM6’s school took 210 a year. A range of different approaches to ‘transfer’ had either been used in the past or were currently in use. The selective independent school firstly works with its own preparatory school but has a dedicated ‘Outreach’ programme which creates links with the local community. HoM 1 runs a singing festival annually and works with six local primary schools, and pupils regularly give performances (around 10 trips a year) in local schools. This is in part aimed at publicising the school and encouraging pupils from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to apply for the assisted places scheme provided by the school. The head asserted they had a robust system for capturing information about prior instrumental lessons and experiences as part of induction stating that ‘there were absolutely no challenges with transition. It’s like we’re looking into a gold mine, and it’s “come here and off we go”. However, the HoM’s conceptualisation of ‘transition’ appears somewhat narrow being mainly focused on the ‘settling in period’. This appears to be supported by the experience of NCS2 who attended this school. While she and her mother confirmed that they 35
had not experienced any practical issues NCS2 had found the first year quite challenging, even though there was much that she had enjoyed. As a scholarship pupil, she was expected to participate in a wide range of musical activities, and given the quality of provision at the school, this was of a very high standard. The main issue she had experienced was balancing the workload as she also attended the Junior RCM on Saturdays but wanted to take advantage of the sporting activities provided. She was currently taking additional swimming lessons and doing Karate, and while it was ‘nothing to worry about, my biggest fear is that I’m not going to be able to do everything really, really well and I’ll have to give something up’ (NCS2). This pressure to do ‘everything really, really well’ was also challenging for NCS1 who was an exhibitioner at a different independent school. The transfer had gone smoothly, but her first year had been difficult at times as she adjusted to the workload expected in this high-achieving school: NCS2: I have lots of homework and that can sometimes feel very rushed. It’s difficult to find time to do it with orchestra and stuff after school. I just have lots to do over the weekend, although I think I’m managing it better as the year’s gone on. Father: There are lots of different things you can do but they are so serious about everything. She’s got involved in water-polo which is an amazing opportunity but they want her to train five times a week. It’s a bit intense. But we’re going to have a chat with her teacher because she is saying that [NCS2] can do another orchestra, do another quartet, learn the piano. It’s too much. The issue of new demands and balancing competing interests arose in the second interview with CS1. Because he was committed to attending music lessons on Saturdays he was very upset about not being able to try out for the school football team because matches were on Saturdays. He felt he was missing out and ‘felt torn’ even though he was very committed to music. His parents, while extremely supportive and keen for him to continue playing violin, thought this might be a source of conflict as he got older. Parents of pupils attending the Junior department of a Music Conservatoire expressed concerns that their child was doing less practice than they had been when at primary school because of the length of the school day. Now they were at secondary school (three out of the four were attending selective, independent schools), they usually left home around 7:30am and got back between 5pm-6pm compared to a 9am-3:30pm primary school day. Often, research into the primary-secondary music education transfer focuses on what schools lack, but in these independent schools there is an abundance of resources and opportunities, and the challenges pupils face are not so obvious but are nonetheless significant to the individual. Not only are they expected to be high academic achievers y, but they are required to fulfill the requirements of their music scholarships (the only way pupils from these socioeconomic backgrounds could afford to attend such schools) which includes participation in numerous ensembles and performances.
However, it is important to acknowledge that the types of challenges experienced by those pupils (the majority in this study) in the mainly non-selective schools were far more likely to produce a far more negative outcome in terms of motivation and progression. The majority was not on scholarships and their schools were unaware of their prior musical education, and they were expected to take ‘pot luck’ regarding whether or not they were able to secure instrumental lessons at secondary school. Although there were some examples of good practice in trying to capture this information, the Heads of Music interviewed were aware that current practice was not always successful and they were alive to the fact that there were numerous transition issues, not all of which they were able to address.
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The Head (HOM 3) in the girls comprehensive worked closely with one of its feeder schools, largely because of its physical proximity, which resulted in a strong partnership with the primary school and involved primary pupils attending concerts at the school. However, she recognised its limitations as they were unable to upscale this to include other feeder schools. The secondary school schedules an induction day in July when incoming pupils can meet with their form tutor and other new pupils, and they also provide a two week summer school for them. This allows them to familiarise themselves with the school, and they are provided with a range of activities, including learning how to use Garage Band, Singing, moviemaking, and day trips. The Head recognised it was very costly but thought the benefits outweighed the financial commitment required. HoM 4 and 5, both co-educational comprehensives, had adopted similar approaches having trialled ‘music passports’ – the idea being that music teachers in the feeder primary school would provide a short report about each of the pupils leaving the school - but this had only been employed in one or two feeder schools and so had not been successful. As both teachers noted, one of the key problems was the sheer number of feeder schools for their respective secondary schools, and they recognised that teachers’ workload is too high therefore ‘you can’t expect primary teachers, on top of all the other reporting they have to do, to do that as well’ (HoM, 4). The HoM 6 stated that his comprehensive school does not receive any information about the pupils’ musical backgrounds in any format. It had been part of a tri-borough network which had considered the use of ‘music passports’ but this had not worked. He stated that they had received emails from feeder schools and organisations such as ‘In Harmony Lambeth’ about particular pupils, but ‘often they weren’t the children that actually came to the school’ so the information was of no use. The school had briefly trialled going into local primary schools and liaising with the Head about the pupils but information had been patchy and was often inaccurate regarding the school destination of the pupils. Furthermore, it was very time-consuming and difficult to administer. Currently, School 6 was relying on the induction interviews with parents and pupils but this was also unsatisfactory as it is only the ‘forthcoming ones, you know, the parents who know what to say’ who are able to provide comprehensive information. However, the HoM noted that parents were not always honest about their child’s ability often claiming, ‘they are amazing, and then they come and they’ve done, like, hardly anything’. The HoM was concerned that ‘we don’t seem to be able to ask the right questions, or maybe the parents aren’t aware of what their kids have been doing in school’. They were very aware of the problems but had been unable to come up with a workable solution. In light of the experience of one of the pupil participants, it is apparent that the teachers’ concerns about the importance of effective data-gathering are not unfounded as there were serious consequences for one of the pupils when the transfer process in her school had not worked. One of the key challenges for schools, as noted above, is finding out about pupils’ prior musical experiences, and often they rely on doing a ‘check’ during the first classroom music lesson, or hand out questionnaires whereby pupils are told to ‘tick a box’ if there is an instrument they would like to play. Prior experience does not appear to be taken into account, and this rather ad hoc approach resulted in the pupil not being able to continue with her violin lessons despite wishing to do so: NCS7: At the start of Year 7 they gave us a bit of paper and it says what we want to play and I ticked violin and steel pans. It was taking a bit long and we hadn’t heard anything so we [she and a friend] went back to the teacher and asked her why we can’t play violin and she said there were no more places. This had been very upsetting as violin had been an important part of her life for so long - ‘I used to always go to my room and play my violin, and it’s kind of a weird thing but I look under my bed to see if my violin is there but it isn’t as I had to give it back to the school’. In 37
fact, this wasn’t the case, and appears to be a case of miscommunication as the organisation informed the researcher that she could have kept it). Her mother was very angry because they had decided to apply to that particular school because of the way it ‘sold itself’. She recalled that at the Open Day, ‘there were loads of kids actually playing the steel pans and singing for us’ so she assumed that ‘it must be a really musical school’ so continuing with instrumental lessons would be straightforward. However, it is interesting to note that, when questioned, this parent had not asked directly about instrumental lessons because she said she had provided this information on the application form: I did say she would be a big asset to the music department, but I never got any feedback or anyone asking what you mean (Parent, NCS7) She had assumed that this information would be logged in some way but this did not appear to be the case, and it suggests that the school’s data collection processes are not working well. The lack of financial resources meant that this parent was unable to ‘plug the gap’ with private lessons during this enforced break as the costs were prohibitive. In Greater London, private teaching rates average around £34 per hour (ISM, 2015) and were beyond her means. This highlights a serious challenge for those pupils who are not on music scholarships and therefore do not have the benefit of an unbroken trajectory in their instrumental learning. While it is not uncommon for year 7 pupils to be put on a waiting list as other transition studies have shown, the difference here is that these pupils had already developed a good level of proficiency, had passed ABRSM exams and were at a particular stage in their development, still motivated to play and keen to improve. Any long-term interruption is likely to impact negatively on their motivation, and impede their progress. While five of the Heads of Music expressed concerns about their current transfer practices and were actively seeking ways to improve, there was a very prominent outlier amongst the participating school. This was another co-educational comprehensive where the response to the question about challenges about transition elicited a negative response, in which the HoM asserted that the issues highlighted above were not in evidence at his school and no dedicated systems were in place to support their music education transition: I always think it’s an odd question with transition, because we never, I mean, not many teachers actively think about it. I don’t sit there and go ‘How am I going to, I know, boost their confidence or settle them into a secondary school environment’. I just treat them as if they are going to cope. Is that what you are finding on the whole?’ (HoM 2) In fact, in contrast to the responses from the other HoMs, this teacher’s response was atypical when compared to the other schools who were more proactive in this regard. During the course of the conversation, it became apparent that music in this school was not particularly valued, and occupied a rather ‘cinderella-like’ status in the school curriculum with only one lesson per fortnight for KS3. Consequently, uptake of instrumental lessons and extra-curricular activities was generally low even though a decision had been made to use the budget earmarked for a second classroom teacher to pay for instrumental lessons instead so parents did not have to make any sort of financial contribution. The School, recently under new leadership as it had been put into special measures, was focusing its attention on classroom management and improving behavior. In fact, the father of NCS2 was very put off at Open Day when he had visited the school by what he perceived to be ‘a very disciplinarian ethos’. He recounted being very alarmed by the fact that there was a ‘policeman or security guy’ on the school site every day; this is one of the reasons he did not wish his to daughter to attend that school.
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The HoM said that the Principal was taking a hard-line approach towards tackling behavioural problems, and large numbers of pupils found themselves in detention every afternoon which meant that ‘after-school rehearsals and music clubs have been unsuccessful’ (HOM 2). Before the appointment of the new Head, only 20% of School 2’s pupils achieved GCSE A*-C but this had risen to over 50% and its recent Ofsted report declared it ‘outstanding’. The HoM said, ‘The pressure to maintain that is very constant. It’s like we’re on high alert all the time’. The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was introduced by the Coalition government in 2010. It is not a qualification but a school performance measure which aims to increase uptake and raise attainment in what has been deemed the core curriculum: English, Maths, the sciences, a language, and History and Geography. Music and other arts subjects are not part of this ‘core’ curriculum. By 2020 the government expects 90% of pupils in state-funded schools (independent schools are not required to adopt this directive) to be following this curriculum and gaining grades A*-C. Given the pressures teachers find themselves under in this particular school, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the lack of attention paid to the music education transitions reflects its inconsequential status in being able to contribute to the EBacc figures by which schools are now judged. Its lack of importance is further highlighted in the parents’ attitudes to arts subjects: From an academic point of view, the parents are very much conditioned into thinking that a ‘straight subject’ [non-arts subjects] is the efficient way to get a result. The moment you start mentioning anything remotely ‘fluffy’, it’s met with a kind of “I want them to do the most hard thing”’ (HOM 2) Given that ‘success’ was so narrowly measured in this school, and with arts subjects marginalised and given relatively little space in the current curriculum, it is perhaps not surprising that this HoM has paid so little attention to the Year 7 transition specifically related to his subject. 4.1.1 Music scholarships The findings show that the issue of applying for music scholarships was fraught for those pupils who were attending non-selective secondary school and parents reported that it had been one of the most challenging aspects of the transition. Parents struggled to find relevant information, did not feel they had been supported by either their primary school or music organisation, while some had little or no understanding of what a scholarship actually was, and so would not have thought to ask for information or help. Sadly, in some cases this resulted in pupils not continuing with lessons even though they wished to do so, as parents were unable to make the financial contribution required. Secondary schools offering scholarships generally made this information available in numerous formats such as induction interviews, the school website, a paper booklet with a sign-up sheet, and information provided at Open Days. However, there was wide variation regarding how well parents were informed as to which schools offered music scholarships and the scholarship process itself, as well as their expectations and experiences of the music organisation’s role in this process. While the parents had been extremely supportive of the music programme in their child’s primary school (and, without exception, had all indicated that their child had benefitted in numerous ways from participating in the programme), this was the one area where parents expressed dissatisfaction with the support they had received from the organisation, and this was linked to their perception that only the ‘talented, elite’ were given advice and support:
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With teachers there’s definitely a different approach with the children who are naturally musical to the ones who aren’t so naturally musical despite however hard they were trying. (Parent, CS4) I don’t know anybody, and not everyone got told about which schools did scholarships. I found out that one pupil got a scholarship. I would prefer that my son go to that school. I would have liked to have found out about how you get this information. (Parent, CS2) In contrast, those on the specialist programme recalled receiving specific advice about which schools offered scholarships, and what audition pieces to play, aided by offers of financial support: IV: Do you remember how you found about the Conservatoire scholarship? NCS3: It was my old violin teacher from primary school who was talking about me doing auditions for a music school. (NCS3) Because they had done the specialist music programme, the organisation offered that they fund entry exams to any musical conservatories of our choice, they said I think up four or five, which works out to everyone in London really. So that’s what they said, so they said, if we are willing to apply, they are going to pay for the entry exams. (Parent, CS1) The issue of what was communicated and to whom, and what information parents have available about music scholarships has real consequences for those pupils who wanted to continue with instrumental tuition but were unable to do so. Firstly, without a scholarship, the majority of parents stated that they would not have been able to afford to pay for lessons in school or ‘it would have been a struggle’ (Parent, CS5). Even when scholarships had been awarded not all received a full scholarship so parents are expected to make a financial contribution in order to extend the length of the individual lessons. However, for the parents of CS1, the additional cost was nearly £400 and was beyond their means. While it could be argued that it is the parents’ responsibility to find out what opportunities are available in their child’s school, it was noticeable that those parents who might be considered to have less relevant social and cultural capital, found it harder to elicit this information and were often intimated by the size of the secondary school and its rather anonymous nature. All of the parents were asked for information about their highest academic qualification and their current and previous occupations to gain additional contextual information about the participants. The two primary schools are situated in area of London characterised by both deprivation and affluence and is the eighth most deprived borough in London. This diversity was reflected in the parents’ educational levels ranging from doctorates, masters degrees, or undergraduate degrees to O levels, and vocational qualifications. This has particular significance as there appeared to be palpable differences between those parents who were able to confront the school when faced with a challenging secondary school issue with regards to their child’s music education, and those who felt powerless to do so. Better educated, and more affluent parents were far better able to draw on their social and cultural resources, and mobilise information and authority to contest school decisions; they were not intimidated, more likely to view teachers as equals having similar academic credentials (McNamara Horvat, Weininger and Lareau, 2003). This was illustrated quite starkly in the accounts offered by two parents (both University educated) whose children had found the transition period difficult due to a lack of clarity from the secondary school about their procedures and the support required to ensure their 40
children were able to continue having lessons. Both took a very active and forthright approach to challenging school decisions, and did not give up until they got the result they wanted. Having visited the home of CS3 on four separate occasions for interviews with the parents and the case study pupil, it was evident that the family engaged in lots of musical and cultural activities, and their son was highly motivated and passionate about music. They found out about the scholarships from another parent as ‘there was nothing in the induction pack, nothing that was obvious to me on the website. I’m not clueless, this information just wasn’t available’. Pupils were required to have Grade 3 as a minimum, but CS3 had not been able to take his Grade 3 exam as it clashed with a secondary school open day therefore he was not eligible to apply. She went to talk to the head of music, outlining her son’s prior experience and through persistence he was auditioned and was awarded a scholarship. Although he auditioned on the violin, he chose to have guitar lessons (an instrument he was teaching himself, with some success having heard recordings of his playing) and the school agreed to this. Similarly, the mother of CS5 was experiencing some problems with getting a time for her daughter’s audition and it transpired that they had left her off the list and she was subsequently informed it was ‘too late’ to audition. Aware of her daughter’s passion for the guitar and her motivation to learn, she arranged to speak to the Head of Music on two separate occasions to argue her case. This resulted in a successful audition and a scholarship. In contrast, several of the parents were not even sure what a ‘scholarship’ was or if their child’s school offered them. In part, this appeared to be linked to issues of communication as some of the parents who participated in the study spoke English as a second language and, on two occasions during interviews, the parents would suddenly speak directly to their child, who then translated for me. When asked why they had not sought this information, they often appeared uncertain who they should approach, and the lack of familiarity with the School’s processes and structures meant they had not taken this further: IV: So does your secondary school offer music scholarships? Parent: I don’t know, I didn’t know who to ask. NCS7: One girl in my school, she was so good at violin that she went to I don’t know either college or university. Parent: I don’t know anything about them and I can’t remember being told by anyone about how to apply for one [scholarship] (NCS 7) Not knowing who to ask for information was identified as having a potentially negative impact on transition. This is exacerbated by the fact that instrumental lessons at secondary schools are often delivered by peripatetic teachers who may work across different schools, and may have periods of absence while undertaking professional playing work. In these cases, they often get ‘deps’ in to cover for them during their absence but it appears neither pupils nor parents were properly informed when this happens: She just sat outside and there was a different person in the room and she thought, where’s my teacher gone? She did this for three weeks in a row. The new teacher never even put their head outside the door and said, ‘Hello, I’m your new teacher.’ She’s a bright girl but does it have to come from a twelve year old just starting school, with a massive school around them? (Parent, CS5). In this instance, the parent complained but for some other parents in the study, language issues, and lack of cultural and social capital can create a considerable barrier which can result in differential outcomes for children with similar musical backgrounds and levels of experience.
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Parents often referred to the violin teachers at their primary school by name during the interviews but struggled to recall the name of their child’s current instrumental teacher or the name of their classroom music teacher. In comparison to their role in their child’s music education during primary school, parents’ level of involvement was now drastically reduced, and this could result in lack of confidence in approaching the School with music lesson related issues. Parents were unsure who to contact, and what mechanisms should be used but appeared to resign themselves to this stating that ‘it was inevitable’ given the greater school population. Changes in policy and educational thinking about the concept of ‘inclusion’ were evident in some of the HoM’s responses, as two of the transfer schools no longer offered scholarships. For example, HoM 6 noted that in the past, his school had provided high level specialist music provision funded by the local council delivered in a separate annex on site, and pupils were selected upon admission for this specialist provision. These pupils were given ‘tuition completely free, and the kids who were not selected had zilch’. With changes in funding streams, and converting to an Academy, the new Principal made significant changes to the delivery of instrumental lessons arguing that the previous approach had been a form of ‘segregation’ for the privileged few. The Head’s approach was to develop an ‘integrated system where all the kids can access this specialist provision’. For this reason, the school no longer offers music scholarships because of its inclusive ethos. Selecting pupils based on ability is seen as inappropriate and resources should not just be used to promote the most able. All children are now able to have lessons should they wish to do so, and the school uses part of its pupil premium to support those who need some level of financial support. Consequently, there was no chance of ‘missing out’ on scholarship opportunities as all pupils were treated exactly the same. 4.2 New teachers, new approaches Year 7 was characterised by many as initially confusing and often bewildering because of the need to negotiate structural differences between primary and secondary. For example, the structure of the school day could often be confusing. In the first term, instrumental lessons were missed because pupils did not understand how the timetable worked saying that ‘we didn’t used to have a timetable at primary school’ and they were not required to take responsibility for finding out when and where their lessons were. In their group interviews, the positive relationships pupils had developed with their teacher had been an important factor in their enjoyment and sustained engagement with the violin. Teachers were referred to by their first names, and the puipils frequently commented on how good they were on their instrument, that they inspired them, and that they ‘worked hard’. These relationships had developed over a long period of time, and pupils felt confident talking to them and asking for help. During the transition year, in situations where pupils had continued having lessons either on violin or on a different instrument, the quality of the pupil-teacher relationship played a crucial role in supporting transition. Where teacher-pupil relationships were unsatisfactory, motivation started to wane and, in these situations, there was a marked decline in attendance, practice levels and musical enjoyment. One observed that she ‘missed a few things about primary school, especially the teachers because they really looked after me. I know I used to find the sound of the violin quite aggravating to my ears, but the teachers were nice’ (NCS 8). These unsatisfactory relationships were certainly in evidence for three of the pupils participating in Phase II. Part of the problem is that teachers assumed no prior knowledge or experience, and seemed to have ‘set pieces’ that everyone was supposed to learn. In these 42
scenarios, pupils did not feel they could express how they felt, and they were unhappy that the teacher had not bothered to ‘get to know me. He just put me straight in like at one of the lower levels and obviously I had been doing it [playing guitar] for like two years in the school band’ (CS5). She was not being stretched and, throughout Year 7, she was beginning to lose interest. There was a palpable difference in her attitude between the first interview in December and the final one in June and this was of great concern for her mother who said, ‘If we can hang on in there and maybe something starts to happen, we might not lose her on this’ but CS5 had hardly touched her guitar between the second and third interview and had got into trouble at school for not turning up to her lessons. In contrast, the interviews over the six month period with CS3 showed a marked rise in enthusiasm, confidence and skills development. He was generating opportunities to play with other young musicians both in and out of school, and his level of intrinsic motivation was growing. Both he and his mother attributed this to the relaxed relationship he had developed with his drum and guitar teachers. CS3, by his own admission, rarely practiced what had been set, but his guitar teacher was happy to work with whatever he brought into the lesson. His mother observed that the teacher ‘really got him, really understood him’, and this also appeared to be the case with his drum teacher. This is perhaps related to instruments themselves where learning to play by ear is an accepted approach, and both teachers took into account his interests: He gives me a choice of what I want to learn. A lot of teachers don’t do that. They just go ‘Right, we’re doing that – final’. With my teacher he just gives me a range of ideas. He asks what do you like, what do you enjoy listening to, what do you want to learn? Like, I learnt a lot of Nirvana pieces and I’m also going to ask him if there’s any guitar pieces for Talking Heads because I really enjoy them (CS3). Therefore, where these relationships worked well, pupils reported feeling that their prior musical knowledge was valued, that their music interests were acknowledged, and teachers gave them opportunities to exercise autonomy in their choice of repertoire, particularly when starting a new instrument. Furthermore, where musical motivation and interest were high, for those learning a new instrument, not being on the ‘exam treadmill’ was a positive factor. The novelty of being in dialogue with their teacher was hugely motivating. For those pupils who had limited access to individual lessons at primary school, mainly learning together in a group, one-to-one tuition was relished and being the focus of attention in a lesson, able to work at their own pace, and being encouraged to explore different repertoire were significant positives at this stage of the pupils’ musical journey. 4.3 Meeting pupils’ expectations Even where motivation for playing the violin had diminished, it was evident that at the end of Year 6, pupils were very enthusiastic about music in general, and they were looking forward to their lessons at secondary school. However, the findings show that there is no uniform, shared, generalisable experience as there were so many variables to take into account – school type, demographic, provision of music and musical activities, and the value schools did or did not place on music. The status of music within the school One of the shared experiences was learning to negotiate a classroom environment were music was not taken seriously. Whereas music was a high status subject at their respective primary schools, which was undertaken with a degree of seriousness and focus, the attitude 43
and lack of interest shown by some pupils in their classroom music lessons was off-putting and generally distracting. Four of the pupils in non-selective schools complained of others’ poor behavior in class which resulted in significant interruption to the lesson: They get three warnings and they usually waste them all and have to go out. So every time we have to stop cos the teacher obviously has to talk to them and they have to go outside and then the teacher has to talk to them again and it just completely starts and stops the classes. Everyone just starts talking (NCS 5) These pupils felt that music was seen as a ‘doss subject’ and, in one particular school, HOM2 noted that he usually ended up with pupils who were perceived as unlikely to do well in the EBacc subjects: So you might get a student who didn’t want to be in here is put in here. It obviously makes them harder to engage and also hard to attain, because they are lower ability in terms of everything. They don’t play an instrument and they also can’t write well in an exam […] Being around other pupils who did not share their interest or passion for music could be a very isolating experience and this was particularly troubling for NCS 3 who attended a junior department of a London conservatoire on Saturdays but was at a comprehensive school specialising in sport. She said she found it difficult to mix with others as they had no interests in common: NCS 3: In secondary I don’t really have musical friends; they’re more physical education people. IV: So you don’t play music for fun with any of your friends? NCS 3: Only in my music school at the Junior conservatoire. She felt that there was little ‘status’ attached to being able to play an instrument in her school – it was better to be a ‘sporty person’ – and it was obvious this was a difficult position in which to find herself as she had said in her Year 6 interview that ‘I don’t connect with other people that much’ and music had ‘been a way for me to connect with everyone else’. In contrast, although she was no longer taking instrumental lessons, in CS4’s school music was promoted as a worthwhile subject, and pupils were encouraged to make use of the practice rooms during breaks and lunch-hours to play together. Unlike NCS3’s situation, CS4 had made a number of ‘musical friends’ who shared her love of singing: IV: Do you ever get together with your friends to play even though you aren’t having lessons any more? CS4: Well every lunch, most lunches we get together for about 15 minutes into the practice rooms. I like listening to my friend and my other friend is also quite musical but more singing. She has got this app where we sing and it plays back to us. We do that a lot. Over the course of my interviews with her, she intimated that her ‘love of music was coming back’, and that she had asked if she could start learning the piano in Year 8. Progression While some pupils had not settled down with their teacher, a significant proportion of those who continued having instrumental lessons felt that they had made significant progress on 44
their various instruments over the course of the year. In some cases, this was connected with increased technical proficiency on their existing instrument, or was linked to getting on well with a new instrument which meant they could join ensembles and music groups that had not been available when at primary school. For some of the pupils on the specialist programme, progress was equated with passing more exams, or being able to play more demanding classical pieces in public concerts, and be given more solo and duet work. Where the issue of progression stalled was in the actual music classroom. Whereas individual instrumental lessons allowed pupils to work at their own pace, and gave teachers the opportunity to tailor their lessons, as noted in other studies, classroom music teachers often adopted a ‘start from scratch’ approach paying little attention for the need to differentiate between learners or provide appropriate level work. This was not identified as an issue at the independent schools where ‘the differentiation between the most gifted and least gifted in the school is probably quite narrow because it’s selection on the basis of ability’ (HOM 1). For the pupil at the sports-specialist school, she felt she was being held back as the school orchestra was nowhere near the standard she was used to at the junior conservatoire. IV: Are you part of the school orchestra here? NCS3: It’s not really a good level because it takes time for some of the kids to read the music. It’s kind of holding me back in my high levels of music having to wait for the other kids. Her experience of classroom music was little better and she was often bored because the rest of the class were being taught things she already knew: ‘What does ‘p’ mean, what does crescendo mean? We should be put in different set because it’s quite boring just hearing the teacher talk about the same things. NCS2 made a clear distinction between the progress she was making on the violin in comparison to her classroom lessons which made her feel ‘a bit demotivated’. Overall, she was ‘liking music more this year because I’ve got to participate in more things on my violin’. Other pupils asserted that the work was often too easy – ‘we’re learning the notes on the piano but it’s the same as the violin, A, B, C’ - and complained about not being given additional work, or the work that was given served the purpose of ‘filling time’ and teachers did not provide appropriate extension activities. One said she had been given a ‘word search’ of composers to complete as an extension activity (CS4). Composition Where pupils did feel they were learning new things and being stretched was in relation to compositional activities. At the end of year 6, composition had been identified as the aspect of secondary music many were most looking forward to and they had all enjoyed improvising and composing (although opportunities had been limited ). Although CS4 had given up having instrumental lessons because she no longer enjoyed playing the violin, during her interviews she mentioned two projects that she had enjoyed and also learned a lot from. One involved writing a group piece for a play, and the other was writing music for a film excerpt and she said that ‘composition has been the thing that’s really interested me this year’. There was some variation between the schools regarding the use of compositional software as some reported learning about ‘binary’ and ‘ternary’ form but would be allowed to use the
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computers until Year 8. In contrast, CS3 had already been introduced to Logic, and they also been asked to construct a piece using samples. For some pupils, musical motivation had increased during Year 7, and they were enjoying music lessons and were involved in a range of activities. For a number of the pupil participants, the issue of waning motivation was linked to their perception of themselves as ‘able musicians’ and here, secondary school music serves to help re-build the pupil’s flagging confidence and self-esteem that was evident in some of focus groups. 4.4 Conclusion For some pupils, musical motivation had increased during Year 7, and they were enjoying music lessons and were involved in a range of activities. For a number of the pupil participants, the issue of waning motivation was linked to their perception of themselves as ‘able musicians’ and here, secondary school music, in some cases, can serve to help rebuild the pupil’s flagging confidence and self-esteem that was evident in some of focus groups. In the majority of the schools, there were no links between what they were learning in their instrumental lessons and in their classroom music lessons and, in many cases, teachers were either unaware or not interested in their pupils’ playing ability. This meant that some of the more advanced pupils found classroom lessons boring and they were just over ‘old ground’ This was not the case with composition, and its introduction into their music education was welcomed; it is here that pupils often suggested they were learning the most, and the focus on group composition - typical at this age and stage - appeared to be providing opportunities to forge new friendships and new musical alliances.
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5. Recommendations 5. There are a wide range of practices in operation in schools’ transfer and transition processes, and approaches and levels of effectiveness appear to be closely associated with school type, ethos, the value is places on music education, resourcing, and its social demographic. These factors produce approaches which are often localised and particular to that school. While mention was made of some tri-borough initiatives, schools in the study appear to be operating independently and there was no evidence to suggest that schools were sharing good practice. Secondary school Key Stage 3 is one of the key junctures where children start to lose interest in formal music-making. Given the particularity of the cohort under examination, it is important to acknowledge the music organisation’s role in this process. The findings show that while the experience of participating in the primary music programme has a very positive role in fostering an interest in music, it is worth considering what more could be done to develop their engagement with music as the focus group data shows that at the end of Year 6, more than half of the pupils either wanted to give up the violin and learn a different instrument, or give up instrumental lessons completely. A number of barriers and challenges have been identified that may inhibit a successful transfer and transition. Not all of these can be addressed by the charity as some of these challenges reflect wider social, structural, political and institutional issues. 5.1 Recommendations
It is unlikely, given the resource implications, that the charitable organisation are in a position to facilitate change at an institutional level (in light of the complexities outlined above) and it is recommended that the charity focuses its attentions on the parents and the child; The charity might like to consider developing a role for a ‘Transition Liaison Officer’. Their remit would be to act as a point of contact for information and support during the transfer and transition period; to provide comprehensive information through a workshop/seminar and in written form about scholarships and bursaries; they would be responsible for tracking the progress of the pupils during the first term of Year 7 (and perhaps longer) and identify gaps in provision which may impede progression; they would be responsible for liaising with pupils’ instrumental teacher and putting together a short report which parents could then give to teachers and instrumental tutors; The charity might like to consider guaranteeing violin lessons for any pupils entering Year 7 who finds themselves on a waiting list or without a teacher to bridge the gap until the school is able to provide tuition; It was noticeable that while ‘In Harmony Lambeth’ was name-checked by several teachers, but this particular organisation was not mentioned at all and the charity might like to consider ways it could raise its profile to alert schools to its work; Motivation to continue playing the violin is already beginning to dip at the end of Year 6. To reinvigorate interest and sustain engagement, the charity might like to consider running a summer school which would act as bridge between the end of primary school and the end of secondary school (and could include alumni); 47
As cohort numbers increase, setting up an alumni peer-mentoring/buddy scheme might be another way of support children through this transition. It could be organised along the lines of matching pupils to alumni in their designated transfer scheme. This would need to be monitored and could be part of the Liaison Officer’s role. Part of pupils’ declining motivation appears to be linked to the repertoire they play and the focus on performance. Opening this out to include a wider range of styles and traditions, and improvisation and composition, would not only make the music more relevant, but stronger links could be made with the KS3 music curriculum to help prepare them for secondary level education; Provide more opportunities for pupils to attend classical music concerts.
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References ABRSM (2014). Making music: teaching, learning and playing in the UK, ABRSM http://gb.abrsm.org/fileadmin/user_upload/PDFs/makingMusic2014.pdf
Arts Council England (2014). Equality and diversity within the arts and cultural sector in England. http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloadfile/Equality_and_diversity_within_the_arts_and_cultural_sector_in_England_0.pdf Baker, G. (2016). El Sistema: orchestrating Venezuela’s youth, Oxford University Press. Ball, L., Pollard, E. and Stanley, N. (2010). Creative graduates, creative futures, Institute for Employment Studies. Barrett, M.S. and Smigiel, H.M. (2007). ‘Children’s perspectives of participation in music youth arts settings: meaning, value and participation’, Research Studies in Music Education, 28, pp. 39-50. Blacking, J. (1987). A common-sense view of all music, Cambridge University Press. Bleicher, N. (2015). Equality and diversity in new music commissioning, BASCA
http://basca.org.uk/newsletter/BASCA_Music-Commissioning.pdf Born, G. and Devine, K. (2015). ‘Music technology, gender and class digitisization, education and social change’, Twentieth Century Music, 12(2), pp 135-172. Bunting, C., Chan, T.W., Goldthorpe, J., Kearney, E. And Oskala, A. (2008). From indifference to enthusiasm: patterns of arts attendance. Arts Council England. Button, S. (2006). ‘Key stage 3 pupils’ perceptions of music’, Music Education Research, 8(3), pp 417-431. Cavicchi, D. (2009). ‘My music, their music, and the irrelevance of music education’, In Regelski, T.A. and Gates, J.T. (eds), Music education for changing times: guiding visions for practise, Springer. Conoghan, D. (2014). National Concert Hall Primary Strings Project 2007-2013, National Concert Hall.
Create (2015). Panic! What happened to social mobility in http://createlondon.org/create-announces-the-findings-of-the-panic-survey/
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DCMS (2016). The Cultural White Paper. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/510798/DCM S_The_Culture_White_Paper__3_.pdf De Vries, P. (2010). ‘What we want: the music preferences of upper primary school students and the ways they engage with music’, Australian Journal of Music Education, 1, pp. 5-16. 49
Derbyshire, S. (2015). Musical routes: a landscape for music education, Royal Philharmonic Society. DfE (2011). The importance of music: a national plan for music education. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180973/DFE00086-2011.pdf Driscoll, J. (2009). ‘“If I play my sax my parents are nice to me”: opportunity and motivation in musical instrument and singing tuition’, Music Education Research, 11(1), pp. 37-55. Drummond, J. (2005). ‘Cultural diversity in music education: why bother?’ In. Campbell, P et al. (eds), Cultural diversity in music education: directions and challenges for the 21st century, pp 1-12. Bowen Hills: Australian Academic Press. Fuller, K. and Thomas, F. (2005). Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 transition project. DfES. Galton, M., Gray, J. and Ruddock, J. (1999). The impact of school transitions and transfer on pupil progression and attainment, DfEE. Green, L. (2003). ‘Music education, cultural capital and social group identity’, In Clayton, M., Herbert, T. and Middleton, R. (eds), The cultural study of music: a critical introduction, Routledge. Green, L. (2008). Music, informal learning and the school: a new classroom pedagogy, Ashgate. Hebert, D.G. (2010). ‘Ethnicity and music education: sociological dimensions’, In R. Wright (ed), Sociology of Music Education, Ashgate. Hobbs, G. and Vignoles, A. (2007). Is free school meal status a valid proxy for socioeconomic status (in schools research)? Centre for the Economics of Education, DCSF. http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/pu blications/eOrderingDownload/CEE03-07FR.pdf Hoffman, A.R. (2012). ‘Performing our world: affirming cultural diversity through music education, Music Educators Journal, pp 61-65. Jones, K., with Franks, A. (1999). ‘English’, in Hill, D. and Cole, M (eds), Promoting equality in secondary schools, London: Cassell. Kane, D. & Clarke, J. (2012). Music education charities: the size and scope of music education charities in England, NCVO. Kelly, S.N. and van Weelden, K. (2004). ‘Connecting meaningful music and experiences in a multicultural, multimusical classroom, Music Educators Journal, pp 35-39. Kokotsaki, D. (2015). Improving the primary-secondary transition in music education, Nuffield Foundation. Lammy, D. (2016). ‘The BBC must address its lack of diversity – or risk losing viewers’, The Spectator, 14th April 2016. http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/the-bbc-must-address-itslack-of-diversity-or-risk-losing-viewers/
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Leung, B.W. and McPherson, G.E. (2011). ‘Case studies of factors affecting the motivation of musical high achievers to learn music in Hong Kong’, Music Education Research, 13(1), pp 69-91. Ofsted (2012). Music in schools: wider still, and wider – quality and inequality in music education 2008-2011 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/413347/Music _in_schools_wider_still__and_wider.pdf Mantie, R. and Tucker, L. (2012). ‘Pluralism, the right, and the good in choirs, orchestras and bands’, International Journal of Music Education, 30(3), pp 260-271. Marshall, N.A. and Hargreaves, D.J. (2007). ‘Crossing the humpback bridge: primarysecondary school transition in music education’, Music Education Research, 9(1), pp. 65-80. Marshall, N.A. and Hargreaves, D.J. (2008). ‘Teachers’ views of the primary-secondary transition in music education in England’, Music Education Research, 10(1), pp. 63-74 McCarthy, M. (2009). ‘Re-thinking “Music” in the context of education’, In Regelski, T.A. and Gates, J.T. (eds), Music education for changing times: guiding visions for practise, Springer. McPherson, G.E., Davidson, J.W. and Faulkner, R. (2012). Music in our lives: rethinking musical ability, development and identity, Oxford University Press. Mills. J. (1996). ‘Starting at secondary school’, British Journal of Music Education, 13(1), pp 5-14. Modood, T. and May, S. (2001). ‘Multiculturalism and education in Britain: an internally contestable debate’, International Journal of Education Research, 35, pp. 305-317. Modood, T. (2008). ‘Is multiculturalism dead?’ Public Policy Research, 15(2), pp. 84-88. Miralis, Y. (2006). ‘Clarifying the terms “multicultural”, “multiethnic” and “world music”’, Applications of research in music education, 24(2), pp 54-66. Nelson Shouldice, H. (2014) ‘Elementary students’ definitions and self-perceptions of being a “good musician”’ Music Education Research, 16(3) pp. 330-345. Northern Ireland Assembly. (2010). Free school meal entitlement as a measure of deprivation, http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/researchandlibrary/2010/19110.pdf Perry, E. and Francis, B. (2010). The social class gap for educational achievement: a literature review’, RSA. Platt, L. (2007). Poverty and ethnicity in the UK. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Rife, N.A., Shnek, Z.M., Lauby, J.L. and Lapidus, L.B. (2001). ‘Children’s satisfaction with private music lessons’, Journal of Research in Music Education, 49(1), 21-32. Scharff, C. (2015). Equality and diversity in the classical music profession, http://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/young-female-and-entrepreneurial/files/2014/02/Equality-and-Diversityin-the-Classical-Music-Profession.pdf 51
Sharp, C. (2015). Key data on music education hubs 2014, London: Arts Council England. Sheehan Campbell, P. (2002). ‘Music education in a time of cultural transformation’, Music Educators Journal, 89(1), pp 27-32. Swanwick, K. and Jarvis, C. (1990). The Tower Hamlets string teaching project: a research report, University of London. Symonds, J.E., Long, M. and Hargreaves, J. (2011). Changing Key: adolescents’ views on their musical development across the primary to secondary school transition, Musical Bridges. Vincent, C., Rollock, N., Balls, S. and Gillborn, D (2012). ‘Raising middle-class Black children: parenting, priorities, actions and strategies, Sociology, 47(3), pp. 427-442. Warwick Commission (2015). Enriching Britain: culture, creativity and growth. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/research/warwickcommission/futureculture/finalreport/warwick_co mmission_report_2015.pdf Wright, R. (2008). ‘Kicking the habitus: power, culture and pedagogy in the secondary school music curriculum’, Music Education Research 10(3), pp. 389-402. Zeserson, K. (2014). Inspiring music for all: next steps in innovation, improvement and integration, Paul Hamlyn Foundation https://www.phf.org.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2014/07/Inspiring-Music-for-All.pdf
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APPENDIX A: Focus Group - Interview Schedule Section A: Experiences of participating in the primary music programme i) I know you’ve been having lessons for a long time, so just to get started, had any of you heard the violin being played before you started your lessons? If yes, in what capacity (someone they know? A concert?) ii) What are the things you’ve enjoyed the most about your lessons? iii) What are the things you’ve enjoyed the least about your lessons? iv) I understand you’ve all recently taken violin exams. Can you tell me what grade you took? v) What types of music do you play in your violin lessons? vi) Are there any other types of music you would like to play, and why? vii) In your violin lessons, have you ever had the opportunity to make up your own music (i.e. either improvising or composing your own pieces) If yes, can you tell me about what you did? Is this something you’d like to do more of, and why? If no, is there something you would like to do, and why? viii) Do your violin lessons overlap or link with any of the things you are learning about in your classroom music lessons? ix) Can you tell me a little bit about the sorts of things you are learning about and things you do in your classroom music lessons? x) How much practice do you do during the week/each day? What motivates you to practice? xi) Do your parents/guardians supervise your practice or tell you how long you should practice for? xii) Have you ever wanted to give up playing the violin? If yes, why? What made you decide to continue? xiii) If there was one thing you would like to have changed or done differently during your lessons with the music project, what would that be?
Section B: Expectations of Secondary Music i) Firstly, can you tell me which secondary school you are going to in September. ii) Do you intend to carry out on having violin lessons? If yes, why do you want to continue? If no, why don’t you want to continue, or is there another instrument you would rather learn to play? 53
iii) What are you most looking forward with regards to music when you move up to Secondary? iv) Is there anything you are not looking forward to, and why? v) Have you ever thought about pursuing a career in music? If yes, what would you like to do, and why? If no, what would you like to do, and why Section C: Pupils’ musical lives i) What sorts of music do you like to listen to? ii) Who do you mainly listen to music with? iii) Does anyone in your family play an instrument? If yes, tell me a little bit more about that (e.g. what do they play, and to what standard? What sorts of musical activities are they involved with?) iv) What sorts of musical activities do you do with families? v) What kinds of music do the people in your family like listening to? vi) What sorts of musical activities do you do with your friends? vii) Has having violin lessons made you more interested in classical music? If yes, what sorts of things do you listen to? Is this linked to the pieces your learning or have listened to other things out of interest? If no, why is that?
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APPENDIX B: Case Study Pupils - Interview Schedule Section A: One-to-one instrumental lessons [first interview only] i) ii)
Firstly, tell me what instrument(s) you are currently learning to play. Is this the same instrument you were learning at primary school? If not, why are you learning a different instrument? Did you continue instrumental lessons straightaway when you went to your new school? If no, why did you stop? When did you start having lessons again? Do you own your instrument or is it on loan from the school? Who teaches you: an instrumental teacher at school or do you have private lessons outside of school? If you have a private instrumental teacher, why is this? (e.g. because there wasn’t a teacher at your school? You have a scholarship elsewhere – say where). Can you describe your first lesson with your new instrumental teacher when you started secondary school. Is there anything you miss about your instrumental lessons at primary school? Can you describe the main differences between your instrumental lessons now and the ones you had at primary school? Do any of your friends play an instrument? Is yes, do you ever play together either in school or outside of school?
iii)
iv) v)
vi) vii) viii) ix)
Section B: Classroom Music lesson [interview 1] i)
ii) iii) iv)
When you first arrived at secondary school, what were you most looking forward to with regard to your music lessons? [Link back to focus group data with respect to that pupil] Is there anything about your classroom music lessons that hasn’t been as good as you had expected? Is there anything about your classroom music lessons that has been better than expected? When you started school in September, did your classroom music teacher ask you and your classmates any questions about your previous musical experiences (e.g. playing an instrument, reading music)?
Section B: For interviews 1, 2 and 3 (Instrumental Lessons) i)
How much practice on average do you do over the course of the week? [if more or less in subsequent interviews, ascertain why]
ii)
Compared to when you were at primary school, are you doing more practice on your own without supervision from your parents?
ii)
What, if any, activities do you take part in after school or on weekends (e.g. football, swimming, any sort of club including music) [follow this up in each interview – if no longer taking part ascertain why]
iii)
Can you tell me what you’ve been working on in your lessons since I last saw you? [repertoire, exams, concert preparation, improvisation] 55
v)
Do you look forward to your lessons? If yes, what do you look forward to most? If not, why don’t you look forward to them?
vi)
Do you feel more or less motivated to continue with your instrumental lessons since I last saw you? Why is that?
Section C: Performing/Listening and Composing: I’d now like to ask you some questions about performing i) ii) iii)
iv) v) vi) vii) viii) ix) x) xi)
xii)
v) vi)
Are you involved in any musical activities or groups at school (e.g. choir, orchestra, jazz band etc)? If yes, what’s your favourite activity and why? Have you had many opportunities to play in front of people since I last saw you (e.g. assemblies? Concerts – where?) [Int 1: ascertain what activities, in Int 2 & 3 ascertain levels of engagement] When we last spoke you said that you were involved in [cite group/activity]. Are you still playing with them? What sorts of things have you been doing? What music are you listening to at the moment? How did you get into this? Who do you normally listen to music with? Are your musical tastes changing? Why do you think that is? Is there any music you’ve been introduced to by your teachers at Secondary school that you’ve really enjoyed or taken an interest in? Have you done any composing or improvising since I last saw you? [in class, in instrumental lessons, what were they working on] Have you used any of the music technology software yet? If yes, what were they using it for? Are you writing any of your own music either on your own or with friends? Probe: If yes, why do you like doing this? [Int 1: Where do you rank yourself in your music class i.e. are you better at music than other people, about the same?] Ints 2 and 3: Are there any aspects of your classroom music lessons which you find difficult? Are there any aspects of your classroom music lessons which you are finding too easy? If yes, does your teacher give you extra work to do and what sorts of tasks are you to given? What aspects of your music life (either in school or out of school) are you enjoying the most? What would you like to do more of?
Final interview i)
Looking back, how well prepared were you for music at secondary school? Probe: was there anything you struggled with when you started? Probe: what aspects of being part of the primary music programme helped you the most? Probe: were there things that they didn’t do that you wish they had provided?
ii)
Now we’re at the end of your first year of secondary school, what have been the musical highlights of this year?
iii)
What were the main challenges for you moving from primary to secondary school?
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iv)
Would you say you are more or less interested in music since this last time year, and why?
v)
What are your musical aspirations as you go through secondary school, and beyond?
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APPENDIX C: Case Study Parents – Interview Schedule Section A: Background and involvement in the primary music programme 1. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? I’m interested to know if you play or have played an instrument and what musical activities you take part in, if any. 2. Does anyone else in your family other than [child’s name] play a musical instrument? If yes, who, which instrument/s and to what standard? 3. Do you mind me asking what you currently do for a living? How long have you been in this role? What did you do before? 4. Turning to the primary school music programme, can you recall how the school introduced the programme to you? 5. What were your initial thoughts about [Child’s name] taking part, and what did you hope they would get out of the experience? 6. This is not meant to be an intrusive question but it is helpful for us to understand the programme’s role in [Child’s name] musical journey but, if these lessons had not been provided, would you have been able and/or willing to fund the lessons and associated costs if this had meant paying for private lessons? 7. If you currently have a child/children having violin lessons at [school name] have you noticed any changes or differences to provision? Section B: Your perceptions of the programme 1. What opportunities were there to see [Child’s name] perform or sit in on their lesson? Were you able to take advantage of these opportunities? 2. Did you ever have any concerns that the instrumental lessons and associated activities were detracting from other aspects of [Child’s name] education? If yes, how did you address this? Were you able to discuss this with the school? 3. What were the most positive aspects of [Child’s name] involvement in the programme? 4. What were the negative aspects of [Child’s name] involvement in the programme? Section C: On-going engagement and motivation 1. When [Child’s name] was at primary, roughly how much practice did they do daily/weekly? How much involvement did you have in supervising their practice? 2. Did [child’s name] interest and motivation wane at any point during Primary school? If yes, what factors contributed to this loss of motivation? 3. What musical activities does [child’s name] take part in outside of school with friends or family? 4. Only a small number of pupils were selected for the specialist programme at the beginning of Key Stage 2. Can you tell me how you felt about that? 5. [If CS pupils were not on the specialist programme] Did not being selected have any impact on [child’s name]?
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Section D: Transferring from primary to secondary 1. When choosing a Secondary school for [Child’s name], to what extent was your decision based on the Secondary school’s music facilities and provision of instrumental lessons? 2. At that point, did you know anything about the scholarship schemes the Secondary schools offered? If yes, how was this communicated to you? If no, how did you find out about them? 3. Did you, at any point, ask the violin teachers or organisastion for any information or advice about choosing a school and/or scholarship opportunities for [Child’s name]? If not, why not? If yes, what information was provided and how helpful was it? 4. If your child applied for a scholarship, please describe the process. 5. Were there aspects of the process you were unhappy about?
Section D: Settling into Year 7 The final part of the interview will focus on [Child’s name] first year at Secondary school 1. Does [Child’s name] classroom music teacher know of their involvement in the primary music programme and/or the level they reached on the violin? 2. Do you think [Child’s name] has become more or less interested in music this year? If more, what has contributed to this? If less, why is that? 3. Are you happy with the quality of music provision (including provision made for scholarship pupils) at their Secondary School? 4. Do you have any concerns about the balance between school work and their music activities? 5. What, if any, do you perceive to be the longer term impacts of [Child’s name] having been involved in the music programme now they are at secondary? 6. Was the transition from Primary to Secondary a smooth one for [Child’s name]? If no, what were the particular issues that [child’s name] faced? Thank you for your time. Is there anything you would like to add or elaborate on before we wind up the interview?
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APPENDIX D: Non-Case study pupils – follow up interview schedule Section A: Instrumental lessons 1. Are you having instrumental lessons at the moment? If yes, what do you play? If no, why are you no longer having lessons? 2. Where do your lessons take place (e.g. at school? At a Saturday school? Privately?) Probe: do you like how you are taught? What 3. [If child is still playing an instrument] Have you been awarded a music scholarship to study your instrument? If yes, is this a school scholarship and/or from a Conservatoire? 4. [If child is on a scholarship] Can you remember what process you had to go through to apply for your scholarship (audition? Written test? Interview?) 5. Does the scholarship require you take part in certain activities? If yes, what activities are they and how much time does it involve each week? 6. Can you remember how you or your parents found out about the scholarship? 7. What are you working on in your lessons the moment? Probe: do you like the music you are playing? 8. What are you enjoying most about your instrumental lessons? 9. What do you enjoy least about your instrumental lessons? 10. Have you done any music exams recently, or are there any planned for later this year? If so, what grade? 11. How much practice do you do a day?
12. How do these lessons compare to those you had while you were at Primary School? Probe: is there anything you miss about your lessons at Primary School? 13. Which aspect of your playing has improved the most since you left Primary School?
Section B: Classroom music 1. When you transferred to your secondary school, what were you looking forward to most with regard to your classroom music lessons? Has this met your expectations (i.e is it better or not as good as you had hoped?). 2. Can you tell me about the sorts of things your teacher has been doing with you in your classroom music lessons? Is there a good balance between composition/practical/listening activities?
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3. Do you feel your classroom music lessons are challenging or are some of the things you do in class too easy? If they are too easy, does your teacher give you extra work or more difficult things to do? 4. Are there any aspects of your classroom music lessons that you dislike? 5. What other musical activities do you participate in at school (choir? Jazz band? Orchestra? Your own band?) Does the school provide the sorts of activities you like to do or are there other musical activities you would like to take part in if they were available? 6. How well prepared were you for music at secondary school? Was there anything you struggled with when you started? What aspects of being part of the music programme at primary school helped you the most? Were were there things that they didn’t do that you wish they had provided when you look back?
7. What role did the music programme have in encouraging your involvement with music? If you hadn’t had violin lessons at Primary School, do you think you would be involved in music in the same way as you are at the moment? 8. Would you say that you like music more or less since you started secondary school? Why is that? 9. How important is music to you? 10. What sorts of playing opportunities have you taken part in since September? (e.g. school concerts? Solo performances?). Where have these taken place? 11. Do you think you have become more or less confident as a player since coming to secondary school? Why do you think that? Section C: Other musical activities 1. What sorts of music do you listen to in your own time? 2. When you and your friends get together, what sorts of music-related things do you do? (e.g. listen to music? Play your instruments? Have you started a band?) 3. Have you been to any concerts or music gigs since leaving Primary School (as an audience member?) If so, what did you go to hear, and who did you go with? 4. Do you have enough time to fit in your musical activities and your school work? If no, can you tell me what makes this difficult? Do you think your school work interferes with your music? 61
5. Are there are any other activities you would like to do in the week but can’t fit in? Finally, where do you see yourself in 5 years time (after you’ve taken your GCSEs)? Do you think you will still be playing? If so, for fun or would you like to pursue a career in music? Is there anything you would like to say that we haven’t talked about already?
Section B: NCS Parents i)
Parent/pupil – did they choose their school because of its music provision?
ii)
Did they seek advice from their primary school or anyone from the music programme about school choice/scholarships? f yes, how useful was that advice? If no, why not?
iii)
If they did apply for a scholarship, how easy was it to locate this information? Any challenges? If so, how did they address this?
v)
Parents – ask them to comment on communication with Secondary school/music teachers
vi)
Ask them to comment on their child’s engagement with music and level of motivation (higher/lower than at primary? What factors have contributed to this?)
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APPENDIX E: Head of Music – interview schedule Firstly I would just like to ask some general questions about the school in particular and the organisation of the music department. So what is the schools yearly intake? How many classroom teachers are employed within the school? How are classroom music lessons allocated in the timetable? And, how do you organise your year 7 lessons? Can you describe a typical lesson? Does the school offer any extra-curricular musical activities? Are the activities offered across all year groups or is it specific to each year group? Do you find that children from year 7, for instance, access, do they join those groups or does it tend to be older year groups. Or is there quite a mix? Are they selective or open to all abilities? What instrumental lessons do you offer, and how many teachers do you employ? Roughly what sorts of numbers play each instrument? So then, a little bit about instrumental provision. How are instrumental lessons organised within the school? And when do these lessons take place? Is there an allocated time? Lesson length? How are the lessons funded? And how quickly after starting Year 7 do pupils generally begin their instrumental lessons? Currently, do you have waiting lists for instrumental lessons? And do they manage to get lessons within that year? Is there a high turnover of instrumental teachers? Can you comment on opportunities for communication between instrumental lesson teachers and classroom teachers. What does the school have in place for pupil access for ICT in music? Ok, now to move on to a little bit about the transfer process. How much musical information do you receive about each child in terms of prior musical experiences/exams etc? What do you think could be done to improve sharing information as children move from primary to secondary? So how do class teachers ascertain which pupils play musical instruments? Do you feel that you receive enough information on each child musically when they start in year 7?
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What are the challenges for music teaching in this school as children transfer from primary to secondary? Does the school offer music scholarships? How many were there? Criteria for applying? How does the school disseminate information about the application process to parents? Would you say music is valued in your school? Is there anything you would like to add?
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