A Plethora of Partnerships

The title of this article is taken from East Ayrshire's citation at the National Music Council's Local Education Authority Music Awards Ceremony when the Music Service was once again presented with a Diploma of Merit. The event took place in November 2008 at the British Phonographic Industry premises, County Hall, Westminster Bridge, London.

The Awards Panel commented "East Ayrshire, a particularly small Authority,  demonstrated strength in depth and breadth. Imagination and creativity were on display throughout and nowhere more so than through a near plethora of partnerships and collaborations which enabled the skills and talents of professional musicians to be drawn upon in abundance. Singing was well established with good opportunities for choral development........"

In recent years the Music Service has been continually developing curricular partnership opportunities for pupils of all ages and during the current academic session we have welcomed both new and regular visitors to the authority. Most of these projects have been funded (either partly or fully) through the Youth Music Initiative programme.

In September 08, Kidsamonium, the award winning music creativity show for children devised and led by Tom Bancroft, co-founder of ABC Creative Music with twin brother Phil, descended on Kilmarnock!  Over 700 P 4 & P5 pupils and staff were introduced to larger-than-life musical characters by Tom Bancroft in Elvis regalia as "The King" and heard swing, blues and folk-jazz performed by 6 of the UK’s leading jazz musicians wearing colourful costumes. In addition to the adult musicians, the Kilmarnock Academy Jazz Band featured as the “Chicken Gang” who invaded the proceedings, playing loudly, from time to time! Prior to the event Phil Bancroft led 2 preparatory workshops for the Jazz Band. During the concert, which was a huge success and greatly enjoyed by all who attended, the audience listened to amazing feats of musicianship and participated in a massed kazoo call & response session as well as a giant percussion jam. On the afternoon of the concert day a Masterclass presented by 4 of the musicians enthralled pupils who receive brass and woodwind tuition. East Ayrshire was one of only a small number of local authorities invited to participate in this interactive event supported by the Scottish Arts Council through the Youth Music Initiative. Later in the school session Phil led further workshops for the authority Big Band and performed with them at the annual Spring Spectacular Concert.

The P4 ABC Creative Music Resource Pack is used by almost half of East Ayrshire primary schools to achieve the YMI "P6 Target". The scheme has been extended each session through support from the council's YMI programme and now many of these schools also use the infant packs and several have introduced the scheme at all stages. A further development has been the introduction of Global Citizenship Through Music in 12 primaries and 4 secondaries. GCTM is a unique cross-curricular music resource for P6 - S2 pupils which meets the vision of Curriculum for Excellence. Lesson material includes world grooves from 4 different countries, ICT, PSD, Global Citizenship, Enterprise, Creativity & Performance. In session 09/10 a World Music pack for pupils studying Music at Standard Grade will be piloted in 4 secondaries and a Singing Pack for P5/P6 pupils will be piloted in 4 primaries. 
 

Scottish Opera is another of the national organisations with whom we are privileged to work. Primary

Schools’ Tours are designed to help teachers deliver core elements of the curriculum such as

citizenship, social studies, science and literacy as well as providing an introduction to opera. Each

project allows up to one hundred pupils to participate.  Schools receive a teaching pack, a vocal

workshop several weeks before the main event and full day visit which culminates in a choreographed,

costumed performance. In 2008 there were five performances of First Class: Passport to Paris. Set

within the confines of the airport departure lounge, this fast-paced tale (for pupils in P5, 6 & 7) is full of

fun and features songs in a variety of languages including Scots and French. One of the schools

involved in Passport to Paris was invited to trial a new show for P3 & P4. Way Out West! 
is a rollicking

adventure set against the backdrop of nineteenth century America's wild frontier in which a colourful,

costumed cast of gold prospectors, frontiers people, cowboys and Native Americans band together to

teach the US Cavalry a thing or two!
 
In the spring term of 2009 
two primaries jointly participated in

performance workshops of 1719! 
This tale of Jacobite rebellion, Spanish allies and Hanoverian armies

is sung in three languages: English, Spanish and Scots Gaelic and supports the teaching of European

languages as part of the primary curriculum. The summer term of session 08/09 concluded with

performances of Auntie Janet Saves The Planet attended by around 300 pupils aged 5 – 7 years. This

magical, interactive musical tale features live performance, film animation and puppetry, and transports

the audience into the woodland world of Auntie Janet and her forest friends. The characters they meet

along the way include some of Scotland’s endangered species and Auntie Janet and the audience (in

the role of water voles) must help them to save their homes.  

Secondary pupils have also had opportunities to benefit from the expertise of projects offered by Scottish Opera Education. Professional singers gave Masterclasses for senior pupils who were working towards Higher Music and Advanced Higher Music as vocal candidates. Pupils sang a prepared song in front of their peers, which they intended performing at their practical exam, and were given advice on how to improve technique and presentation, so all were learning from the feedback. Some singers showed significant improvement during the session. Staff also found these sessions extremely helpful. 

5:15 Opera Made in Scotland, a project for secondary pupils which is being offered in partnership with Learning and Teaching Scotland, is now in its second year. It provides a unique opportunity for young people aged 14 -17 years to explore professions within the Creative Industries and learn about possible career opportunities as well as accessing the work of a national company. The young people who are selected require to be self-confident and to have a proven interest in any aspect of the performing arts, from technical to performance. Within Curriculum for Excellence, the project covers both the Expressive Arts and Technologies curricular areas. The pupils were invited to attend several different types of rehearsals for some of the five mini operas - each was fifteen minutes long, hence the title 5:15. Sessions included: i) a Production Call working through the staging of the piece; ii) a Stage/Orchestra music rehearsal; iii) discussion sessions involving composers, singers, and the director about how contemporary opera is created, rehearsed and produced;  iv) tours of backstage, wardrobe and make-up departments, which everyone found very interesting. These have been exciting and enlightening experiences for the pupils who participated.  

In September 2008 a number of primary teachers and students (including eight from East Ayrshire) embarked on a 9 month Pilot Programme Hitting the High Notes: Opera as a Creative Tool for Teaching. The objectives of the programme are: 

• To introduce the participants to the operatic repertoire from established great composers such as Mozart to 20th century contemporary works and to highlight the excellence of Scottish Opera’s work.
• To challenge, inform and encourage discussion about the different ways opera in Scotland is produced and to promote knowledge and disseminate awareness of the art form at all levels amongst the teaching profession and, by extension, to their pupils.
• To forge a link in the perception of the course members between ‘high’ performance arts and the arts as an accessible, valuable and meaningful aspect of ‘ordinary’ people’s lives.

 

Teacher sessions took place in the evenings and at weekends, mostly at the company’s Production Studios in Glasgow with performances of the main company in the Theatre Royal or performances of Essential Scottish Opera in regional venues. Activities such as 'Creating an opera in a day’ covered singing, stage rehearsals, costuming and performing.  Research and activity tasks were set for the teachers to report back at a subsequent session. Participants also attended three different productions from main-scale in large theatres to small-scale in community venues.  These performance events incorporated pre-performance talks from experts in the field, backstage tours and the opportunity to meet performers and other theatre professionals in addition to attending the shows. In addition, a specialist worked with every teacher in school for a one-on-one session. The culmination of the year’s course was a Weekend Performance Residency which drew together resources, skill building, information sharing, evaluation assignments and a performance. Feedback from course members has been very positive.

Masterworks is the well-established Scottish Chamber Orchestra Education project for pupils studying music at Standard Grade through to Advanced Higher level which has had huge success in engaging young audiences by stimulating their active listening and challenging the notion that contemporary classical music is ‘difficult’. Masterworks aims to give pupils an insider’s view into the make-up and composition of established masterpieces through preparatory workshops and a concert performance. The 2008 project focused on how two composers - Vivaldi and Thea Musgrave - tackled the representation of the seasons in music. The examination of the works offered compositional tools and techniques which could be adapted for use with, and by, young composers in the classroom. 

Following a hands-on teachers’ session at which the repertoire was introduced, two players from the orchestra visited participating secondary schools, introducing themselves and their instruments to the young people and engaging them in activities relating to some of the sounds and concepts used in the music. The culmination of the project was a concert in Kilmarnock’s Grand Hall with the full SCO, conductor Nicholas Kraemer and young Russian violin sensation Alina Ibragimova. Presenter Paul Rissmann led a ‘guided tour’ of two movements from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and two movements from The Seasons by the Scottish-born contemporary composer Thea Musgrave focusing on contrasting repertoire inspired by the common theme of the seasons of the year in music. Aided by screen presentation and full orchestra, Paul explained concepts relevant to the repertoire and the music curriculum, and indicated points to listen out for. This was followed by a full concert performance of the pieces in the second half of the concert to an audience of 350 most attentive young people from both South and East Ayrshire.  
 

Drake Music Scotland believes in making music accessible to all. Their musicians work in special 
and mainstream schools across 
Scotland bringing music-making opportunities to children and young people with disabilities including those who are unable to play conventional instruments and training teachers in how to use the latest in “virtual instrument” technology.

Switch on to Music: During session 08/09 Drake Associate Musicians delivered music projects in four of East Ayrshire's ASN establishments and provided teacher training sessions based around new training materials. The objectives were to consolidate the sustainable approach developed over recent years and to build on teachers’ confidence and skills to ensure that the music technology resources are well and regularly used to support creative music-making in the schools.

 

In session 09/10, Drake will pilot Figurenotes, a new music notation system, in another special school. It will also be introduced in a secondary school and the primary schools within one Learning Partnership by East Ayrshire's YMI Support Tutor with the aims of raising musical literacy and supporting Primary - Secondary transition in music.  
 

Another large-scale event during this past session was MusicQuest. The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts teamed up with Classic FM Music Makers and Yamaha Music UK to create an exciting project called MusicQuest.  

The aims of MusicQuest are to: 

• Excite and inspire children about orchestral music, giving them the opportunity to see one of the UK’s best orchestras live in an appropriately inspiring venue.
• Encourage children to play and listen to classical music for pleasure in the medium and long term through getting to know the music, the musicians and the stories around the music.
• Encourage participants to play music for pleasure and help to develop future audiences for classical orchestral music.
• Support teachers involved in the MusicQuest project, encouraging them to use music in their day-to-day teaching practice.

 

The project began in November 2008 with a CPD day and culminated in February 2009. On the morning of the concert, members of the world renowned Philharmonia Orchestra visited the participating schools to lead workshops which included an opportunity for pupils to try different instruments, kindly supplied by Yamaha Music UK. Later that day in the Grand Hall, Kilmarnock (the only Scottish venue on the tour) almost 400 pupils from East Ayrshire primaries joined some schools from South Ayrshire to listen to the Philharmonia Orchestra presenting an hour long concert, which introduced them to classical, orchestral music in an accessible and enjoyable way. Each pupil received a copy of “Classic FM The Incredible Story of Classical Music for Children" by Darren Henley. This was a really exciting opportunity for East Ayrshire primary schools to participate in a quality national project. 
 

Another 'first' for East Ayrshire was a collaboration with the Scottish Ensemble.  Musical Hats is an exciting new music project for nursery school children devised by the Scottish Ensemble and created by composer Dee Isaacs, a world musician, composer and music educator who also runs the Music in the Community course at Edinburgh University. The aims of this unique project were to work with Early Years establishments to promote positive attitudes towards cultural diversity by focusing on music from around the world. The project was launched in October 2008 with a CPD session for staff from the 10 participating establishments. A further CPD session was held in March 2009. During May 2009 Creative Director, Dee, along with a team of world musicians, Scottish Ensemble musicians and trainees, delivered a series of in-school workshops for the children. These activities aimed to enhance and develop the music-making already taking place in nurseries and to provide additional training for staff. 

 

The culmination of Musical Hats was 2 concerts in the Grand Hall on 4 June 2009 performed by the Scottish Ensemble and guest musicians from West Africa and Poland. The invitation given to all those present was “Put on your hat and join the musicians of the Scottish Ensemble as they travel the world exploring music from across the seas and over the moon.” Each concert, which was attended by around 150 children in their pre-school year, was a spectacular sharing experience with Dee, the world musicians and the whole Scottish Ensemble and a dazzling performance of songs, music and, of course, musical hats! We were delighted to have the opportunity to be one of only three councils involved in this specially designed project.  
 

During session 08/09 we were pleased to welcome back John and Marcia Dirkie of Beats of Brazil. In the previous session they had led Samba workshops for around 90 upper primary pupils in preparation for participation in the 1000-strong Samba Band which performed in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall as part of the Tapestry conference Learning and teaching ...and all that jazz. Over 400 pupils have participated in a series of workshops held in 7 primary schools and 2 bands drawn from these schools, led by John and Marcia, have performed to great acclaim at 2 authority concerts. 
 

For several years the Instrumental Music Service has worked in conjunction with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama’s Youthworks (Music) Programme to offer tuition in fiddle, bodrhan, whistle, accordion and Scot’s song through a Saturday morning Traditional Music Centre. 
 

2 commissioned works reflecting elements of the Homecoming have featured at annual authority concerts. Alan Fernie who is well known in brass band circles throughout the UK and beyond as a conductor, teacher, adjudicator and nowadays primarily as a writer, was invited to compose a piece for brass band and secondary mixed voice choir.  The 4 movements of A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time illustrated different aspects of life in Ayrshire including the mining heritage, the railways and the Covenanters. Gavin Reid, who composes in many genres and styles and in recent times has worked in music education, was commissioned to write a tribute to Robert Burns for the East Ayrshire Primary Schools' Choir as part of the council's Homecoming celebrations. The choir was joined for the première of Welcome Home! by 30 children from Northern Ireland and Norway, who had rehearsed independently after a brief introduction to the music by the conductor, who made a short visit to each country.   

Collaborative projects mentioned above range from links with established national companies to individual freelance musicians, providing experiences which varied from jazz and samba to modern opera and, along the way, have involved over 4000 pupils, from children aged 4 to young people aged 18. 
 
 

Dorothy Lees, Expressive Arts Development Officer, Creative Minds Team, East Ayrshire Council