FEATURE: MUSIC & THE PERFORMING ARTS
the opportunity to put it on live one day While I have not yet been able to produce the live concert, I have had the opportunity to develop Musistories into workshops. Each year, Cheltenham Music Festival offers schools around Gloucester the chance to experience two different music workshops. After being approached by Pip Claridge from Cheltenham Festivals, I decided to use this opportunity to expand Musistories into the classroom. We created a brand-new story following Royal the dog along many mischievous adventures. During these workshops, children had the chance to sing, clap and dance along to his adventures. These child-led sessions were an opportunity for the classes to experience creative music making whilst exploring essential foundations to music such as pulse, dynamics, pitch and tempo.
The narrative of the three stories were led by Royal, a naughty dog who gets himself into all sorts of trouble. Royal led the children through a story where he stole some sausages from a local butcher, one where he got his newly groomed fur all muddy, and one where he ran away from me in the park. During each anecdote, there were opportunities to work on the different building blocks of music. For example, when Royal was running away with the sausages, we used the puppet to explore pulse and tempo as he ran away at different speeds. After Royal had visited the hairdressers, we explored body percussion and dynamics by creating a loud thunderstorm. Finally, when I lost Royal in the park, we used the idea of pitch to create music based on things such as a playpark, football pitches and the pond. I was able to visit ten different primary schools across five days in the summer term of 2021. I led classes of KS1 children across a mixture of special schools and mainstream schools. It was particularly targeted at schools who have limited access to regular music education. Music is a
vital part of a young person’s education, and it has been proven to increase students’ academic successes in core subjects such as reading, writing and mathematics. Furthermore, it can be used to develop social skills such as teamwork, communication and expressing emotions. In addition to this, and perhaps most importantly, it is fun! This is one of the reasons Cheltenham Music Festival’s workshop scheme is so essential, by reaching out to schools that simply do not have the resources to support music. I also feel a responsibility as a harpist to introduce the harp to as many people as possible. The harp is an inaccessible instrument for many reasons; it is expensive, awkward to transport and difficult to play. Nonetheless, it is an incredible instrument which produces a unique sound, often described as therapeutic. The harp is often tucked away at the back of an orchestra. For children to find themselves within a workshop
Image courtesy of Alderman Knight School
led by this instrument in the centre of the room is very special.
As I continue down my path post-graduation, I am still developing new teaching practices and skills. I enjoy working at Warwick Preparatory School and Kings High School where I teach individual harp students from Year’s 2-11. I enjoy teaching young people at the Junior Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. I also am the current Learning Co-ordinator for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (maternity cover) where I project manage their out-of-school workshops. As well as these regular positions, I am always going out of my way to make music as inclusive as possible by performing across the Midlands. I am particularly interested in developing my skillset within special schools and other vulnerable communities. It is my goal to continue to use music to help make positive changes in young people’s lives.
November 2022
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