Youth Music Initiative (YMI) - 2011/12
What's Happening in Angus?
- Kodaly
- Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy
- Days of Song
- Rock and Celtic Music
- Horn Club
- Musical Futures
- Primary Schools
- Figurenotes
Kodaly
Through Creative Scotland's formula funding, we aim to offer an instrumental or vocal experience to all Angus children by the time they reach P6. In Angus, we achieve this largely through our Kodaly programme.
Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967) was a Hungarian composer, musicologist and music educator. He believed that music education should happen through singing.
We have a highly skilled Kodaly team in Angus who artfully hide music theory and musicianship in singing games and physical activities. This contributes a major music education role supporting Curriculum for Excellence.
Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy
We work in partnership with Nordoff Robbins to provide music therapy in various schools. We are fortunate to have Mary Veal who works in conjunction with our ASN support team at the Montrose Road Centre in Forfar, to provide musical enrichment in this highly specialist teaching environment.
Days of Song
The days of song will fundamentally change this year.
We are hoping to have premier Scottish traditional music group Breabach to do a day of folk singing workshop for Primary school children.
The quality of Breabach's work is already known to us through their inspiring workshops with pupils at Brechin High School.
We are also looking at themed days with the possibility of live bands for S1-3 and S4-6 days.
Rock and Celtic Music
In 2009, we started some exciting new projects to open up wider participation and access to more genres of music for secondary school children:
- Jazz-Ed
- Celtic Music and Angus Schools Pipe band
- Rock College
The Jazz-Ed project has been suspended in its evening class form and funds redirected to training.
Rock College continues weekly at Arbroath Academy with Mirek Hodun leading sessions of all hues of rock music.
Mirek and Steven Gibbon made an enormous contribution to the Angus Schools Rock festival in June at Brechin City Hall. This provided a platform for the Rock College mentored groups to showcase their work and talent.
Katherine Liley runs the Celtic Music project and took her group to a workshop in Perth with Patsy Reid in May 2010. Maureen Jelks has also done workshops on Scots song. The kids have now formed their own group SKIRDECHAL, produce their own newsletter.
In June 2012 Skirdechal recorded a CD which they hope to release in the near future.
Horn Club
In May 2010, we started a primary horn club in the Montrose cluster. We hope to swell the ranks of the Angus Schools Orchestra in around 6 years time (a long term project!) but in the meantime, we want to offer 'something completely different' and enjoyable as an after-school club. Julie Smith, one of our brass instructors, undertook some CPD in French Horn playing with Hugh Potts who teaches at the RSAMD. We now have around 12 kids taking part and have sent all spare French Horns to Montrose for those who want to slip over into mainstream instrumental instruction.
We also use YMI money to provide workshops, buying equipment and training staff to produce a music experience for as many children as possible in future years.
This project continues in 2011-12.
Musical Futures
We are running a Musical Futures project in Arboath Academy supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and YMI funding. This is based around teaching rock music in a class setting.
Music teachers David Hall and Marina Kyle undertook a two day course in Livingston in May 2011 in preparation for the new session. YMI funds also supported the acquisition of new equipment necessary to carrying out the project.
This is an exciting way to learn music and addresses the Angus Council priorities of higher order thinking skills and skills fro learning life and work. These skills are acquired whatever genre of music is used.
Further information available on the Musical Futures website.
Primary Schools
Our priority this year is to get as much music into our rural schools as possible. This will be done through guitar, ukulele, moothy, ocarina and recorder projects. Anything goes here.
Each project ideally consists of supplying necessary instruments and equipment, providing motivating workshops for children and CPD for staff.
These projects must be sustainable and support independent and non-formal learning. Children are encouraged to follow up workshops by exploring online resources and forming groups of their own.
Aberlemno Primary School piloted this model successfully and produced a workable child-centered template. Their showcase performance in June 2011 demonstrated happy and achieving children, very comfortable with their music identities. Heart warming doesn't describe such tiny learners [P1-3] playing their ukuleles!