Stop, Don't... the music?

The other day Anita Holford posted this question on the MINC Facebook page - Don't stop the music C4 - what did you think? How does this relate to your Musical Inclusion work? http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dont-stop-the-music

So it watched the first episode an my immediate thoughts were...

So far this programme seems well meaning but very naive with the usual distortion lens applied by TV. The programme has shown the most basic of music projects with very little imagination with James Rhodes making the most basic of organisational errors on his journey of discovery. The political message also seems poorly researched and quite muddled. I wa very disappointed to see how the instruments are going to be distributed (see the website). James and his team have chosen the schools with the greatest need and commitment. This includes only 1 school in the whole of Wales. I'm waiting to see how this pans out but I'm not sure that this really helps the cause of musical inclusion or music hubs. At best it seems that more children may have access to instruments. I'm not sure that idea deserves 2 hours on Channel 4.

I was then led to this article exploring the matter further from a primary teacher's perspective - http://primarymusicmatters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/dont-stop-music-starti...

I had to force myself to watch the second episode for it it would be more of the same.

I've seen the whole thing now and while it reinforces the positive benefits of making music the whole things seemed like 'music education for beginners'. The programme inadvertently insulted a competent group of junk percussionists by suggested how much better they would be if they could access proper instruments like strings, woodwind and brass with no thought to offering them proper percussion or even a more creative approach to junk percussion as shown by Stomp or the amazing Afro Lata group from Rio. Running large scale percussion groups using plastic buckets has some distinct benefits as the olympic opening ceremony organisers would attest to. The biggest benefit is the reduced need for earplugs and a room far away from people who need peace and quiet! James Rhodes final conclusions seemed to be that the solution to the aspirations posed in the National Plan for music is more complex than he thought and that hubs need to be more imaginative in their approach than they have been in the past and that James was in his own programme.

Enter Musical Inclusion. I was very pleased to see YM's new funding programme when it was announced along with Matt Griffiths peice in the guardian 

http://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-profess...

This has set YM out at the forefront of a constructive challenge to the poor implementation of the vision set out for hubs. Rather than waiting for music services to adapt and adopt more creative practices, YM has set out a vision for musical inclusion in a much more succinct and compelling way than James Rhodes.  Youth Music could do with 2 hours of Channel 4 air time and some celebrity endorsement to help get this vision over to a wider audience. My feeling is that C4 may have left an uninformed audience with a misconception that music education is in a terrible state and urgent action is needed by a Jamie Oliver type celeb. This is not the case. The sector is in a state of flux but there are many clear and agreed objectives. The problem is in the implementation and lack of respect afforded to many non-classical approaches or programmes that place creatvity before virtuosity. 

I'm currently waiting on tenterhooks for the response to Readipop's huge Fund C bid for a musical inclusion programme that would see our Urban Orchestra model working in partnership with 5 hubs and many more partner non-formal orgs and individuals in what I like to think of as a real hub partnership.

If we get the response we hope for perhaps I'll give James Rhodes a call and invite him to follow our progress. Judging by the imagination showed so far it would blow his mind!