by Author GwynethLamb

Published on

You are here:

'Making it work'…to support children living in a diverse community. Practice sharing film 7

How do you use Musical Inclusion to support children living in diverse communities, encouraging further integration between various age groups, cultures, religion and ethnicity?

‘Musical Inclusion – Making it Work’

A series of films sharing practice, reflections and experience of Musical Inclusion from Teesside.

Making it work…to support children living in diverse communities.

Apollo Arts, through funding from musinc, ran an after school club at St Joseph’s Primary School working with children from Year 2 to Year 6. The aim was to use thematic songwriting to encourage participation, confidence building and teamwork amongst the diverse group.

The children learnt how to play instruments, studied recording techniques and rhythm, and wrote lyrics culminating in the song ‘Better Together’ which they performed to teachers and family at the end of the project. 

 

 

 

 

What we learned:

Interactions can have different impacts on participants  – Apollo Arts were working not only with different cultures but quite a wide age range.  Their sessions impacted on the children in different ways. For the older children, who had more musical experience, the project was more about the task in hand, the writing of the song and delivering the performance. For the younger children, who were perhaps enjoying their first read exposure to musical education, they really wanted to build on the ideas they put forward and learn new things. Everyone’s confidence developed as a result of working on a common goal.

Subtle direction led to increased awareness of cultural and generational similarities as well as the benefits of team work – The way the sessions were led, in a very open, collaborative manner encouraged real enthusiasm, with the children working together to write a song about how they felt about the diverse community they live in and the things they all have in common – ‘Better Together’.   The children generated the ideas and the song was created from their discussions.

Music can change perceptions  - By discussing the topics and ideas they had for the song the children discovered an increasing amount of thoughts, feelings and experiences that they share.  Moments like this can help improve understanding in diverse communities.

 

Watch 'Making it work'…to improve leadership skills and raise confidence in young women here

Watch 'Making it work'…to raise aspirations & awareness of routes into the music industry here

Watch 'Making it work'…in a diverse community here

Watch 'Making it work'…with young offenders here

Watch 'Making it work'…in an area of rural isolation here

Watch 'Making it work'…in a pupil referral unit here

Watch our compilation film, which includes elements of 10 projects commissioned by musinc here