Open School Orchestra - Zakir's Journey
As we reach the end of the first year of Open School Orchestras in Cornwall, its time for some reflection on the journey so far. The project has seen the first Open School Orchestras (OSO) start in Cornwall for young people with special educational needs or disabilities. The short film below gives some insight into the effect the project has had on one individual - a remarkable musician with autism who has found a voice through music.
There are many individual journeys of discovery and learning in the two Open School Orchestras we've been running in Pencalenick school, and the ARK (the SEN/D unit in Richard Lander School).
In the film below you can see Zakir's journey across 9 months of the project. He has very limited verbal communication (fairly monosyllabic, other than quoting film/TV characters). But he's developed sophisticated musical communication. He hadn't played an instrument before, but orchestra quickly became the highlight of his week. The head teacher commented that Zakir started interacting socially in school this year, which he hadn't done much before. And it's apparent that he's exploring creativity in ever-expanding ways.
Research by OpenUp Music found that whilst almost every mainstream secondary school has an orchestra or large ensemble, almost no special schools had them. The OSO movement was set up to remedy this, and OpenUp Music are now supporting dozens of schools and settings across England. This not only gives young disabled musicians the opportunity to experience all the joys and benefits of playing in an ensemble, but is part of a bigger picture - to put in place the progression routes allowing these young people to fulfill their potential. OpenUp Music have created the South West Open Youth Orchestra, and will be launching the National Open Youth Orchestra in 2018. This will provide a pathway for those young musicians such as Zakir who might choose to take their music further, after their first introduction to music in OSOs. You can find out more here:
This project has been run by Cornwall Music Service Trust, with funding from Youth Music and Cornwall Music Education Hub.