Demystifying concepts of SEN and breaking down barriers – how the tour has impacted

I have recently delivered a project that established, rehearsed and toured a rock and pop band that comprised 6th form students from Two Rivers High school in Tamworth.  The band toured nearly 20 primary schools and one high school in the local area.   Two Rivers is a special school and so all band members have special educational needs.  The challenges that the young people face are wide ranging.  The schools in which the group performed had only a very general idea of what we would be presenting and so the scale and quality of the performances were generally a nice surprise I think. 

As a music leader I have a very strong belief in making music as relevant to young people's experience as possible.  You have to support the development of a love for music in a musical language that resonates for young people.  This is no different in a special school to any other mainstream context.  The young people at Two Rivers like the same songs, games and fashions as any other young people.  We based our song choices (in part) around this.  When we took this material out to our performances the overwhelming feeling was one of a shared identity between performers and audience, of young people who love to sing the same songs.  Suddenly, there were no barriers between audience and performers.  The band were respected and admired for their ability, confidence and professionalism.  Their status as young people who attend a special school was not relevant.  Their struggles in learning an instrument and their resilience in overcoming the fear of performance are the same experiences that every young person will face.  Audience members had the opportunity to ask our band questions and our band were able to shine in terms of their knowledge and ability to answer the questions. 

The impact of the tour on both the host schools and and our performers was overwhelmingly positive.  I think that the performance surprised host school staff, both in terms of the way of working but also in terms of the quality of the performance.  For our young people, it didn't look like it but to stand on the stage, week after week and sing and speak in front of a crowd of anything between 60 and 120 people, was the culmination of an incredible growth in confidence, a feeling of being equal and accepted.