Inclusive Music Making – A Change of Plan by Judith Finlay
As the pandemic forced schools to close in March 2020 and almost all West Sussex Music staff were furloughed, our Orchestras Inc. project ground to a sudden halt. To date, Autumn 2019 had seen our team of skilled musicians successfully deliver a series of in-school workshops culminating in a performance. Spring 2020 saw the start of another series of in-school workshops, cut short by COVID-19 and then for several months … nothing.
Determined to continue musical engagement with our special schools and provide a way of being part of a bigger musical community, face to face or online, a change of direction and skill set were required! Perhaps this was an opportunity to think outside the box about how we could engage as many young people and their families as possible through interactive and uplifting experiences. Something that would bring schools together to make music and that wouldn’t be possible in ‘normal’ circumstances.
In November 2020 an invitation went out to all special schools in the County, asking them to join us on a journey of exploration and creativity by responding to the music of Steve Reich and using his writing style to inspire their own compositions. Inspired by BBC Ten Pieces, ‘Take One Piece’ was to focus on ‘Music for 18 Musicians’, a composition that focuses on minimal parts - beats, rhythms and pulses with slowly changing and repeating patterns.
Staying true to the original remit of Orchestras Inc. to develop inclusive music making, there was a great opportunity here for us to consult with the young people, parents and carers and the schools involved throughout the project to get feedback and suggestions about how to continue with inclusive music making once the project is completed. Although the focus of the project was very much on the process rather than the product, we all agreed that it would be lovely for schools to share their work with a wider audience. To this end, schools would be encouraged to communicate with each other during the project to share progress and ideas and a recording of a final version of their composition would be shared with other participating schools, featured on our website, as part of our Spring Presentation and shared with our sponsors, Youth Music.
Plans were put into place, making allowances for the possibility that sessions may need to be delivered online, and schools signed up to start the project in January 2021.
And then, as the Spring term started, so did another lockdown and schools once again closed to the majority of children. Now, more than ever, music provision for young people and their families was vitally important. How could we connect with young people learning in school and at home at the same time? We decided to push back the creative response to Music for 18 Musicians and instead planned an interim ‘resource and skills gathering’ phase.
Special schools across the County have been engaging in weekly Zoom singing sessions with West Sussex Music partner Emily Barden, to allow us to build relationships with our participating young people and to get everyone accustomed to working live and online. The uptake has been encouraging and it has been great to watch young people become more and more enthusiastic and engaged as the weeks go on. We can see that they are anticipating the format of the sessions and preparing themselves accordingly, e.g. standing up ready to sing at the start and arriving with percussion instruments in hand.
This week schools begin their online live workshops with our music leaders, who include West Sussex Music staff and partner organisations West Sussex Sings, World Music Workshops and HurlyBurly Theatre. The young people will explore pattern in the workshop sessions, but not necessarily musical patterns – that bit will come later when they work with their leader to convert their sounds, paintings, photographs etc. into music during the summer term. For now, these young people are on a journey of exploration, gathering observations, information and creative ideas to use further down the line.
Although this project is still in its early stages, there are aspects around online learning that have already given us food for thought, specifically which positive aspects of this platform might be beneficial to sustain post Covid. There is certainly the potential to open up opportunities for young people to come together to explore and enjoy music making in ways that the limitations of geography, travel and time tend to restrict.
judith.finlay@westsussexmusic.co.uk