Key findings from Open Orchestras mentoring visits in 2019-20
Open Orchestras is an award-winning, Youth Music funded programme that supports Music Education Hubs, arts organisations and special schools to create and run their own orchestras that are accessible to young disabled people. Through it, young disabled people are provided first access to music education every year, experiencing the benefits of playing an instrument with others and performing for an audience.
In this blog, I’ll look at some key findings emerging out of discussions with Open Orchestras school staff and music leaders during our 58 mentoring visits to 40 special schools in 2019-20 and relate them to the bigger, national picture.
Open Orchestras mentoring - a brief explainer
On a mentoring visit to an Open Orchestra just before lockdown, our CEO Barry and I were treated to a memorable version of ‘Mad World’ by Tears for Fears. It blew us away; on the drive home, we kept finding new aspects of the performance to talk about: the combination of electronic and conventional instruments; the way young people led the performance - all amazing.
Delivering Open Orchestras mentoring sessions is one of the best, if not the best, part of my job, because it involves quality face to face engagement with staff and young musicians. We observe, listen and suggest practical steps to help staff take their delivery to the next level.
These supportive, informal mentoring sessions - two half days per school, per year, sit alongside our more formal evaluation framework, which enables orchestras to track their own progress across each year. Surveys are completed three times per year by orchestra team members and participants, producing three detailed evaluation reports per year. These are great advocacy tools!
In fact, our mentoring and evaluation programme represents, as far as I’m aware, the largest and most in depth year-on-year survey of its kind for special schools and ensembles in England involving roughly:
- 40 Open Orchestras
- 500 disabled young musicians
- 40 Orchestra Leaders (school staff)
- 35 Music Leaders
- ...in 7 regions
Before we dive into the story of our mentoring this year, how does the insight we gather compare to the bigger, national picture?
The importance of growing our collective insight into participation in music by young disabled people
There’s still not enough of it:
2019 research by the Take it away Consortium of leading access to music organisations (including Youth Music) found that no national data existed on levels of participation in music by disabled children. That’s a worrying gap – but people working in the inclusion sector have known this for a number of years. Indeed, this deficit had previously included Ofsted; in 2013, their ‘Music in schools: what hubs must do’ survey report was based on visits to 31 schools - but no special schools - with simple oversight given as the explanation.
One indicator currently available is the number of ‘SEND inclusive ensembles’ cited by Music Education Hubs in the Key Data on Music Education Hubs ('ensembles that are designed specifically to be accessible to and meet the needs of SEND pupils'). Since the introduction of this category in 2015-16, the number of SEND inclusive ensembles has risen, from 582 in 2015-16, to 661 in 2016-17 (latest figure available).
That’s an average of 5.5 SEND ensembles per music hub, and on the face of it, encouraging news. However, this figure seems high to many colleagues I speak to, based on anecdotal knowledge and may reflect inconsistencies in how this indicator is interpreted/ recorded by different Music Education Hubs. In addition, the 2017 Key Data return reported a decrease in both pupil premium and SEN pupils learning through Whole Class Ensemble Teaching (WCET).
Meanwhile, the Short Guide to Accessible Music Education currently lists 13 disabled-led ensembles in the UK, all meriting further investigation and promotion. The guide also features a section listing a selection of research and reports around participation in music education for young disabled people.
The above is just a snapshot. Please get in touch with other sources of data for this area! Returning now to our Open Orchestras mentoring visits in 2019-20…
Open Orchestras mentoring visits – successes and challenges reported
As part of the notes we take at each mentoring visit, we ask staff about their successes and challenges delivering Open Orchestras The data below is taken from 58 mentoring visits in 2019-20, down from the expected 80 visits, due to Covid-19.
Successes
When we asked all orchestra staff about what was going well, the three most commonly given answers were:
- Individual participants and/ or the whole group making progress (31 mentions)
- Participants are ‘engaged’, ‘confident’ or ‘motivated’ by Open Orchestras; or show positive behaviour during sessions (29 mentions)
- The Music Leader and Orchestra Leader (School staff) are supportive of each other and/or show great teamwork (18 mentions)
(1) In our experience, many of the young musicians taking part in Open Orchestras are engaging with playing an instrument or taking part in an ensemble for the first time. The progress and gains are commonly very fast for them – exciting first times - with staff commenting on how young people thrive with music when they might be at the same time struggling in other areas of school life.
(2) As young musicians experience enjoyment and challenge through music making, they commonly show increasing levels of engagement - how long they can take part, for example, and more personal confidence in showing what they can do. Some young people are motivated to start playing an instrument at home as well as in school.
(3) All of this is made possible by the duo of Music Leader (usually employed by the local hub) and Orchestra Leader (school staff) working together supportively on Open Orchestras. We provide four one-day training events for our orchestras in their first year. For some Music Leaders, it may be the first time they’ve worked in a special school; for some school staff, it may be a non-music specialist e.g. teaching assistant, who is leading for the school.
Finding approaches to co-delivery that work for staff and open up opportunities and enjoyment for the young musicians, takes time but is enormously satisfying and productive when achieved. Workforce development in this area is crucial – there is a shortfall in accredited training around SEND and music education generally.
There were 24 more individual success headings that I collated from the mentoring notes - but for brevity, and to hopefully keep you reading(!), the next three most common successes were:
- Participants demonstrating control and/or intent playing their instrument (12 mentions)
- Participant achievement (11 mentions)
- Good facilitation skills by staff (6 mentions)
Challenges
When we asked orchestra staff about what was not going well, there were three top themes:
- Pressure on school staffing of their orchestra e.g. staff being taken away from sessions to cover other things (17 mentions)
- Problems with music tech (14 mentions)
- Wider school timetabling not working in favour of orchestra sessions (12 mentions)
(1) and (3): Against a backdrop of music’s diminishing status in the school curriculum generally in recent years, it’s no surprise to see points 1 and 3 here. Pressure on staffing and timetabling have been a key challenge for many years. Many special schools have seen significant increases in the number of students but not an increase in funding from the government. Providing a consistent member of staff and room for orchestra rehearsals is therefore a big commitment and ongoing challenge for many special schools, but one that bears fruit (see ‘successes’!).
We need to redouble the great advocacy work of recent years around the benefits of music education to keep special schools and headteachers on board.
(2) Open Orchestras comes with licenses to the award-winning Clarion. It’s an award-winning accessible instrument available on iPad and PC. Working seamlessly with assistive technology, it can be played with any part of the body including the eyes. Every participant in Open Orchestras are encouraged to play their instrument expressively and independently whether it’s an electronic instrument like the Clarion or a conventional instrument e.g. guitars, drums, violins etc.
Challenges with music tech tend to be non-musical in nature: from a school’s firewall blocking the downloading of an iPad instrument app to a regular turnover of staff who’ve only just learnt how to use the music tech owned by a school. It also tends to be ‘confidence not competence’
And yet…music tech clearly feels like a real barrier to many staff (mentioned in 25% of our mentoring visits) and so we must all continue to work to ‘demystify’ this area of work.
Lastly…the next three highest responses for challenges were as follows:
- Limited time for reflection/ note taking/ setting up/down (11 mentions)
- Cramped rehearsal space/ inadequate soundproofing (9 mentions)
- Challenging behaviour and/ or group dynamics (8 mentions)
(4) Limited time is crucial: Some music leaders can find themselves working in special schools on back to back sessions, often with large groups.
This approach – quantity over quality - leaves no time to reflect or make notes, and usually limits the quality of experience and progress for young people, many with significant individual needs. Staff can find themselves tired and a little demoralised at times! In 2012, a consultation for teachers/ young disabled people and their parents by Drake Music found that lack of time for teachers to plan/ prepare was seen as a more significant barrier to disabled young musicians playing music than the nature of their disability/ impairment.
A key piece of guidance from us to our new Open Orchestras is to timetable for a full day for their orchestra, with some of that time ringfenced as non-contact; and to start with one-to-one or pairs work for the first few months, to give participants time and space to develop and explore instruments.
Finally, let’s start a conversation
Knowledge is power: the more data we can start to collate, interrogate and share around, about but also from disabled young musicians and music educators, the better the opportunities and outcomes for all. It’s essential so that the discussion can become more nuanced and strategy better targeted.
Q: How can key music inclusion organisations better collaborate and share their research and knowledge?
Playing in an ensemble can be a transformative experience for any young person. There is compelling evidence of the benefits.
Q: Shouldn’t inclusive ensembles be happening in every special school in the country?
Whilst the successes or challenges will also sound familiar to those in mainstream settings, high-quality music inclusion work does often require additional funding to ensure equality of opportunity.
Q: Can a refreshed National Plan for Music Education take account of increased funding formulas for inclusion work? Is it simply about more money - or are there other factors?
Both Music Education Hubs and schools are now facing unprecedented challenges to keep the music going in 2020-21. Special schools must not be be forgotten. They have only recently begun to feature more prominently, and it’s crucial that gains aren’t lost.
Ensuring students with the least access to music education enjoy equal opportunities to participate is a benchmark of a successful, forward thinking sector - towards a musically inclusive England and UK.