The Smart Guide to Resourcing Music Education.
Ask any music teacher and they will usually say that they wish they had more resources.
Ask any music teacher and they will usually say that they wish they had more resources. And it is a fact that most departments do not have the space or the equipment they ideally require. Most of us have never had, and never will have, a sufficient budget allocation for our needs.
So rather than hoping for extra funding to magically appear from nowhere, we need to focus on how we can best use the finite resources and budgets at our disposal. Here are a few thoughts:
Students doing different things at the same time
Why is this a smart idea? First, consider this. I don’t think I have ever been in a classroom where every child has had a working keyboard. The odds are stacked against you. You will never have 30 fully functioning keyboards – never have 30 working adaptors – never have 30 working headphones…
And this is not specifically a keyboard problem. This issue can always arise when we need to resource 30 students doing the same thing at the same time [voices excepted!]. So we never have 30 working glockenspiels or 30 functioning ukuleles or computers…. because budgets, storage and maintenance time are usually inadequate.
But how about, instead of aspiring to larger quantities of working equipment, we face reality and learn to make do with less? How about if we aimed to have, say, just a dozen working keyboards in our room? We could have 10 students working on keyboards [2 spares for emergencies/backup] and the other 20 students working on other equipment. Even if they are all doing the same project, this is perfectly possible. So, for example, if they are working on developing riffs, some can work on keyboards, some on xylophones, some on guitars, some on computers, others working vocally etc.
Once you get used to working in this way, resourcing becomes far less of a headache!
Whole class performance
The above approach makes perfect sense when you want to hear the entire class working together. A diverse range of sounds and timbres usually makes for a more richly musical ensemble sound, which can reinforce and support an approach to music making which more accurately reflects the way music is made outside of classrooms.
Using voices
If resources are freely available, pose few storage problems and are quick and easy to set up, then of course, the barriers outlined above do not arise. The voice [and body percussion] are two such examples of essential resources - which are often massively underused. Remember, voices are not just for singing songs. The extraordinary control and range of sounds that most children can produce with their voices make them an ideal source for musical exploration. With any of your lesson plans, simply ask the question - “how can we use voices to do this?”
Technology - mobile and the ‘cloud’
We often say that our students have more technology in their pockets than we have in our classrooms. But how many of us think through how we can really harness this technology power in significant, inclusive ways? Again, it is often simply a question of going through your lesson plans and asking which activities can be supported using these mobile technologies. You may have to fight a bit to obtain permissions for students to use these in your lessons, but those teachers who have made compelling cases for this often seem to win the argument. So consider ways in which students technology [mobile and at home] can be used to support their musical learning.
Finally, the Cloud. One of the most exciting developments in recent years has been the development of cloud based software. I’m getting fantastic results in my schools with using soundation4education. This gets round all the headaches of installing/upgrading software on school networks, the students [and teacher] can access their work at any time which means more engagement and more opportunities for feedback.
Any other thoughts on ‘smart resourcing’, please let me know!