When asked what I recently thought about a decline in school singing I simply replied with “We need a choir in every school”. Little did I know that it would grab peoples attention and get people talking about singing in schools.
This all came about when a BBC correspondent contacted me through Music Teachers Association (MTA). They were running a piece on the decline of singing in schools, based around data from a recent Teacher Tapp survey. The survey asked teachers about singing and choirs in their schools. Two key pieces of data led to my comment “we need a choir in every school”.
- 57% of secondary school teachers said their pupils never sang in assembly
- Only 36% of teachers in state secondaries said that they had a choir in their school
You can read the full BBC report here
Why a choir?
For me, a choir is a way of brining together young people from all years, stages, backgrounds and ages. It is a community of students, who meet to rehearse and take up opportunities to perform. The rehearsal process builds confidence, social cohesion and a sense of belonging. Students in a choir can gain skills for life and developing a greater understanding of team work and progress. Everyone can sing, and every school can start a choir, no matter how big or small.
So it seems sensible to suggest that we need a choir in every school because it will benefit the students, giving them lasting skills and memories. What this choir looks like, or sounds like, is of course important, but the key is to ensure that the opportunity is there for students. And don’t get me wrong, there is more to a school music department than a choir, but if there is nothing happening at all, a choir is a good place to start.
When students get involved in singing, they also start to build a greater understanding of music. This will help feed into their curriculum lessons, and may lead to them studying music for GCSE and then A-Level. Without extra curricular music, we won’t have students fully developing. We need to have a balance of great classroom teaching and amazing extra curricular opportunities.
Why aren’t there choirs in every school?
Clearly not every school has a choir, and there will be a huge range of reasons for this. Budget cuts, lack of staff, time in the week and other pressures, may mean that a choir simply doesn’t exist. It relies on a teacher driving music, passionately pursuing opportunities for their students. This teacher may be a music specialist who has built a strong curriculum. But it may also be a teacher who is simply passionate about music or keen to extend an opportunity to students. We need to support teachers to start a choir, and that is something MTA will be looking at.
Another factor is leadership support and a desire for a choir to exist in a school. Sadly some schools won’t be aware of the benefits of running a choir and MTA wants to support teachers in these tricky circumstances. There may be a complete lack of understanding and I always feel for those teachers who don’t have the support from their senior leadership team. A choir is not only something that will benefit the students, but it will also benefit the school. The joy of a choir performance will permeate so many aspects of school life – and this needs to be much more than one seasonal performance at Christmas.
What am I not saying
It is easy for some to forget that with any news cycle there is a clear angle. I am a classroom teacher and have been working in music for over 20 years. I am fully aware that simply starting a choir won’t solve all the problems in music education. But we have to start somewhere, with something, particularly in schools where music is practically non-existent. So I am not saying that starting a choir is the only thing that matters, I am simply responding to the decline in school singing.
I am also not saying that starting a choir is easy – but it is possible. I am aware that finding the right teacher, the correct repertoire and the time in the week can be challenging. But I do believe it is possible and I have seen it in action in my own schools. I have non-specialist teachers who lead rehearsals, encourage music making and inspire young people. They often do this with small starting points, and sometimes have to squeeze things in where they can. Some might say – but that isn’t ideal James – well maybe not, but at least they are doing something!
One other thing I am not saying is that singing shouldn’t’ be in the curriculum – the BBC piece wasn’t really focussing on curriculum specifically, but singing and choirs. Singing in the curriculum is hugely valuable and an absolutely intrinsic part of musical development. However, Curriculum singing can, and should, lead to a school choir. I did several interviews on the radio yesterday and I did stress that curriculum music is the bedrock of any successful school music department.
What’s next?
So we need a choir in every school, but we also need a lot of things in schools. We need teachers, time, budgets and resources. We need GCSE classes, solid curriculums and passionate staff teams. Music education is far from perfect, but things are looking bright. With a new curriculum on the horizon, a fresh approach to enrichment in the new Ofsted framework and a clear national desire for music, I think we are in a good place. MTA will continue to look at ways we can support teachers, and there are great organisations out there delivering incredible resources.
I don’t have all the answers, but I guess my response of “we need a choir in every school” was one way of saying – we need music alive in every school. There isn’t a quick fix, but there is a starting point. There is no easy pathway, but there are roadmaps, that, if followed, will lead to more young people accessing music. I am passionate about music education, so much so that I spend every day of my week inside classrooms delivering music. There are a few clear issues, but the end product is incredible music making with young people.
I am grateful to the BBC for highlighting the issues around singing, and I am pleased I was able to contribute. It was lovely to see Jenny Trattles given such a spotlight, and the work she is doing with ABRSM is just amazing.
We need a choir in every school and we need to ensure that every young person has access to quality music making. Now is the time for all those invested in music education to unite under whatever headline is needed. As long as the end goal is that more young people engage with music I am happy.
If you are a music teacher, work in music education or run a music education related company, then do considering joining Music Teachers Association. We need a united body of people who are passionate about getting music education right for young people.
You can also listen to an interview from this morning with BBC Radio Leeds – go to 1h10m and you should hear me talking about music and singing in schools!