Exploring music from the Past in Community and Education Settings

Professor George Pratt, ISM President in 1997-98 and current chairman of the Early Music Network Committee, writes: ‘Over the past couple of years, the Early Music Network and the National Centre for Early Music have been supporting a project to investigate what educational and community events have been taking place in the field of early music, where, and with what degrees of success. This has provided the basis of a new section entitled Enjoying Early Music within the NCEM website. The researcher Dr Cathy Dew here summarises, in an article first published in the NEMA Journal 2008, the development and outcomes of the project, inviting all performers, concert promoters and teachers to share them – and indeed to expand upon them with accounts of their own successful events and experiences in mounting educational projects of this kind.’

Early music is an ideal genre to explore within education and community projects for young people and amateur adults alike. Many styles of early music provide the flexibility to allow relative beginners to make music alongside more experienced singers and instrumentalists. The stories behind the music are fascinating, as are period instruments and historical approaches to performance. The wealth of repertoire, spanning a millennium, and originating from countries across the globe, provides a huge range of material upon which a workshop leader can draw, ranging from simple melodies easily learned by rote to technically challenging coloratura, much of which is equally appealing to young and older participants. Across the UK, many young people and amateur adults have discovered the joy of making early music through participating in activities led by performers or specialist workshop leaders. Over recent years, the National Centre for Early Music and the Early Music Network have worked together to learn more about the range of activities taking place, and to record examples of good practice in managing and leading education and community projects involving early music.

We began our research by inviting promoters and performers of early music to tell us about the community and education activities they had undertaken over recent years, and by observing a number of workshops. From the information obtained, we were able to build up a picture of the variety and geographical spread of work which takes place across the UK. We learned that a large number of promoters and performers have delivered some form of education work, that many different types of activities are undertaken, and that the majority of the work involves young people. The research showed that there is considerable enthusiasm for education among both promoters and performers. We also discovered, however, that the majority of work is delivered by just a few of the larger organisations and a small number of promoters or individuals with relevant skills and knowledge. This means that geographical distribution of early music community and education activity can be patchy, concentrated in areas served by enthusiastic and experienced individuals and organisations. We concluded that there is both the potential and enthusiasm to increase the range and quantity of early music community and education activities, by providing promoters with knowledge and ideas for developing projects and musicians with skills and suitable repertoire for leading music-making with young people and amateur adults.

To this end, the Early Music Network and the National Centre for Early Music have developed a web-based resource entitled Enjoying Early Music. The resource contains information for promoters, performers and teachers. It is divided into three sections.

Section One is designed for promoters of early music and contains helpful information on designing, managing and leading community and education projects. The information is presented in downloadable PDF format and is divided into ‘bite-sized’ information sheets, each concentrating on a different aspect of designing and managing a project. These include sheets on defining aims and objectives, contracting leaders and managers, recruiting participants, budgeting and fundraising, as well as information on risk assessment and child protection. Additional information sheets look at some of the things that might go wrong, and suggest preventative measures to avoid the most common problems. Although evaluation appears as a common thread throughout the all the sheets, there is a specific information sheet discussing the importance of celebrating success and learning for the future.

Section Two is designed for people involved in leading music-making within a project. It includes PDF information sheets on effective ways to lead singing with young people and helpful tips when working with classroom percussion instruments. The section also presents information on the role that early music can play within the National Curriculum. This information sheet not only explores the Music curriculum, but also looks at ways in which early music links to other curriculum areas, in particular to History. As well as suggesting ways in which early music can be introduced within the primary curriculum, the resource contains information about relevant set works for all GCSE and A-level syllabuses. Section Two also includes a resource bank of repertoire suitable for young people and amateur adults, presented as downloadable files of notated music, together with ideas about how to use this material successfully within a workshop.

Section Three contains a number of case studies. These are examples of projects which have already taken place. Each case study includes an outline of the project, information about the age and experience of the participants, names of the leaders, and details of the partners which organised and funded the project. Many case studies contain photographs or video footage of the activities or performances, and some have MP3 audio files of the music-making. The case studies provide snapshots of a wide range of projects, including work within formal education, courses during school holidays, long-term activities such as youth early music ensembles, and projects with primary school children, teenagers and adults. As well as demonstrating the wide range of educational activities to which early music so readily lends itself, we hope this section will provide inspiration for organisations and individuals planning projects of their own.

An advantage of a web-based resource is the fact that its contents can be regularly updated. It is our intention that the resource will continue to grow over a number of years. We plan to increase the repertoire available in the resource bank, and to build up the file of case studies. We are particularly keen to publicise the scope, value and quality of the early music community and education work provided by organisations across the UK. Promoters and performers are invited to submit information about their own community and education work, and links to their websites, for inclusion in the case study section.

To explore the Enjoying Early Music resource, visit www.ncem.co.uk and follow the links to Community and Education Projects. For more information, e-mail info@ncem.co.uk.

The Early Music Network is a Corporate member of the ISM. Its administrator, Glyn Russ, can be contacted at 31 Abdale Road, London W12 7ER, tel: 020 8743 0302, fax: 020 8743 0996, email: glyn@earlymusicnet.demon.co.uk, web: www.earlymusic.org.uk.

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