News
The Greater London Authority (GLA) Music Education Programme
Mayor’s music education fund
A £100,000 grant was announced this week to seed fund partnerships between local authority music services and orchestras and ensembles in London. The programme will open in May 2010 and will cover projects in the academic year September 2010 to July 2011. The aim is to give young people the experience of working with professional musicians, encouraging them to make music in ensembles whilst helping to raise their musical aspirations. It will also strengthen and deepen the partnership working between London’s music services and the orchestral sector. The fund will be administered by the GLA in partnership with the Federation of Music Services’ London region, and working closely in the first instance with the Association of British Orchestras (ABO).
The GLA Music Education Programme steering board will be chaired by Karen Brock, Head of Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Education Service (THAMES).
You can download a copy of the GLA Music Education Strategy here:
Making Music Matter - Music Education Strategy for London 2010-2012
Lessons in music and education from Finland
by Graeme Smith, Head of Croydon Music and Arts, Treasurer of Federation of Music Services
Member of Music Manifesto Partnership and Advocacy Group
Investment in music and cultural education in Finland and its place as the top performing country for educational attainment of 15 year olds in reading, maths and science is no coincidence. That was my conclusion after spending two days in Finland visiting schools and music schools, talking to key music educators and studying information about the Finnish education system.
In Finland the key to the link between music and cultural education and educational attainment is that across all Finnish education there is a focus on Finnish culture. From history to home economics the national curriculum in Finland stresses the importance of studying Finnish culture, other cultures which have influenced Finland, and other cultures from around the world. The sense of identity this gives to people living in Finland is a major factor in promoting confidence and achievement in a nation which has historically been overshadowed by its much larger neighbours.
In the UK we tend to use the arts to teach about different cultures. It is time we developed a more positive approach to giving young people a cultural identity. This will also improve community cohesion in multi cultural Britain. To enjoy and value other cultures we must first value the culture of our own heritage. That is true whether a young person’s cultural heritage is from a region in England or from another part of the world or a mixture.
We already know how music and the arts can contribute to young people’s development. They can learn vital personal, social and educational skills to enable them to achieve. Through the arts young people can explore challenges and adversities in life, understand them better and take strength from coping with them. Young artists can make a positive contribution to their communities. Investing in arts education will build resilience in vulnerable young people, reduce youth crime and disorder and reduce the number of NEET young people (Not in Education, Employment and Training). Investing in arts education will save money.
This is well understood in Finland. An international study of arts education in more than sixty countries found that Finland has far more arts education than any other country. Finnish music schools have more than five times the funding from central government compared to music services in England, and more than eight times the funding from Finnish municipalities than music services receive from local authorities in England. Yet the overall spending on education in Finland is very similar to here.
Let us use music and cultural education to give our young people their own cultural identity and the confidence, self esteem and aspiration which goes with it. Let us use music and cultural education to enable our young people to achieve as highly as the highest performing nations in the world.
The full-length article can be downloaded here: Lessons in music and education from Finland
Cambridgeshire Music Spring Concert Series
Cambridgeshire Music is delighted to present an exciting series of concerts for the beginning of 2010.
A Celebration of Youth Wind Music
15 February 2010,7pm, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
The Cambridgeshire Youth Wind Orchestra will perform under the direction of Russell Cowieson.
CPYO Spring Concert
9 April 2010, 7.30pm, West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge
This concert will feature the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Youth Orchestra performing Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and music by Bernstein and Copland.
Gala Concert
10 April 2010, 5pm, Peterborough Cathedral
This concert will bring together young musicians from throughout Peterborough and Cambridgeshire to perform a wide range of music in wonderful surroundings. It will be a memorable evening.
TICKETS
Spring Season Ticket (3 concerts): £10
Single Ticket: £5
Free for concessions
Please call 01480 373555 or email cm@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for more information or to book tickets.
NEW DIRECTOR FOR OLDHAM COUNCIL MUSIC SERVICE APPOINTED
Gerard Booth has been appointed to the post of Director of Music for the Oldham Council Music Service following the retirement of Dr. Eileen Bentley earlier this year.
Gerard joined the Oldham Music Service as a brass instructor in 1993. He then qualified as a teacher in 1995 and became coordinator for Orchestral Brass in 1999. Since 2001 he has been Head of the Orchestral Wind Department and has led many trips and projects, most notably a tour of New York by over 90 Music Centre students in 2008. He is also well known to the wider public as the conductor of the Oldham Youth Orchestra.
For well over forty years the Oldham Music Service and Music Centre has provided the opportunity for thousands of Oldham children to receive instrumental and vocal tuition in schools and to meet together, outside school time, to play and sing in various ensembles. In his new position Gerard’s vision is to make the Music Service an even better provider of top quality musical education to all of Oldham’s young people and provide an ever wider range of opportunities and experiences to all communities whilst not losing sight of the standards of excellence that have made Oldham’s Music Service nationally synonymous with top quality music making. There are also plans in the pipeline to provide extended opportunities in the future to adults and pre-school children and listen ever more closely and respond to what the people of Oldham actually want from their Music Service.
In Gerard’s own words, “Eileen Bentley has been a great leader for the Music Service throughout my entire teaching career and I feel privileged to have been appointed as her successor. I fully intend to continue the fine traditions that she maintained throughout her career whilst extending the scope and range of all that the Music Service does to contribute to the educational and cultural life of Oldham”.
Gerard, born and bred in Blackburn and a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, still enjoys performing on the tuba for a number of orchestras and bands in his spare time, having played in the past with ensembles such as the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras and Grimethorpe, Leyland, Brighouse and Rastrick and Foden’s brass bands amongst others. His other hobbies include photography, cycling and fell walking. He is married to Tracey Hartnell-Booth, an oboist who also teaches at the Oldham Music Centre. To complete the music family, his three children, Aaron (clarinet), Benjamin (French Horn) & Anastasia (violin) all play in various groups at the Music Centre.
Musical Instrument Fund - Year 3
If you haven’t already made your claim for 2009-2010, the Claim Form and the Guidance are available for download here:
Guidance on Instruments 2009-10
