Primary Music Matters

This choir is open to everyone , young or old, teacher, parent, governor or interested citizen, who wants to reclaim education.

Below are the audio tracks.

Have a listen and choose the track that best suits your voice. If you have the time please listen to it a few times in advance of coming along on Thursday 28th and /or Sunday 8th May.

This school – Soprano

This school – Alto 

This School – Tenor

This School – Bass

Here is the whole song

 

Here are the Lyrics for you to download and bring along. Have a look at the subtle change in each chorus

We owe Gitika a HUGE round of applause for acting so quickly to get this arranged for us. I think she has done a fantastic job and created an amazing resource that we can use to build our movement.

Practical Arrangements:

This is being organised by a few ordinary NUT members and teachers so please be patient with us if there are any glitches! The union is being fantastic and  giving us great support.

Rehearsal Thursday 28th April 4.30 – 6.30 at Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, Kings Cross (Nr Kings Cross Station) Gitika will teach us the song but we will also be recording some bits. There will also be someone filming for our video.NB If you are outside of London or just can’t make this – don’t worry but make sure you practise with audio tracks and have a go at learn the learning the lyrics. You can still join us on Sunday

Recording Sunday 8th May 11.00 – 3.oopm : Hamiliton House, Mabledon Place.  We are expecting about least 100 people so we will struggle to feed you all – please bring a picnic lunch as we may not have enough time to go out. Oh and bring plenty of water!

We will be looking for volunteers to be interviewed about this project for the video. I’m also looking for two people to act as volunteer runners for the video production. Any volunteers? If  you already have personalised homemade signs/placards please bring along with you for the video. Any  education campaign t shirts would also be good to bring along.

If you are on twitter please could you follow tweeps below so we can keep in touch. Please say hello and I will follow you back.

@jackieschneider (me)

@educatingjess

@ruthserwotka

@gitikasings

@crownlane

We are using the hashtag #ThisSchool to promote our project

There is also a Facebook page “Singers for Education protest song needed” 

Finally, thank you to everyone. It is easy to just feel depressed at the appalling onslaught we are under but I really believe that this song could spread far and wide and actually move people to action! Am already imagining this song blasting out in meetings, rallies, picket lines and demonstrations up and down the land.

 

 

 

Here is a demo track of the song we will be singing. We have had an offer from a beatbox collective to add a beatboxing layer so it will a little different but this is to give you an idea. We are hoping to add the individual audio tracks tomorrow and the lyrics so you can start to learn one of the 4 parts.

Gitika has really worked flat out to get us a great arrangement in a very short space of time. Huge thanks to Gitika and to Nick Grant for getting the lyrics together.

Below is the email that went out to London NUT members

NUT Members have written a song “This Schools is your School.”

We want to record this song for teachers, parents, governors and heads everywhere who oppose the privatisation of out schools. Please join us in our choir! You don’t need to be an experienced singer, Gitika Partington, is going to teach us the song and then direct us during the recording. We will record the choir for use on social media.

Come along straight after school Thursday 28th April to Hamilton House starting at 4:30 with tea, coffee and sandwiches and starting rehearsal at 5pm. We will then join together on Sunday 8th May at 11am to record the song. Refreshments will be provided.

This is an NUT initiative but we welcome all teachers, school staff, parents and those who want to add their voices in opposition to school academisation and privatisation. Bring friends and colleagues from your school community.

When you think about it a choir is a lot like a trade union. Together we are strong and our voices combined are more powerful than when we are alone.

Time is short. We must act now:

Leave me a message if you want to sign up to sing.

Who is up for recording a protest song?

We need singers.

Rehearsal: Thursday 28th April 4.30 – 6.30 at NUT HQ Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London – close to Kings Cross tube. Refreshments provided.

Recording: Sunday 8th May 11.00 – 3.00 at NUT HQ (see above)

NUT member, Nick Grant has come up with some fantastic lyrics. If you oppose forced academisation, reject the increasing privatisation of all public services and want to reclaim the curriculum this song is for you.

Vocal leader and leading light in music education, Gitika Partington has created a special arrangement and will be teaching and leading us.

Ex teacher John Merriman will be recording and producing the song with his studio, Crown Lane.

We will be able to release the song for sale, share it widely on social media and use it at meetings, rallies, demonstrations etc.

Although this is an NUT initiative it is open to everyone who agrees with us. So please, we want teachers, mid day supervisors, TA’s, parents, governors and good citizens everywhere to use their voices.

We have a great song, great vocal leader and great producer. What we DON”T have yet is a great big group of singers. Time is short. Please share this widely. Every voice counts. Don’t wait for a personal invite – seize the day, recruit some volunteers , leave a message below to tell me you are coming and be part of it!

If you are a London NUT member you should get an email soon about this.

 

1. Allowing an education minister to address a conference with NO opportunity to ask questions or give feedback is a terrible start to any event. It was compounded by the fact it happened during the same week the Education White paper was released.Nick Gibb MP waxed lyrical about the joys of classical music and his own happy school days when he sang choral music. He didn’t give a single mention to the white paper. He took credit on the new national curriculum for music without even referencing the fact that if his government gets its way no school in the land will ever need to look at it again.

2. Excessive number of white men in suits on panels. Having 16 speakers, one after another with no tea breaks or opportunities to discuss was too much. It was only made bearable by being able to tweet about it. Have storified it here.

There was a huge amount of expertise in the room. Was very frustrating that there was only one break in a very long day where we had the opportunity to talk to each other.

3. Disappointing that there is so much confusion between music curriculum and extra curriculum provision. Surely at an education conference the stuff that happens in the lessons that all kids have is the priority???

4. We don’t value our music education academics enough. Ally Daubney, Martin Fautley, John Finney and Gary Spruce are all doing fantastic work. When ITT is taken away from universities we will lose a valuable resource.

5. No discussion of the Education White paper. I think this was a real disappointment. We stand on a precipice with the future of publicly funded comprehensive schools under serious threat. Forced academisation with the costs coming out of current education budget will leave schools with even less money for music. It will threaten the feasibility of hubs and goodness know what will happen to kids with special needs. If those issues aren’t pertinent to a music education conference then I don’t know what is.

On balance I am glad that I went. The rushed conversations with people passionate about music education always make it worthwhile. I feel uncomfortable being so harsh about today. I know that there are good people behind it who are trying hard to improve school music.

There was an awful lot more that I want to unpick from today but I think that once I have dumped all my frustrations here and slept on it I will reflect better on the positives tomorrow!

PS – I couldn’t help myself but I couldn’t let the minister leave the stage without taking a single question so I did a tiny heckle.

 

With your help we can make primary music packs for ‘classrooms’ & ‘mother and baby’ centres in the refugee camps.

I will be wheeling this around the expo. Stop me if you want to donate resources

 

Below is my appeal for Care for Calais

If you want to make a cash donation then please donate to Care for Calais.

 

 

 

I went to Calais this half term. I wasn’t entirely sure if the songs and games I had planned would be of any use so I was prepared to work in the warehouse rather then teach if need be. I had been told that the children were not ready for formal lessons and that concentration was a problem. They were entirely ready for singing however. I worked my way through the Voice Foundations 65 songs from around the world. “Hello, how are you”,  “Chest, chest, knee, toe” “Hickety Tickety” “Clap your Hands” “Little Sally Saucer”were all firm favourites. The regular class teacher was so keen to learn the songs as she saw the kids concentrate and sing out for longer periods of time than usual. The kids loved the ribbons I had brought along and we used those with the the monster stomp warm up – “With an up and a down” We sat down and listened to Carnival of the animals on the little mini rig speaker I had brought along and the kids blew bubbles and swayed their ribbons in time. The kazoos were a huge hit. We created our our version of the Star Wars theme tune.

We sang our way through a huge number of African call and response songs. “Funje Alafia” being the most popular as the kids loved the actions the best.

When we sat down again to do some drawings of the music my iPhone randomly played the Sing Up song, “Good to be me”. The children jiggled around to it so I decided to teach it with a few actions. I can honestly say that hearing the kids sing this has been the highlight of my teaching career.

Not only did the songs and  clapping games provide some pleasure for the children but their eagerness to learn meant that they were practising their English.

I then worked with the teacher on number and English language exercises that could be sung. It was astonishing that by singing it they seemed able to concentrate for longer.

Of course it is important that we sort out decent shelter, food and safe routes out of the jungle as our top priority – see Care for Calais for details on how to help.

But that said, these children deserve to have access to music education and it would be pitifully easy to arrange. I am planning to collect:

• a couple of mini-rig speakers
• Voices Foundations “65 songs” books for teachers
• Ribbon sticks
• basket of percussion instruments for small hands
• couple of MP3 players loaded with sing up songs and music

Music Ed Expo is coming up soon. Any exhibitors, teachers, music organisation willing to make a donation? We could easily create a few crates with resources and teaching materials for the teachers who are volunteering.

Email me at Mertonwelcomesrefugees@gmail.com if you can help.

 

Lambeth teacher Sara Tomlinson has helped set up a primary classroom in the school  in the refugee camp at Calais. Not only has she collected and brought over the resources she has organised over 40 London teachers to go over during halfterm to teach. Sara has single handedly sorted out logistics and made this happen by sheer willpower and determination. At this point I want to write , “we need more people like Sara” but actually I think it is more accurate to say that we need more of us to become  proactive like Sara and start to make things happen. You can follow Sara on twitter: @teachertomo and read her blog here

I’m going over today so that I can spend Wednesday teaching some songs and music games. I know that primary music lessons aren’t top of any refugees wishlist but given that families are trapped in this no mans land with no end in sight maybe it will break up the monotony?

I’m taking kazoos, ribbon wands, bubbles and some puppets. I plan to use songs from Voices Foundation 65 songs, some Sing Up favourites and playground games kids have taught me over the years.

Also hope to help out in the warehouse.

Taking along middle son who is planning to make a film about life in the camp.

The French authorities are planning to start dismantling the camp but no one knows when exactly.

 

 

Terrific session on Friday. Well done to all the students. Below are some of the audio clips I was able to capture. Apologies to those groups I didn’t manage to record. I really wished that I had recorded the Samba performances. Both groups did brilliantly and the simple rhythms we used have so much potential.

The clips below are intended to be an aide memoire to help you remember what we did. Who knows, you may even want to revisit these ideas to use when you are next in class.

I had a wonderful day – both groups were an absolute pleasure to teach. Your enthusiasm and concentration meant we were able to cover a great deal of ground and the 4 hours simple whizzed away!

First up is a backing track that you can use with Che Che Kule

Next up”Wacca,wacca”

Ooh a layla is a Polynesian song that has lots of potential

Finally from the morning group – a “get well soon” message for one of their group.

The afternoon kicked off with an excellent djembe presentation

This next clip takes 4 simple rhythms and arranges them in a specific structure structure

Yodelling emotions

A is for advocacy.

Back in 2005 I was on a mission to improve the quality of school dinners. Children were being fed nutritionally poor junk food that was NOT as described on menus sent home to parents. The local authority was not holding the contractor responsible for supplying school meals to account and as a result the kids were getting substandard food. The meat was of a shamefully low quality, (the cheap reformed variety that was sprayed off the animal carcass) and there was often no fruit or vegetables on offer. As well as tasting bad the food was exceedingly unhealthy.

Some of the people who campaigned alongside me argued that we should advocate for better school dinners for children on the grounds that if the children ate healthier school dinners they would be smarter/better behaved/easier to manage. This line of arguing left me completely unmoved. Whilst all those points might be true they were not the reason I was campaigning against poor quality school meals. I wanted the council to reject poor quality school meals because it is unethical for a school to give shamefully poor quality food to kids in their care. The parents had a right to expect the local authority would ensure that the children got the school food as promised on the published menus. It seems ludicrous to only offer decent food if you can prove it has an ‘improving’ effect on the kids.

So why am I digging up old history? Well my last blogpost on primary school music provoked a discussion on ‘advocacy’. It’s a bit of a bug bear for me. There seems to be an endless stream of organisations, celebrities and politicians who wax lyrical about the ‘power’ of music education to make kids smarter/happier/better. Some of it borders on the offensive – along the lines of “think of the poor empty children who don’t know any better”, whilst the majority is very well meaning but has no impact. Don’t get me wrong – I strongly believe that EVERY child is entitled to a rich, diverse music education and that learning a musical instrument is incredibly beneficial with its impacts going far beyond just competency at technical playing skills. But frankly, who doesn’t? Seriously, is there a single Headteacher, parent or local authority that HASN’T heard the advocacy argument?

Does anyone seriously think that yet another statement from a celebrity musician or national organisation advocating better music education will change anything? Certainly the powers that be will not be moved by it.

I think that John Finney puts it brilliantly, “They are singing our tune to their words”. Read his blog here, as he explains it more effectively than me!

I think advocacy is a waste of precious resources and avoids facing the main issues. We need to hold this government to account and to tell the truth about music education. Obsession with exam results and league tables is squeezing the life out of school music. Failure to fund hubs so that they can provide free instrument hire and tuition to all children who can’t afford it will mean that orchestral instruments remain the preserve of the rich.

Our school dinner war ended in decisive victory. The old contractor was kicked out, the council committed to building a proper kitchen in every single primary school, we devised a set of minimum nutrition standards that predated the government ones and school food became good enough for adults to eat. That didn’t happen because we persuaded the council that academic standards would rise and playground behaviour would improve. That happened because enough parents and governors cared enough to take action. They collected evidence, wrote letters, demonstrated until they persuaded the council it was easier to do the right thing and improve school dinners than it was to deal with disgruntled parents and bad press. If you are interested you can read more here

So in place of advocacy how about we try some of the following:
– All music orgs demanding that ALL school teachers get decent music education seminars.
– All professional musicians who benefitted from free school music lessons/tuition to read out statements of support for school music education at any concert with a politician in the audience.
– A moratorium on any music education ‘event’ that does NOT consist of at least 75% of the participants being current active music teachers.
– Music education TeachMeets funded by national music education organisations. Cheap but extremely effective.

– “Play First” scheme that see’s musicians from publicly funded music groups twinning with state schools to support music education.

Meanwhile, I shall keep on keeping on. It’s possible to light a candle whilst still cursing the darkness.