Nick Beach is a music education consultant, writer and musician.  He took his degree at Dartington, following this with orchestral training at the National Centre of Orchestral Studies.  Nick successfully mixed playing and teaching, working for Berkshire Young Musicians Trust as Head of Education. He joined Trinity College London in 2002, becoming Academic Director in 2011, a post which he held until early 2018.  He now works on a freelance basis and has recently completed a three-month project in Australia. ​Nick was also a guest presenter at Musical Futures International 's 'The Big Gig' teacher conference in Melbourne in June.

Do a web search on “why learn a musical instrument” and you will get thousands of hits telling you that playing a musical instrument will make you smarter, improve your memory, make you more organised, make you a team worker, make you better at maths, co-ordinated, resilient, the list goes on and on.  Few children, however, consider these things when they put up their hand and volunteer, or ask their parents for instrumental music lessons.

Look again at the web search and you will see that most of the sites listed are music teaching organisations and the information provided is really there to help convince parents that the money they spend on instrumental lessons is an investment in their child’s future.  

Whilst some of the claims made on such sites are stretching credibility somewhat, most of us as music teachers would agree with the general principle that learning a musical instrument has benefits that go beyond the purely musical. However there is a danger amidst all this parent-targeted noise that we lose, if we had it in the first place, any sense of the child’s view. Why do children want to learn musical instruments?   What draws them to a particular instrument? What do they think will happen in lessons? To what extent are those expectations met? And perhaps most critically of all, what is the sequence of experiences, events and decisions that leads them to give up – sometimes all too soon?

A primary school head teacher in the UK, in a discussion about introducing instrumental lessons in his school, once told me: “I’ve seen it all before, 10 children start instruments at the beginning of the year and by the end of the year you have 2 or 3 left – what’s the point of that?”  In the ABRSM Making Music report, 50% of 8-10 year olds said they had lessons on an instrument, and amongst 16-17 year olds 61% used to have lessons but have now given up.

Whether or not the Making Music survey is reflective of the wider population, this represents a huge number of children and young people who have had the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and have, at some point, made the decision to stop.

So does this matter?  Is there a natural pyramid in musical development and opportunity?  

The Key Data on Music Education Hubs 2016 report shows that UK Music Hubs delivered beginner classes to over 650,000 children in 2015/16, along with over 500,000 taking ongoing instrumental lessons of some sort.  

​The Association of British Orchestras 2016 report suggests that 2,411 musicians are engaged in permanent or long-term positions with UK orchestras. Roughly extrapolating from this figure suggests that there are 27 professional orchestral vacancies for violinists each year, 3 for oboists, etc.  

Clearly it is absurd to base a pyramid on orchestral jobs – the music industry is a significant employer across a huge range roles, most of which are not performance – but is preparation for work what we are offering when we offer instrumental lessons? It may not be, but it is probably fair to say that much instrumental teaching is delivered in a way that suggests that there is an end point or goal in mind – if not in the mind of the pupil then in the mind of the teacher.

Much is made of the term progression in instrumental music teaching, and this is probably most widely understood by reference to external scales.  The graded music exam is ubiquitous in many countries around the world and has become synonymous with musical progression. Parents are possibly the most aggressive in their use of the graded exam as a benchmark for their child’s speed of progression – too often used as a means of comparison with other people’s children!  

The graded exam is a wonderful assessment model – you can take it at any age, it celebrates musical performance and it is assessed live by experts. However, like any educational tool, it can be misused.

“The candidate struggled through his Grade 5 trumpet exam and when the last test was over he eagerly asked the examiner: ‘Have I passed?’.  On being told by the examiner that he would have to wait for the results his face fell. ‘Why is it so important?’ asked the examiner. ‘Well,’ answered the candidate, ‘My dad says that if I pass I can give it up.’

Thankfully few graded exams are used in this way, but we should perhaps ask ourselves whether the expectations of progression that are common in instrumental learning match those of learners.  Does it matter how long a learner takes to get to Grade 1, 2 or 3? Indeed does it matter if they never do?

This brings us back to the issue of giving up.  The statistics from the ABRSM research above bear out the conversations we all have when someone you meet learns that you are a musician.  “Oh, I used the play the xxxx at school, but I gave it up”, often followed by a rather wistful look reflecting an opportunity lost. So does it matter – or is this level of attrition just the way of things?   I would argue that surely it does matter. If we believe all these good things will stem from learning a musical instrument (and we haven’t even touched on the lifelong love of music that can flow from it) then it is vital that we understand the reasons students give up, thus denying themselves all of these benefits.  

The student will arrive at their first lesson with great excitement and hope, from pupil, parent and teacher.  And although none of these three (apart from maybe the pupil!) will admit to prodigious expectations doesn’t every parent harbour at the back of their mind the fond hope that their child might “have talent”?  

Similarly the teacher will often be on the look-out for students that show that special potential. Are the danger signs here already? The teacher sets the student off on a path of progressive mastery, where skills are accumulated and progressively harder pieces offered.  There may be occasional sideways forays (often at the end of term) when the relentlessly increasing challenge is relaxed, but for the most part there is a constant expectation that the next piece the student learns will be harder than the last.

Most of the material that teachers will offer students will reflect this incline: tutor books with ever harder pieces, graded repertoire, and of course graded exams.  The bar on the instrumental learning high jump is inexorably heightened, with the increasing danger that the student will crash into it rather than fly over it. This is often the point where the student gives up.

In a study in 2000, Gary McPherson considers the reasons children give for giving up instrumental lessons under the headings of motivation, quality and quantity of practice, parental support, enjoyment and satisfaction.  This is an analysis that most teachers would recognise, as they would his categorisation of the students after 20 months of learning into the three groups: still enthusiastic, keeping going but waning, and already given up.  However these second two categories do beg the question we asked earlier: what were the students expecting when they opted for lessons, and was it a failure to meet those expectations that resulted in them giving up?

Perhaps these questions might be the subject of further research, but as teachers we might also experiment in this area.  Are there other models of instrumental learning than those described above? Perhaps it is time that we challenged some of the assumptions that have underpinned instrumental music learning for generations, such as:

• Progression means playing ever harder pieces
• Parental support is vital for success in instrumental learning
• Regular practice is key to fulfilment on a musical instrument

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We could ask ourselves what instrumental music teaching might look like if we removed these assumptions and replaced them with something like these:  
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• A musical experience is about what is happening now – it is not concerned with how much better it is than last week or how much it will improve next week.
• The musical experience is about meeting the needs and expectations of the student – no-one else.
• Practice, if it happens, is something the student decides to do, and the teacher has no view on whether this is a good or bad thing.

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In an environment underpinned by such principles the weekly lesson might not be so much a lesson as a musical event where an expert musician (the teacher) spends time engaged in musical activities with less experienced musicians (formerly known as the student) each bringing something of their own musical character and personality to the session.  

In such a session the teacher might meet the students where they are, not where the teacher would like them to be. Some of the music performed would be pre-existing, but much would probably be composed, co-created or improvised by the teacher and students. Perhaps as the opportunities presented by the instrument emerge the student might want to develop new skills to harness these, or perhaps not.  Technical progress would therefore be on a needs basis, not on the basis of an externally imposed gradient.

There are huge challenges in approaches such as these, not least the demands they place on the teacher.  There is something comforting about an instrumental lesson structure based on warm ups, ever more difficult pieces, ever more difficult scales, etc., where the teacher’s role essentially involves giving tasks to the student and helping them to overcome them.  The designing of engaging musical activities appropriate to the needs of individual students is much demanding and time consuming – and potentially risky and uncomfortable. But if we really believe as educators that learning a musical instrument is a worthwhile thing to do then we must find better ways to help more children learn for longer.

There are many different ways to get started with songwriting and as the diagram above, taken from our free guide to songwriting suggests these could be words, words and music or music. 

A great way to help students grow in confidence to try out their ideas is to provide them with backing tracks to sing along to. The advantages of this are:

• The backing tracks can be in any style of music such as reggae, rock, hip hop that students recognise.
• The associations they have with these styles and familiarity with songs they have heard before often helps them to feel more confident to sing along, try out ideas and take inspiration from music they already know
• They don't need to know too much about chords, keys, instrumentation or harmony as this is done for them, however they do need to demonstrate some understanding of how to add a melody and make it fit and the only way to do this is to sing or play along!
• They can take the energy and feel of the backing track and put that into their performance
• A good quality backing track with a strong groove or swing means that moving as they sing comes naturally
• If they are struggling with lyrics they can repeat one line or word and experiment with just the melody keeping in time and in the style of the backing track and it can still sound like a 'real' song!
•  The backing tracks can already be arranged into song structure which can help students to start to recognise how to develop verse, chorus and other sections, preparing them for when they create their own music

A selection of backing tracks and play along videos are available in our free e-book which you will receive if you join Musical Futures. Already a member? Drop us an email and we can send it to you! 

What better way to demonstrate this in action than in the following video examples which were recorded in Dalian, Northern China in 2017. The teachers were given a selection of backing tracks on their phones, asked to choose one, then add and perform a vocal line.

​Singing in another language made no difference to the overall shapes of the melodies and the delivery of the performances and it was a fun way to end our workshops because very little explanation was needed, once they heard the backing tracks they quickly started to write and experiment with the lyrics with no help at all from the workshop leaders.

Space: The space you work in will really affect how much you and the participants can achieve. Make sure it is big enough for you to work in and that you have enough rooms if you want to do small group work.

Resources: Access to resources is very important. Who is providing the equipment? Will it be you, the school/venue or the participants themselves?  Make it clear at the planning stage what you are willing to provide and what you want others to bring.

Communication: This is very obvious but essential to the smooth running of a project. Being able to contact people you need to speak to and being willing to be flexible is a necessity. Do the participants know exactly what is expected of them? Can they contact you between workshops? If not have you provided them with resources to help them continue their work? Is there a person within the group or organisational team apart from yourself that they can ask for help or information?

Time: The most popular time for workshops is after school. This can be a tiring time of day for all involved, especially if the participants are coming straight from lessons to you. Food is often a useful incentive for completing tasks but also really boosts energy half way through a session. 

Preparation: You must have a clear idea of what you want to achieve in the project, even if it is as broad as getting young people to play together in time. Getting the balance between preparation and flexibility is the skill. You need to have a plan of activities, both long and short term, but also be ready to adapt them. If somebody starts to develop ideas not originally in your plan, but you feel it’s helping them develop as musicians, then respond. You will find a way to make it fit within the general aims of the project. How prepared you want to be is a very personal issue. You need to find what works best for you, but our advice is that you have a long term plan for the project which you review, adjust and adapt after each session.

​Faith: There are always low points in a project as well as the highs. You as the practitioner must keep positive and be as constructive as possible through these harder times. Frustration (the participants’ and yours) will rear its ugly head as new skills are tackled, but keep encouraging and they will come through in the end.

We are excited to announce that to complement our free Guide to Songwriting which is now available on our website, anyone signing up to our mailing list will also receive a a free e-copy of our comprehensive teacher resource pack - everything you need to get started with Musical Futures.

We hope that you will enjoy using the ideas with your classes and hope to see you at one of our workshops soon!

We are heading back to China soon and this time we are taking some new friends with us. Despite the fact that they aren't wearing the obligatory Musical Futures T Shirt, we hope that they will help us to introduce some new ideas to teachers of younger children over the next few months!

Ziggi, Kara, Moa and Jon are all characters in an app and approach for music theory for younger children called Mussila Music School.

Mussila is a tool to learn the basics of music theory and link the musical ear to the written language of music. As well as teaching the basics of music in a fun and creative way, the Mussila Music School app and approach reinforces some of the core skills that also appear in Musical Futures: Everyone Can Play, our entry level offer for younger children.

Everyone Can Play incorporates activities that include I play, you play, listen then copy, take your turn, find, hear and keep a pulse and basic instrumental skills all of which are also nurtured through the Mussila games through interactive exploration of the basics of music theory, especially through the use of rhythm, melody and timbres.

With the help of the Mussila characters and story we are also going to look at how incorporating creativity and music technology into our Everyone Can Play series of entry level Musical Futures ideas might encourage younger children to start to write songs of their own.

We will soon be embarking on a pilot project that explores Musical Futures and Creative Education working with Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Geelong Grammar School and with teachers in Australia and the UK implementing some new ideas in their classrooms across 2019.

​Our focus on creative education also feeds into to our revamped work on songwriting in particular an emphasis on story telling and how and why people are inspired to write songs . We hope that the Mussila characters and story might provide a useful start point for exploring this important aspect of songwriting.

We also love the creative opportunities that music tech; apps, cloud based or online platforms and hardware and equipment, can bring, especially when it comes to writing songs. 

​MF: Studio is about finding an approach for music tech that sits within the core Musical Futures pedagogy so we are interested to see how Mussila DJ which encourages the players to create their own musical soundscape and to remix existing songs, record and capture sounds from around them and layer loops and mix the sound to create a live music performance, can help younger children to recognise and use the basic tools of a music studio in creative ways.

As always, we will be sharing our travels so to keep up to date follow @mufuinternat on Twitter, or register for our updates by clicking here