Singing is back in fashion in primary schools across England and Wales. Few people would dispute the value of children singing together in school, and Sing Up, the Music Manifesto singing program, has played a significant role in making singing fun.
It was launched in 2007 with the aim of making every primary school in the two countries “a singing school” by 2011. Sing Up’s program has already reached 85 percent of primary schools. For some schools, singing is simply a nice thing to do, a bolt-on to the curriculum. Others, however, are trying to take a cross-curricular approach and make singing more central to school life, as a growing body of evidence suggests that singing can aid children’s sense of achievement, improve their behavior and enhance their sense of well-being and belonging. What is the future of singing and can more schools be convinced that it represents part of the key to whole-school improvement?
These questions were explored at a recent round-table discussion convened by Education Guardian in collaboration with Sing Up. Contributions to the discussion were recorded without attribution, in order to encourage uninhibited debate. Key topics addressed were: What does a singing school look like? What is it that makes singing special in terms of promoting children’s learning and development and where is the evidence for this? What can be done to help the many non-specialist teachers who lack confidence in music and singing?
The round table heard first from several participants with personal experience of the Sing Up program in school.
“It’s hard to quantify ... but since the introduction of Sing Up, the atmosphere in school has changed. Children’s imagination has been inspired and they have become more resilient, more willing to have a go at things. Children’s confidence has improved, and so has behavior.”
In another school, it has taken 10 years to establish singing, but singing is now, with the help of Sing Up, “a pivotal part of the curriculum,” leading to many opportunities to sing with other schools and generally “boosting children’s self-esteem.”
One school introduced singing in the hope of raising standards by encouraging children to work together and building confidence, and now has results above the national average.
“I love the inclusive side of music — every single person can sing. Sport is good, but not everyone likes it.”
Participants said that the strengths of Sing Up were that it was a voluntary program and “not a didactic one,” encouraging schools to incorporate singing in ways that best suited them — ranging from choirs, singing with other schools and weekly whole-school singing, to singing as part of other subject lessons and singing while tidying up or lining up.
Successful singing schools, one participant said, “find that place for their workforce where quality and passion come together” and depend on “good vocal leadership.”
The importance of schools getting better at singing was emphasized: “It’s not enough just to put singing into a school ... it’s when children are being stretched to sing well that you start to get the real rewards.”
Pinpointing the evidence for why singing is good for schools proved more difficult.
“It’s really important to focus on what makes the special difference in music and singing,” said one participant. “Is it the impact on other areas of learning? Is it that it creates a sense of belonging? Of cultural identity? Of community? Or is it a combination of all these things? It would be good to have a systematic way of codifying that, so it can be simply explained and repeated.”
One participant believed you could identify “an energized way of communicating, a sort of ‘twinkle factor’ in the communications department” among children involved in singing.
Another asserted that if you took the “15 highest-performing, happy schools, you wouldn’t find one that wasn’t a singing school.”
But this was challenged by another at the table: “Isn’t that because Sing Up is a new initiative that these schools have taken on in a positive way? Doesn’t having a focus — whether it’s singing, sport or math — always help to raise standards? Aren’t new things always exciting — in the way that the numeracy hour raised standards when it first came in?”
Recent research data, said another participant, shows “quite a strong correlation” between children involved in singing and children who have a sense of worth and sense of belonging.
“It’s something about engaging in music as a collective.”
There is also evidence from neuroscience that singing (in adults) involves more parts of the brain than, for instance, playing the violin, or playing chess. Singing is a “whole-brain activity” that touches the nervous system, the endocrine system and the immune system, moderating the stress hormone cortisol and enabling people “to feel part of a collective.”
“The evidence is that everybody can sing and everybody can benefit ... What we haven’t researched is singing and school improvement — we need to do that.”
Schools are increasingly looking to involve parents in their children’s education, and singing, participants argued, is a good way to engage parents.
“Music is something parents can do with their children, something they can do collectively and it is a missed opportunity if schools don’t take it,” said one. “Parents used to come to watch their children in concerts, but now there will often be a great big sing for everyone,” said another.
Schools also need to draw on all the available talent they can in their wider communities to help promote singing, participants said, such as members of local church choirs, opera companies, or gifted parents.
“What makes music and singing different from, say, math, is that it’s about community.”
Once schools engage in singing as a community practice, “all sorts of unexpected things happen,” said one participant, calling this a process of “random spiral causality.”
“People talk to each other differently and find out different things. New spirals of activity — not necessarily all musical — start up in their community, which are to do with the community becoming an engaged and productive place,” the participant said.
The round table was unanimous in affirming the belief that everyone can sing, once given a chance to find their voice. But the legacy persists from the days when some children were told they couldn’t sing, and there are many teachers still struggling with a crippling lack of confidence when it comes to music and singing. Given the shortage of music specialists in primary schools, what can be done to help non-specialists find their voices?
One participant reported that primary teachers often became more interested in taking music and singing on board once they could see links with other curriculum areas, for instance, common multiples, patterning and sequencing, rhyme and rhythm.
“If you can give them a scaffold, they’ll take that away and develop it.”
The importance of training in singing was strongly underlined, particularly as part of teacher training.
“Trainee teachers need to try some singing when they are on placement,” said one. “If they don’t have that first go, it will never happen.”
“It’s about persuading teachers that you can be a good leader of singing even if you don’t have the most brilliant voice,” said another.
Help from music specialists was considered essential and one participant suggested that if non-specialists’ confidence in singing could be boosted by gaining some sort of accreditation or qualification, they would then find music specialists less of a threat and more of an asset.
The round table was divided as to the merits of the new primary curriculum in terms of music and singing. Some saw the new curriculum as “a fantastic opportunity” for music and singing, with the chance to combine it with dance and drama. But others feared that some schools might pick certain art strands and “sideline music and singing completely.”
The four years of government funding for Sing Up comes to an end in March 2011, and participants stressed the need for singing to be “embedded for the longer term.” Many primary pupils stop singing as soon as they reach secondary school, and Sing Up is anxious to do more work in this area, as well as with early years children.
Participants agreed that the different national music bodies needed to speak with one voice to make the case for singing and to bring all the available evidence together. A “case-study” approach to collecting evidence was a critical part of this, said one.
“There is a pressing need for clear evidence of what works and what doesn’t,” argued another. “Other lobbies, such as dance and drama, will also claim to improve standards, so where does the government prioritize? Policy makers need some robust evidence.”
“The danger is that singing looks easy because Sing Up has been so successful,” one participant summed up. “But it’s vital that the investment in singing continues.”
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