Music as a shared cultural experience

Summary

This Church of England voluntary-aided school needed to find a way to bring together pupils from diverse cultural backgrounds. Its solution was to give every pupil in year 7 a series of musical instrument taster lessons. Culturally, many pupils are from backgrounds where learning an instrument is not encouraged. Economically, many parents can't afford to pay for lessons or buy instruments.

The pupils gain confidence and self-esteem from learning to play a musical instrument. Playing together gives them a shared cultural experience and helps to create a friendly, supportive school environment. The number of pupils learning musical instruments has risen dramatically as a result of the project. About a third of pupils in years 7 to 10 play an instrument, and this figure is likely to go on rising. As part of this culture of playing music, the school now has three orchestras, a wind band, a dance band and a jazz band.