Motivating boys through music and dance

What did the school do?

Activities

The school chose this project because it had recently opened a new music technology suite and wanted to use it to excite and motivate the boys. The activities were also designed to fit in with the school's year 5 dance programme.

The boys started the project with little previous experience of the artforms offered. To put them at ease, the school ensured that the activities were firmly rooted in the boys' own cultural experiences. For example, they used music that was very familiar to the boys, so that they could use it as a springboard for developing their skills. Staff encouraged the pupils to develop their own ideas and then extended these through all practical work.

The boys composed their own music using the new music technology equipment. They created melodic phrases and organised them into a binary form. They listened to examples of music they enjoyed dancing to and tried out ideas suggested by the music. They discussed the way rhythmic and melodic ideas are repeated. By the third session, they began to use their own compositions as a starting point for dance work, using dance motifs learned in earlier dance lessons. As the work progressed, they began to make more and more connections between the music and the dance, discovering ways in which each arts discipline needed to take account of the other.

The project culminated in a performance to an audience chosen by the pupils (one of the groups decided to ask parents to watch).

Teaching strategies

Teaching strategies used for this project were carefully chosen to enable the boys to:

• feel 'special' and important, with something to contribute;
• find their own strengths and develop their own interests;
• establish their own criteria for success, so they knew what they were trying to achieve;
• take ownership of the work and make decisions;
• respond to open-ended questions with openness to ideas and critical reflection;
• explore their own values and feelings in an environment of mutual trust;
• make connections between their different experiences in the arts;
• develop a positive working relationship with an 'expert' by working in smaller groups that demanded more direct interaction;
• perform with confidence to an audience by ensuring that they all learned sufficient skills to succeed.

The school used these strategies because they allowed the boys to verbalise their thoughts, work as a group, show pride in their achievements, and develop new confidence and self-esteem.

Use of time and resources

The project took approximately 16 hours. This was split into weekly sessions of music and dance on the same afternoon, so that the pupils' ideas from one session were still fresh in their minds when they took part in the next. There was also a lunchtime session of dance, so that the pupils' dance composition work kept up with their musical compositions (the dance took longer to compose, as the moves were constantly being edited).

When planning the project, the school needed to take into account constraints of timetabling, use of facilities and personnel. All of the sessions took place in the music technology suite (which is housed in a separate room with good access) or in the large main hall. The school's dance and music teachers, who already had a strong partnership, led the work.

The boys involved in the project were split into two groups, so they had plenty of access to the music technology equipment.