Making music with a national orchestra

Summary

This inner-city boys' school has been working with the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for three years. In this project, the school was keen to raise the self-esteem and aspirations of a group of talented year 7 musicians. The boys spent three workshops working with musicians from the orchestra, writing short melodies using the C major scale and developing skills in playing, listening and performing as an ensemble. They then took part in a final sharing session in a professional concert hall, where they came together with other schools and musicians to listen to others play and perform their piece.

The pupils gained confidence as the project progressed and, by the final session, were happy to play and dance in front of an audience. They learnt to work together as a team, listening to and supporting each other. Their concentration improved and working with professional musicians raised their self-esteem. Both the teacher and LPO saw clear improvements in the boys' rhythmic skills, understanding of melody and ability to perform accurately and sensitively.

This project highlights the benefits of arts organisations establishing long-term links with schools in terms of continuity of learning and impact on pupils' arts education. Since starting to work with the LPO, the school's music department has become much higher profile and results have improved dramatically (from 21% of pupils achieving A* to C in GCSE Music to 57%). Deutsche Bank's commitment to three years' funding has played an important part in enabling the LPO to establish long-term links like this.