Music is a subject into which many newly arrived pupils can easily be integrated. Most pupils can express themselves creatively through music and pupils can learn to express themselves non-verbally through it. This can boost the self-esteem of newly arrived pupils because they can participate fully in lessons even though their English language may still be limited.

Valuing different cultural heritages

An individual’s interpretation of music is influenced by their cultural heritage.  Newly arrived pupils' music is influenced by the culture in which they grew up. The codes and conventions that represent different ideas and beliefs are culturally specific. In some cultures, particular music may have significant meaning attached to it.

Pupils need to consider the value they may attach to music from different cultures and be aware of how they have come to these judgements. Music from different cultures does need to be considered in relation to its context rather than being seen as exotic or unusual.

Schools might focus on music from particular cultures as pupil intake changes.

Prior experience

Pupils educated in state schools in less economically developed countries may not have had the opportunity to learn music at school. A small number of pupils arriving in the UK may not have received any previous schooling or their education may have been interrupted because of war. These pupils will have fewer music skills than their peers. The 'Children with little or no prior education' area of this site provides guidance on this. Some pupils might need time to experiment with what is new to them before any directed activity is planned.

Some pupils may come from religious backgrounds where there is a music tradition, for example Zimbabwe. Other pupils may come from religious backgrounds where music was not an acceptable part of their culture, for example Afghanistan. It is important not to presume that all pupils will have had prior experience of any music.

Not all parents may support their children’s participation and progression in music. Some parents may view music as low status and non-academic. A very small minority of Muslim parents may discourage or feel uncomfortable about music and regard it as going against Islamic teachings.

The scales and musical notation used in the west are not the same as those used in many other musical traditions. It is possible there may be talented musicians in the class who have no prior experience of western musical notation but who have enormous potential. 

Teachers can discuss music taught in school with new parents and carers in order to allay concerns and promote the value of the subject.

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Challenging racism and promoting diversity

Music can be used to provide effective learning opportunities for pupils to value diversity and challenge racism. The 'Respect for all: music' area of the QCA website provides examples of good practice in key stages 3 and 4 that focus on helping pupils to understand and appreciate aspects of cultural difference, context and change while challenging and extending their perceptions of themselves and other people.

The national curriculum programme of study and the QCA/DfES schemes of work for music provide starting points for valuing diversity and challenging racism in the classroom. The national curriculum statutory inclusion statement sets out schools' responsibilities for meeting the needs of all pupils and provides examples of how this can be achieved. The national curriculum for music places considerable emphasis on ensuring that all pupils experience, and develop understanding and appreciation of, a wide range of live and recorded music from different times and cultures. While the national curriculum encourages an increasing breadth of awareness of other cultures there is also the opportunity to engage these new arrivals through exploring contexts and approaches which relate to their own backgrounds and experiences. Work with specialists from different musical traditions led to the formulation of three areas of knowledge and understanding that need to be taught if all pupils are to appreciate all kinds of music. These three areas relate to:

• understanding how music is constructed
• understanding how music is produced
• understanding how music is influenced by its context.

Music can be used to promote community cohesion in areas of tension. The collaborative nature of a music project can bring different groups together. In a number of schools music projects have been used to bring different groups together.

Between summer 2001 and spring 2003 Ofsted inspectors visited 37 schools in 11 local authorities to evaluate the impact of the arrival of pupils from asylum-seeking families. They found that many of the schools visited drew on diverse communities and already provided a ‘good range of opportunities through the curriculum to promote and celebrate the different culture, languages and backgrounds of their pupils’ (The education of asylum-seeker pupils, Ofsted, 2003, page 12).

Schools visited frequently used the creative arts to enhance awareness and promote different cultures and community backgrounds which included dance, drama and music from around the world. One of the LEAs visited had supported a project on world songs.

Creative Exchange

Creative Exchange connects people and organisations all over the world, from the grass roots to the UN, who are working with arts and culture to achieve social development. See 'Useful weblinks' for the resources that Creative Exchange provides for its partners and contacts worldwide.

Adapting the curriculum

Teachers can consider adapting the music curriculum in order to enhance pupils' learning by providing them with activities that have been customised to meet their experiences, needs and abilities and to help them to make the best use of resources available in their school.

Below are examples of how QCA units of work in the music scheme of work might be adapted to meet the needs of new arrivals.

Unit 1 ‘Bridging unit (exploring musical processes)'
This unit develops pupils' understanding of the process of composing by creating and performing music in response to musical and non-musical stimuli. It provides an opportunity for pupils new to the school to develop and demonstrate musical skills, knowledge and understanding achieved in years 5 and 6. It also provides opportunities for newly arrived pupils to demonstrate musical skills, knowledge and understanding achieved in their country of origin.

Unit 2 ‘Form and structure (exploring structures)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to recognise, explore and use different musical structures and understand how they can create different effects. A range of musical instruments and songs and dances from different cultures could be used to develop pupils' ability to recognise, explore and use different musical structures and understand how they can create different effects.

Unit 4 'Musical cycles (exploring cyclic patterns)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to identify and create music based on cyclic patterns. During this unit pupils are introduced to the concept that some music is conceived structurally in cyclical rather than linear terms. Pupils listen to music originating from Java, Africa and India. They perform and compose group pieces using cyclical models

Unit 9 'Music for dance (exploring musical conventions)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to recognise, perform and create African dance music with an understanding of musical conventions and processes, for example the use of mnemonics. In this unit pupils learn about Gota dance music and explore musical conventions. They apply and develop rhythmic skills and the ability to play in an ensemble.

Unit 10 'Hooks and riffs (exploring riffs, hooks and grounds and the use of music technology)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to identify, explore and make creative use of given musical devices to create an intended effect. When exploring popular music this could be popular music from different cultures and countries.

Unit 11 'The overture (exploring introductions and the development of themes)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to recognise and compose within the musical genre of overture. Pupils learn how themes can be used, for example to provide musical contrast, to describe different characters or to suggest a time or place.

Pupils identify structural and expressive features and refine, complete and notate compositions. They also appraise music critically, expressing and justifying their opinions, and appreciate how the overture has been used in different times. One of the objectives is for pupils to learn how composers from different times and places use musical ideas in a similar way. Teachers could consider the places their pupils originate from when teaching this unit.

Unit 12 'Bhajan/qawwali (exploring Indian musical genres)'
The unit develops pupils' ability to identify, explore and perform bhajan/qawwali with understanding of its conventions and context.

During this unit, pupils sing bhajan and qawwali and recognise some of the features of these songs. They extend and develop musical ideas within the conventions of a rag and tal. They learn about the cultures and contexts in which these genres are performed and begin to appreciate how they are performed. They invent melodic material within a rag, add their own accompaniments within a tal, and perform them.

Unit 13 'Music and media (exploring how music is used)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to recognise that music enhances a visual image or sells a product, and to compose their own examples.

During this unit pupils explore how music can convey ideas and communicate messages in a range of media. They investigate how music can create an effect and how various musical devices, together with other media, can convey a message. They identify how personal responses to music can be influenced by environments and by the use of musical elements and resources. They also compose, refine and record pieces in which a sense of time, place, mood or intention is essential.

Unit 15 'Song (exploring songs and the use of music technology)'
This unit develops pupils' ability to evaluate, compose and perform different songs with understanding of musical devices, structures, processes and cultural influences.

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Buddying

Buddying and befriending schemes can be important in music, especially if children are working collaboratively or using new equipment. The 'Peer support' area of this site provides guidance on this approach. 

Supporting pupils' English language acquisition

Music can be used to support pupils' English language acquisition, in particular their oral skills. The collaborative nature of some music projects can also support English language development. Access and engagement in music: teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language describes useful strategies for supporting EAL pupils in music. It suggests that music teachers introduce and explain new vocabulary and it also provides some useful examples of writing frames to support pupils in evaluating composition. The 'English as an additional language' of this site provides guidance on this.

The DfES publication Aiming high: guidance on supporting the education of asylum-seeking and refugee children gives numerous examples of good practice, many of which relate to teaching and learning in all subjects. Examples related specifically to music include:

• using resources from a wide range of cultures
• teaching all pupils songs in the various languages of the pupils in the group. Parents who speak different languages might be invited into school to teach songs from different cultural backgrounds
• using pictures and labels in different languages to label musical instruments
• using dual-language books and tapes
• recognising the contributions of musicians from different cultural traditions.

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Useful weblinks

Please note: QCA is not responsible for the content of external sites

Ancient futures
A site dedicated to the exploration of new age music. There are links to artists from different countries.

Creative Exchange
Creative Exchange is a registered UK charity educating people about arts and culture for the relief of need. It is:

• a network: Creative Exchange connects people and organisations all over the world who are working with arts and culture to achieve social development. Creative Exchange members are known as partners
• an information centre: Creative Exchange collects, stores and distributes information about its field
• a professional resource: Creative Exchange sends out information about training, jobs and funding opportunities, promotes best practice and runs networking events
• an advocate: Creative Exchange lobbies for appropriate and effective use of arts and culture to achieve social change and promotes better awareness and respect for cultural rights.

DfES: Aiming high: guidance on supporting the education of asylum-seeking and refugee children 
This good practice guide (2004) has been produced to support teachers in their work with asylum-seeking and refugee children and contains information ranging from the role of LEAs through to advice on supporting individual communities.

DfES: Access and engagement in music: teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language
This guidance suggests strategies to help teachers support pupils at different points of learning English to:

• develop their understanding and use of the English language
• enhance their learning in music lessons.

The guidance also considers how pupils’ self-esteem can be developed. This guidance is for music teachers, subject leaders and ethnic minority achievement (EMA) teachers in secondary schools.

Global Gateway
The Global Gateway is a new international website, enabling those involved in education across the world to engage in creative partnerships. It is a one-stop shop, providing quick access to comprehensive information on how to develop an international dimension to education. Go to the 'Teacher zone' and use the search facility to find out about interesting music projects. 

Ofsted: The education of asylum-seeker pupils
This 2003 report includes examples of headteachers and staff working hard to ensure that their schools adopted a truly inclusive approach to pupils and their parents.

QCA: Respect for all: music
This area of the QCA site provides ideas of how music can be used to challenge racism and promote diversity.

ShivaNova
ShivaNova offer workshops to schools. Some of the musical styles on offer are jazz, big beat, calypso, drum and bass, dub, Indian folk drumming and dance, Indian traditional classical, jungle, salsa, South American folk dance and urban dance beats. Instruments used in education work include bongos, Chinese dulcimer, Chinese pipa, congas, dhol (Indian folk drums), djembe (African folk drums), flute (jazz and Indian), ghatam (south Indian drums), keyboard, kora, mbira, santoor, sarangi, saxophone, sitar, steel pan, tabla, violin and voice.

To different drums: Musica, the language of our cultures
This page can be found Arizona State University website. It links to websites that offer information on musical instruments used in different parts of the world.

Worldwide internet music resource
This music research database contains references to, and listings for, many different genres of music both past and present. It can be found on the University of Indiana website.

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