Respect for all: Breadth and depth

This project was carried out by pupils in key stage 4, year 10 GCSE group.

Aim

• To become aware of cultural differences and contexts in a range of music, through listening, performing and research.

Activity objectives

• To explore a selected style in some depth.
• To express and explore cultural identity.

Activity description

This project occupied about half the time allocated to music in term 1 of the GCSE course.

Over two lessons, pupils listened to music from a range of cultures, related in part to their own interests. These included Irish, Scottish, Spanish, Indian and Chinese music. The teacher developed pupils' awareness of structure, rhythm, metre, timbre and instrumentation. The class was encouraged to consider the different contexts in which the music was created and heard, and to discuss how the context was reflected in the ways the sounds were used.

During the first half-term, pupils also carried out a practical and listening project on gamelan, learning to play and improvise by using the appropriate techniques and structures. They learned about where gamelan is played.

A visiting music-service specialist worked with the school's peripatetic percussion tutor to provide two workshops on West African drumming and to demonstrate the high level of skills required by Master drummers.

During this half-term, pupils carried out research into their own choice of music styles from around the world. They were given a structure for their investigations and gathered information from reference books and the internet to produce a written report.

In the second half-term, pupils were set a composing task. The brief was to use techniques from one of the styles they researched. They were asked to link their work to a personal experience or meaning, for instance a concert they attended, a family visit to India, and to consider the audience for which the music would be performed. The teacher guided the development of ideas and helped pupils to make decisions about structure, texture etc. Instrumental tutors supported the development of the work.

During the project, pupils kept a log of their work processes. They used this to produce a written evaluation. Compositions produced during the project were included in public performances, for instance visits to feeder primary schools.

Commentary

The personal element made this project more than an academic exercise. This encouraged pupils to produced high-quality compositions.

In the research projects pupils tended to copy directly from reference sources. In future, strategies will be developed to ensure that pupils rework the information in their own words.

Resources

The music schemes of work can be found at http://http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes
The online national curriculum can be found at www.nc.uk.net