Respect for all: Our Birmingham

This activity was used with pupils in key stage 3, years 7 to 9.

Aim

• To raise awareness of the range of cultural heritage in the school and city through listening to, composing and performing different styles of music.

Activity objectives

• To prepare a musical performance for a school assembly.
• To learn about musical styles from several cultures.

Activity description

The teacher worked after school with 10 year 9 pupils to compose a piece that integrated different styles of music representing the cultural heritage in the school. The music included Pachelbel's Canon, rock, jazz, reggae and tabla and dhol music. The piece was performed in an assembly called 'Our school' for new year 7 pupils.

A small group of year 7 pupils visited Birmingham city centre armed with minidisk recorders. Their task was to record a wide range of city music: buskers, a gospel choir, a steel band.

These recordings were shared with the rest of the class as a stimulus for a group composing project. The brief was to create a collage of street music. Most groups did this by reworking the taped sounds to suit their own musical abilities and the instruments available. Two groups transferred the recordings directly onto computer and used them to produce 'sampled' collages of real-life sound.

Pupils listened to the 'street music' section in the fourth movement of Janácek's Sinfonietta. Discussion focused on the difference between contemporary street sounds and those of the nineteenth century (eg street cries).

All groups presented their work in an assembly with the theme 'Our Birmingham'. Some pupils prepared a PowerPoint presentation to explain the project.

Commentary

This was the pilot run of a project that will in future be part of the year 7 scheme of work. The project's success was demonstrated by the positive impact of the two assemblies. The assemblies are an essential element as they provide a focus for the social and cultural meanings of the project.

Resources

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