Ben’s latest blog, written as part of Youth Music’s ‘Exchanging Notes’ program, considers the challenges facing Community Musicians working in formal school settings:
“ Conflict, difference of opinion, is the very essence of music: in the balance, in the dynamic, in the way that the music is written… Music teaches us our capacity to bring all the different elements together in a sense of proportion so that they lead to a sense of a whole, and this is what I feel in my own subjective way is one of the main lessons that I have learned from music” – Daniel Barenboim
This quote offers a nice angle on how to approach the introduction of non-formal music teaching into formal settings(1): As I reflect on the first term of our ‘Rhapsody in Ealing’ project, I see that the various ways different practitioners and organisations work, with their contrasting dynamics, phrasing, intent and movement, have easy comparisons in music. Finding a strong, sustainable balance between them is key to our success.
This project, part of the Youth Music’s Exchanging Notes program, has everything going for it. Over four years, a combination of in-class curriculum support and one-to-one instrumental teaching aims to ‘support a culture of innovation and excellence in music making’ …
