Frequency is a music technology project designed by headteachers and soundLINCS (http://www.soundlincs.org) to narrow the attainment gap for targeted children and especially those entitled to Pupil Premium funds.
Description
Frequency is a music technology project designed by headteachers and soundLINCS (http://www.soundlincs.org) to narrow the attainment gap for targeted children and especially those entitled to Pupil Premium funds. The project is provided for whole classes, during the school day, in line with the principles of Universal Provision (i.e., available to all children to promote their development). Frequency was developed by a Lincolnshire-based partnership comprising soundLINCS and three Primary schools—Marton Primary School, Nettleham Church of England Aided Junior School and Sturton by Stow Primary School.
Frequency was developed in response to The Mighty Creatives (TMC) programme ( https://www.themightycreatives.com ) ‘Innovation Investments Round 2: Pupil Premium’, drawing on funding by Arts Council England (ACE)
We are particularly interested in how close collaboration with schools might unlock the potential for the arts and culture to narrow the attainment gap and increase high quality arts provision for disadvantaged children and young people, unlocking resources from the Pupil Premium, Service Premium and PE and Sports Premium to do so.
soundLINCS undertook the role of managing, coordinating and administering the project, including the pilot which ran from September 2014 and March 2015. It appointed two Music Facilitators (MFs) to provide all the school-based workshops and training sessions. The MFs had specific expertise in providing music technology within schools, large group/whole class ensemble teaching (WCET), and many other contexts. They had wide experience of providing music activities to ‘Children in Challenging Circumstances’ (defined by Youth Music as those often marginalised by society), including ‘Looked After Children’ (formally, children in the care of a Local Authority for more than 24 hours), young offenders and children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The primary teaching tool for the project is iPad tablets and Garageband software. The pilot project was jointly funded by TMC and contributions from the schools using Pupil Premium funds and soundLINCS undertook the role of evaluating the project in discussion with the three partner schools.
The significant Frequency developmental milestones from conception were as follows:
- Develop and Provide Video Pitch and Proposal to The Mighty Creatives (TMC) in 15/07/2014
- Receive Grant Offer from TMC 26/08/2014
- Steering Group Meeting (three headteachers and two soundLINCS staff) 02/09/2014
- Provide Project Milestones to TMC 08/09/2014
- Provide Video Clip to TMC describing Investment 16/09/2014
- Provide Teacher Education for three schools 01/10/2014
- Commence delivery of weekly sessions to three schools 01/10/2014
- Provide Project Outcomes to TMC 16/10/2014
- Sharing with Parents/Carers at Marton Primary School 04/12/2014
- Visit by Dan Williams (TMC) to Video Record at Marton Primary School 14/01/2015
- Steering Group Meeting (three headteachers and two soundLINCS staff) 09/02/2015
- Designated Teachers Conference 12/02/2015
- Complete provision of weekly sessions to three schools 27/03/2015
- Provide Final Report to TMC by 31/03/2015.
What are the goals of the work?
How does it fit into the ethos of the school/setting?
Schools felt that it was vitally important that Frequency was offered as a whole class music project within curriculum time. They felt that universal provision was the fairest and most effective way to enable targeted children to participate. For at least one school, a universal offer was described as one that could involve teachers, support staff, parents/carers and the wider community. The schools have a tradition of working with the arts/culture, although, for two of them, the relationship with soundLINCS was a new one. For both of these schools, music technology using iPads and Garageband was a new experience for the teaching and support staff, and the pupils. The schools seek to foster positive relationships with parents/carers and the community. Consequently, it was important to the schools that Frequency offered opportunities for the pupils to share their creativity with parents/carers and the community through live or digital sharings. One of the schools arranged a community event that shared Frequency music in addition to other arts/cultural activities that pupils had created.
How does it fit into the learning strategy of the school/setting?
Schools required that Frequency included a workforce development plan for teachers and support staff. Professional development sessions on iPads and Garageband were arranged before the project commenced with children. Schools were conscious of the need for the same teacher/support staff to attend every class session to maximise their individual learning opportunities. Schools were planning towards project sustainability through the empowerment of teachers and support staff to lead similar music technology sessions at the conclusion of the project. Schools also hoped that Frequency would promote the use of iPads as a highly engaging and accessible learning tool. It was theorised that music technology with iPads could impact on the attainment gap across the curriculum through engaging children’s creativity, such as impacting positively on mathematical development through exploring pulse, rhythm and metre, and impacting on English development through creative lyric writing, rhyming and story telling.
Schools wished also to extend their relationship with nearby Primary schools into an informal partnership (or cluster) so that they could share learnings with each other during and beyond the project. One of the schools arranged a community event that shared Frequency music in addition to other arts/cultural activities that pupils had created.
How does it fit into the curriculum of the school/setting?
Schools could see the potential for using Frequency to empower teachers to discover creative ways of implementing the requirements of the new National Curriculum for Music in England. As noted in the examples above, Frequency was proposed to connect with the core curriculum subjects such as Maths and English. Frequency was worked alongside class topics with which pupils were also engaged to enrich their experience of education.
What outcomes are being explicitly targeted?
The prime foci for the project were to:
- close the attainment gap between Pupil Premium Children and their peers;
- increase teachers’ confidence to use iPad technology with regards to music-making skills; and
- develop the creative, expressive and musical ability of children and young people.
What is the context of the work?
- Setting? Three Lincolnshire Primary Schools: Marton Primary School DN21 5AG; Nettleham Junior School LN2 2PE; Sturton by Stow Primary School LN1 2BY;
- Age of students? n=22, aged 6-7y; n=66, aged 8-9y; and n=43, aged 10-11y;
- Number of students? N=131, including 24 Pupil Premium children;
- Does the example fit into longer term plan or is it ‘stand-alone’? Frequency is a self-contained project, but is designed as a Pupil Premium offer for all Lincolnshire schools;
- Who is leading the work? The music programme is lead by soundLINCS, 18 St Martin’s Lane, Lincoln LN2 1HY ( www.soundlincs.org );
- Any other relevant information? Frequency engaged with six classes: one class at Key Stage 1 (children aged 6-7y) and five classes at Key Stage 2 (children aged 8-11y). Each class included Pupil Premium children. Each class received between 18–20 sessions of 1 hour’s duration on a weekly basis. There were 124 music sessions in total. Two steering group meetings and a teacher training session were also provided.
What is the content of the work?
As noted previously, iPads and the Garageband music software were the key tools for the Frequency programme. In particular:
- Pupils used the software to create original music comprised of varied parts. The parts embraced a range of timbres, including drum sounds, bass sounds, melody sounds and chordal sounds.
- Pupils used the software to create unique arrangements for their songs.
- Pupils also created sound effects and recorded their voices as sung and spoken parts.
- Pupils listened to their own pieces, and those of their peers, in a whole class situation.
- Pupils created ‘functional’ music—music intended to be used within the context of story telling, or accompanying other multi-arts topics (such as memorial work inspired by community history and stories from World War One.)
- Pupils created music tracks that were intended, simply, for listening to and enjoying. The most popular genre of music was, broadly speaking, contemporary dance/urban styles. There were also examples of music influenced by Asian/Bhangra, Jazz and Rock. Some pieces defied genre categorisation and were more abstract/ambient in nature.
- Pupils were encouraged to be original, creative and as expressive as they wished. Over the course of the project, it was clear that pupils were following their own plans and including dynamics and tempo to create musical light and shade.
- They demonstrated discrimination in their song arrangements through muting, deleting, extending and duplicating parts and song length.
- They demonstrated imagination as they sought to locate and manipulate sounds and tunes that could match emotional descriptors, such as happy, sad, excited, scared, and suspenseful.
- Pupils learnt new skills in a progressive manner and were encouraged to use these to explore specific elements of the music software in the context of their developing compositions. They became more independent and self-reliant as the project proceeded.
- Positive pupil feedback, and teacher feedback, indicates that the project was highly evaluated across many personal dimensions. These are discussed in more detail in SECTION 2 below:
- Reflection: Of particular note here is that pupils responded to the question ‘Has the project helped you understand music/feelings?’ The response from 11 Pupil Premium children was affirmative; this particular response speaks of the personal dimension “Yes. It has helped other people to know my feelings through music and I can understand their feelings through music too”.
- Pupils worked together in pairs or small groups (up to a maximum of four). They were encouraged to work collaboratively to co-create original music pieces.
- Pupils experienced sharing their work with others in small groups and also through listening in a whole class situation.
What are the key features of the teaching and learning approach?
School iPads were available for pupils to share, usually in pairs. The Music Facilitator (MF) had an iPad that was connected to a Smartboard. One teacher and/or support staff member were involved in every session. The iPad audio out jack was connected to a headphone splitter that distributed the signal to four pairs of connected headphones. This method ensured a comfortable and manageable volume level for individuals, pairs, small groups and within the classroom. Both of the Music Facilitators were specialists in music technology and were involved in the music industry as professional producers, performers, DJs and writers. They were very familiar with Garageband and both had previously led Whole Class Ensemble Teaching using this software application with iPads.
A key feature of the teaching and learning approach was in establishing and maintaining an informal quality to the relationship between teacher and learner. The Music Facilitators communicated in a friendly and positive manner, encouraging exploration, and providing regular and constructive feedback to the pupils. They were conscious of individual needs, possible barriers to participation (in musical, social, or personal dimensions) and strived to ensure that the workshop sessions were accessible to all pupils. They tended towards a learner-centred approach; favouring open-ended and flexible tasks; their pedagogic language is oral and conversational, and uses open questions. The knowledge base of music technology can be highly specialised and the Music Facilitators favour, where possible, naming everything correctly.
Frequency, as noted earlier, was provided to six classes, for pupil ages ranging from ages six to eleven. Each class received a ‘plan of action’ tailored to their learning needs, musical and technical knowledge, musical interests and current class topic. The action plan was formulated during the early stages of work with each class and through discussion with teachers. Transcribed below are extracts from a Music Facilitators ‘Project Journey’. The Project Journey is a document that collects together Planning and Reflections from the Music Facilitator. They are relevant to the teaching and learning approach under discussion:
…am working with two classes at Marton Primary School. The staff have been incredibly supportive, not only the class teachers, but the head teacher and support staff too. Both classes have been a pleasure: enthusiastic, inspired and focused. The class teachers have fed back that my sessions are the one lesson the pupils most look forward to each week, which was wonderful to hear. I was also pleased to hear the school are using the iPads and music software outside of my music workshops. I have focused my lessons on how to use the tools available on Garageband to create original music and how to convey an emotion through music. The pupils have also learned about a variety of instruments, layering sounds, editing audio and sequencing. Over the last seven sessions I have been developing the participant’s music and music technology skills using Garageband on the iPads. For their new tracks the young people have been creating two note chords using the keyboard, and then programming their own drums and bass sounds to accompany it. We are now focusing on writing lyrics for the music following a lyric writing workshop that the pupils undertook with me. It has been fantastic to hear each individual groups interpretation of this term’s theme, specifically the words and melodies they have created so far. In my last session I stood back for a few seconds to watch and every group was singing aloud and with their headphones on, which was a really great moment. Many of the participants have also mentioned to me that since starting this project they have downloaded Garageband on their personal iPads so they can continue making music at home. The school is well resourced with iPads, with enough to share one between two pupils. I took along enough headphones and headphone splitter boxes for class numbers. This made delivering whole class activities much easier with pupils not disturbing each other. Both classes have created a piece of music in pairs, based around the topic World War One. These tracks have incorporated live recordings, instrument performances, and programmed composition. The WW1 music has been uploaded onto soundcloud with a direct link from Marton School website. The pupils also created original Christmas music in the final two weeks of term…
How is the work being reviewed?
The feedback for Frequency is collected from six sources:
- Structured Interview Questions for Pupil Premium children – collected responses enclosed with this case study;
- Structured Interview Questions for the Parents/Carers of Pupil Premium children – collected responses enclosed with this case study;
- Barriers and Successes Table from Marton Primary School for Pupil Premium children – enclosed with this case study;
- Reflections from two soundLINCS Music Facilitators who provided Frequency workshops – quoted within this report
- Reflections from headteachers and teachers – quoted within this case study
- Extracts from Steering Group Meetings – quoted within this case study
What are the positive outcomes for children/young people – are they some or all of musical, social, personal, educational - how and when can they be identified?
Frequency Outcome 1 - To close the attainment gap between Pupil Premium Children and their peers
Indicator 1 – Music Facilitators to carry out baseline, mid-point and end point activities to allow teachers to assess the attainment of pupil premium children over the course of the project Music Facilitators, in discussion with teachers during the first Training session, decided that the best way to approach this Indicator was through teaching GarageBand, gradually building skills and knowledge. As the software was new for most pupils, teachers could assess each pupil’s attainment through weekly observation.
after the initial meet with all the teachers on the project, we decided that the first 2 sessions would be used to get the children used to Garageband on the iPad. I took them through each stage of making a track and then gave them time to experiment with the new skills they had learnt
in the first session back after the half-term break we decided to see how much they remembered about Garageband by setting them a task of creating a short song in their pairs. I was slightly concerned with having a two-week break how much they would remember, but both classes were very good and not only had the skills to use Garageband, but some great ideas as well
I started off with both classes by having a planning session. I felt that all the pupils were now very comfortable with what they were doing and, therefore, I felt they could be more precise in want they wanted to achieve and how they would accomplish this. This went down reasonably well, although some were desperate to get on the iPads, but I have seen over the weeks that it was worth it, as they are thinking a lot more about what they are doing and referring to their plans a lot
Indicator 2 – To support teaching staff to use music technology in other areas of the curriculum
Music Facilitators worked with teaching staff to use music technology to enhance topic areas in which the classes were engaged.
For this term both classes have started a new project, they are both studying weather, so after a discussion with the teachers, we decided to do a piece of music for it. I gave the pupils the task of selecting three different types of weather and using the sections on Garageband to produce a section on each weather, using samples and music which reflected the weather and the emotions it creates within them
One class is doing background music for their Arabian nights topic and the other class has been given the freedom to create whatever they like
Both classes have created a piece of music in pairs, based around the term topic 'World War 1'. These tracks have incorporated live recordings, instrument performances, and programmed composition. The WW1 music has been uploaded onto soundcloud, with a direct link from Marton Primary School website. The pupils also created original Christmas music in the final two weeks of term
This term, both classes have created a piece of music in pairs, based the term topic 'space'. The pupils in both classes have included an original melody and beat composition and lyrics in their music tracks
I was also pleased to hear the school are using the iPads and music software outside my music workshops
The project has been really successful so far. The children have integrated their skills into what they are doing and have been able to transfer their skills into other subject areas such as Geography. The children have been empowered by what has been delivered, simple but very creative
Both the teachers and the children have learned to use another tool (iPad) with confidence. Expressing thoughts and feelings through music has better enabled them to convey an atmosphere (e.g. suspense) through words. The Frequency programme has allowed the school to develop their music engagement
The children have been able to critique each other’s work which is not something normally encouraged. They have felt a great deal of ownership over their creative process and product. There has been a real enrichment through to the other areas of education.” (Statement from headteacher during Steering Group meeting
There is a real positive knock-on effect. Not only children, but Staff CPD [professional development] is great for confidence building; we are taking the curriculum in new directions
The Steering Group discussed the difficulties of measuring progress in closing the attainment gap for Pupil Premium children. Two specific reasons were discussed:
- The schools are providing Pupil Premium interventions (other than Frequency) involving the same children. Any progress evidenced, therefore, might not be solely attributed to Frequency; and
- One school has changed the system used to predict and record progress.
The schools felt that structured interviews with Pupil Premium children, using a template created by the headteacher of Nettleham Junior School, would provide suitable evidence of progress. The document ‘Collected Pupil Voices’ is enclosed with this case study.
Marton Primary school created a ‘Frequency Barriers and Challenges Table’ (enclosed with this case study). The table uses a systematic approach to assessing progress made by Pupil Premium children. It can be seen that nine pupils (out of ten assessed) achieved progress against the standard educational measure of Average Point Score (APS). Of these, seven achieved ‘better than expected’ progress. The Successes Column describe personal and learning benefits. Increased confidence collaboration and creativity are the most frequent successes together with improvements in creative writing.
All headteachers described the positive impact of Frequency upon Pupil Premium Children, which also reflects current research. The headteacher from Nettleham Junior school reported:
Research clearly shows that the impact of high quality input for disadvantaged pupils is significantly greater than for ‘average pupils’. Therefore schools need to be searching for high quality projects with skilled facilitators and a proven impact on attainment and attitudes. We believe, after six months intensive work with soundLINCS, that Frequency fits the bill perfectly
He provided this image to illustrate his statement:
The headteacher for Marton Primary noted that pupil attendance had increased (during the period of Frequency) by 2% on previous year (from 95.6% increased to 97.6%). It would be difficult to definitively link this to Frequency but, if it were an influence, would positively impact on closing the attainment gap for Pupil Premium children. There is anecdotal evidence from pupils that they looked forward to Frequency and MFs were told by teachers that some pupils considered it their favourite lesson of the week.
There are other developments that have the potential to enable Pupil Premium children to continue their progress with Music Technology. For example, pupils have reported that they downloaded Garageband onto their personal iPads so that they can continue exploring it at home. A significant development is the interest of parents/carers in what their children have been doing. The headteacher of Marton Primary reported: “Parents knew about the project because we had made it a feature on one of our newsletters. Lots have been talking about it at home and asking for Garage Band to be installed on iPads at home.”
The document Collected ParentCarer Voices contains examples of developing support for Pupil Premium children at home. It is enclosed with this case study.
Frequency Outcome 2 – To increase Teachers confidence to use iPad Technology with regards to music making skills
Indicator 1. Teaching staff to receive training prior to the commencement of the Sessions
Training sessions were provided for all teachers involved in Frequency on 01/10/2014. Music Facilitators visited schools prior to the commencement of the Project to audit school iPads and to help with IOS updates and the installation of GarageBand.
Indicator 2. Teachers are practically engaged in the music sessions
At least one Teacher per class was involved in the majority of music sessions, and usually on a regular weekly basis. Exceptions were due to u nforeseen staff shortages.
I am working with two classes at Marton Primary School. The staff have been incredibly supportive. Not only the class teachers, but the head teacher and support staff too. Both classes have been a pleasure to work with; enthusiastic, inspired and focused. The class teachers fed back that my sessions are the one lesson the pupils look forward to each week, which was wonderful to hear. I was also pleased to hear the school are using the iPads and music software outside my music workshops
Indicator 3. Children and staff to be given access to new apps and new ways of working with iPads.
All schools downloaded GarageBand.
Marton Primary School really embraced the Frequency project, offering an incredible amount of support across both classes. Neither teacher had any experience of using music technology within the classroom and, in fact, one felt that teaching music was his least favourite curriculum subject. During my time teaching at the school that teacher explained to me that he had been leading a half-hour music technology session on a Friday afternoon, using the software that I had provided in my sessions. This was something he would have never have considered doing before and was a direct result of the professional development that we delivered and our demonstrations of the practicalities of teaching whole class music sessions. The school are now in the process of purchasing headphones and headphone distribution boxes in order to continue providing music technology activities now that the project has finished
The majority of teachers on the project tried to get as involved as possible and seemed to take in all the instructions I was giving the pupils, both the technical side of Garageband and theories of composition. This was demonstrated as, within time, many of them would walk around the class giving help on technical issues and also engaging in creative conversations. They were able to give good advice and showed good understanding of the Garageband App. I spoke to a few of the teachers about continuing the session and they said they felt they could happily explain how it works and composition skills, but were slightly sceptical that they did not know enough to be able to troubleshoot and resolve pupils ongoing issues. My advice was to just keep using it and to use the instructional videos on YouTube
Staff love the project and are using the iPads more. They are learning a great deal about the tools (iPad and Garageband) and are learning a lot about the pupils
Frequency Outcome 3 - To develop the creative, expressive and musical ability of children and young people
Indicator 1. Participants describe themselves as gaining or improving musical skills
(Please refer to the document Frequency Collected Pupil Voices and Parents/Carers Collected Voices for many examples that support this Indicator.)
Indicator 2. Music Facilitators will enable participants to develop original musical tracks
Music Facilitators prioritised the development of original music tracks. Nettleham Junior added 80 tracks to its soundcloud page. Sturton by Stow added 130 tracks to its soundcloud page and Marton Primary added 30 tracks to its soundcloud page.
Indicator 3. Music Facilitators describe participants as gaining or improving a musical skill
Both classes have now completed their project on school life and once again the pieces were completed to a very high degree with some incredible ideas and a great ability to show how they are feeling. I am in no doubt now that everyone in both classes has the necessary skills and ability to use Garageband to a very high standard and have the skills to express whatever they want using music
The quality and creativeness shown by both classes was very impressive. Allowing pupils to find their own way and take their own stance on the stories they were composing for was always a risk, but pupils coped really well and seemed to revel in their freedom. The final lesson was for sharing and the pupils really seemed to enjoy showing off their tracks and hearing the others
I took them through each stage of making a track and then gave them time to experiment with the new skills that they had been given. So far it seems that everyone is picking up the App very well and I am confident in the future that there will be some great pieces created
The next week I wanted to do a composition session before they started on their first project. I went through different ways to show emotions with minimal keyboard and musical knowledge. I then set them small tasks by describing different scenarios for them to compose to, using only one instrument and 4 bars. It was really interesting what they came up with
As well as giving them time to use the tools on GarageBand, I also set aside some sessions to make some sound effects, using live instruments and any other objects in the classroom. This was done very well and children proved that their creativity could be shown away from the iPads; these sounds were then sampled into the pieces
There have been some fantastic and imaginative pieces of music composed by the pupils, all of which have been uploaded onto a school soundcloud page
The music that has been created has been imaginative and thoughtfully composed. I was especially happy with the lyrical content of some of these tracks
This has been a really great project to be part of and at times has had really mind-blowing results. I have done many iPad projects, but none over this length of time. I was a little sceptical, but it has allowed the pupils to become genuine experts on GarageBand, but more importantly they can all regard themselves as musicians, and very good ones at that. I have had to pinch myself at times when I realise that I am in class with kids aged 7-10 and that they are in a position where they can show their own emotions or emotions provoked by a piece of film or subject and then be able to talk about it. I have always pushed to try and help children to be creative and show them individuality, but it has often been hampered by the equipment and sometimes the school, so to finally be doing this to the level that I always believed was possible is an incredible feeling. I cannot underestimate just how important the iPads and GarageBand are, it has completely revolutionised my working life and completely revolutionised music for children and, if used enough, can be part of a movement to give children an opportunity to be creative in schools and be self-aware far sooner than ever before
What are the key features of teacher/leader behaviour that are enabling those positive outcomes?
A key feature of teacher/leader behaviour was the development and sustaining of positive relationships with pupils and all school staff throughout the project. This can be seen that positive relationships were created from pupil comments (from Pupil Premium children) about the Music Facilitators. For example:
- “He was very nice and he allowed us all to be very creative.”;
- “It was really fun because we all got to listen to each other’s songs and he helped us to make each one different”;
- “Nice, because he doesn’t shout and he’s taught us lots”;
- “He made sure we could have time to try out our ideas and improve our songs”;
- “He is a really nice guy and helped us with everything. Every time we got stuck he would come and help us out”.
It can also be seen from pupil comments that Frequency created opportunities for new learning, linked to other areas of the curriculum, widened the context of music and understanding of emotions, and inspired ‘future orientated’ music goals. It can be seen from Music Facilitators reflections that positive relationships were developed with headteachers, teachers and support staff. The same is true of statements made about Music Facilitators from the schools. For example, class teachers told us:
I have enjoyed learning with this project. It is a different approach to what I would do as a normal lesson where you scaffold the children learning all the time and give them the freedom afterwards. The facilitator demonstrated a few techniques and told them you are going to do this theme tune and then left it very open for the children to produce their own music and whenever they got into technical difficulties he helped them out and also gave a few ideas so the music followed a path all the way through. One thing I’d probably change would be to give the children a few more ideas at different stages as we were going through
Reviewing the soundLINCS project with Year 5 – brilliant in terms of the good technical side, teaching the technical part of creating these tunes and how to use the App itself. Also liked that there was an element of helping children to create a story within their musi,c as well and getting children to plan and think about light and shade and where they wanted to go with their story. For future reference- I think giving more time at the end to appreciate each other’s tunes. Balancing time between the length of time between children working independently versus stopping and listening etc.
What are the key features of context, content and activities that are enabling those positive outcomes?
‘Section 1: Description’ (above) provides a detailed account of how Frequency was designed by headteachers to narrow the attainment gap for targeted children, and especially those entitled to Pupil Premium funds. It includes reference to context, content and activities, and how Frequency was designed to align with schools’ strategic goals. A key feature of enabling positive outcomes has been soundLINCS experience and ability to professionally manage, monitor and provide music projects, following full discussion with the participant schools.
Key features of context
- Schools identifying pupil premium children and classes to participate; and
- Regular hourly sessions, during curriculum time, over three terms (October 14–March 15).
Key features of content
- Teachers participating in professional development and regularly supporting Frequency sessions.
- Schools were well resourced with iPads; soundLINCS was well resourced for everything else.
- Musical dimension: The focus on GarageBand enabled pupils to develop good level of skills. There was a freedom to explore and create in any/all genres without judgement, freedom to combine timbres through multi-part writing and freedom to develop and edit arrangements.
- Pupils were encouraged to combine electronic sounds, acoustic instruments and voice to achieve individual goals.
Personal dimension
- There was encouragement to be original, imaginative, creative and expressive.
- Learning new skills in a progressive manner resulted in more independent progress and self-reliance. Linking with existing class topics broadened the perception of music, stimulated new ideas and reinforced cross curricular learning.
Social dimension
- Pupils working together in pairs or small groups;
- Working collaboratively to co-create original music pieces;
- Sharing work individually, in small groups, and also through listening in a whole class situation.
Activities
- Many references are made to activities within this case study. A key feature to highlight is that the Music Facilitators were specialists in music technology and were involved in the music industry as professional producers, performers, DJs and writers. They were very familiar with GarageBand and have both previously led Whole Class Ensemble Teaching (WCET) using the application with iPads.
What other factors in this case are contributing to those positive outcomes?
The project has provided two examples of children’s learning that were not planned, but may be contributing to positive outcomes. Both quotes are from headteachers:
- “Older children have been coaching the younger pupils in Key Stage 1. That is something that we didn’t expect. That has come totally from the children, which we think is great.”
- “The children have been able to critique each other’s work, which is not something normally encouraged. They have felt a great deal of ownership over their creative process and product. There has been a real enrichment through to the other areas of education.”
How replicable or adaptable is it?
The Frequency model for pupil premium children could be replicated in any Primary school. Also, it could be adapted for Key Stage 3 (Lower Secondary) by expanding the music software on offer. It is thought that GarageBand might become limiting for 18-20 weeks of activity with an older group.
Media Links
TMC arranged for a video recording process for Frequency at Marton Primary School. It includes interviews with pupils, headteacher, soundLINCS staff and Music Facilitator. The music soundtrack was created by Frequency pupils. http://www.soundlincs.org/project/frequency/
Music Facilitators worked with schools to upload music tracks to soundcloud. The relevant links are:
- https://soundcloud.com/nettleham-junior
- https://soundcloud.com/turtonfrequencyproject
- https://soundcloud.com/martonprimary
Other examples of Frequency can be found here:
http://www.marton.lincs.sch.uk/school-classes/sapphire-archive/
There are two more video examples that might be of interest. Currently, they are not publicly listed on YouTube but can be accessed by following the links.
As the title suggests, this video formed part of the funding application to TMC to achieve the investment funds. The video shows soundLINCS and two headteachers discussing ideas for Frequency.
Documents
Further information
soundLINCS
- soundHOUSE, 18 St Martins Lane, Lincoln. LN2 1HY
- Telephone 01522 510073
- www.soundlincs.org
- Contact John Stafford, Programme Development Manager This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Marton Primary School
- Stow Park Road, Marton, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire,
- DN21 5AG.
- Telephone 01427 718224
- http://www.marton.lincs.sch.uk
- Contact Ben Stephenson, headteacher This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Nettleham C of E AidedJunior School
- Mill Hill, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 2PE
- Telephone 01522 750376
- http://www.nettleham-junior.lincs.sch.uk/page/?title=Home&pid=1
- Contact David Gibbons, headteacher This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sturton by Stow Primary School
- School Lane, Sturton by Stow, LN1 2BY.
- Telephone 01427 788210
- http://www.sturtonbystow.org.uk/index.php?section=1&page=1
- The Headteacher who worked with Frequency has left the school. The new
- Headteacher is Alison Simmons This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Mighty Creatives
- LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester. LE1 1RE.
- Telephone 0116 2616 834
- https://www.themightycreatives.com/who-are-the-mighty-creatives
- Contact Sophie Baczynski, Development Manager This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.