The DfE's Capital Grant for instruments and equipment (outlined in MT July 2024), and its emphasis on breaking down barriers for pupils who experience physical and cognitive barriers to music-making, fills me with both excitement and trepidation.
Excitement that our much hoped-for goal of giving every young person the opportunity to grow and flow with an instrument that meets their needs, abilities and interests is suddenly within touching distance. Trepidation because I know that choosing and buying the instruments is just one step on the path to full access, and that each hub needs to build a training and resource offer for schools around these instruments that mirrors their offer for traditional acoustic instruments. This is no small task, but entirely necessary to avoid the nightmare situation of unused instruments filling store cupboards.
The Lancashire Technology Library
This idea of creating a ‘mirrored offer’ for accessible instruments led Lancashire Music Service to develop the country's first ‘Accessible Technology Library’. We wanted to offer both mainstream and specialist settings a menu of instruments that could be used for both curriculum and instrumental tuition, supported by teaching resources and a hub workforce ready to deliver projects and also provide training to school staff. The library has four key principles:
- Young person centred. Instruments and their accompanying pedagogies should begin with the needs of individual young people.
- Comprehensive. The library should speak to the full range of pupils found in specialist settings, including pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), pupils in alternative provision and social, emotional and mental health settings, and pupils with physical impairments in mainstream schools.
- Responsive. Training and resources should be developed in response to real-world need and application.
- Useable by all. Generalist classroom teachers and support staff must be supported to use instruments effectively.
A colour composition exercise using the Artiphon Instrument One. Photo courtesy Lancashire Music Hub
Six steps to create a library
1. Need and skill audit
Drawing on the hub's existing relationship with schools, we surveyed what schools already had, if it was being used, and the barriers to music-making that remained. We also identified tech-savvy, or potentially savvy, hub practitioners and chose four that were ready and willing to be trained as hub ‘tech champions’.
2. Playday
In partnership with Drake Music, we invited all the county's specialist schools, hub tutors and partner organisations to a ‘playday’, where we explored some of the many instrument options and invited feedback on what might work best for pupils. As well as being great fun, this day served to get as many people as possible on board the library journey at an early stage, and it began to create a buzz around the idea of the library.
3. Resource pilot
After buying a small number of instruments identified at the playday, I worked alongside the new tech champions to deliver three-to five-week projects in four specialist schools, and lent instruments to a further three schools for self-guided trials. Apart from seeing how effective each instrument was with contrasting cohorts, and refining logistics (instrument delivery, storage, passwords, cables), this pilot formed the basis for the development of teaching resources.
4. Main purchase
It was only at this point, with a genuine understanding of pupil need and instrument efficacy, that we felt ready to make the main instrument purchase. Dr Jonathan Savage, director of UCan Play, lists some of the possible options in his article in MT Sept 2024. Several factors informed our purchasing decisions, including prioritising solutions for those with the greatest barriers to traditional instruments, instruments that had the capacity for depth and mastery, and value for money. It is also worth noting that in many cases an iPad, with its diverse range of apps, is the most flexible and engaging music-making solution, and I strongly recommend that sets of iPads are a fundamental part of any hub's inclusive offer.
5. Training
Training for practitioners was conducted at several levels. We offered ongoing mentoring and support for the tech champions as they continued to roll out the technology to schools across the county, training up school staff as part of delivery. We also ensured that all hub staff knew what was in the library and how they could use it in mainstream WCET and small-group settings.
6. Scaling and promotion
We continue to promote the library through teacher networks and partner organisations. It is crucial that teachers believe the instruments are relevant to the pupils that they teach, and that (through training and resources) they feel able to use the technology meaningfully in the classroom. To this end, we offer flexible options for schools, to either lend out the equipment independently or co-deliver with a visiting tutor.
Changing lives
The right instrument for the right pupil can make a huge impact – it can change their life and put them on a path to lifelong music-making. For this to happen, hubs need to work from the outset with staff and family members that know their pupils the best, and instruments need to be supported with comprehensive resources and training. All the resources at the Lancashire library are free and available to all from the Lancashire Music Hub website.
- lancashiremusichub.co.uk
- Watch a trailer for the Lancashire Accessible Instrument Library at youtube.com/watch?v=GRFzc9mIHpk
