As someone who benefited from a musical education as a child and as a parent of a musical child, I know it to be true that musical learning develops particular ways of thinking and mental attributes, as well as the ability to problem-solve, spot patterns and develop strong communication skills. But why should that be true? I've long been fascinated with finding the answer to that question.
Thanks to brain imaging technology we now know that listening to music involves a whole range of different parts of the brain, but that actively singing or playing an instrument involves even more.
However, this isn't just about giving the existing structure of the brain a good workout. Music actually helps to build these neural pathways. And because music involves so many parts of the brain, the neural pathways developed through music are numerous and cover almost every part of the brain.
On top of all this, we know that longer-term, structured learning in music – learning how to play an instrument, learning to sing well, learning musicianship skills – achieves yet more again. So for maximum benefit, it isn't only about listening to music or doing a bit of singing – it is about musical learning over an extended period of time.
Most strikingly, the time when the most benefit is achieved is when the neurological networks are going through the most rapid phase of development. This only happens once in your life – during early childhood. Quite simply, there is a one-off opportunity to give people the maximum benefit that music has on the human brain.
Interestingly, there's something specific about the voice as an instrument. Singing, because of the use of lyrics, also engages speech areas of the brain, which other forms of music-making don't. All trained musicians benefit from some degree from enhanced linguistic development, but singers in particular will gain the most in this area – that's why teachers and parents will often say that their children's reading, writing and speaking improves once they start singing regularly.
The question remains, which is more important: that children are learning and progressing as singers, musicians and artists (intrinsic benefits), or that they are participating in a team-based musical activity that supports wider development (extrinsic benefits)? What Sing Up has found is that, where the quality of the musical experience is good and progress can be felt and heard by participants, all the benefits – whether intrinsic or extrinsic – are more present for those taking part.
To my mind, there is no value in arguing about which of these benefits are more important than the other. Both are important, and both can be evidenced by robust research. And they are mutually inter-dependent on each other. Yes – singing and music-making is a valuable pursuit in its own right and will probably improve your literacy and numeracy skills along the way. For me, being a ‘singing school’ is about wanting pupils to experience the joy of singing together while developing as musicians and performers, coupled with the neurological boost that a musical education provides.
The Singing School Handbook
The Singing School Handbook, published with Faber Music last year, is a how-to guide to support teachers to take their school on a journey towards becoming a singing school. We know that for the experience to be good and for musical progress to be made, expert leadership is needed. This doesn't happen by magic! The vocal leader needs first to be able to observe where musical improvements can be made, and secondly to have strategies to make those improvements. Being a singing school is therefore about more than just singing regularly; it is about singing being integrated into musical learning and the development of musicianship skills over time. This is what the handbook is all about.
To help create structure in this pursuit, Sing Up has created three levels of singing school – Silver, Gold and Platinum. This is to help teachers set achievable targets related to their school's progress, and so they always know where to find the next step on their journey. At every stage, a Singing School involves pupils, staff (teaching and non-teaching), the senior leadership team, governors and the whole school community. As well as chapters describing this framework, the handbook includes suggestions and advice gathered from a multitude of expert teachers and vocal leaders over the past 12 years of Sing Up's work. This is arranged into chapters covering all the areas needed to embed singing across the school, including:
Vocal health
This chapter covers the essentials on how to look after your own voice as a teacher (many teachers suffer from poor vocal health because of overuse) and the voices of your pupils. It covers the basics of a physiological understanding of how the voice works and the common issues that can arise, and is also an introduction to good vocal technique.
Vocal leadership
This part of the book provides a guide to Sing Up's Vocal Leader Checklist – a set of 10 principles that give teachers a route into recognising which of these skills or attributes they already have and which they need to work on, and some ways into developing and honing them over time.
How to embed singing across the school day
This chapter covers the myriad routes into embedding singing right across the school day from routine songs, playground singing games and singing assemblies through to singing across the curriculum and as a part of the school's culture with teachers, parents and the wider community.
Singing with SEND pupils
We consulted SEND practitioners to get their top tips on working with children with a variety of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Their focus on the individual child and the different approaches they have found effective to include children with a variety of barriers to engagement are inspiring and extremely practical.
Teaching music through singing
There's a whole chapter on how to use singing as the starting point for teaching music in the classroom. We're firm believers that singing is a great way in to developing musicianship skills and a strong understanding of the building blocks of musical learning. Starting with singing helps pupils to internalise musical concepts like pitch, rhythm, note values and phrasing, connecting their musical computer (the brain) with their instrument (the voice) with as few barriers as possible.
Starting and developing choirs
Most schools want a great-sounding choir and for it to be as inclusive as possible. But how to get one started if you find yourself in a school without an existing singing culture? This chapter is all about what you need to think about and put in place to get your school choir up and running, and to move it forward once established.
Making progress and improving singing
Finally, we've created a chapter that looks at how to make progress and improve the quality of the singing. Fundamentally, this is about focused listening skills – first developing them yourself as a teacher, then supporting your pupils to develop them. There's advice on what to listen for, what questions you can encourage your pupils to be asking themselves about the quality of their singing, and tips and techniques to make improvements once you have isolated where these are needed. This chapter provides a framework to help foster an environment in which musicianship skills and musical learning develop over time – which is magic!
The Singing School Handbook will be reviewed in the next issue of MT.
