If I'd had my way, my children would have been given tiny violins instead of rattles, and from very early on I was asking around about lessons. Now, at six and seven they both play violin, sing in two choirs, play in a strings and ukulele group, and they've started very informal piano lessons. One reason I was so keen to have this in place is because our kids have never been to school.
We decided to home-educate when our eldest daughter was nearly two. We mulled it over for a while and we haven't really looked back. For us, the music is easy. I eat, sleep and breathe music and, though I was a late starter, I can bash out a tune on a variety of instruments. My partner comes from a musical family and there's little he doesn't know about British folk music, though he doesn't play himself. We're constantly listening to music at home and performing in front of others isn't as alarming to my children as perhaps it could be.
However, I have a creeping worry that they're missing out on classroom music. What if their music education is too narrow? What if their local school contains the teacher who would inspire them to become the next Arctic Monkeys? What if they might find the Simon to their Garfunkel in double maths?
West Yorkshire-based violin teacher Jenny Hanson gave up a professional freelance playing career to home-educate her two children. She now also runs Hanson Community Arts, a community music organization, and believes that home-educated kids might be at an advantage when it comes to music learning. ‘For some, this could be their only formal focus and this means they are more able to implement the suggestions given,’ she says. ‘In school you usually don't have the parent in the lesson, which is more common with the home-educated children I teach.
‘Home-educated children often have the ability to practise for 20 minutes at a time, put the instrument down and easily come back to it. I can start home-ed students younger than school-educated ones because they aren't exhausted by Year 1 classes and unable to focus.’
Matthew Rusk, who runs the MGR Music network, agrees that the benefits are manifold: ‘Many home-educated students will be familiar with the oneto-one learning environment that can feel unusual for children who have only learned in large classrooms. I have seen home-educated children really thrive in this type of learning environment.’
But without the help of a several specialist teachers, where do you start ensuring your home-educated child still gets a broad musical education?
Rusk advises starting big: ‘Explore with the child the type of musical instrument that they wish to learn and why. The younger the student the more focus should be put on the holistic learning of music, incorporating the core building blocks of music across a range of different musical instruments – from using drumsticks to create rhythms and understand dynamics, to using singing to explore melody and emotion.’
For slightly older learners, Rusk says that we should be, ‘empowering them to learn a musical instrument they are genuinely interested in and combining that with the music that they are inspired by is core to their success. Talk with your child about the music that they like listening to and ask, what is it that they like about their music? This can't be the songs that we, as parents, listen to that they like. Instead, it is the songs that they've chosen to listen to themselves. This is where you will find what inspires them musically.’
Hanson says there's little substitute for total immersion: ‘Listen to as much high-quality music as possible – a handful of really good recordings that you listen to regularly,’ she says. ‘Children get a lot from patterning.’ Get them watching YouTube videos such as Nicola Benedetti's ‘With Nicky’ series. Hanson agrees that it's about finding a child's passion but it's also about sharing yours: ‘Some days you might be in an AC/DC mood. Explain why you love it and let that lead into discussions about different styles for different emotions.’
There's also nothing better than being in a group. Anyone who home-educates will be familiar with the topic of ‘socialisation’. Attending a music group is a surefire way to meet likeminded peers and associate learning with fun. Hanson found no groups suitable nearby for her children and so set up her own, tailored to their needs. Hanson Community Arts now runs a choir, two strings groups, a ukulele group, a mini-orchestra, a couple of jazz groups, two brass bands and a music theory group. ‘If doing music becomes part of who they are, then it's all worthwhile,’ she says.
Recommended resources
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Education and Bass
Provides online music production courses and tutorials from industry leading producers. educationandbass.online
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ABRSM
ABRSM has a suite of iOS and Android apps to help with exam learning.
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Dogs and Birds
A range of simple piano books for children. The company also produces lesson plans for teachers and runs workshops in the method. dogsandbirds.co.uk
