New Singing Ed Resource : UK’s “Sing Up”
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A 40-million pound “Sing Up” initiative aims to get every child in the UK singing daily within 4 years. The initiative offers a magazine for teachers and online resources at their website. An excellent article on the new program says that children who sing achieve more at school as is evidenced by the fact that the top 30 primary schools in the nation all have school-wide singing programs.
In a ‘Sing Up’ press release, Howard Goodall, the UK’s National Singing Ambassador, was quoted: “Research has shown that young people who are lucky enough to learn music and sing from an early age develop better social skills, memory, ability to listen and have more confidence. It can be used to improve motor-skills and language development, as well as cognitive abilities in maths. The skills needed for singing, including coordination and listening also help develop the brain.
“Singing also builds a child’s self-esteem, promotes team-work irrespective of age, gender, and background, celebrates diversity, facilitates self-expression – and is just plain fun.
“Sing Up will help teachers, parents and children have fun and learn together; using a trusted and easy-to-use online resource that delivers positive developmental benefits and helps kids sing well.”
I applaud this ‘new’ initiative by the UK government, but …
Doubtless it can improve social skills, memory, etc., but what happens when the children leave the school environment?
It seems to me that this is another case of pendulum swinging: there was once vibrant music provision in all UK schools which has since been cut back, and now the government want to re-instate it. But how will this affect the place of music in people’s lives as they get older? It’s all very well pumping money and effort into kids’ 12 or so years at school, but what then? Why do people not keep up singing through their 20s and 30s in general?
There are so many initiatives these days for particular, well-defined groups like the young, the disadvantaged and the old. But what about the people in the middle? All that money and effort goes into introducing young people to music, then they’re left to their own devices when they leave school. Choirs are often seen as a little fuddy duddy and formal, and evening classes are for grown ups (besides, who wants to go back to studying so soon?!). There are youth orchestras, youth bands, youth choirs, young people’s workshops, song writing initiatives for young people, studios for kids, etc. etc. But then what?
Apparently the dark ages of music and singing in schools is over. No more: “stand at the back and mime”, or “you’re not good enough to be in the choir”. But I still get young adults coming to me who were thoroughly put off by their experience of music teaching in schools.
It could be argued that singing in a group is just not cool enough for young people once they’ve left school. But what about all the role models in pop music of boy and girl bands singing in close harmony? And how come that when people do eventually come back to singing, they say how much they’ve missed it?
Answers please, on a postcard to …
singingman
From the front of the choir: http://singing-thoughts.blogspot.com