‘Inspired work. New thoughts’

‘Inspired work. New thoughts’

‘Inspired work. New thoughts’ Report on a 2-day training project to develop the skills of Swedish musicians to work with children with special needs. November 2015.

‘Inspired work. New thoughts’

This project report summarises the activities and outcomes of a training project to develop the skills of Swedish musicians to work with children with special needs. [The report’s title is a quote from one of the participating musicians]. Partners and Musicians

Musikalliansen provides professional freelance musicians with basic security via conditional temporary employment, and arranges professional development opportunities. Project Producer: Maja Adolphson.

Con Brio is an arts consultancy based in Manchester, UK. Con Brio is led by Director Tom Northey, who draws on a team of expert associates.

Project Leader Ros Hawley is one of the UK’s leading specialists in developing music projects with children with Complex Needs.

Co-leader Lucy Rugman is a clarinetist and highly experienced workshop leader working in special needs settings. She lives in Stockholm.

Project Musicians:

· Louise Wanselius

· Joakim Lundström

· Sareidah Hildebrand

· Per-Åke Holmlander

· Ruth Spargo

Background

In November 2015 Musikalliansen commissioned Manchester-based training company Con Brio to design a pilot professional development project which would give five Swedish musicians the skills, confidence and experience to work with profoundly disabled children in special schools. The initial project goals were:

· To develop the skills and confidence of a group of freelance musicians to work with disabled children.

· To support the wider flexibility and employment skills of freelance musicians, increasing their perspectives on where, and with whom, they might work.

· To start to build a network of teachers, musicians and partner organisations, and to identify further opportunities for work in special needs settings.

· To create links with UK specialists and share knowledge across an emerging international network.

Project Structure

A one-day training session took place for 5 musicians (selected following an application process), led by Con Brio specialist musician Ros Hawley. On the following day all the musicians delivered a workshop in a special school setting – Jorielskolan, Stockholm – a school using conductive education for children with serious cognitive disabilities. At the end of the day the musicians had feedback from the school music teacher and an evaluation meeting from Con Brio/Musikalliansen staff.

Selection of Musicians

Musikalliansen promoted the opportunity widely to members and received a good number and range of applications. The final 5 participants were selected based on existing experience of work with children (with or without special needs), ability to work flexibly, and their stated motivations and interest in this work.

The standard of musicianship presented by the team was very high; the varied mix of instruments ensured a musically rich team. Musicians were selected from classical, folk and contemporary improvisation backgrounds, all with an existing professional career in place, meaning that their musical capabilities were of the highest standard and quality. Selecting musicians from a range of musical genres provided the project with musicians who had a pre-existing awareness of a range of musical styles and structures.

“Alongside the high standards of musicianship, I feel it is important to note that the musicians’ own life experience and age was of significance, giving the project team a level of maturity built out of existing freelance career experience, and allowing the training day to explore many of the principles of the work in depth.” Ros Hawley, Trainer/Project Leader

Day One: Training day

The training day was structured in sections, gradually building the practical skills and competencies required for the second day of workshops in Jorielskolan. Due to the experience level of the musicians it was possible to explore each section in detail, and allow time for the musicians to process and reflect on their responses to the exercises experienced.

· Working without your instrument

Initially the musicians spent time working away from their instruments, exploring body percussion and vocal sound, gesture and movement related to music making and nonverbal communication. This is important for musicians to experience – often identity as an instrumentalist is strongly interconnected with a sense of self, and musicians rarely have the opportunity to explore the concept of being a musician without their instruments. Here we were trying to explore the concept of the musician as a whole, with the body, its sound and related expressions becoming an extension to purely instrumental sound/performance communication.

This is a particularly important concept when working in Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) settings, as physical and facial communication, gesture and non-verbal communication are often at the core of any facilitation of musical interaction. Vocal sounds (such as simple vowel sounds and sliding inflections) and non-rhythmic body percussion sounds (such as singular finger taps and brushing sounds) were introduced to the group based on direct examples of children with whom trainer Ros Hawley had worked in the past. The aim here was to prepare the musicians for the range of communicative sounds they may experience at the Jorielskolan on Day Two.

· Exploring Musical ‘Leadership’

In one exercise musicians were invited to explore the feelings of working under the clear direction of a group leader, and then working collectively without a leader to create the same musical activity. Also discussed here was the experience of both hearing and seeing the sound created and what it may feel like when one of the senses are compromised.

Within another practical exercise, musicians were invited to explore 3 distinct roles of practice useful to the delivery of SEND workshops: 1) to be an observer 2) to mirror a musical idea or gesture of communication from another person 3) to initiate a new musical idea.

The musicians were encouraged to explore roles of leadership and support through a series of pair exercises, initially using just body and voice, then including percussion, then their own instruments to respond to the communication of their partner. The aims here were to 1) develop awareness of the interconnected roles of leadership and support in workshop practice and 2) to develop an understanding of the process of working 1:1 with Children.

As part of this the musicians were expected to be responsive and work ‘in the moment’ with their partner, and to reflect on how this felt.

One musician commented, “We are always used to working with the manuscript” –the musicians welcomed the opportunity to explore more improvisatory and intensive, person-to-person techniques for generating new musical ideas.

· The dynamics of a 1:1 interaction

A video example aimed to reinforce concepts of 1) allowing silence and space for response and interaction from the child and/or between the child and musician; 2) use and development of repeated improvisatory patterns on one’s instrument; 3) development of a musical vocabulary of melodic and rhythmic material created in response to a child’s interaction and; 4) the progression that can occur as a child becomes more musically and communicatively aware within a musical interaction and moves from responsive to proactive interaction with the musician.

· Using percussion instruments

Using a similar method, the session before lunch explored using and playing percussion instruments, and allowed time to explore the visual, tactile and vibratory nature of the instruments used. In a series of improvisations, musicians practiced a range of techniques that they would be using on day 2:

· Creatively exploring ranges of ways to play the instruments

· Understanding the dynamic possibilities of the instruments

· Passing the instruments to each other non-verbally whist still ‘in the music’ in order to be continually aware of their communication with others within the group

· Nonverbally initiating and responding to musical conversations with other members of the group during collective improvisation

· Developing subtleties and variety in playing and performance of percussion instruments applying the same intention as musicians are used to doing in performance practice on their own instruments

· Using musicians’ own instruments to support sound and music created on percussion instruments.

· Different possible ‘roles’ during a musical interaction

Musicians were invited, through practical improvisation exercises, to further explore the range of roles occurring within creative music improvisation that are important when working with CYP with SEND. Different members of the group were invited to use their instruments to 1) support members of the group playing percussion, 2) to imitate the playing on percussion, 3) to respond to the playing on percussion, 4) to support the group improvisation with pedal notes or simple patterns, or 5) to play a melody over the top of the group improvisation.

· Using gesture and non-verbal communication

In a further activity, each member of the group was invited to conduct the rest of the group using unspecified (i.e. freely chosen, spontaneous) movement and gesture to communicate their intentions to the rest of the group. This allowed the group to explore their collective development of 1) understanding each other’s nonverbal communication, 2) to develop awareness of a range of communication other than their own, and 3) to practice nonverbal communication and instruction with the rest of the group. Leadership and supporting roles were also explored through application of this exercise.

“There was a very big focus on the needs of the children, rather than the performer’s needs. Quite obvious, yet not always so…[Following this workshop] I will remind myself to be open and willing to improvise depending on how the children react. To stay and remain in the present.” Sareidah, Musician

· Practical considerations when working 1:1 with a child

Further 1:1 work was explored via an exercise on following and responding to the breath of a participant as a way of creating appropriate and meaningful musical commentary and interaction. This was practiced in pairs and brought into a facilitated discussion with the whole group. Physical proximity, dealing with intensity of experiences, personal space and making one’s own instrument accessible to participants were also discussed during this exercise.

· Preparing musical ideas around a creative ‘theme’

The group quickly created material around the chosen theme selected of Rain and Sun, including rain soundscapes and a sun song. The theme selected was deliberately kept open, with scope for freedom in realising the music to represent it drawing on the ideas from the children.

A body percussion ‘backbone’ was also created, with each member of the group being asked to fix the pattern they had chosen to perform; this then formed the basis for an instrumental improvisation using the chosen fixed patterns. The principle being explored here was to keep patterns simple, memorable and with space to be clearly heard, and enable solid rhythmic connection between each member of the group. Musicians took turns to accompany and then solo, with soloists directing the pulse, style and intention of the music in one rendition of the exercise. When accompanying the musicians were asked to be aware of the soloist and adapt their accompaniment to mirror the musical character and intention of the soloist. The piece created here became the introductory theme for the sessions on the following day and was used on several occasions to start workshop sessions and the performance.

· The communication and learning needs of the pupils

General discussion took place at the end of this session regarding the potential needs and disabilities of the participants the group may meet the next day. The musicians discussed how these needs may impact on the Jorielskolan pupils’ experience of live music, and any potential adaptations they may need to consider when communicating with the children in the workshop sessions. Simple educational terms and practices common to SEND settings were also discussed in response to the musicians’ interest and curiosity about how the pupils may interpret music and sound, and how they learn: for example, the importance to a child’s learning of the concept of a ‘conditioned response’: e.g. in order to initiate a request for ‘more’ or ‘again.’

“Inspiring workshop leaders, guiding us through the day with this meaningful theme. A very relaxed and easygoing atmosphere helped us to connect and create flowing music in a joyful way. Many tools and exercises how to meet, interact and play music with children with special needs”. Louise, Musician

Day Two: Workshop in Jorielskolan Special School , Stockholm

The second day of the project was spent at Jorielskolan, enabling the musicians to put into practice the techniques they had explored during the training. The day was structured so that a performance piece could be created with two classes of children and moved through a series of introductory, small group and workshop sessions towards a final performance. This sharing session at the end of the day brought both classes together to perform with the musicians to an invited audience of other class groups in the school.

Throughout the day the musicians had the opportunity to both observe and directly interact with individual children and their support staff, often working at the ratio of one musician: one child: one staff member.

The final performance consisted of music created to the themes of Rain and Sun, the linking rhythmic material created by the musicians on day 1, a song created by the musicians on day 1, and conducted ‘ free’ elements led by two of the pupils.

One pupil used an I-pad supported by his assistant to play a melodic role in his class’s piece about the sun. When working with the pupils the musicians were expected to be responsive to how the pupils played, and follow their lead; at times musicians were asked to provide support to overall compositions – adding base lines, pedal notes, providing introductions to pieces on their instruments or a melody as instructed.

One of the musicians commented that the experience was like “practicing mindfulness all day”, due to the need to remain musically ‘in the moment’ with the pupils, and as a result of responding instinctively to their communication.

· The outcomes for the children and school

The 1:1 and group sessions with the children were all delivered to a very high standard even though this was the first time any of the musicians had worked in this setting. The children were highly engaged and the staff were impressed with both the level of musicianship of the players but also how well they interacted and drew out musical expression from the children.

“The students were very focused and active when you played. That’s a really big thing, as it’s difficult for them… – that’s a major goal for me”.

Magnus Allensten, Music Teacher at Jorielskolan.

The musicians were all confident in working very closely with children with a wide range of needs and quite profound learning/physical disabilities. This was due to the work during the training day which had covered a range of practical considerations as well as discussing the musical and communicative goals behind this type of ‘intensive interaction’. Again, the school staff recognised this as a real strength in how the musicians approached the day:

‘’It was great when the children could touch the instruments – when they felt the vibrations of the Tuba; when they felt the air from the flute. “ Music Teacher

The final performance was hugely appreciated by the children and staff and was of an exceptionally high standard, given the very limited time with the children. This was clearly due to the standard of musicianship amongst the team, but also their time having worked intensively the day before to understand how they could make music in a genuinely open and inclusive way. The musicians had learnt to place the children’s musical ideas and creativity at the heart of the project, and this was recognized by the school’s music teacher:

“Today proved that the children enjoy composing and creating their own music”. Music Teacher

· Outcomes for the musicians

The musicians had never previously worked together. However, due to their individual talent and the well structured training day they were able to deliver a highly compelling workshop, which included group and individual improvisations. The musicians themselves recognized what a remarkable achievement this had been – they played and led activities like a genuine ‘ensemble’.

All of the musicians described the unique and powerful experience of working closely with individual students, using their music to make a connection where language was not available.

“It was fantastic to meet the children so close, intimate and to connect in a very special way via the music.” Louise, Project Musician.

“One particular student was so excited by the cello, the way it looked and the sound of just one note. Playing with him and getting to know him through the different sessions and performance- sharing music as well as him joking with me and his assistant.”  Ruth, Project Musician.

The musicians were also very clear on the impact of the project on their professional development, both in terms of their musical practice, and in creating real opportunities for work in new settings.

“I will strive for more of this kind of work. I'm looking forward to developing "my own" way of doing this, with so much help and inspiration from these two days in Stockholm with Ros.” Louise, Project Musician.

“[The experience] adds skill to what we already do. The key word is communication, something that is an expressed goal in our ensemble Haga Duo, no matter who's in the audience...I think that the larger group of 5-7 musicians makes us unique. The possibility to have multiple one-to-one meetings at a time and the broadness of the music we were able to create in the afternoon was very special and added a big plus compared to if we would go only one or two persons to a school. That could be made possible if we had funding”. Haga Duo, Project Musicians

“I’m more confident to run workshop activities. I feel comfortable to begin finding more work like this, or building a project. Great to meet other musicians interested in this work.”  Ruth, Project Musician.

Observations from the workshop at Jorielskolan and areas of development for the musicians

1. The high standard of musicianship enabled techniques to be explored and discussed in depth during the training day.

2. Time had to be allowed for the musicians to practice their newly acquired skills during the workshop process on the second day. When practising a new technique and experiencing a new, emotionally rich context for the first time, there is much for musicians to process, including the physical disabilities of the pupils, the context, and their role within it.

3. Awareness of a group dynamic, developing a sense of knowing when the music or activity needs to speed up, or to slow down in response to the needs of the group, are skills that take time to learn and deliver. It can be difficult for a musician to assess this appropriately at first. It is important for musicians to have the opportunity to ‘practise’ these skills in a supported environment, under the direction and leadership of more experienced practitioners.

4. Not becoming lost in the self is important when conducting or directing group improvisation. It is sometimes difficult for musicians new to the setting to separate out their own emotional response from the immediate needs of the pupil group – it is easy to be caught up in one's own experience and delight of the moment. Developing an awareness of the group’s musical experience as a whole takes time – and one has to be aware of, for example, not being caught up in personal feelings experienced in the moment to the extent that awareness of others is lost. With practice a more aware approach can be developed; musicians need time to explore and practise this within a supported framework.

5. Similarly the ability to work 1:1 with pupils whilst being aware of and within a wider group musical dynamic takes time to develop and needs to be practiced.

6. The importance of knowing when to fix thematic material to be used in performances, and the importance of repeating material, but keeping it fresh to enable the pupils to learn it, are skills musicians need to cultivate through the process of training and development.

7. Knowing when to be musically spontaneous, and how to use musical frameworks and structures to facilitate creative compositional processes with groups are important developments in a musicians’ understanding of this work.

8. Musicians working in Special Needs settings need to adapt their instinct to move forward with activities to the learning needs of a pupil group, who may need to understand the musical material presented to them at a different, slower pace.

“I learnt a lot about myself. I got to know my own reactions in the meeting with the children. I had strong emotional feelings during the whole day. To meet the children in this way is for me exclusive, important and full of meaning….I will strive for more of this kind of work. I'm looking forward to developing "my own" way of doing this, with so much help and inspiration from these two days in Stockholm.” Louise, Musician.

“The whole day was a great moment. But maybe [the best moment] was first meeting, and playing for our future co-musicians. Everything was so fresh and on its toes.” Per-Åke Musician.

Conclusions

The musicians on the project developed extremely quickly over the two days, showing professionalism, commitment and enthusiasm. They delivered a very high quality workshop, and now need time to further explore the delivery and practical application of the techniques experienced during the project. Without a doubt they have the capabilities to develop (as either individuals, or a loose ‘team’) a compelling and high impact offer for special schools across Sweden.

The partnership between Musikalliansen and Con Brio worked exceptionally well. Key strengths were:

· Clarity of purpose for each organisation, from the outset.

· Shared values, and a shared understanding of entrepreneurial focused work with freelance musicians.

· Clear division of roles and responsibilities

· A drive to ‘make it happen’: to move swiftly and efficiently once the project had been agreed.

· Keeping a tight focus on quality and impact.

· A combination of international collaboration to draw in the most experienced practitioners in this field, and building local capacity – working with musicians already based in Stockholm.

It is hoped that the project can be a model for work in other geographical regions, and potentially with other art forms. There is huge scope for ongoing links between Swedish musicians, and organisations in the UK which specialise in music and special needs.

Con Brio is very grateful for the opportunity to work with Musikalliansen on developing this unique project and is keen to explore future collaborations and links with other organisations and musicians, in Sweden and beyond.

Ros Hawley and Tom Northey, Con Brio. www.conbrio.co

Maja Adolphson, Musikalliansen. www.musikalliansen.org

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