Description
This paper reports on research into ‘Go Compose’, a two year project run by the organisation Sound and Music, the national charity for new music in the UK. It involved young people of secondary school age from a variety of challenging circumstances to foster an interest in composing music, led by professional musicians, in three non-school settings.Composing is a normal part of the National Curriculum in England, but this project was different, in that the young people concerned voluntarily participated. The three settings were:
1. Music technology workshops solely for girls, young women, and non-gender binary young people over two years, operating in the north of England
2. A project for disabled young people, often engaging using music technology in the Liverpool area. The project centred on enabling young people to find their composing voice and to explore and enhance their musicianship.
3. A London-based project which engaged with NEET (not in education, employment, or training) young people. The project involved learning about digital music production, with the product of a track being created, including singing or rapping, and collaborating with other musicians.
This presentation is no ‘Victory Narrative’ though! There were problems and issues with working in this way, including the differing expectations of informal learning, which for the young people were significantly removed from their school experiences. The continuity of composing opportunities for young people is limited, and reasons for this are explored.
In the formal/informal music learning sphere, composing is often a poor relative of performing, and this project showed that, as this conference is about, ‘music and meaning’ for these young people was facilitated by this project.
Finally, lessons for an international audience about the place and role of non-classical composing projects are drawn out.
| Period | 18 May 2022 → 22 May 2022 |
|---|---|
| Held at | European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) |
| Degree of Recognition | International |