Musical Futures

About Musical Futures

Musical Futures (www.musicalfutures.org.uk) is a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Special Initiative. The aim has been to devise new and imaginative ways of engaging young people, aged 11–19, in better quality musical experiences for longer. Developed by three pathfinder Local Authority Music Services, it is a set of ideas, models and approaches which can help personalise the music learning experience for young people, and make it more enjoyable and effective. A range of models are available for teachers/practitioners to adapt or adopt into their teaching situations, which have the following at their core:

• strategies which foster informal approaches to music learning;

• work often starts from pupils interests in music, and broaden from there;

• pupils are involved in co-creating the curriculum, and have more control over their learning processes;

• teaching style is often less didactic;

• peer-to-peer coaching is implicit and actively encouraged;

• curricular and extra-curricular experiences are integrated;

• pupils have the opportunity to work as musicians, in authentic musical situations;

• pupils work through 6–8 week real-life projects, rather than weekly snippets of tuition.

Impact of Musical Futures

Schools around the country have taken on ideas inspired by Musical Futures, by adapting and adopting the models into their existing practice. Feedback from schools has correlated with that of the original pathfinder schools – notably improved motivation, enthusiasm and creativity among pupils, improvement in Key Stage 3 attainment, increases in pupils wishing to continue with music at Key Stage 4, increased demand for instrumental and vocal tuition, as well as improved self-esteem, attendance and attitude in music lessons. This all appears to be attributable to the higher level of ownership students have over their learning, the opportunity to explore music in a self-directed manner, the initial importance placed on pupils’ own musical interests and aspirations, and the different role that teachers/practitioners adopt.

All pamphlets and learning resources created by the project, as well as further resources developed by teachers and practitioners adopting the models, are available, free of copyright, from the Musical Futures website: www.musicalfutures.org.uk. A comparative analysis between Musical Futures and the Secondary National Strategy Key Stage 3 Music Programme is also available from the website.