Leading From the Front

Janette Ruocco, Vocal and Choral Development Manager, reports how a Sing Up scheme aims to build confidence among leaders, regardless of musical ability.

One teacher summed up her experience of the Sing Up partnership project between Essex Music Services and the Association of British Choral Directors (abcd),

by saying, "I am now 'leading from the front' rather than from behind the piano."

The scheme was designed to develop and enhance skills among Essex primary school teachers enabling them to lead singing in schools. The biggest challenge was having just 81 school days to make it happen from start to finish.

The first step was recruiting teachers county-wide and overseeing the delivery of five training days spread out over just a few months. In order to deliver the sessions, I called on the expertise of Gillian Dibden and
Jo McNally, two abcd members who are both well-known for their expertise leading singing with young people.

Between sessions, I made six mentoring visits to each pilot school to work with teaches and pupils in implementing and developing the skills they acquired through the training.

Those taking part were all committed to the programme but their existing skills were diverse, ranging from teachers with music degrees to those who, while loving music, could not read notation.

At the outset, participants completed questionnaires reflecting on their requirements and expectations form the course. It turned out everyone wanted to develop their skills in leading singing. One particpant summed up her needs like this: "I just need to do it and practise doing it so I can feel confident." Developing their own singing ability was common, but this had more to do with confidence than refining vocal technique.

When asked to identify which skills they'd like to develop to improve their practice in school, they raised issues such as overcoming children's reluctance to sing (mostly affecting boys),

leading warm-ups, rehearsal techniques, developing confidence and developing more part singing. Another common need was help in locating and selecting appropriate repertoire.

Of the five training days, the opening and closing sessions were open to any KS2 teacher or singing leader from schools across the country. Intensive work with the pilot group started with the second training day, which focused on warm-ups. Asking them to get into groups and compose warm-ups of their own drew out skills they didn't even realise they had. This activity was a fantastic icebreaker. They had great fun teaching one another and were more relaxed about singing in front of each other afterwards.

By the third session, we'd progressed from 'leading singing' to talking about 'conducting'. And by the fourth, we were attempting practical work on how to refine and practise conducting gestures to support singing, while examining a wide range of repertoire suitable for the classroom and school concerts.

On the final day, we began with a session where the participants reflected on their individual journeys through the training and the mentoring support I provided between sessions. Feedback on the course was very positive. One participant commented, "the course has definitly boosted my confidence and given me a wealth of resources, experiences and knowledge which I did not have before, which I can now build on."

All the pilot project participants felt they had made substantial progress in their knowledge, skills and understanding. Developing confidence - believing that they could do it - was the key to the success of the project. My role as a mentor, working with teachers and classes in their own school environments, consolidated and increased the impact of the work we had done in the training sessions: "Janette's workshop with my class gave us confidence to run singing sessions in class along the same lines. "Sometimes the outcomes perceived by teachers were not exlusively musical: "When learning a new song with my class I've found that this improved their general focus."

The participants' progress exceeded my expectations, and once they believed in it (and themselves),

there was no stopping them! Three have become particularly confident leaders and I've invited them to work with the country training choir. One teacher, who couldn't read music before the course, has now led a choir of nearly 200 in an Infant Music Festival, demonstrating bags of personality underpinned by a comprehensive understanding of leading singing.

When my projects began, I seriously wondered whether I'd be able to deliver the goods within the timeframe. And although there were times when we all felt rather driven, we didn't just 'get through' the project. Along the way something very special happened to the group and now these very special people are helping to promote singing throughout the country. For further information, contact Janette at janette.ruocco@essex.gov.uk.

Take note:

abcd, including this project in Essex, will continue as a  Sing Up Flagship from 2008-2010. Sing Up Flagships are designed to help us represent, develop and disseminate best practice in singing provision with primary-aged children across the country. Other Flagships include The Voices Foundation, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Music and the Deaf, and the North West Music Partnership.