‘Is this really happening?!’ I heard myself say this aloud as, accompanied by the head teacher, Fiona Cullen, and deputy head, Jo Cull, from Nelson Primary School, I headed towards the stage at the UK's Music and Drama Education Awards 2023. We all shook the hand of host Aled Jones and took in a generous round of applause as we accepted this year's award for Outstanding School Music Department. Comparable ovations as a conductor paled into insignificance because the journey of our diverse East London primary school towards national recognition has been decades in the making.
Building a base
Long before my time at Nelson Primary School, my predecessor, Jo Cull, had developed a culture of universal music engagement based on communal singing. Supported by a partnership with Sing Up (which led to being awarded Platinum Status), Jo formed an upper KS2 choir and persuaded Kate Phillips, a Year 6 colleague and fellow singer, to help run rehearsals. Kate then formed a lower KS2 choir and by the time I arrived, in 2016, the school boasted five choirs for all pupils from EYFS to Year 6 and even a staff choir. It will come as no surprise that Jo became an Advanced Skills Teacher (remember those?), and when Jo was promoted to deputy head, I was appointed as music lead.
On a parallel trajectory to the snowballing school choirs, annual in-house performance opportunities grew to include four nativities and a full-scale musical. But I didn't just inherit choral and drama traditions. I was presented with a bespoke year-group singing curriculum, enthusiastically led by class teachers – I only need to update this now and then and support assemblies. Instrumental music was also building, with small-group instrumental lessons for around 90 children in KS2; these remain free to parents, ensuring pupils have equal access.
Courtesy of Newham Music
Nathaniel with current and former Nelson pupils at Newham Music Academy's winter concert
Some heads of department may be surprised to read that point. And this is where I must credit one of the most wonderful gifts that any school music-lead could receive: genuine support, right from the top. I often hear ‘it's such a struggle to get music going in my school because our senior leadership team (SLT) just aren't on board.’ That is one problem I don't have at Nelson Primary – because headteacher (and, incidentally, fine specialist Baroque soprano) Fiona Cullen really does support the arts. This comes in many forms; for example, in finding the money from an increasingly stretched budget to fund five peripatetic music teachers. But, most importantly, Nelson's SLT truly values musical engagement and the myriad benefits it brings. Fiona is like the proud parent many of our children don't have – in my time, she's never missed a school concert.
Towards musical excellence
On my first day at Nelson, I was presented with a DVD containing highlights of the school's four-day(!) Spring Arts Festivals and confronted with quite a nice problem to have. Things were going pretty well already – what could I add to this in order to justify my salary as a specialist music teacher? Well, the main brief has always been the curriculum. In addition to forming the firm foundation that enables impressive musical and ensemble outcomes, providing a high-quality holistic musical education for every single child is the number one priority. The aim of our curriculum is to provide an inspiring all-round curriculum where children enjoy and learn through a broad spectrum of well-planned musical learning experiences.
High expectations have gotten us a long way, and at times Years 4 and 5 achieve outcomes that I used to see in Years 7 and 8. It's like I'm a secondary teacher who's forgotten he's moved to primary! The entire curriculum is underpinned by one simple principle: our children are not simply ‘having a go’ at music; they are musicians in their own right. This means, for example, not just going through the motions of whole-class instrumental music, but working towards proper concerts with quality musical outcomes. Our children don't just learn about the structure of a jazz standard – the lessons become a real-life jam session. Even at EYFS, genuine musical experience is key, so we set up a musical playground, with literally hundreds of assorted noisemakers, where children can freely explore and develop their own musical world.
Another key to our success is well-thought-out progression routes. For example, a fairly traditional introduction to Western notation with recorder in Year 3 leads to small-group instrumental lessons from Years 4 to 6, which feed our orchestra, senior wind/string ensembles and senior choir. These opportunities have led to the school producing five London Music Fund scholars in recent years and a steady stream of accomplished musicians who extend their learning at the Newham Music Academy. No amount of positive data can match the job satisfaction of seeing Nelson alumni continuing to make music without us on hand to cajole them.
Relentless ambition
This job is never finished, but relentless ambition gets you a long way. So, in a bid to ensure music-making serves our diverse school community, whole-class ukulele and samba lessons feed two newly-formed rock bands. Whole-class kanjira drumming and small-group vina lessons also enable our children to join Newham Music's Carnatic ensemble, East Ham Groove. Both programmes come courtesy of a generous grant from Restore the Music UK. A Music Enrichment Grant from Newham Council also supports instrumental lessons and enables us to lead a creative ensemble project across five schools. If nothing else, I've gotten pretty good at filling in funding applications! And, as our ensemble provision has grown, the Spring Arts Festival has increased to five concerts in the space of one week, so it's best not to talk to me in March unless you'd like to know all about it!
From five members to fifty
But it's not always been so successful. My first attempt at a school orchestra comprised five musicians and taught me a very important lesson: Do not compete with football! Our children love making music, but they also love running around and emulating their heroes – let's not make them choose. And, with school support, we found a way not to: orchestra now runs before school, with no clashes. This group has taught me a great deal about running school ensembles: from clarity of conducting or basic technique on six instruments to how to maximise engagement. It's very difficult to make a beginner orchestra sound anything more than tolerable, but I've found considerable success in producing bespoke arrangements that play to the strengths of the group. Note that writing pitch letters above the notes – even if this feels like cheating – halves rehearsal time and enables children to make music, not just learn how to read notes. Despite so many barriers, our orchestra has made two recent trips to the Music for Youth Proms, and I shared our journey in a session at the Music & Drama Education Expo in 2020.
Teaching improvisation
That my session on classroom and ensemble improvisation at this year's Expo comes so late in the article illustrates just how much there is to say about music in our wonderful school. But it was a pleasure to communicate my passion for this most joyous method of music-making with an audience of my peers. I was particularly keen to emphasise that improvising is an art-form in its own right and not simply a means to composing. I believe that successful teaching of improvising stems from this basic principle, supported by careful scaffolding, confident musical modelling and opportunities for students to explore and experiment without the pressure of anyone listening in.
This is really happening
So yes, this is really happening and we have a nice weighty award to prove it wasn't all a dream. Shortlisted with a number of elite and selective schools, I wasn't hopeful that we, the only primary school nominated, would be commended, let alone win. This is because a narrative exists among some music educators and senior leaders that music in primary schools is either non-existent or inconsequentially superficial and that the ‘real work’ begins in Year 7, perhaps even later. Well, I can categorically state, while clutching my school's award, that the real work starts far, far earlier and it is both possible and desirable to nurture fantastic musicians before they've so much as tried on a blazer.
Some may ask what our secret is; what makes this school a musical anomaly? Well, as with so many aspects of life, the secret is that there is no secret. Every single member of our school community works day-in, day-out, to weave music through the lives of our young people, with the benefits felt not just now but throughout their future, in whatever ways they want to engage with music. This collective effort has well and truly produced results and everyone in the Nelson Primary community is truly proud of our achievements.
