So, like the rest of the country I have recently been home-educating our two children (aged seven and nine). Unlike most of the country I've been doing it for the last seven or so years. I'm not saying that the decision to home-educate was 100% influenced by music, but the idea of spending some time every day playing and singing together von Trapp style might well have tipped the balance. In fact, music features heavily on our curriculum (such as it is), as evidenced by the fact that both girls spent three hours yesterday afternoon practising their violins and composing. Bliss.
I was a late starter to music myself and I've been playing catchup/cursing my non-musical upbringing ever since. I'm working on my Grade 7 violin, though I only picked it up again recently. I'm a beginner trumpeter, quite good chorister and if I'm at a party and the booze is flowing, I can be found at the piano belting out showtunes. So music features heavily on our home-education timetable.
They both have violin lessons (they're doing Grades 4 and 2 respectively) and have now taken up cornet and euphonium. They also sing in two choirs and do a weekly theory lesson. Luckily for me, they love music. They both have a broad taste (just this morning our nine-year-old's car playlist had a Tudor mix, followed by The Pixies, Simon & Garfunkel and Vivaldi) and one of them is hell-bent on becoming a musical theatre star (she got a distinction in the ABRSM's new Grade 3 Singing for Musical Theatre exam last year, though I don't like to boast (too much)).
As we're all string/brass players, we play together regularly. The Schott Easy Concert Pieces series is fantastic for this, with its playalong CDs and simple arrangements.
But now and again, I have this worry that they're missing out on good classroom music. What if the education we're giving them is too specific? What if we're preventing them from meeting that one special teacher who would inspire them to write that award-winning musical? What if they miss out on forming the next Beatles in the playground?
I drink in information on other friends’ kids’ school music lessons as though it's fizzy pop, I make random purchases of sheet music and apps I can't afford just in case it will make the difference between growing up a frustrated couldabeenacontender amateur like me and someone who could actually make a living in the performing arts (when, WHEN things get back to normal, that is).
While music has always been at the forefront of our education journey, we've spent the last few years ensuring that maths, science and English is on course. Now we're confident they can count and read and write, we're keen to take their musical education to the next level.
We know there is a wide range of educational resources available for home learners and the nation's teachers went above and beyond in response to lockdown with online provision and motivational content.
A few weeks ago I got hold of the new CGP Edexcel GCSE music book, which might seem a bit previous, but in fact I have found it a great place to start for two literate, musical kids. As well as the usual ‘what to expect in an exam’ stuff, it contains a pretty decent overview of the basics (there's even a section called just that), as well as a deep dive into musical history, genres and structure. If we do nothing else for the next five years, working to this could just keep us on the straight and narrow. When leafing through the book I was struck by how much of it we're already doing. The accompanying CD helps, of course (my aurally-focused children will pay attention to anything if there's a CD attached). The range of music covered is relevant to them, even at this age (the inclusion of the musical Wicked caused much delight and was a great entry point for our two).
They've both started composing their own basic songs on the piano and guitar and they're very fond of identifying the instruments and time signatures they hear in pieces we play them (so that's got to count for a couple of points at least). Of course we're not going to get to GCSE level this academic year but we'll certainly have fun trying. The Christmas list features the songbook to at least one musical score (Six) and we're hoping to have singing exams in the bag by the end of the year. My ongoing question is, where next?
