Music in Schools: Richard Cobden School (Camden 2024)
Talented Young Artists Lily Harwood (violin) and Ben Tarlton (cello) have been showing Year 2 pupils that anyone can be musically creative. Funded by The Musicians’ Company Future of Music Fund, The Musicians’ Company, and private donors, our Music in Schools projects aim to make music more accessible in London schools. Lily tells us more about this amazing project.
“There’s nothing quite like having 30 excited pupils staring at you to give you a touch of the jitters”, says Lily Harwood, winner of the Company’s Lambert award. “While I’ve worked with teenage musicians as part of the NYO Inspire programme and regularly teach violin on a 1-1, taking the lead on this whole class project was definitely a leap out of my comfort zone!
Joining me on this project was another Young Artist, Ben Tarlton, and volunteer, Rachelle Goldberg, a seasoned pro in delivering music education programmes. Sarah Carroll, the class teacher was also present to help keep everything running smoothly and everyone actively participating. It’s easy for pupils to slip under the radar when you’re running workshops for such large groups.
The theme for our project was inspired by ‘Carnival of the Animals’, a humorous musical suite by composer, Camille Saint-Saëns. Animal themes are a great way to spark enthusiasm for music in young learners, and the short movements in this suite offer a particularly playful and relatable way to explore rhythm, melody, and creativity. Cat McDermid, the Company’s freelance music educator, created a meticulously planned lesson plan around this theme to help tap into the children’s creativity and enthusiasm for learning.
Although we had to improvise at times, having such a good plan really helped to put my, and Ben’s, mind at ease. With just six weeks of 45 minutes sessions per class (two classes in total), we needed to delve straight into the project objectives to ensure the children got the most from the sessions. Our aim for both classes was to compose two different pieces of music for two different animals of their choice, culminating in a short performance.
We began by introducing the pupils to Cat’s preformed elephant accompanied to the Carnival of the Animals ‘Elephant’ song. The children joyfully clapped and stomped along to the beat. Ben also used his cello to imitate the elephant’s slow, plodding movements, showing how musical instruments can create a variety of sounds to convey different emotions and tell stories.
The next step was to ask the pupils to brainstorm two animals and to describe them with adjectives. The first animal they chose was a lion, from which we crafted a musical motif – a blend of a purr and a yawn – which the pupils brilliantly conveyed using the xylophone. The pupils also had fun creating the fierce sounds you associate with the king of the jungle, though I do recall things getting a bit loud and me saying: “You can be scary without screaming!” Their wide-ranging vocabulary led us to create some brilliant word rhythms.
The next animal the first class chose was a Komodo dragon – the heaviest lizard on earth, which lent itself to lots of scary, sinister sounds. Using my violin and Ben’s cello, we asked the pupils to vote for which string sounds best captured the essence of the animal. During the final performance, we challenged the audience to guess the animal based on the sounds the children chose, adding to the enjoyment of the event.
The second class chose the sabre-tooth tiger, leading us to craft word rhythms using our hands, and the parrot, which inspired lots of squawks and screams. In this instance we split the class into two teams and provided different instruments, from boomwhackers and egg shakers to drums, which created an entertaining dialogue between the two groups. Keeping compositions short, memorable and punchy was important for ensuring the young pupils stayed engaged.
This was a fun learning experience that helped to show the pupils that making music is well within their reach. It’s also had a profound impact on me. What seemed scary at first became a huge confidence-boost, proving that I’m more than capable of handling projects like this. I’m excited to tackle something similar again!”
Interview by Suzy Willmott
Suzy is freelance copywriter who works with the Musicians’ Company