Research News Last updated 20 May
Funding has been awarded for two continuing partnerships between Birmingham City University (BCU), a Birmingham music ensemble and a national charity.
The first set of funding will allow for a project working with primary schools in Birmingham to continue for two more years. Listen Imagine Compose Primary 2 will see five primary schools host a composer-in-residence to working with teachers and Music Leads to create opportunities for pupils to compose and embed music-making into the school curriculum.
£45,000 allocated through the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG), through Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts-Based Learning Fund, has funded this and will reach over 600 school children in the city over two years.
Research from this project will study how this approach and resources can be sustained in the long term and embedded into schools sustainably.
Project lead, Dr Victoria Kinsella from BCU’s Birmingham Music Education Research Group (BMERG) said “This work matters because it empowers teachers and composers, enriches the curriculum, and responds to a need to address how composing is still the least well-developed aspect of music education.”
Nancy Evans, BCMG Director of Learning said “This is wonderful news and a vote of confidence in our ongoing work supporting young people to compose in and out of school.
“Composing is often an overlooked part of the music curriculum, and one that classroom teachers can find hard to teach.
“This grant will enable us to work with our research partner BCU to sustain, grow and develop this vital and ground-breaking programme”.
In a second project with the OHMI Trust, BCU researchers will evaluate the charity’s work on inclusive Whole Class Ensemble Teaching (WCET). This latest project has been awarded £15,000 over nine months of study.
It’s hoped the research will find the best and most effective way of breaking down barriers that young people face who need adapted musical instruments when in WCET.
A BCU study in 2024 for OHMI, found that 94% of participating schools identified students who could potentially benefit from additional support with learning a musical instrument.
“We’re delighted that Arts Council England has recognised the value of our collaboration with BCU as we extend the programme in our six existing areas and launch our delivery through three new music services,” said Rachel Wolffsohn, General Manager of the OHMI Trust.
“We now have a good spread of geographies, sizes and ways of operating whole-class music programmes which means this research can test applicability across the board and help OHMI build the most robust model for wider roll out in future years.”
Dr Kinsella, who is also leading on the Inclusive WCET Evaluation project, said: “The work of OHMI is crucial in challenging barriers to musical participation. We are proud to be contributing to research that will help shape future inclusive practice in music education.”