COUNT US IN - DECEMBER 2009 UPDATE
An Exploration Day was held recently at Stevenage Music & Arts Centre, where six Royal Philharmonic Orchestra musicians and 14 Hertfordshire Music Service instrumental tutors and Secondary school music teachers met to explore ways of working together as Creative Practitioner Teams, and to begin planning projects for the 13 separate school clusters. Identified issues and priorities include:
- designing creative processes that challenge young people;
- placing opportunities for young people to play live music together at the heart of the project;
- mixing traditional and contemporary music styles;
- enabling all Count Us In schools to interact, sharing learning experiences and performances;
- transition from Primary to Secondary should include ways of sustaining Wider Opportunities activity;
- creating a website for collating all recorded compositions and allowing material to be downloaded, re-composed and uploaded into an organic music resource.
The planning process is continuing through meetings with individual schools. When the school themes are clear, out-of-school providers will be approached to discuss ways of embracing vulnerable young people through special informal music-making programmes.
A key aim is for there to be major shared performance opportunities in 2010. Orchestras Live is cultivating plans for possible RPO collaborative concerts in St Albans and Stevenage.
Dr Nick Owen from the Aspire Trust has begun work as the Evaluation Consultant for Count Us In, and Steering Group meetings have been held in October, November and December.
