Reaching out and beyond: Creating a legacy for sound-based creativity in primary schools

This paper will outline research at De Montfort University (DMU), in partnership with the Leicester-Shire Schools Music Service (LSMS) and funded by the Midlands4Cities Creative Economy Engagement Fellowship (CEEF) programme, concerned with increasing creative engagement with sound-based music (sbm) in primary schools. The project builds on the EU Interfaces project (a Creative Europe project concerned with bringing new music to new audiences) and other research conducted at concerned with increasing access to sbm in pedagogical contexts. In partnership with LSMS, a whole unit of lessons on sound-based creativity was developed for Key Stage 2 children (7-11 year olds). The central question then posed by this postdoctoral research was: how effectively can non-specialist teachers deliver such lessons without requiring the presence of experts from the field?

Resources were created to support teachers in guiding pupils through the unit and a case study approach was used to collect largely qualitative data. Responses from the participating teachers and pupils have been very positive. As a result of this, LSMS are continuing to offer the unit to schools in Leicestershire with the possibility that this could be offered nationally to other music education hubs in the future.