Sound City

Summary

This exemplar, entitled 'Sound City' describes a project that is the result of a unique partnership between Birmingham's EiC Gifted and Talented Partnership Co-ordinator, the Birmingham LEA Music Service and Arts Education Director, Sound it Out Community Music and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). The project initially involved five of the six Gifted and Talented Networks in the City who helped organise a series of showcases, developed through the Gifted and Talented Excellence in Cities Programme. These showcases also helped celebrate the wide range of talents of a diverse community. The project was first proposed by the then Chief Education Officer, Tim Brighouse, who suggested the possibility of a Gifted and Talented (G&T) music strand to the LEA programme of activities.

Description

Clear criteria were set and schools were encouraged to take part by the Gifted and Talented Co-ordinators both in school and in the networks. Initially, all schools were asked to send one or two acts, groups or performers.

City Showcases were essentially a combination of the following
considerations:

- Ensuring a diversity of music
- Did the group/performers have a high level of technical competence?
- Did the musicians have potential to develop through the showcases?
- Recognition of the cultural or social background of the young people
- What was the standard of interpretation of the performance?
- Recognition of the ability of students to provide their own compositions or interpretations
- Were the young people working as individuals or in groups?
- Did the performer have stage presence and/or personality?

Most of the performers in the showcases were talented in particular traditions, styles or genres. The majority tended to be pop musicians. However, there were some jazz and classically trained performers. There have also been some students who have delivered work using a fusion of ideas such as a rapper using Urdu, Bhangra dance groups accompanied by Dohl, steel pan groups, Boy or Girl Bands, DJ's and those with own compositions. Although talented students were to be identified it is possible that some musicians chosen might not have been the most highly talented but those with potential. More than a thousand young people aged from 12 to 18 performed in local Gifted and Talented showcases across the city to audiences of parents, families, school staff and governors, other young people and VIP's, in each year of Sound City.

The key strengths of the project have been:

- The diversity of the musical activities on offer
- The quality of work produced by the young people
- The high profile opportunities offered to the young people through the performances
- The excellent working relationships between the partners involved in the planning of the project;
- The wide range of groups across the City involved in the project
- The strengthening of the Gifted and Talented networks with particular reference to music/arts
- The strong links between the schools and partners organizations
- The pool of talent of young people in the area
- The quality performances that have emerged onto a national platform such as at the Music Education Council Conference, and the BECTA International Conference
- The sustainability of the networks for future development

The challenges we had to overcome included:

- Communication channels with schools or departments getting information at the start of the project
- Some initial technical problems with the performances
- Lack of money initially and lack of some expertise
- The complexity of the event

Evaluation

This is a very strong project which seeks to provide young people with a showcase for celebrating their talent. The key points of success are as follows:

- Value for money by pooling resources to enable a high quality showcase
- A platform for 1000 young people to share and showcase a wide range of musical talents showing the diversity of musical talents
- Advice and management support to all Gifted and Talented co-ordinators through the planning group
- A model which can provide ongoing development in the context of music to include Masterclasses to further improve skills and talents
- A model that can develop to celebrate other art forms
- A developmental model to engage Gifted and Talented young people and their staff across a city project that impacts on self esteem, confidence and motivation as well as directly improving skills and music portfolios.