{"id":6404,"date":"2020-06-28T16:52:18","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T15:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/?page_id=6404"},"modified":"2021-12-15T18:40:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T18:40:30","slug":"theory-into-practice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/ma-music-the-environment\/theory-into-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"4.Theory into Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Figure 3. The chaos of the well led community group! Burnfoot Hub (Scott 2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The definition of community music being used in this project is one as defined by Higgins   \u201can active intervention between a music leader or facilitator and participants\u201d (2012:1) and represents  an approach to active music making and musical knowing outside of formal teaching and learning situations .The concept revolves around the premise that \u2018everyone has the right and ability to make ,create, and enjoy their own music\u2019 with a drive to \u2018foster confidence in participant\u2019s creativity\u2019. This fits along with ‘the progression to develop active musical knowing and doing\u2019 (Higgins 2012:3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Tapson et\nal  in their study of two UK ensembles\nmention the fact that \u2018little attention has been directed at the impact of\nparticipatory music making \u2026\u2026.upon health and wellbeing\u2019 and refers to the fact\nthat  \u2018understanding the challenges faced\nby community music projects can help support sustainability as well as inform\nunderstanding of health and well-being in community settings\u2019. (Tapson, Walters\nand Daykin 2018:289).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their pilot study of two community ensembles\nundertaken within the United Kingdom suggests that community music initiatives\nare more than a musical learning space but \u2018engender connectivity, wellbeing\u2026..\na sense of connection with the community\u2019. (Tapson, Walters and Daykin 2018:305).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndifficulty in providing hard data to corroborate the perceived positive effects\nof community music projects, particularly in areas within the deprivation\nindex, is highlighted by the project \u2018Notes for Notes\u2019 which runs an after\nschool provision providing free musical resources for youth. This project,\nsimilar in outlook and ethos to the planned Burnfoot Housing Estate project,\nhas \u2018since its creation in 2007, not had a chance to\nexamine formally the positive impact it has had on its members and has relied\non anecdotal evidence to gauge such impact.(Sheltzer et al 2019:2)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nstudy of the literature pertaining to the role of arts activities in promoting\nmental wellbeing and resilience in young people aged 11 – 18 was undertaken in\n2017 by Zarobe and Bungay. Their remit was specifically to search out\nextracurricular  activities that took\npart in community settings <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only studies related to activities that took place\nwithin community settings and those related to extracurricular activities based\nout with schools were included. Whilst limited by the search terms utilised and\n,with the aforementioned, dearth of data led research evidence they found that\n\u2018participating in arts activities can have a positive effect on\nself-confidence, self-esteem, relationship building and a sense of belonging, qualities\nwhich have been associated with resilience and mental wellbeing.\u2019(Zarobe and\nBungay 2017:337).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sistema project, nearer in geographical terms to my Scottish Borders based project, is  \u2018described as \u2018 setting up a pilot social transformation programme called the Big Noise, teaching children from the Raploch estate near Stirling to play instruments within the context of an orchestra\u2019 (Jourdan and Holloway 2017:Chapter 42:1). The Sistema Scotland team works on the basis that musical excellence and social transformation proceed hand in hand, that high aspirations and excellence in teaching and learning are key to change (Jourdan and Holloway 2017 Chapter 42:3.5). The question of musical identity and how the children see their musical selves was also evidenced in a formal qualitative evaluation of the Sistema programmes in both Raploch and Govanhill (Harkins et al 2016) who summarised that the \u2018qualitative findings indicate that participation in the Big Noise programme enhances participant mental and emotional wellbeing in three ways\u2019 and refer to the \u2018happiness and enjoyment\u2019 of musicmaking as well as the ‘participative benefits of security and belonging’ along with a ‘pride in their own achievements’. In their discussion the authors are careful to add in the \u2018Discussion\u2019 section that these \u2018 findings add to a limited and under-theorised evidence base concerning the targeted use of community-based music programmes\u2019 .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a completely different approach the Community\nOrientated and Opportunity learning (COOL) Music project \u2018challenges the\nprevailing model of top-down, catch-all, orchestra-based projects for improving\nwell-being through music-making in Scotland, in favour of a more modest,\nbespoke and responsive bottom-up approach This project, based in Glasgow,\noperated for 12 months – a limitation considered as being \u2018potentially\ndisruptive\u2019 where consistency is preferable. Nevertheless, the authors conclude\nthat  in project delivery concerning the\n\u2018improved health and well-being of young people, the \u2018bigger is better\u2019\napproach may not always be applicable (Millar et al 2020:95).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is with these theoretical and practical examples in mind that the \u2018Burnfoot Buskers\u2019 pilot project is borne. Prior experience in a nearby area, as previously described, has driven this model to be implemented. Aware of the paucity of conclusive hard data there is nevertheless no doubt that the engagement in music making and being part of a musical group is of benefit to young people for many reasons varying from the sheer  \u2018joy involved\u2019 to the \u2019sense of musical identity\u2019 not to mention the emotional intelligence aspect which can benefit all areas of the young person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Extraneous factors affecting participation in music  in the Burnfoot estate, Hawick appear similar to those encountered in Bannerfield, Selkirk (twelve miles away) – geographical isolation, poor transport infrastructure, funding policy and provision within schools and financial situation. By bringing music into the area and providing free instruments and tuition delivered in a child friendly, responsive, and interactive approach it is hoped to reach as many young people as possible. Whilst nowhere near reaching the grand project and infrastructure as shown by the \u2018Big Noise\u2019 in Raploch the intervention of small community led initiatives (the local enthusiast!) can drive engagement with a band reflecting the name of the estate  regarded locally with some pride. As mentioned by the COOL music initiative projects do need to be sustained. This pilot project is, it is to be hoped, a forerunner of a longer term community group. Some discussion regarding this  will follow in the next section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheila Sapkota 14007570. Burnfoot Housing Estate<\/strong><\/em>. Community Music Project<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The definition of community music being used in this project is one as defined by Higgins   \u201can active intervention between a music leader or facilitator and participants\u201d (2012:1) and represents  an approach to active music making and musical knowing outside of formal teaching and learning situations .The concept revolves around …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":6422,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6404","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","column","threecol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6404"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9090,"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6404\/revisions\/9090"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.riddellfiddles.scot\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}