Over the summer we'll be profiling the five winning bids for the government's music partnership grants. First up, the London Symphony Orchestra with the Barbican Campus Music Partnership.
LSO Discovery is the pioneering music education arm of the London Symphony Orchestra, and in partnership with the Barbican is embarking on a hugely ambitious programme of work encompassing ten London boroughs and over 15,500 children aged 5-18 in its first year.
LSO On Track will work with children and their teachers in the ten Olympic boroughs across east London to build a high-quality musical programme. This will include first time access to concerts, programmes for young instrumentalists, live workshop activities and creative applications of digital technology. The project will also open doors for the young people involved to take part in the Cultural Olympiad ahead of the London 2012 Games.
There are five strands of work, which will be evolved in close collaboration with the ten music services, they are:
Everybody Play - Bespoke projects for music services, adding value to current provision for a wide range of students.
Celebrate and Inspire - Young instrumentalists of all levels perform alongside the LSO at the Barbican and LSO St Luke's.
Nurturing Talent - Ongoing support for talented young musicians and their families.
CPD and Traineeships - Supporting teachers and young professionals.
London 2012 - Once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to take part in the Cultural Olympiad.
Projects such as the LSO's 'Take a Bow' concerts use ingenious ways of bringing all children into high quality music activities, such as re-scoring the Bach double violin concerto for students of all levels, from open strings to soloists, so that beginners and experts can play alongside each other. There are also innovative projects embracing new technology, allowing participants to 'remix the orchestra' or interact with LSO players in a live online platform.
Development of the musical workforce is key to the development of quality music education and in this area the LSO will be building on a model already in action. The orchestra has been working closely with non-specialist music teachers, animateurs and the music service in Hackney, to offer a programme of training, teaching ideas and management. They now plan to take the best from that scheme to a much broader base of teachers.
LSO Discovery has been working hard to build relationships with local communities, reaching out from its dedicated music education centre LSO St Luke's. The challenge now will be addressing the broad range of students and different needs across the ten Olympic boroughs. Areas like Redbridge and Havering have long established music-making traditions and music services dating back to the 1950s, whereas music services in Tower Hamlets and Hackney are only a few years old.
On Track aims to offer life-changing opportunities to young people, whether that's a one-off inspirational experience in a workshop or concert, or a sustained programme of music-making. Although these initial government grants are for one year only, On Track is a long-term programme, with strands such as Nurturing Talent seeking to support and develop some of the most talented students to 2012 and beyond.
All photos © Kevin Leighton