This article was published in ESTA UK ARCO Magazine 26th October 2024

Setting the Scene:

A mixed urban quasi-rural borough somewhere in the northwest of England in the mid-1980s. The task is to encourage more school children to learn the violin. The method would depend on the resource of teachers, the co-operation of the Local Education Authority Department, the structure of the Music Service and the enthusiasm of the team leaders and staff.

The Resources:

19 full and part-time string staff. The population of the Borough was just over 300,000 in 1983.

The Borough had a mixture of grammar schools,  with 11-plus exams, comprehensive, middle and private schools. The population was mixed with some areas of low income, where children needed to be washed at the school before the school day, to millionaires’ housing. The Tower Hamlets project in London was in its heyday. A member of my team was very interested in it and spent about a week as part of the music service’s professional development scheme, monitoring and working with the staff. As Head of Strings, I had many discussions with my music advisor about the best way to encourage as many children as possible to take up the violin/cello/viola or bass, and establish a method which would mean it would be very unlikely they would give up after one year.

I had always been very keen on the involvement of parents in supporting their children’s learning, noticing, since I began teaching in 1974, that the pupils who continued learning the longest were generally those with parental support, not necessarily musical parents, just enthusiastic parents. The parents would be a huge resource and support to any new scheme that we could introduce to the Borough.

Selection:

The Tower Hamlets Project provided an excellent model. Children were not selected individually. All learnt the violin in the year groups that took part. It might have been hard to get every parent to support their child.  The system proposed in my case was very different in this respect. I was very keen that all the parents would actively support their children right from the start. In my view this would reduce the chances of children giving up before the three years that the project was planned to last. In the 1980s ‘selectivity’ wasn’t such a ‘dirty word’ as it became later in the  1990s  with the introduction of the National Curriculum and the ‘Learning for All’ campaign. Sports teams, to this day, are selected, so I thought any scheme to select learners could be seen as comparable. 

The Music Advisor agreed a selective scheme would result in more players staying the course.

Planning and Support

It was agreed we would establish a scheme modelled on the Tower Hamlets Project. It was supported by the Chief Education Officer as well. Leading up to this agreement was my own development as a leader. I quickly learnt that my title, ‘Head of Strings’ had very little influence on my effectiveness as a manager. It was the way I operated that was more influential. After all, I was only in my early thirties at the time and had a lot to learn about how to be influential and be effective.

With an eye to my own professional development I was encouraged to take a course in Education Management. Out of this emerged the history of the Hawthorn Electrical project,  (Please see “Sources and Courses” section at the end of this article). I was lucky enough to apply its principles almost immediately. Simply put, these were that consultation with the work force means understanding their needs. By putting these needs into effect, productivity can be increased resulting in a win-win situation for everyone. The workforce accepts changes because they have initiated them.  From then on, I consulted first before taking actions, but also led with ideas,  acting on feedback from them.

I presented the idea that visiting teachers (VMT: Visiting Music Teachers) were the same as any other teacher and were entitled to legitimate breaks and weekly staff meetings. My line manager accepted this. I timetabled to  include these meetings and  breaks, to match the conditions of regular full and part-time staff in schools. 

Once I had clearly stated that I was  interested in what my string teaching team wanted, they quickly became enthusiastic.  They even began to meet socially outside work. There was some reluctance at first to give up valuable teaching time by having staff meetings,  but by sharing aims and problems we were able to introduce a curriculum which everyone approved, this being in the days before the National Curriculum came down from above.

For the staff it may have seemed like a new  management style. But I didn’t invent it, I merely was able to follow  the example of the 1924 Hawthorne Electrical project of Chicago which  I had learnt about on my Education Management Course. It all worked brilliantly. Today,  I still look on with dismay when I  see companies struggling with getting staff to co-operate. From world leaders to small companies,  I often wonder if they really have noticed and heeded what their staff are saying.

There is no doubt in my mind that without this consultative/co-operative management style  this violin teaching project would never have happened.

The proposals

Our wish was  to find to find a primary school which was not  in the richest part of the Borough,  and where the Headteacher was already keen on music. The choice was not difficult. Having a good overview of all the schools in the Borough I made the proposal. My own team were already behind me. The teacher who had visited Tower Hamlets agreed to lead two other teachers who would assist in lessons of an hour per week for a group of  24 pupils. A teacher- pupil ratio of 1 to 8. An additional 20 minutes a week was provided in groups of six pupils, four groups of six. A teacher at the school, who was a pianist,  accompanied the pupils in almost daily practice in lunch times etc, and in the hour-long group lessons, so that the children didn’t really need to practise at home. The whole scheme became part of the school life and the other children who weren’t involved could hear the playing happening,  just as you would see children practising football. In this case it was playing the violin and it became as accepted as football. The learning material was provided through the teacher’s own notes from her visits to Sheila Nelson’s Tower Hamlet sessions and through Sheila’s books such as ‘Tetratunes’, ‘Right from the Start’ and ‘Technitunes’, those that were available at the time.

Recruitment

Having found the school and obtained the support of the Local Authority,  the next   task was to find the pupils via their parents. I already had a nodding acquaintance with Sheila Nelson, first meeting her at a ‘How to Practise’ course in 1964, and organising an in-service training day in the 1980s for all string teachers in the area. Sheila’s generosity was typical in her lending me films from the Tower Hamlets project. These I showed at a special parents’ evening introducing what was proposed for their children in our chosen school. The films showed the the very early stages of learning  up to about three years. There were no scratchy sounds often associated with starting the violin. The parents were easily convinced how good it was to learn in a big group. Luckily about 24 children came forward with their parents’ support.  I believe no child was turned down. All the support needed was in place.

Success 

All the children who started  continued after three years. None gave up. The secondary school they fed into was a bit taken aback at having so many violinists. My team teachers were so keen on the project they started their own even after I left the area for a new job. Their scheme included cellists learning with violinists. All the pupils in the first scheme reached a standard of Grade three after three years.

Carrying Forward

Personally, at 73 now, I am not involved in teaching. What can I do? I can encourage you with evidence that this scheme worked,  by writing here. I can help you send a message to the people who decide about funding. I  can encourage you to make sure you have the support of your colleagues so you don’t carry on working alone. I can back up what Melvyn Bragg has just said in public in the Telegraph of 19th July 2024, that Arts Council members need to take a much more personal and supportive view of the Arts. In my view it doesn’t necessarily need lots of money. It does need the realisation of the long term benefits to learners and how to make sure that the teaching provided is efficient.

Justification

It is questionable whether one-year schemes are efficient.   The standard acquired at the end of one year is not likely to be high enough for children to be self-motivated enough to carry on. ‘Opportunity for all’  claims must be backed up by offering continuing tuition of the same type and guaranteed within their school education. If the parents are to be charged for lessons after the first year this must be made clear even before the children start. It is this continuity which helps justify the scheme that I helped to create. There were no charges to parents for tuition or instruments. The group tuition ensured efficiency in costs and time. Especially valuable was  the back-up by the school with supervised practice sessions by the school-based staff member.

Lobbying and Sponsors

Whoever you are, whoever you know,  I am happy for you to quote the success of the scheme I was lucky enough to head up. It was done without lobbying and without sponsors. Today is another world, but what is stopping you from talking to the right people,  starting with the most influential? Whether it is the Arts Council, the Local Authority, the Local Music Hub or the Sponsor,  an understanding of the different methods of starting to learn a stringed instrument is essential. Without that understanding, such projects as the one I described  might today remain a pipe dream. Let’s hope not. My wishes are for people to get together and  understand what we all want and how to achieve our goals. With that power of co-operation between us we are more likely to get more string players for the future, especially boys! Let’s hope that we as a body of ESTA members are all stringing from the same string sheet.

I hope my description of the project I was involved with might be of use,  and help you and your team justify your project to the sponsors or Government fund giver. 

***

Julian Carlick can be contacted by email at juliancarlick@gmail.com

He studied at the RCM under Eileen Croxford and Helen Just, worked as an orchestral cellist in Trier, Germany, and had a brief period as a student at the Vienna Academy of Music. After gaining teaching qualifications he worked as a cello, bass, violin and viola teacher in Bury, Oxfordshire,  Wirral and Hampshire. Having managerial posts in Wirral and Hampshire he was able to move into arts management as a Regional Development Officer for the charity ‘Making Music’. His voluntary work includes being programme secretary for a concert promoting society, music director for an amateur opera group, Age Concern computer helper, Asthma UK post doctorate research applications reviewer and now for ESTA,  as the Joan Dixon Chamber Music Fund Bursary Officer. His qualifications are ARCM, PGCE and Dip.Ed.Man (Education Management). He was enrolled as an FRSA for a number of years.

Further reading, courses and sources are chronologically listed, most recent first:

Paul Rolland String Pedagogy Workshop

Current: Co-Directors: Stephen Fairbanks — stf@illinois.edu  Gail Rolland — gailrolland@gmail.com

Visit the Paul Rolland String Pedagogy group on Facebook  

Office of Public Engagement University of Illinois School of Music

Current: Stephen Burian, Public Engagement Assistant Director - burian1@illinois.edu

Melvyn Bragg             19 July 2024  Claire Allfree: The Telegraph 

‘No one at the BBC has the guts to fight back – I don’t care if I never work there again’ The veteran broadcaster talks frankly about the Corporation, the Arts Council and politicians’ attitude to culture.

ESTA article              2022 (Jan 24th) at https://www.estastrings.org.uk/visiting-music-          teacher-survey-results/Visiting Music Teacher (VMT)      Survey Results

ESTA UK has conducted a survey asking visiting music teachers (VMTs) about how COVID has affected their work. Over 300 VMTs responded.

 Sharma, Siddhant      2022    What is Hawthorne Experiment Theory?  (Elton Mayo)                                               

February 13, 2022 : Contact@Edukedar.com © Copyright 2017 - Newspaper WordPress

Martin Faultley and Adam Whittaker

                                    2017    Key Data on Music Education Hubs

Birmingham University Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences

Ariane Todes               2014    Sheila Nelson and her work in Tower Hamlets 

Elbow Music : The website of Ariane Todes – journalist, copywriter, editor and communications consultant specialising in classical music.

2006     NOROSH (Nordic Association of Occupational Safety and Health       Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health – [A review of the Hawthorn Electrical Project 1924]

Keith Swanwick and Christine Jarvis

2008   18th  December - Published online by Cambridge University Press:  

                                    1990    The Tower Hamlets String Teaching Project: 

             A Research Report by London University Institute of Education Music Department. £5.00, 56 pp. 

 Carlick, J. E.              1988    Governing Bodies for Music Services 

CNAA project as part completion of the Diploma in Education Management: Crewe and Alsager College

Roethlisberger, Fritz Jules and W.J. Dickson.

1966    Counseling in an Organization: a Sequel to the Hawthorne Researches. Boston: Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration. 

Mayo, Elton                1933   The Hawthorne Plant

Professor of Industrial Management, Harvard Business School, 1933                                                 https://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hawthorne/anewvision.html#

The Human Relations Movement

(1924-1933)  Harvard Business School and the Hawthorne Experiments