Skip to main content
Read page text
page 6
NEWS F Call for papers opens for Music & Drama Education Expo The call for papers is open for Europe’s largest music education exhibition, the Music & Drama Education Expo, taking place on 23 and 24 February 2023 at the Business Design Centre in London. Applications have also opened for the programme advisory board – a voluntary panel of teachers from across the sector who will work with the heads of content to shape the two-day event. Each lasting 45 minutes, sessions range from on-the-feet workshops to presentations with seated audiences, and the full programme is CPDaccredited. Harriet Clifford, head of content for the music stream of the conference programme, said: ‘We’ve seen the quality and diversity of content coming through our Call for Papers go from strength to strength every year. ‘It’s such a privilege to be inviting fantastic educators to share their ideas, expertise and innovations with us, and hopefully with our delegates. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into the submissions and curating a rich, fresh and engaging music programme that will be of genuine benefit to everyone who attends the Expo.’ The music and crossover sessions are allocated across the following topics: Ɂ Diversity and inclusion Ɂ SEND Ɂ Policy and funding Ɂ Business and marketing Ɂ Curriculum and exams Ɂ Mind and body Ɂ International trends and approaches Ɂ Collaboration and community Ɂ Musical theatre Ɂ Early Years and Primary Ɂ Pedagogy Ɂ Improvisation Ɂ Composition Ɂ Technology Ɂ Classroom teaching Ɂ Performing arts across the curriculum Ɂ Extra-curricular music/ performing arts When applying to run a E Music & Drama Education Expo 2021 session, you will be asked to supply the following information in a 1,250-word application: Ɂ Speaker bio (50 words maximum) Ɂ Introduction (20 words maximum) Ɂ Learning objectives (minimum of four) Ɂ Content (800 word maximum) Ɂ Equipment Ɂ Audience (options are given for you to choose from) Ɂ Key Stage applicability Ɂ The deadline for submitting a session is 13 June 2022. Submit a session for the Music & Drama Education Expo 2023 at www. musicanddrama educationexpo.co.uk/london/ submit-a-session and find out more and apply for a place on the programme advisory board at bit.ly/39Qp6iy. ‘A Common Approach’ for music teachers updated 20 years on Following its initial publication in 2002, Music Mark has redeveloped ‘A Common Approach’ – a curriculum resource for all instrumental and vocal teachers. The new digital resource aims to support teachers to deliver ‘a holistic approach to music education’ in individual, small-group or wholeclass instrumental and vocal lessons. Billed as ‘the essential framework for a meaningful musical learning journey’, A Common Approach offers five programmes of study, with learning objectives and activities specified for beginner to advanced levels. These programmes of study are provided for voice, brass, / ADOBESTOCK IO STOCK28STUD woodwind, strings, piano, keyboard, harp, percussion, contemporary guitar, classical guitar, ukulele, and music technology. Specialist music educators have worked with Music Mark to develop the resources, and a group of teachers and trainees were given early access in order to provide feedback. On using A Common Approach, a PGCE student at Manchester Metropolitan University said, ‘It has helped me define what I want to get out of the 20 minutes in a clear, concise way. It also helps me be realistic with the abilities of the beginner students in what they will be able to achieve in this short time.’ Mark Aldous, deputy head at Cambridgeshire Music, said: ‘It has definitely helped to remind me of the importance of covering all of the areas in order to create a well-rounded and confident musician.’ A Common Approach is available to view on the Music Mark website. www.musicmark. org.uk/a-common-approach 6 F June 2022 F MUSIC TEACHER www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk
page 7
F NEWS ‘I’m tearing my hair out’: Music teacher frustration over ABRSM exam booking Music teachers trying to book ABRSM exams online at the beginning of May ‘wasted’ hours in virtual queues as the system struggled to cope with high demand and a planned update. Introduced in January 2020, the new online system promised to ‘transform the exam booking process’, ‘dramatically improving’ the user experience for teachers, parents and candidates. ABRSM customers took to social media to voice their frustrations when the second booking session of the year opened on 4 May, with teachers and parents reporting increasingly long waiting times, a lack of available slots, sessions timing out, ‘stress’ and ‘disruption’. The exam board kept customers updated via Twitter, attributing the issues to ‘very high demand’ and taking the system offline for an hour while they worked to ‘increase capacity’. ABRSM told MT that the problems arose because they were ‘trying to introduce a new mapping function to aid identification of venues with availability’, but this ‘hasn’t worked as [they] had hoped.’ Upon gaining access to the portal, some users found that very few exams were available in their area, but ABRSM maintained that ‘there are plenty of available slots’. ‘Ridiculous and unnavigable website’ Saxophonist, composer and music teacher Rachel Forsyth spent from 7:15am to 11pm on 4 May trying to book an exam for her student, without success. Signing in again on 5 May, she found that there were no exam centres available. She told MT: ‘It was only when someone mentioned on Twitter that the map function wasn’t available that I gave it another go. You can’t find the venues on the map and, when you search, it says there are no slots available – it’s only when you go into each venue that you can see that they do have slots. ‘I have wasted so much time trying to get through a ridiculous and unnavigable website, and the stress of it has been ridiculous. My poor student has started a fourth piece today in preparation for swapping to a digital grade.’ Forsyth added: ‘This is my last session with ABRSM. I’ve been using their exam board since 2005 and have had enough now. It’s not worth the stress and effort. ABRSM has lost sight of what’s important.’ ‘Total shambles’ Violin teacher Benedict Heaney said that he was still ‘tearing [his] hair out’ when he spoke to MT about his attempt to book three violin exams for his students. ‘It’s been nearly 30 hours since I started. I lost my first slot after eight hours because I had to go to work, and then lost my second slot because it was in the middle of the night.’ / ADOBESTOCK function to aid identification of venues with availability and it hasn’t worked as we’d hoped. ‘We’re working hard behind TOMMYSTOCKPROJECT the scenes to fix the issues and are really disappointed that we’ve not been able to do so already. We are keeping everyone updated and will continue to do so as the situation evolves.’ Heaney queued for more than two hours on the morning of 5 May but was met with apparent unavailability. ‘I ended up scrolling through every page of dates to eventually reach a vaguely suitable date, only for the registration page to crash when I tried to enter the candidate ID.’ He said that he has never had a problem with the ABRSM booking system before, ‘other than it being a bit frantic getting a viable date’, but that ‘this is a total shambles’. He continued: ‘[ABRSM] needs to offer a discount – flimsy words of “sorry for the long wait” do not make up for the hours spent in sheer frustration. I’m really unhappy and am flabbergasted that their system has failed so monumentally.’ ‘Working hard behind the scenes’ When approached by MT for comment, ABRSM’s chief executive Chris Cobb said: ‘We know that our booking system has been underperforming in the last couple of days and understand that this is a source of huge frustration for many of our customers, as it is for us too. These issues have arisen because we were trying to introduce a new mapping On 6 May, the exam board published an official apology from Cobb, in which he writes that he ‘shares that frustration’ expressed by customers, and that ABRSM is ‘disappointed’, particularly as the booking system ‘had largely stabilised and had performed well for the last two booking periods’. As confirmed the day before, the issues were caused by a failed update to the mapping system. Cobb writes: ‘We won’t apologise for trying to make these changes to help those booking exams but we can only say how truly sorry we are that it has caused these queuing issues this time. In spite of these issues, we are pleased to report that over 17,000 bookings did make it through over the first two days – thank you for continuing to work with us.’ Robin Padgham, a private music teacher who spent over three decades working in IT, said that he can ‘see both sides of the situation’. He began trying to book an exam at 8am on 4 May and was successful in his booking by 8:30am the next day. He said: ‘Twenty-four hours to book one exam is obviously ridiculous, unacceptable, and for me and others like me, not viable.’ ABRSM is the world’s leading provider of music exams and holds more than 650,000 assessments in more than 90 countries every year. www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk MUSIC TEACHER F June 2022 F 7

Page Text

View plaintext

NEWS F

Call for papers opens for Music & Drama Education Expo

The call for papers is open for Europe’s largest music education exhibition, the Music & Drama Education Expo, taking place on 23 and 24 February 2023 at the Business Design Centre in London.

Applications have also opened for the programme advisory board – a voluntary panel of teachers from across the sector who will work with the heads of content to shape the two-day event.

Each lasting 45 minutes, sessions range from on-the-feet workshops to presentations with seated audiences, and the full programme is CPDaccredited.

Harriet Clifford, head of content for the music stream of the conference programme, said: ‘We’ve seen the quality and diversity of content coming through our Call for Papers go from strength to strength every year.

‘It’s such a privilege to be inviting fantastic educators to share their ideas, expertise and innovations with us, and hopefully with our delegates. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into the submissions and curating a rich, fresh and engaging music programme that will be of genuine benefit to everyone who attends the Expo.’

The music and crossover sessions are allocated across the following topics: Ɂ Diversity and inclusion Ɂ SEND Ɂ Policy and funding Ɂ Business and marketing Ɂ Curriculum and exams Ɂ Mind and body Ɂ International trends and approaches Ɂ Collaboration and community Ɂ Musical theatre Ɂ Early Years and Primary Ɂ Pedagogy Ɂ Improvisation Ɂ Composition Ɂ Technology Ɂ Classroom teaching Ɂ Performing arts across the curriculum Ɂ Extra-curricular music/

performing arts When applying to run a

E Music & Drama Education Expo 2021

session, you will be asked to supply the following information in a 1,250-word application: Ɂ Speaker bio (50 words maximum) Ɂ Introduction (20 words maximum) Ɂ Learning objectives (minimum of four) Ɂ Content (800 word maximum) Ɂ Equipment Ɂ Audience (options are given for you to choose from) Ɂ Key Stage applicability Ɂ The deadline for submitting a session is 13 June 2022. Submit a session for the Music & Drama Education Expo 2023 at www. musicanddrama educationexpo.co.uk/london/ submit-a-session and find out more and apply for a place on the programme advisory board at bit.ly/39Qp6iy.

‘A Common Approach’ for music teachers updated 20 years on

Following its initial publication in 2002, Music Mark has redeveloped ‘A Common Approach’ – a curriculum resource for all instrumental and vocal teachers. The new digital resource aims to support teachers to deliver ‘a holistic approach to music education’ in individual, small-group or wholeclass instrumental and vocal lessons.

Billed as ‘the essential framework for a meaningful musical learning journey’, A

Common Approach offers five programmes of study, with learning objectives and activities specified for beginner to advanced levels. These programmes of study are provided for voice, brass,

/ ADOBESTOCK

IO

STOCK28STUD

woodwind, strings, piano, keyboard, harp, percussion, contemporary guitar, classical guitar, ukulele, and music technology.

Specialist music educators have worked with Music Mark to develop the resources, and a group of teachers and trainees were given early access in order to provide feedback.

On using A Common Approach, a PGCE student at Manchester Metropolitan University said, ‘It has helped me define what I want to get out of the 20 minutes in a clear, concise way. It also helps me be realistic with the abilities of the beginner students in what they will be able to achieve in this short time.’

Mark Aldous, deputy head at Cambridgeshire Music, said: ‘It has definitely helped to remind me of the importance of covering all of the areas in order to create a well-rounded and confident musician.’

A Common Approach is available to view on the Music Mark website. www.musicmark. org.uk/a-common-approach

6 F June 2022 F MUSIC TEACHER

www.musicteachermagazine.co.uk

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content