Blog first published in June 2022

We first met in 1977 through the celebrated choral director Ralph Allwood, who asked us to write a show for his school in Reading. It was a jazz musical and turned into a hit, performed at the Edinburgh Festival and elsewhere. We went on to write many musicals for secondary schools, but Cinderella is the first we have written for primary children.

Cinderella came about because, having taught music at Tiffin School for many years, David was increasingly disheartened to read press reports about declining curriculum time for music in some schools, particularly at primary level. He strongly believes that music is not only an essential part of a person’s education but also of their character development. In wondering what he could do to help, he had the idea of creating a short musical that primary school children could perform.

After writing the show, we decided that we would also give our time, free of charge, to produce the first performance and we offered it to St John’s School in Kingston, where we knew one of the teachers. They jumped at the chance and put it on the timetable for Friday afternoons as part of the curriculum. This meant that the entire class took part in it, which was exactly the spirit of the idea.

One of the problems for the arts in primary schools is that there aren’t many teachers who are specialists. St John’s is a small school with just one class per year, and it has no one who’s a music specialist, although there is an external teacher for dance and some drama workshops. So the children hadn’t done any singing until we got there apart from hymns.

We didn’t necessarily write Cinderella for 10-year-olds, but the school decided to give us Year 5 as the class. It was a fairly strenuous time for them, but they were brilliant. We had a hunch that they could do it; it was just a question of whether they could stand up to the rigors of the way we work. But the children just lapped it up and the teachers stood back and were amazed. The children themselves often don’t realise what they are capable of, but if you get their trust they can really exceed everyone’s expectations.

There were 19 different nationalities in the class of 30. No one was disruptive and they worked very hard. There was one girl who is completely deaf and she was wonderful – she danced and sang with everyone else. She has ear implants and she had to wear a mouse’s head as part of her costume, so we cut holes in the head for her.

The children really supported each other. A good example of this was the two ugly sisters. One of them is a consummate actor, and the other is also very able but turned out to have various difficulties, and the help that they gave each other during the rehearsals was fantastic to watch.

There were one or two children who were shy and diffident at the auditions and didn’t want to embark on something new. We gave them small parts, which they were pleased with as they were still involved, and they really blossomed. There were other children who said to us after two or three weeks that they didn’t want to take part, but because it was a whole class endeavour they carried on, really grew into it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now half of the class want to become actors and the other half want to be stage directors! We’re all great friends now too, which is lovely.

We devised the whole piece so it would be accessible to other people. The music is provided by two keyboards and drums (played by David, another former Tiffin teacher John Pearson, and Jeremy) but it’s going to be recorded so people can have a CD of the music to use if they don’t have anyone who can play those instruments.

The scenery is a set of projections that go on a screen at the back of the stage. These were produced by students on the TV and Media course at Kingston University. The students came into the school and asked the children to draw what they thought the show should look like, and they then put the drawings on to an animated screen, so the children had an input on another creative level as well.

Most of the costumes were made by a local friend and they also go with the package. The mouse heads and a few other items we hired ourselves from the National Youth Music Theatre, but you can also create your own.

The score/backing CD, script, scenery and costumes will be available free of charge for anyone who would like to put on the show. We hope that people will produce Cinderella and then be encouraged to start doing other productions themselves. Retired teachers like David might well be keen to go into schools and lend a hand with a project like this if specialised help is required.

We recently met the children again for a further rehearsal and it is amazing how much more confident, mature and socially aware they are as a result of experiencing the arts and performing. The school seems delighted with the experiment and have given no indication that the classes’ other work in core subjects has fallen behind despite all the time we took. This project shows just how much students can get out of creative learning. We hope that the teamwork and sense of achievement will be valuable for the class – we’re delighted they enjoyed being part of it as much as we did.

St John’s Primary School won the Community Award for Cinderella at the July 2022 Fuse International Creative Youth Festival in Kingston, with their performances described as an ‘exceptional contribution to the festival’. If you are interested in producing Cinderella yourself, please contact the ISM at membership@ism.org or call 020 7221 3499.

Writer and director Jeremy James Taylor founded the National Youth Music Theatre in 1976. Composer David Nield was Director of Music at Tiffin School for 35 years and was Chair of the National Youth Music Theatre for many years. Their joint music theatre works include The Ragged Child and The Tower of Babel.

Photos: courtesy Stephen Simpson

 

Can Do Music were particularly pleased in March 2021 when this blog was first published with the expectation, in the Model Music Curriculum (MMC), of a minimum of one hour’s music per week from Year 1 to Year 9.

The publication of the MMC by the Department for Education (DfE) contains important non-statutory guidance to support teachers in delivering high quality classroom music lessons from Year 1 to Year 9 and follows a two-year development process.

Crucially, the MMC values music as a subject in its own right by demonstrating the Government’s support for its teaching in schools. Some of the most important elements include expectations that Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils should receive a minimum of one hour of teaching a week and KS3 music should have a minimum of one weekly period. In addition, it suggests that placing music with other subjects on rotas (or “carousels”) is not a substitute for teaching one lesson per week per subject across an academic year.

#CanDoMusic started initially as a campaign, launched by the ISM, MTA and Music Mark to protect music in schools. We have been highly influential in the creation of the MMC through participation in the consultation process and supplying research, with both MTA and Music Mark represented on the Expert Panel. Collectively, we look forward to working with the membership of each organisation to interpret and implement this guidance.

Commenting on the publication:

The Incorporated Society of Musicians’ (ISM) Chief Executive, Deborah Annetts, said:

‘The publication of the Model Music Curriculum is important for helping to ensure that all schools offer meaningful classroom music. In particular, I am delighted with the expectation of a minimum of one hour’s music per week from Year 1 to Year 9 because sustained learning is crucial for helping young people grow in skill and confidence.

‘Every child deserves access to a quality music education but research has shown that opportunities for pupils to make and create music are becoming more limited. The Government should now be actively encouraging teaching music as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, […] ensuring that it is properly financed.’

Music Mark Chief Executive, Bridget Whyte, said:

‘The mention of the role that wider partners within local Music Education Hubs can play in the delivery of music in schools, confirms the importance of partnership working in providing a quality music education in and out of the classroom. The introduction within this Model Music Curriculum provides a strong message from the DfE of the importance of musical learning for every child, and we now look forward to the next steps they will need to take in completing their work on a ‘refreshed’ National Plan for Music Education to sit alongside this new guide.’

Music Teachers Association (MTA) President, Simon Toyne, said:

‘Our partnership with the ISM and Music Mark has made a substantial impact over the last year with our #CanDoMusic campaign. This continues with our response to the Model Music Curriculum. This is a significant moment when we can come together in partnership, sharing our expertise, experience, drive and passion (and, of course, those legendary problem-solving skills of music teachers), to make a difference to the lives of so many children. We want the Summer Term to be busy, with music teachers, headteachers, hub leaders, and all passionate about music education, coming together to bring the MMC to life, enabling all children in all schools to access a quality music curriculum.’

Notes to editors

The #CanDoMusic campaign was launched in 2020 by the ISM, MTA and Music Mark to protect music in schools by celebrating the innovation of teachers and sharing practical resources to deliver the subject in engaging new ways.

• 85% of teachers surveyed by Music Mark stated they saw value in a Model Music Curriculum.
• The ISM found that a quarter of English secondary school teachers said pupils are not receiving classroom music throughout Key Stage 3 as a continuing result of the EBacc accountability measure.

The MMC offers significant insight into what children can actually achieve when guided by a purposeful curriculum taught by committed, imaginative teachers. It aims to support pupils in the musical progression throughout the Key Stages, offers practical solutions for improving diversity and inclusion while being ‘founded on the belief that music enriches individual lives as well as a school’s wider community’.

About the ISM

The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) is the UK’s professional body for musicians and a nationally-recognised subject association for music. Since 1882, we have been dedicated to promoting the importance of music and protecting the rights of those working in the music profession.

We support nearly 11,000 music professionals across the UK and Ireland with our unrivalled legal advice and representation, comprehensive insurance and specialist services. Our members come from all areas of the music profession and from a wide variety of genres and musical backgrounds.

We campaign tirelessly in support of musicians’ rights, music education and the profession as a whole. We are a financially independent not-for-profit organisation with no political affiliation. This independence allows us the freedom to campaign on any issue affecting musicians.

For more information, please contact bruce.rothberg@ism.org

About Music Mark

The UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark is a membership organisation and Subject Association advocating for excellent musical learning in and out of school. We support our members through training and resources, connect them with the wider Music Education network across the UK, and influence on their behalf at a national level. In doing so, we champion a diverse, accessible, and government-supported music education provision to inspire and enrich the lives of all children and young people in the UK.

About the MTA

The Music Teachers’ Association is the largest and longest established association of music teachers in the UK, supporting all who are connected with a school music department.

Our year-round CPD programme of webinars, podcasts, e-bulletins and Ensemble magazine, supported by our Facebook Staffroom and Annual Conference, enables music teachers to connect with each other, share ideas, develop good practice and work together in partnership.

The MTA works with our partner organisations, HMC, ISM and Music Mark, to support and advocate for music in schools, inspiring a membership which passionately believes that every child should benefit from outstanding music education.