With over 75% of boys at Moulsford learning at least one musical instrument, 2 choirs (involving over 120 boys) and an orchestra it is needless to say that Moulsford Preparatory School is a fantastic place to go if you’re interested in music! Today was a fantastic (although slightly mad) day at the school as it was the interhouse music competition. The school has 4 houses which the boys are all divided into for competitions like there were today. Those are Amundsen, Bering, Cabot and Drake. The competition has an external judge and consists of solo, ensemble and whole house performances from each house. The whole day is given to this and things got very competitive amongst the boys (and the staff).

I joined Bering for the day where the whole house performance was  ‘Boys That Sing’ by Viola Beach.

The whole morning after monday assembly was given over to whole house practice where it was lovely to observe everyone getting involved – including the staff. The staff in fact became a band playing guitars, bass and drums with some of the students and much to my dismay, me on the tambourine! Anyone without a musical instrument was singing and the year 8’s came up with dance moves for the pre-prep and senior sections of the school. Each house did something similar, some with backing tracks and us with a full band, but all had coordinated outfits, choreography and harmony. Each house was in it to win it and everyone had a part to play in this no matter how old or young.

Image taken from google I felt that the children working together with the pupils was the best thing about the inter house music competition!

Seeing everyone getting involved in this was not only heartwarming but food for thought in terms of how students and teachers work together in education all the time. Although as teachers we must always make sure that the students understand that we have responsibility for them and that means we should be the authority figure in the classroom, far too often we abuse that power and forget to spend time doing something fun rather than just learning. I feel that today I have spoken to far more children about the school, their classes and their lives than I ever would in a classroom and this is a key point that I will remember when I am a teacher for Health and Wellbeing topics. With the new named person legislation being put into place in Scotland, it will become more important for teachers to discuss with students about all aspects of their lives from school to home, and I personally do not feel this can be achieved if the children constantly see the teacher as someone who can never have a bit of fun. Furthermore, the attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) explains that a positive teacher-student relationship enables students to feel safe and secure in their learning environments. By working together in the inter house competition today, I certainly felt that the children and staff were gaining each other’s trust through a lot of teamwork.

Image taken from google

There were broken classes in the middle of the day which were mainly given over to the solo and ensemble artists, so they had time to practice before the full competition in the afternoon. Everyone was amazing! The musical talent at Moulsford is simply fantastic and for children so young could certainly give the professionals a run for their money. Throughout all of the performances I was stunned at how quietly the children sat, listening to their peers and although competitive, how supportive they were of each other no matter which house they were in. Moreover, I have never been in a school where the children have sat so well and focussed so clearly on anything for such a long period of time. The guest judge gave positive feedback to each solo, ensemble and whole group practice as well as things to improve on which was excellent because every boy put their all into those performances and to be honest they all deserved to win. Additionally, studies of effective teaching and learning (Dinham, 2007) have shown that learners want to know where they stand in regards to their work.

Unfortunately, at the end of the day there can only be one winner and for the first time in 13 years a huge congratulations must go to Cabot who were the overall, very deserving, winners of the day. (Bering did come third and I would like to think this had something to do with my fabulous tambourine playing…). Today may not have been the most academic day for a teaching student to observe, but I did really enjoy my day listening to what musical talents Moulsford have to offer and see them taking a whole day away from the learning to spend time working in teams.

References

Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss, Vol. 1: Attachment. New York: Basic Books.

Dinham, S. (2007). The secondary head of department and the achievement of exceptional student outcomes, Journal of Educational Administration, 45(1), pp. 62–79.