Reports & Research – Making Music

January 16, 2020January 16, 2020

YMI Impact report 207/18

YMI Impact Report 2017 /18

The end of project report for the YMI year 2018/819 has just been released. It explores the work of all the funds strands, highlight that during that year at least 240,000 young people took part in YMI activity. This includes at least 195,000 in school based activity and at least 45,000 in out of school activity.

For this year there was a 10% cut in the overall budgets allocated, which led to a 3% drop in participation numbers and the numbers of hours delivered also reduced slightly.

Despite this YMI’s impact remained very strong and the report is filled with positive developments and learning experiences. The final section makes some with some realistic and positive points for consideration.

Below is the document

YMI-Impact-Report-2017.18

January 14, 2020January 17, 2020

2019 Report on Music Instrument Services

The 2019 Report on Music Instrument Services

The National Instrumental Music Survey in Scotland looks at the 32 local authorities Instrumental Music Services (IMS) across Scotland. These services are discretionary and separate to the music taught within the classroom or by the Youth Music Initiative (YMI) funded music making programme. The report has produced for the last seven years by ‘Improvement Service’ for the Heads of Instrumental Teaching Scotland.

The report notes some valuable research about music education in its forward highlighting its cultural, skill for life and mathematical benefits to those taking part.

‘It has also been proven that music is linked to neurological benefits, which can help with subjects such as mathematics, language, and cognitive tasks. As noted by Lawrence Scripp, “A strong body of evidence establishes positive significant associations between music and spatial-temporal reasoning; achievement in math; achievement in reading; and the reinforcement of social-emotional or behavioural objectives.”

It also quotes the study ‘The Importance of Music Education’ by Ken Petress where he states ‘that music teaches children self-discipline, to take instruction and criticism, to perform and gain self-confidence, dedication, teamwork, to gain knowledge e.g. musical theory, humility, hard-work, goal setting and to practice. These types of skills can be enhanced and transferred into other aspects of children’s lives and follow them into adulthood. ‘

He also notes in his paper that “Music is shown to be beneficial to students in four major categories: success in society, success in school, success in developing intelligence, and success in life.”

Below are download link to the report and summary

IMS Survey Report 2019

IMS Survey Report 2019 Music tuition summary tables 2019

1. Scripp, L (2002) ‘An Overview of Research on Music and Learning’ pp. 132

2. Petress, K ‘The Importance of Music Education’

September 1, 2019November 1, 2019

Sounding Out

In 2014 a report was commissioned to examine the strengths and weakness of youth music in the Scottish Borders. The writers spoke with a cross section of sectors, music teachers and young people. The report led to the creation of the Borders youth Music Forum ‘Soundcycle’

The full report can be downloaded below.

Sounding Out 2014

July 18, 2019November 1, 2019

What’s Going On Now

In 2018 Creative Scotland commissioned The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, to undertake a major examination of music education and youth music-making in Scotland. Across a twelve-month period from early 2018 to early 2019. RCS took feedback and data from a wide range of organisations and individuals to examine the current state of music education and music making opportunities for young people. It looked at 3 varied case studies, examined the impact of YMI, the schools Instrumental Music Services and explored the formal, informal and non-formal sectors of music education in Scotland.

What’s Going On Now? built on the earlier research Whats Going On published in 2003 and examined the impact of the schools Instrumental Music Services. During the research, RCS reported to the Music Education Partnership Group, which includes representation across a wide and diverse range of partners.

There were many valid points highlighted in the report by those involved in teaching and delivering music education , such as “Bring it (music) back into the classroom in primary schools and watch the benefits spread across literacy, numeracy and social interaction.”

Some headline data included :

In 2016/17, around 244,000 young people took part in the Youth Music Initiative, with at least 202,000 taking part in school-based activity and at least 42,000 in out of school activity.
It was estimated that around 75,000 young people participated in music activities in the informal and non-formal sectors, an estimated increase of up to 50% since 2002-3.

Music Instrumental Services have been facing cuts in the last few years and in another of our posts we will look at the recent Parliamentary Group that looked in to this. In WGON it was noted that the average proportion of pupils receiving tuition has stayed roughly constant since 2002-3, at around 8-9%. This indicates, the report suggests, that the number of pupils receiving tuition is determined by the supply, not the demand.

Since 2003-4, the number of local authorities charging for instrumental music has risen from 15 to 25, and the average fee has risen from £102 to £220with the maximum fee increasing from £308 to £524. Around 19,000 pupils pay nothing.

The report made four significant recommendations to action:

To TACKLE inequalities in access to music provision
To CHANGE perceptions of music and its purpose
To REALISE THE POTENTIALof music in the school
To FURTHER FACILITATING Experiences and Opportunities

The YMI programme in the Borders is working with its partners and the community music groups to support improvements in all these four areas. These include Live Borders, the Music Instrument Service, SBC music teachers in our schools and the Borders Youth music Forum, Soundcycle. The full report and summary can be downloaded at the RCS website here.