Meet the speaker: Leonora Davies

HC: What has your career looked like since becoming a freelance music education consultant?

LD: When I first finished my full-time job in Haringey, I did a lot of work for Youth Music on the whole-class instrumental scheme, and I've been a mentor for Music for Youth for many years and I've really enjoyed my work there. Of course, that's fallen by the way considerably over the last 15 months, but I've kept in touch with them. I particularly loved going down to South Wales to Bridgend, and also to Aldeburgh. There was something very grand about sitting in the Maltings and having these wonderful young musicians play to you – it was a real privilege. I've also always kept in touch with Haringey, where I was the music inspector for many years. I always went to their concerts and supported them and was able to offer any advice that they might need from an old person!

In around 2010 I worked with a small group and secured some funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to undertake a programme called Musical Bridges, which was about transition of pupils from Year 6 to Year 7. We not only worked with music teachers in primary and secondary schools, but also with headteachers and senior management teams, particularly in secondary schools. It was really thrilling because it was quite innovative. We knew that in music a lot of pupils transferring to secondary school fell under the radar because they weren't being picked up in a systematic way.

It was evaluated by colleagues from Sussex University, and we felt that we had at least sown some seeds. In practical terms, we ran a number of courses for primary and secondary teachers so they could learn from each other. This resulted in a number of initiatives: Year 6 children would be invited to visit the neighbouring secondary school for a day, they would get to know the music teachers, the music department, and where the toilets were! They often organised joint concerts and workshops for pupils to make music together. It sounds like really small things, but what we found out when we interviewed Year 6 children was that one of the things they were really worried about was where the toilets were when they went to secondary school. We worked nationally and developed some good hotspots with the music services who were really into it and followed it through in a big way. But like a lot of these programmes, it was joyous when it was happening and then you wonder what the legacy was. I think that if the principle is still happening, whether it's with music or whether it's with PE or science, then strategy is still in place.

HC: Since you began working in music education in 1965, what do you feel have been the overall trends in provision in the UK?

LD: How long have you got? [laughs] I, along with others, often wonder, ‘where have we got to?’ Are we going round the same treadmill again? Are we repeating things? But in a sense that doesn't matter. I'd like to think that there's more awareness within the whole school now – that on the whole, headteachers and senior management are much more aware of what's happening in their music departments, other than providing them with showcasing concerts. And that's not just because of Sing Up and the whole class instrumental schemes, but generally. For example, TV programmes like the ones that Gareth Malone did in schools and local communities – lots of people were critical of that, but I wasn't. Anything we can do to increase public awareness about music education is important.

The other thing that is imperative is to provide equal opportunities for all pupils. I remember when I first started in Haringey, there was a division between those children who were having instrumental tuition and those who weren't. I think we've done a great deal to break down these barriers.

Whole-class instrumental tuition was, of course, an absolute godsend to those of us who had been fighting for equality of opportunity. I will bang my drum about that forever because I think it did work. I know that in Haringey, and in a lot of the London boroughs that I'm still in touch with, the principle of trying to ensure equality of opportunity for everybody is paramount, whether their parents can pay for it or not. We must make sure that we hang on to this principle of equal opportunities for everybody.

HC: Have you had a chance to look at or discuss the Model Music Curriculum in any detail?

LD: I haven't had a lot of involvement in talking about it, but I've seen it and I've looked at some of the detail. I must say that when I saw the list of listening extracts, I was slightly bemused and a bit confused. I thought, ‘How on earth is that going to encourage and support a primary classroom teacher?’ I know that music hubs are already providing CPD. It will be important for the government to now provide extra funding for this CPD.

I have to say that I wasn't really sure who it was for. I understand from talking to one or two colleagues that it's supposed to say, ‘music is on the map and don't you forget it’. But it may take some primary school headteachers to be convinced because it's been forgotten over the pandemic. Quite rightly, they're making a fuss about children who seem to have forgotten how to read, but if they are singing, they'd soon start to read again and enjoy it.

Of course, I'm very interested to see how it will develop. It might be a very detailed and condensed document, but how it's used, how it's activated with properly funded CPD, is another really important thing.

HC: What are you hoping to share with Expo attendees?

LD: With any course I do, I try to encourage teachers, I try to give them confidence. I try to draw them out to find their own confidences, which I think is important. I think even in three quarters of an hour, I've got to leave teachers feeling that they can do something, and that they are thinking about what they're doing and why they're doing it. Those are usually my principles, whether I'm dealing with nursery and Early Years colleagues, or with secondary teachers working with GCSE classes, or whether someone from the instrumental team is taking a beginners’ strings session or a beginners’ brass class. You've got to help teachers find their own confidence, and at the same time, pass on a few specific ideas they can take away and do tomorrow.

HC: How do you feel generally about the future of music education?

LD: It's a cliché, but we've just got to keep banging the drum. Even those of us who are a bit long in the tooth, I think we've all got something to offer. Two of my own children are music teachers, and I'm certainly not despondent about the future. We've got to get behind organisations like Music for Youth and Youth Music. The Music Education Council, Music Mark, and the ISM are still there, and we've got to support the work that they do. I'm still very open and alive to wanting to support music education for all children. So I'm not put off by the fact that it is a bit difficult sometimes, and that not all schools are as enthusiastic at the moment as they were, but we've got to keep reminding the powers that be that music is a vital part of a properly balanced curriculum.

Leonora Davies will be presenting ‘From body sounds to percussion instruments’ at 10am in the Seminar Theatre on 25 September 2021. The session is suitable for Early Years practitioners. View the full programme and register for your free place at the Music & Drama Education Expo | London at www.musicanddramaeducationexpo.co.uk