Sustaining singing: VOCES8 Foundation

Singing ‘has the power to change lives and build stronger communities’. These were the words of the government back in 2011 as it ruminated on the benefits of a musical education in its first National Plan for Music. The extent to which the government has made manifest this statement is an argument that continues to wrangle on, but there is little disagreement over the message.

Of course, music teachers throughout the length and breadth of the country knew this already, and they weren't alone. Many musical ensembles had already made the existential link between their own work and the musical education of the communities in which they performed. In 2005, six years before messrs Gove and Vaizey put their names to the National Plan, brothers Paul and Barnaby Smith founded the VOCES8 Foundation, an education programme to inspire singers of all abilities and support singing within schools. It says a lot that both the eponymous foundation and the ensemble from which it drew its name were birthed at the same time. From the outset, VOCES8 and, later, its sister ensemble Apollo5, had a purpose that extended far beyond the concert hall.

Since 2005 the work of the VOCES8 Foundation has grown inexorably, leading to the establishment of the VOCES8 Centre in the City of London. From this position it aimed not only to continue to expound the VOCES8 Method, a system of musical development designed by Paul Barnaby, but to create more arrangements and resources for use with choirs and in schools, and to develop longer-term projects with primary and secondary schools within and outside of London.

Inspiration through singing

Director of education Ann Wright has been at the very heart of shaping and developing the foundation's remit. ‘Inspiring people through singing is the overall objective,’ she explains. ‘The foundation aims to do this through a variety of means – massed choir education programmes for all ages, supporting schools with singing, supporting primary schools that do not have a specialist music teacher, training teachers and choir leaders, and supporting aspiring young professional singers.’

The foundation's work extends into Europe and beyond, and involves projects with young adults from A level into higher education. However, its work with UK school children at Key Stages 1–4 is a particular focus.

‘Work in schools can consist of a workshop day delivering one-hour sessions to different year groups to help inspire pupils to sing and support music across the school. This kind of day ends in a performance when the participating pupils can showcase what they have learned together with Apollo5 or VOCES8,’ says Wright.

‘Secondary schools in particular like to have a workshop or masterclass with their choir or choirs,’ she adds. ‘If the school is struggling to recruit choir members, workshops with pupils in Years 7 and 8, as well as a performance by Apollo5 or VOCES8 in a whole-school assembly, often forms part of a secondary school visit.

‘Work with London secondary schools also includes a workshop and concert at the VOCES8 Centre. We like to bring secondary school choirs together to work with each other and with our singers, perform for each other and sing in a concert for family, friends and supporters of the foundation.’

Work within the primary sector often incorporates teacher training in addition to participatory singing. ‘It usually involves four visits to participating schools by two members of our singing leading team,’ explains Wright. ‘The singers lead workshops with a class or classes while a member of the team also leads a teacher training session with staff at the school. These projects finish with a workshop and concert at the VOCES8 Centre. The children come to the centre, have a workshop with Apollo5, eat their packed lunches at the centre and then perform in a concert with Apollo5 in front of parents.’

Self-confidence through leadership

Developing self-confidence and leadership skills has been cited as a particular benefit of a good musical education. Towards this aim, the VOCES8 foundation runs its own Young Leader Programme, supporting secondary school pupils in learning how to lead a workshop that includes warm-ups, the VOCES8 Method and teaching songs to primary school children. Following a request by Hackney Music Service, the programme was expanded to include children in Year 6, enabling them to lead workshops for younger children in their school.

‘The programme always culminates in a day of primary school visits,’ says Wright. ‘The young leaders lead workshops for children in the schools. Members of the VOCES8 Foundation team are there to help facilitate the day and support the young leaders – however, the focus is very much on the young leaders. They deliver the workshops, and the primary school children engage with them throughout the day. Teachers and schools are encouraged to continue having the young leaders involved in leading singing. This can be through leading choir warm-ups or sectionals at school, leading a group of younger singers, or working with children in a feeder primary school.’

Building in sustainability

Continuity has always been the great challenge for music education projects. Catalysing a musical culture within a school that both transcends and integrates seamlessly within the wider curriculum is the holy grail. Wright is keen to stress that the foundation meets this challenge head on.

‘In 2019 we began delivering longer projects with London primary schools. These involve working with children and their teachers over two terms,’ she says. ‘The aim is not only to provide a high-quality singing experience for the children, but also to help the teachers gain the confidence and skills to lead singing with their classes. We encourage and support the teachers to incorporate 10 minutes of singing a day – “Sing Every Day” – with their classes.’

Ensuring that the work has a long-term impact is always a challenge, admits Wright. ‘We do provide resources for each project – warm-ups and songs, for example. We are also developing videos for teachers and students to access on our website. The VOCES8 Method is available there, along with our creative responses to two songs, teacher notes, and a video with exercises to help choirs tune and balance chords. We are also offering free teacher training sessions at the VOCES8 Centre.

‘In an ideal world, I'd like to be able to work with schools and teachers over the course of two or three years. This gives the teachers more time to embed what they have been learning and share it across the school. It is of course funding dependent, as we also want to reach as many schools, children and teachers as we can.’

In addition to working with many schools in London, the VOCES8 Foundation extends its reach throughout the UK, having worked with 20 music education hubs nationwide in the last four years and 250 schools during the academic year 2018–19 alone. It also has a serious approach to self-assessment. In addition to the usual impact surveys and questionnaires, Wright has commissioned several pieces of research into the foundation's work from leading academics, including Professor Susan Hallam and Professor Graham Welch from University College London.

‘It's important for us to learn from our work – what is successful, why a particular approach or activity does or doesn't work, how best to lead the various workshop and teacher training elements, and what schools and teachers actually need,’ says Wright. ‘The goal is to share the results with schools, hubs, teachers and the wider musical community – and to learn from them. Schools and young people need these portfolio musicians more than ever, so organisations such as the VOCES8 Foundation have not only a responsibility to train singing leaders, but also to encourage and show them what the impact of our projects is and what we can do to continue to support and inspire children and teachers.’

Find out more at https://voces8.foundation