How Does It Differ From Normal Music Education?
Many of the traditional approaches to music education are put aside and the students are encouraged to investigate and experiment with different sounds, rhythms and combinations.  Group work generates an instinctive development of their discoveries and enables the participants to expand their ideas, take on the suggestion of others and work as a team towards a common goal.

"Musical Futures is not a scheme of work. It is a series of models and approaches that should be adapted and personalised to individual students' needs. The aim is to make music learning as practical an activity as possible, done ‘with’ and ‘by’ students, not ‘to’ and ‘for’ them."

What Are The Benefits?
"Recent research by the Institute of Education on Musical Futures indicates that schools typically witness a wide range of benefits when implementing the approaches including increased uptake of music GCSE and improved behaviour".

Where Has Musical Futures Come From?
The Musical Futures journey began in 2003 when the Paul Hamlyn Foundation instigated an initiative to find new and imaginative ways of engaging all young people, aged 11-18, in meaningful music activities. The starting point for Musical Futures was to try to understand the factors affecting the disengagement of young people with sustained music-making activities, at a time in their lives when we know music is not only a passion for many young people, but plays a big part in shaping their social identity.

Who Else Is Using This Approach?
There is an ever-growing collection of schools up and down the United Kingdom who are reaping the benefits of this new approach to music education.  Many of these have also gone on to become 'Champion Schools' under the Musical Futures banner.  These 26 'Champion Schools' devise, develop and run training and CPD sessions for others interested in finding out more about Musical Futures, or in sharing and developing good practice with others.

Brent Music Service Offers Support for Involvement with Musical Futures
In support of the initiative and following the success of the Brent pilot programme in 2009, Brent Music Service ran its own introductory event and invited Brent based schools to attend.  The gathering was designed to inform, educate and encourage more  establishments to join this innovative alternative to traditional musical education.

The ethos of  the programme states "Musical Futures believes music learning works best when young people are making music and when their existing passion is reflected and built-upon in the classroom".  Having seen the programme in action through the sessions attended by members of staff from Brent Music Service, they believe this could be an highly effective way of reviving the interest in music education for secondary school students.

To find out more about the Musical Futures programme, please visit the information website by [clicking here].

To find out how Brent Music Service could assist you with introducing the Musical Futures programme into your school, please contact Brent Music Service.