RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) does not exist in isolation. It is part of a network of provision in the performing arts vocational training and education system and is a hugely important pathway to a career in music or dance for many talented young people. It is vital, therefore, that the scheme’s future development is underpinned by sound research and investigation into what makes a great musician and dancer in the 21st century.
The have been, and currently are, a number of important research studies that impact on today’s Music and Dance Scheme. Summaries of some of them can be downloaded from this page. In 2003, a major research study by cultural planning consultant, John Myerscough, aided by Rachel Gibson, and their report entitled “Developing Opportunities for Talented Children in Music and Dance” lay the groundwork for current and future developments of the scheme, most notably, by establishing non-residential centres for specialist advanced training in music and dance (CATs) and the associated national grants scheme. These developments complement the excellent provision available in existing Music and Dance Scheme schools and the Government-funded Aided Pupil Scheme. The national grants in music and dance were announced by the then School Standards Minister, David Miliband, on 23 March 2004. The centres for advanced training (CATs) have been established first in regions of the country where there has been the perceived greatest need ie the North East, Yorkshire & The Humber, the South West and Eastern regions. The aim is to have music and dance CATs serving every region of England by 2010.
A summary of John Myerscough's study can be downloaded from this page.
Download as:
A summary of John Myerscough's study can be
downloaded from this page.
Download as:
Word Document (55k)
PDF Document (127kb)
Research is important in exploring alternative approaches and different models for delivery of performing arts vocational training. This is increasingly necessary work in view of the fast changing social and cultural trends in today’s world, and in the interests of diversity, improved access and value for money now demanded by children, parents, teachers and the general public. The existing MDS model had been based around specialist independent schools which are regarded as centres of excellence in their own field. While retaining this model, new alternatives that have a non-boarding school focus, embrace a wider range of music and dance genres, and act as local and national resource centres for the dissemination of good practice in teaching, training and performance are being brought on stream.
Learning to Perform: enhancing understanding of musical expertise
How do conservatoire students learn to perform? How can we enhance this
process? Learning to Perform has investigated teaching and learning at the Royal College of Music London, a leading UK and international conservatoire, following
students over three years of their higher education. Starting from the belief that
learning to perform extends well beyond the practice room or composition studio,
the project has produced results which challenge the notion that musical expertise
is developed only through narrowing of focus.
A short briefing of this investigation can be downloaded here:
PDF Document (233kb)
The identification and development of contemporary dance talent in young people: An interdisciplinary longitudinal research project
The DCSF (MDS) and The Leverhulme Trust are jointly funding this ground-breaking three-year longitudinal dance science project at Laban, the internationally renowned centre for contemporary dance training. The study will use scientific methods to examine the processes of identifying and developing talent in dancers aged 11-18 years.
The innovative project will study around 300 young people training at the government funded Centres for Advanced Training (CATs) in dance around the country. The research is interdisciplinary, measuring the physiological, biomechanical and psychological characteristics of talent in dance and exploring the factors that may contribute to its optimal development. Qualitative interview-based research will also explore how these factors relate to creativity. The project’s findings will contribute to the development of the CATs programme, ensuring that the dance training scheme is developed in a rigorous and consistent way. The findings will also inform pedagogic practice with young people across the wider sphere of dance education.
This is the first time a study has examined young contemporary dancers in depth from a scientific perspective or in a longitudinal fashion. Never before have dancers of any age or dance genre been studied in an interdisciplinary project that measures the characteristics of dance talent and their interrelationships and potential links to performance and creativity. It is also the first time an organisation has been in the position to follow a population of young people already identified as talented across a period of three years, thus enabling the notion of talent to be studied in depth.
Principal investigator and Laban’s MSc Dance Science Programme Leader Emma Redding: "A research project such as this has never before been undertaken. This grant will allow Laban, in collaboration with the other Centres for Advanced Training, to scientifically investigate contemporary dance talent development in young people. I hope that the findings will inform and enhance dance teaching practices, helping to provide the country’s talented young dancers with world-class training opportunities".
Anthony Bowne, Director of Laban: “We are very grateful to both The Leverhulme Trust and the DCSF for enabling this innovative research. The project is in a strong position to advance knowledge within the areas of physiology and psychology for young talented dancers, looking at issues such as physical fitness, growth and injury. We hope the findings will contribute to the physical and psychological well-being of young dancers in the UK, providing them with the chance to flourish.”
Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House: “Dance training tends to be based on tradition and personal experience rather than scientific fact. I highlighted the need for quantitative research into the impact of dance training on children and young people in the recently published Dance Review, commissioned by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. I am extremely excited about this new research project and its potential impact for developing excellence in dance training for young people.”
Watch this space for developments with this project!
Progression routes in London for young jazz, world music and folk musicians
The Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) and the DCSF (MDS) have recently commissioned The Hub to investigate and report on the above progression routes as part of CYM’s development as a new MDS CAT.
The genres considered were: jazz, world and folk music and the research project considered: what provision currently exists across 9 Inner London boroughs; produced a gap analysis in provision for each genre; outlined the impacts and implications of these gaps across each genre; and highlighted potential solutions – both generally and in relation to CYM positioning in a complicated landscape.
The Hub’s project found that there is, without doubt, a growing sense of momentum and energy about delivering more and higher quality music education (across all genres) in the boroughs covered by the research. Local music services, schools and third sector providers are working in an ever increasing range of genres. There is an increased level of interest and demand for jazz and world music in particular amongst providers in the capital. As a result, there is an ever-growing array of provision around Key Stage 2, much of which is either or free or highly subsidised, and a corresponding increase in the number of peripatetic staff engaged by many borough music services. However, progression beyond Key Stage 2 is patchy and uneven across London. On a pan-London basis, therefore, it is not surprisingly third sector organisations which are the main providers. These are strongest in jazz where there are a small number of widely respected, providers who cater for different skills and abilities. There are fewer pan-London world music providers, most of which are typically smaller and more community-based, with strong demographic/cultural associations. With only one significant folk music operator in the capital, the pan-London folk offer is non-existent, despite a huge increase in this genre’s popularity in recent years.
The Hub’s research uncovered some headline issues common to jazz, folk and world music in the capital. These include the lack of any apparent provision ‘maps’ on an individual borough or London-wide basis, which would aid organisational planning on the part of the providers and assist young musicians or their parents/carers (the intended beneficiaries – or customers) to map out a suitable progression route. Within boroughs themselves, let along across boroughs, there is very little signposting. Both of these would seem to contribute to, and be the result of, a lack of desire to, or strategy for, joined up thinking and action on the part of many providers. This itself may be due to the “borough-based nature” of some public funding. As a result, there is no real infrastructure to support talented young jazz, world and folk musicians; progression routes are extremely difficult to find, if in fact they exist at all, as appears to be the case in the majority of folk and world music.
This research shows that there are significant issues to address and tackling these is an ongoing process. Please watch this space!
The MDS is continuing to build on joint working with others in the music and dance fields, in particular with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and Arts Council England. The MDS can play a complementary part in DCMS’s Creative Partnerships initiative and in the overall ambitions for gifted and talented children throughout the country.
