On the evening of July 18th, I had the great pleasure of handing out certificates to six more students who have successfully passed our ‘Introduction to Music’ course, all from St Roses school, Stroud. All of the students face physically disabling barriers to playing music, so the fact that they have achieved L1 passes in units like ‘Composing Music using Chance Methods’ and ‘Creating Soundtracks for Films’ gives you an indication of the breadth of their achievements.
When we first looked into accreditation and formal assessment for SEND students in Music in 2007, we could only find seven examples of students who face physically disabling barriers having gained accredited outcomes. Of course, this is not the whole picture as so much of what goes on never gains wider recognition or audiences; but I have a sneaking suspicion that the success of these students – and the BTEC Performing Arts students I have just finished working with – will have bumped up the figures for the musical medal table in the UK when it comes to young disabled musicians.
No more Olympic puns I promise…
