What's it like teaching BTEC Music in a special school? (Part 2)

First week back after half-term; Class 1 is still down on numbers - only one student present today (I'll call him 'Tom') but he's a fantastic musician. We want to start looking at improvisation today, traditionally a potential vipers nest to teach; I explain it as 'planned Vs made up on the spot'. This isn't strictly true - John Coltrane usually had some idea what might be about to happen - but this is the challenge of teaching Entry Level, that is, making concepts accessible. Music is a generous mistress in this point; even the most seemingly prosaic ideas can be understood on a sliding scale of difficulty, without losing any integrity.

Our take is to begin with a game of 'Just a Minute' i.e. having to make up stuff on the spot about a subject you've just been given. We take it in turns to talk, whilst the others form an audience, each holding a switch with a buzzer sound. It really is difficult to do and we find ourselves buzzing in with glee.

Next step is to ask Ben, my Drake colleague to play two short pieces on his sax, one improvised, one an actual tune (by Courtney Pine as it turns out). I ask Tom if he can tell which one was improvised, which is not an easy question. He looks unsure until I point out that you can often spot the 'planned' piece because it has a melody, which usually repeats.

On to the practical: I explain to Tom that he will have three switches, each a different colour (see picture above). Each switch plays a different bass note. You can hold the switch down to produce long notes, or use short presses for shorter notes. It's a lovely, gloopy sub bass sound. I tell Tom that he can choose any combination of switches to play in any order he sees fit - improvisation in it's simplest form. At first he plays the switches with his elbow, resting his chin on his hand as he does in very comical fashion, as if he is about to snooze off. As he endlessly holds down the note, a deep resonant bass note hums out of the speakers until it becomes slightly unnerving.

His (excellent) teacher, who always sits in with the class, suggests he employ a more sophisticated approach, using his fingers. Tom looks bemused, but lifts his elbow off the switch and begins pressing different switches. In turn, a multitude of different notes begins to filter out of the speakers. He quickly begins to connect with the music he is making and we all join in: me on guitar, Ben on Sax, his teacher on keyboard (a rhodes sound) He starts to find patterns in his playing - first the red and yellow switches, then the yellow and blue; he discovers a technique whereby you can rest your hand on both switches and blend the notes.

The entire piece sounds unmistakably like 1970's era Miles Davis i.e. 'In a Silent Way' which is not to say we aimed for this, but it's where we've arrived at by chance. We play for the next ten minutes without stopping - no words, no analysis, just music. It's what we call a 'magic moment' whereby 'stuff' just 'clicks'. My only concern is that the technology we are using to give Tom access to playing - Soundbeam - is not a common instrument (although it is more commonly found in special schools) and so the school would struggle to replicate the performance without us there.

This is the biggest challenge of all, to come up with lo-tech equivalents of what we do using 'hi-tech' equipment, and not lose the accessibility or the quality. It's what mainstream teachers struggle with every day and I can't ask them to try harder if I myself am not using the same equipment. So it's the equivalent of the 'recession buster' idea - trying to do the same kinds of things you usually do, but with less resources.

Class 2's piece is a case in point - a version of 'Pachelbel's Canon' using 6 switches, MIDI drum pads which use a bass sound from Reason - via our macbook laptop, a very nice harpsichord sound on a USB keyboard (again sourced from Reason software) . Today is the re-run of the cancelled performance before half-term. All the students are here this time plus invited friends from the mainstream secondary school next door, a very supportive crowd.

The warm up goes well; Student 1 (call him 'Niall') uses a chin switch to play which, as it suggests, involves him pressing a choice of three switches using his chin (the switches being attached to head) It gives him more control and speed than trying to play it with his hand (which can take him anything up to a minute to press). When he presses his switch, it triggers a drum fill, and then plays the first note of the sequence. The drum fill lets everyone else know we're back to note '1' again, plus it sounds great - completely at odds with the seriousness of the Canon. Then it's onto the next player (note 2, note 3 and so on), all attempting to be played with a sense of a steady pulse, and in the correct order.

Our drum pad player (call him 'Colin') is a really hands on musician; not for him to be using drum sticks to play the pads, but his fists. He must play one pad for each note of the sequence. We've put photographs of the other players on each drum pad to help him match his notes to the right person. He can play the sequence perfectly, but his attention can wander and he is bursting with energy. We need to get a performance in quick...

In the end it goes smoothly; the students are alert to when it's their tun to play in the sequence - especially Niall who has the heavy responsibility of being note no. 1. These students work incredibly hard on what is a tricky piece for any KS3 age student, disabled or not. But I get the strong sense they enjoy being challenged, even though it is last period on a Wednesday. These are intelligent students who love Music. It's a professional privilege to try and give them the access to performing that they so richly deserve, are entitled to. Even in his wildest dreams, Pachelbel couldn't have imagined this particular gig but I'll wager that he would have loved it.

What's it like teaching BTEC Music in a special school? (Part 1)

Invisibility is a common problem in our work. Loads of people - including many in the music sector - simply haven't heard of us; and if they have, their knowledge is sketchy at best. This is no criticism - just try me on a 'starter for 10' on the finer details of workings of the ISM or the MEC, and I'd struggle. In my experience, because a lot of what we do involves non-mainstream technology/ gadgets/ gizmos...it's often difficult for people to 'get' what we do, it just seems too 'out there' and specialised.

I want to help demistify Drake Music. And the best way to do that is to simply describe what an average day is like - if such a thing exists - for an Associate Tutor like me, making music with music students who also happen to be disabled. Better still, describe my work week-on-week, the highs, the lows, the inbetweens. Many of the approaches and equipment we use can be assimilated successfully by other music educators, both in mainstream and special schools; but I hope that this bridging of a gap can be helped along by unpacking what happens in a Drake Music session - in this case, BTEC Entry Level Music.

So, this week...

We arrive and unpack the van - about 4-5 cases, 3 rucksacks, mic stands...guitar, saxophone, keyboards...it is a lot of stuff, but we need/ use it all. Wherever possible, we do use the equipment the school has - it's better for them in the long-term, so they can run their own sessions independently (as long as they can hang onto the non music-specialist staff who learn to use it...)

The session is run in a decent sized room, and well equipped in terms of computers/ projector etc. More than often, we're put into rooms resembling shoeboxes, and that's before you try to fit three wheelchairs into them. We get set-up quickly; hardware, software, wires etc. Many people's reaction on entering the room is that we are about to launch the next Apollo 11 mission (and it's true that we have more computing power in one laptop than they did on the entire craft)

You may have noticed I say 'we' - it's nearly always two tutors. It works best this way e.g. one person to run the computer, one to be 'front of house' talking and playing music with the kids. LAs often want to do this kind of work with one tutor. It rarely works, stressful for the tutor trying to do it all, a unsatisfactory experience for the kids. All music classrooms should ideally have two adults e.g. a teacher and a freelance musician, especially if they're using a lot of technology.

Back to the session...we open the software (Ableton Live/ Reason) and check everything is working. We use switches to launch audio clips; set up keyboards with gaffer tape blocking off many of the keys, to help the students focus on one particular scale; get the mic working; test the Soundbeam; check, check and check again. Mainstream teachers would need extra time and another person helping to get to this stage of preparedness (I know this, having been a classroom teacher in a mainstream secondary school previously)

Then, the TA who accompanies the first BTEC group (three physically disabled students, all with varying access needs) arrives to say that none of the kids are in, mainly due to illness. It's disappointing - we hoped to perform a piece today to an audience. Frequent absences is a key barrier to disabled students gaining accredited outcomes in Music (and other subjects). This group is full of strong personalities, and we have a lot of fun just jamming - but of course, we film the whole session as it is all potential evidence.

The second group are also depleted due to illness, again, a shame as we plan to perform our version of Pachelbel's Canon: eight switches, each with a single note on it...when played in the right order, we get the basic Canon. Instead we have a 'scratch' group consisting of other students who have come along to make up the numbers. We give everyone a switch, including the TAs. The floor looks like a sea of spaghetti with extension cables allowing the switches to stretch further (watch your feet, health and safety applies). Some students hold the switches on their laps, others press their switches mounted on an angle arm.

We do a sound check, with everyone playing their note in turn. They all work. We try playing the cycle of notes; I add Harpsichord, my colleague plays the ground bass notes on drum pads, borrowed from the school. The piece works, a beautiful sound emerges, participants are taken aback, until that is, one of the switches fails. We try swapping switches...no good. Check the cables...no; check the adaptor? Still no. Then we realise the order of the last two notes is also wrong...what's the solution? Try to back track through the MIDI assignments...my brain is hanging out as I try to suss what needs to be done.

When this happened in the old days, when I first started doing this work, I felt the attendant silence in the room very keenly; seconds feel like minutes. In reality, it takes us 90 seconds or so to get things sorted; from the audiences point of view, it's no big deal, just a pause in events. In a classroom situation, with a mixed group of 30 students, I realise this would be a much bigger problem. But then, I wouldn't suggest using the equipment we have today, but instead try it with gear that teachers are confident with.

The piece continues, and again, it really works, has momentum, a sense of timing, people taking turns...staff stick their heads round the door to see where it's coming from. It could have been different, had we not been able to sort out the glitch midaway, and we have had to abandon sessions where we just couldn't save the situation ("computer says no") That's when the humble guitar comes in handy, as my other colleague attempts to get the 'engines restarted'.

So, a good outcome musically...a close call when it nearly all went down...absent students...'spaghetti' on the floor...Pachelbel done our way, accessibly.

More in two weeks...