It has always struck me that the status of teachers is topsy turvy: those in contact with younger children have greater responsibility and impact, yet lower pay and esteem. Though I keep my hand in once a week at the Glasgow West End Montessori Pre-School, my teaching today is mainly with undergraduates at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and adults at international workshops.
Three of the undergraduate modules I have developed are for students of Scottish traditional music: Listening Skills, Composing & Arranging, and Scottish Music in History, Society & Tradition. I also coordinate Teaching Musics of the World for trainee classroom music teachers, and co-develop Dynamic Voice which aims to give 1st-year students a physical, practical knowledge of techniques of composition and music notation ranging across a gamut of cultures and centuries.
My workshop speciality is pibroch through canntaireachd, making this ‘undiscovered’ classical music more accessible. By singing its traditional teaching chant, anyone can develop an appreciation of the single malts of Western music.
When I graduated from Cambridge in 1995, I became a classroom music teacher in Rome. With the grand title of Composer in Residence, I worked with 300 children of 70 nationalities aged 3–12. We made flutes from the cane (arundo donax) growing in the verges, and if not singing were usually hands-on in a xylophone circle.
Now that I have my own boys, aged 5 and 2, I am reminded of the value of classroom and community music-making. I hope to play a more active role in the future, stimulating good practice and creativity in this field. The traditional grounds of Scottish music are a perfect vehicle for group improvisation…
