I have been involved in various educational music projects over the years, most recently in a Primary School examining the effects of music on children with Special Needs and behavioural difficulties. Every day something good happens. Every other week something astonishing occurs.

For example, a pupil with quite severe autism scares several of the staff in infants because he has a mean punch and an even meaner kick! I deflect conflict whenever possible by distracting him in various ways. I give him time and space to decide how and when he will integrate himself into class. I ask the children around him to help us communicate. This latter method works like a dream. He frequently complies with instructions from his classmates immediately after ignoring or refusing his teachers.  These approaches work very well and very quickly. But occasionally there are problems and he lashes out at pupils and at female staff.

We start a music program for several children with a wide range of problems such as learning difficulties and behavioural issues and he is included. He is absent for the first 2 sessions. The sessions work like a dream with the remaining children. I begin to have real fears that our pupil will mess up the sessions completely, possibly even endangering other children. I decide to advise that he not be included after all. But I am too busy to get the message across and I am late for the 3rd session. I walk in to find him singing and dancing as if his life depended upon it. The music session is perfect for him. He complies with all requests. No signs of challenging behaviours. He loves the activities.

As these kinds of sessions progress I am repeatedly encouraged by the absence of dissent, ill manner, distraction, in fact the behavioural transformations in challenging children between regular classes and music sessions. Instrumental teachers seem to have no idea that certain pupils present problems elsewhere.

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The following benefits of music sessions in Special Needs have been widely documented and with a much greater level of academic skill than I would presume to attempt in this blog. I will simply list them. Please Google the subject.

1. Motivation -  it gets children engaged.

2. Where words fail music speaks. I recently watched a boy who is barely capable of speaking to adults thrash out a tune boldly and fearlessly on a violin.

3. It creates bonds. There is warmth in the sessions; music is a communal process.

4. Teamwork. You need to fit in to keep time.

5. Turn taking. Pupils find their place in the music.

6. Decision making. What shall I play? Which instrument? When? How loud? How fast?

7. Multi-sensory experience. In space and time!

8. It affects moods and emotions. Usually smiles and thoughtful expressions proliferate.

9. Engages both sides of the brain. And probably a lot of the corners and cubby holes!

10. Listening skills, rhythm and articulation. It is highly recommended in speech therapy.

In conclusion, I have first-hand experience of the benefits of music in all aspects of education. I think it likely that in time the importance of music in education will be recognised sufficiently and music will find itself at the centre of the curriculum, rather than the periphery.

 I despair to hear that budget cuts affect music and art programs first. I regard it as a fundamental part of life; primordial and essential; the first subject we should study. 

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