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A radical new approach to teaching music that gets pupils to "jam" like rock stars has led to a sharp rise in the number of children wanting to take GCSE music.
Rock-style music lessons boosted the popularity of GCSE music by 40 per cent, as well as improving
pupils' behaviour and concentration in lessons, an evaluation by academics from London University's Institute of Education concluded.
Music GCSE has enjoyed a surge in popularity with 60,000 students sitting the exam in recent years compared to fewer than 46,000 in 2001 and under 40,000 in the early 1990s.
The initiative, called Musical Futures, also boosted motivation, both in pupils who already played an instrument and in those who had no previous interest in music.
The scheme gets pupils to "jam" by copying recordings by ear the way pop musicians do, and lets them play music that they are interested in rather than teaching them a set of pre-determined works.
It also encourages students to create their own music on the internet. Nearly 700 teachers from around Britain are known to be using the approach, established by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It targets pupils aged 12 to 14 because this has traditionally been the age at which students seem to lose interest in music learning in school.
After using Musical Futures with their classes, teachers reported a more than 40 per cent increase in pupils wanting to study GCSE music. In addition, 13 per cent of the 1079 pupils aged 11 to 14 questioned said they were definitely going to take GCSE music, compared with a national average of between 7 and 8 per cent.
There was also a considerable increase in pupils' levels of attainment in tests at age 14. Almost half of the Musical Futures teachers surveyed (47 per cent) found that their pupils were more motivated to make music.
Teachers reported better behaviour, increased concentration, enhanced musical skills, more confidence, leadership skills and more willingness to learn on their own.
Most pupils said they preferred Musical Futures to other types of music lessons. But one in three of the Musical Futures teachers said limited space made it difficult to implement the programme, and one in six complained that a shortage of funds had hampered their purchase of instruments.
Professor Susan Hallam, who led the evaluation of the project, said: "Choosing the music they want to learn to play enables them to make links between school music and the music that they listen to outside of school. It also increases their motivation. We know that young people benefit both personally and socially from making music together. The more support we can give schools to develop pupils' musical skills, the more likely they are to engage in active music-making as a leisure activity."
- INDEPENDENT