Identifying Musical Potential

Hugh Nankivell

Session summary

Based on recent research, a practical session on identifying musical potential from a whole class/group context, followed by looking at film footage and discussion.

Detailed description

During the last three years Hugh Nankivell has been working on a project identifying musical potential when working in full class/group contexts. This has been funded and supported by Awards for Young Musicians, Music Leader, South West Music School, and Exeter and Bristol Music PGCE courses.

Hugh explains: "We been working closely with film-maker Bob Lockwood on a series of workshops with groups in Torbay that involve playing musical games, singing call and response songs and playing groove based pieces on percussion. We then analyse the films to identify certain individuals from the group session who show musical potential in a number of different ways.

"For the workshop at musiclearninglive! I will introduce the project and then lead a workshop using the material that I have so far used with a year 4 class, a year 8 class a rock school and with an audition group for South West Music School.

"Everyone will be a participant in the activities. Once we have finished the practical aspect of the workshop (30-40 mins) we will then look at a number of film extracts of the same activities from the various groups that we have been working with. We will follow that with a discussion about the work, some of our initial outcomes and, crucially, what might be then done with the young people who we decide do have some musical potential."

Hugh Nankivell

Composer/educator Hugh Nankivell has a wide experience of leading creative music projects in the UK and abroad.

He was the founding chairperson of Sound Sense and has been an integral player in establishing the creative music agenda within community and education settings in the last 20 years. He has worked on outreach and development projects for The Sage Gateshead, Opera North and Dartington Arts (among many others).

He worked with Huddersfield University on a research project for three years on composing in groups with children aged 8-11, he led innovative projects in early years with The Firebird Trust and DAISI (Devon Artists In Schools Initiative) and this led to an original project with 3-80 year-olds run in both Japan and the UK with another composer Makoto Nomura.

He is dedicated to finding new ways to compose and collaborate and to share these experiences as widely as possible. He has recently been artist in residence for Dartmoor National Park, has been the artist for the English Riviera Global Geopark and is just starting an early years project called Shared Inventions with two reception classes. Hugh lives in Torquay and writes songs obsessively!