Jo Ind looks at the work of an inner city academy in its efforts to introduce children to classical music.
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Setting up a music school in inner city Birmingham, it would be easy to assume artists such as Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Kanye West would engage the children more than the likes of Mozart and Bach.
But at Aston Performing Arts Academy, which draws students mainly from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds in Aston, Handsworth and Lozells, it is the classical music which is packing the youngsters in.
The academy, which works in partnership with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and tutors from Birmingham Conservatoire, has taught more than 400 children to read music and practice their scales.
Most are working their way up through their classical music grades, with some going to to join orchestras or become students in the junior section of Birmingham Conservatoire.
The academy was founded by Angela Daniels six years ago, when there was funding available for projects to mark the millennium.
Angela, who worked for an organisation which helped community projects access funds, had contacts with the CBSO, the Drum and other arts organisations.
Along with a friend, Armenta Hinton, who is married to a conductor and had experience of music education in the US, she set up a six week project for 30 children from the Aston area, to play instruments like the violin and flute and make a CD with Birmingham reggae artist Pato Banton.
"The idea was for them to handle the instruments," says Angela. "They weren't going to learn to play them properly in six weeks, but it gave them a chance to hold them."
Once the six weeks were over, the children did not want to give the instruments back and Angela was left thinking of ways of developing their enthusiasm.
She set up a Saturday school in Holte School, Lozells, for youngsters, aged between four and 16, to play classical music on classical instruments.
"Traditionally black children very much play by ear," she says. "They can go to a guitar, say, and be able to express themselves.
"We wanted them to have the discipline of playing classically. We wanted them to have the challenge of doing the exams and to see that if they learn to play correctly it opens up more opportunities for them.
"They might not want to become concert pianists, but if they can read music and have got the right technique, then they can go on to play anything."
Parents and teachers reported that once children were playing their instruments, they made progress in subjects like maths and English too.
"Maths and music are very much related," says Angela. "Learning music was helping their problem-solving.
"And the project was helping with their confidence. They were thinking 'I'm really good at this. I can play an instrument. I'm a little bit special.'"
Angela believes the key to the success of the academy is in engaging the parents.
Adults who had the opportunity to play an instrument when they were children take it for granted that an instrument has to be maintained, a child has to practice every day and a parent has to take a child to lessons and orchestras.
When people come from families that have not had that opportunity, they might want their child to play the violin, but have no idea what is involved.
Angela's role is to encourage and inform the parents, all of whom hear of the academy through word of mouth.
Once a year, the students put on a concert with the CBSO musicians. In preparation the musicians will visit the children and the families will visit Symphony Hall.
"They appreciate the music very quickly but it can be daunting for a black person going to Symphony Hall because the ethos is very elitist," says Angela. "I say that if your child is going to be playing that kind of music, you need to get comfortable. It might have been able to secure funds from the Single Regeneration Budget Round 6 scheme but a condition would have been recruiting Asian youngsters in the area through teaching Indian music.
"We wanted to do classical music. We wanted to carry on using the exams and accreditation," says Angela.
So they gathered the parents together, told them what was happening, and the result is the academy now charges fees - about £6 for a 20 minute lesson.
"We did lose some students," she says. "But some went away, worked out how they could afford it, maybe gave something up, and came back to us. It's better because there's even more commitment."
Keith Stubbs, education and projects manager with the CBSO, adds: "When I visited the project in 2001 I was bowled over by the enthusiasm in the young people and the energy in the community.
"It's a terrific project. It's very enjoyable when we do our concerts together because of the enthusiasm from the young people and their parents."
But Keith does not believe this excitement is to do with classical music per se.
"It's about creating opportunities for young people to engage in music making with musicians at a high level," he said.
"It could just as easily happen if young people had an opportunity to work at a high level with a reggae artist, for example.
"There has always been popular music. What we think of as classical music now was the popular music of its day.
"The reason why young people listen to what you could call music of the street is because of the way its marketed and other things like fashion consciousness. But nobody has to make one single choice."
Keith says that by giving young people and their parents a quality experience of classical music they are expanding their choice of music to enjoy.
"I have heard that some of the young people have got their tickets and come back to Symphony Hall on their own to hear a concert. That's real success."
Louise Parnell, aged 16, who has reached grade five on the flute and grade three on the oboe, has been studying at the academy for six years.
"I definitely enjoy listening to classical music more since I've been here," she says.
"The way I listen to music of all genres has changed. If I'm listening to R'n'B and it's got a violin or a cello in it, then I can hear it and think 'that's a violin.' I didn't do that before.
"I wouldn't have gone to concerts at Symphony Hall before I joined the academy."
* The Academy website is at www.astonpaa.org/engine.asp
