England's Sing Up Programme
In 2007, the British government allocated £40 million (about $70 million USD) toward providing a quality music education to all children and youth. See Music Manifesto. For four years through March, 2010, Sing Up trained classroom teachers to engage all students in daily singing. The goals were to enliven children, create a positive classroom environment, foster social cohesion, and raise achievement.
Sing Up: Bringing Song Back to a Nation
Taken from a speech by Howard Goodall
England's National Ambassador for Singing
March 2010, Minnesota, USA
The key issue of all was that general primary teachers, classroom teachers, felt very uncomfortable about leading singing and mostly did not want to. The response that came back [when asked about singing] was seen through the prism of an adult’s version of singing, not a child’s version. The adults would say: "I can't sing.” "I don't sing in tune.” “I'm embarrassed.” "I'm shy.” “I don't want to do this.” They were putting their fear, their worry about singing onto the children. Because if you’ve ever met a six- or seven-year-old child...no six- or seven-year-old is scared of singing. They all want to sing; it’s completely natural. The children’s attitude was that they wanted to sing, but the adults were getting in the way of that. So ... what happens? When and how do we learn that it’s not okay to sing anymore?
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