A maestro's lessons in social harmony

Raymond Banning

The recent death of Yehudi Menuhin was a loss not only to music but also to the children he worked with. As this recent report details, he saw music as a key element in combating crime.

Yehudi Menuhin is one of the few living musicians whose status verges on the legendary. Since his sensational world tours as a 12-year-old, his reputation as one of the foremost violinists of this century has never been in doubt. In recent years his passion for life and humanity has increasingly marked him out as something of a visionary. He is is currently spearheading a scheme which, he believes, will help reduce the levels of crime and violence among young people, by revolutionising the teaching of music in primary schools. The Voices Foundation is part of a pan-European project set up by Menuhin, which is dedicated to drawing out the musician in every youngster through singing, and it does mean every youngster. Any reader who remembers being singled out as a 'croaker' or 'growler' at school and asked to mime the carols in the Christmas concert, may be interested to know that the Voices Foundation is horrified by such practices and believes there is no such thing as 'tone-deafness'. The director of the foundation, Susan Digby, says,'So-called tone deafness is not an aural problem but a psychological one. You won't find any tone-deafness in an African tribe, nor in any situations where music is functional. Here, often the youngsters who have difficulties are those who are in situations where it is not natural to sing, yet they might be the people who are particularly sensitive to their own sound. If they open their mouths and someone says, “That's a horrible sound!" they immediately clam up and the signals become confused, causing a psychological block.' Of particular importance to Yehudi Menuhin is the belief that such a plan could be an antidote to crime. He explains: 'We build walls against ourselves as well as against other people. Music is one of the key elements for transforming an atmosphere of fear, hatred, prejudice and violence in schools. This work is much more fundamental than merely a use for words. We can focus on our own vibrations and breathing but in a spirit of communication, of openness, of trust. All these elements come from that beginning which is the voice. The process by which the Voices Foundation reaches the children is to go into a school for a whole day and train the teachers. The first task, therefore, is to make the teachers aware of their ability to sing, and thus aware of their ability to teach music through singing. 'Some staff can be nervous to begin with,' says Digby. 'They are very aware of each other and worried about their performance. We try to break through very quickly in that initial session, to get them feeling comfortable about their singing and enjoying themselves so that they can go into the classroom and use the repertoire the very next day. Already those schools which have tried the scheme have recorded astonishing results, not least with some of their most difficult youngsters. Teachers have noted that delinquent children who cannot function in any group activity, often huddling into a ball because they are abused at home, come out of themselves through singing, in a way that they won't in anything else. 'They gain confidence and self-assurance, which allows them to feel good about themselves, says Digby. 'Head teachers sometimes regard music as the ultimate burden in an already over-burdened curriculum. We can say to them, “Don't worry; this is going to make your job easier, make your pupils more disciplined, and make your school a happier place".'

One of the schools to take part in the scheme is Oxford Gardens Primary School in Kensington, west London. Head teacher, Liz Rayment-Pickard, initially had doubts as her school was not historically strong in music. Those doubts have been completely dispelled. She says, “The impact on the children has been enormous in way I couldn't have predicted. Children have found their singing voices and we now hear them singing in the playground quite happily and unselfconsciously. It was such a wonderful day for them when Yehudi Menuhin came into the school, especially when he sang and jumped around with them. This has had a beneficial effect on the children's behaviour, directly and indirectly. County councils would be wise to follow Yehudi Menuhin's enterprise. As a young music teacher in a secondary modern school in Kent in the mid-Seventies, I was shocked to discover that the county's music authority was less idealistic than I was. The official line was, 'We have to impress on head teachers that music is a special skill'. Utter tripe, of course. I could see for myself that with an enlightened head teacher and staff, the most problematic youngster gains enormously from singing in choirs and musical productions, and resentments disappear. The sense of self-worth gained from the experience changes him or her from social misfit into social asset. Anyone who has had a similar experience to mine knows only too well the positive benefits of this approach. Yehudi Menuhin would like to see this project extend to include tougher secondary schools, and also prisons. Having spent a morning with him recently, and witnessed his still boundless energy and inspirational powers, despite being in his late seventies, I can well imagine that he would be quite happy to tackle that daunting task himself."

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