F EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL Phone +44 (0)20 7333 1748 Email music.teacher@markallengroup.com Editor Harriet Clifford Editorial Assistant Hattie Fisk Resources Editor David Kettle Technology Editor Tim Hallas Design Calvin McKenzie ADVERTISING Head of Sales Amy Driscoll 020 7333 1719 amy.driscoll@markallengroup.com Production Controller Daniela Di Padova daniela.dipadova@markallengroup.com SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES Phone UK 0800 137207 Overseas +44(0)1722 716997 Email subscriptions@markallengroup.com Publisher Amy Driscoll Subscriptions Manager Bethany Foy UK Subscription Rate £70 PUBLISHING Phone +44(0)20 7738 5454 Managing Director Ravi Chandiramani Director of Marketing and Digital Strategy Luca Da Re Marketing Executive Rhys Williamson Group Institutional Sales Manager Jas Atwal Production Director Richard Hamshere Circulation Director Sally Boettcher Chief Operating Officer Jon Benson Chief Executive Officer Ben Allen Executive Chairman Mark Allen

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Music Teacher, ISSN 0027-4461, is published monthly by MA Education Ltd, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, London SE24 0PB, UK Subscription records are maintained at MA Education Ltd, Unit A, Buildings 1-5 Dinton Business Park, Catherine Ford Road, Dinton, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP3 5HZ © MA Education Ltd 2021. All rights reserved. No part of Music Teacher may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publishing director. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the editor. The presence of advertisements in Music Teacher implies no endorsement of the products or services offered. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of statements in this magazine but we cannot accept responsibility for errors or omissions, or for matters arising from clerical or printers’ errors, or an advertiser not completing their contract. We have made every effort to secure permission to use copyright material. Where material has been used inadvertently or we have been unable to trace the copyright owner, acknowledgment will be made in a future issue. Music Teacher is interested in articles on all aspects of music education; if you wish to submit one please contact the editor. We reserve the right to edit material for publication. Please read our privacy policy by visiting http://privacypolicy.markallengroup.com This will explain how we process, use and safeguard your data. Printed in the UK by Pensord, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA

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On shuffle

Williamson and Gibb are out – when will music be in?

As this issue of MT was going to press, the news broke of Boris Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle. As you’ll likely know by now, the former vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has replaced Gavin Williamson as education secretary. An unexpected but so far reasonably well-received choice, Zahawi studied chemical engineering at UCL (no surprises there) and has previously served as children’s minister (January 2018 to July 2019) and apprenticeships advisor. Despite his own educational background, we can only hope that Zahawi doesn’t share Williamson’s view that all subjects other than science and engineering are ‘dead-end courses that leave young people with nothing but debt’.

Perhaps more obviously relevant to music teachers – given his role in heading up the hotly debated model music curriculum (MMC) and his, as ISM chief executive Deborah Annetts put it on Twitter, ‘resolve to exclude music and the arts from the EBacc’ – Nick Gibb is gone after nine years as schools minister. His replacement hadn’t been announced when we went to press, and whether their appointment has much bearing on the imminent refreshed National Plan for Music Education, or the Ebacc, remains to be seen.

In other news, we’ve launched our second Music Technology in Education online conference, which is taking place on 16–18 November (see News story, p.8) – registration is open now and I’m delighted that our varied programme will be presented by practising music teachers. Elsewhere in this October issue, you’ll find a Strings focus, including our cover feature with the one and only Sheku Kanneh-Mason (p.16), a brilliant toolbox of practice tips from Vanessa Gaidoni (p.20), and a critical look at RSL’s new Classical Violin syllabus in the context of more ‘traditional’ options (p.28).

On p.24, you’ll find my interview with Roger Wilson, director of operations at Black Lives in Music (BLiM). Drawing on the results of the first ever BLiM survey, Wilson speaks eloquently about the huge amount of work that still needs to be done to achieve racial equality in music education. The newly published statistics and his words speak for themselves, but, as he says, we simply cannot afford to lose another generation of talent.

And finally, as I write, Expo is yet to take place but will be all over by the time the magazine is published. If you were able to join us, I hope it was a valuable and enjoyable experience, and hopefully I managed to spot you amid the crowds!

Harriet Clifford, editor

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Music Teacher is the UK’s only magazine aimed at music educators from across the sector. It is a place where music is valued in and of itself, embracing all genres. We offer up new approaches to pedagogy through in-depth features, engaging opinions, lesson plans and schemes of work. We cast a critical eye over the latest research and products to help inform the conversations that shape musical teaching. This is a platform for raising awareness of the key issues affecting music teachers, and for championing existing efforts to ensure music education is accessible to all.

MUSIC TEACHER F October 2021 F 5