Hearing back from our Inclusive Practice session
Music Leaders’ creative response to our Inclusive Practice session: drawn by Yasmin Ali and James Yarde
Last week our Music Leaders and wider team met for an Inclusive Practice session, to reflect on what we think of as inclusion, and how these can be incorporated into every part of our work.
Our Programme Manager and music practitioner, Alice Hale, led the session, and shared some of the learnings from the Diverse Educators training she has attended. Music leader James Yarde also brought his experience to the fore from the Spitalfields Music’s Skills Lab 2024 he took part in.
We began the session with a group jam and improvisation, and not just because we fancied it! Improvised playing is a great way to get everyone comfortable in the space and tune into the different moods in the room at the start of the session. It’s an effective way to ensure people are engaged and energised. James led the group jam, which resulted in lots of smiles, laughter and positive energy felt across the group. It gave everyone a chance to feel things out and contribute early on in the session if they wanted to. At first, we used untuned instruments and percussion, and then we moved on to incorporating piano, ukulele and vocals.
Alice started off the session by focusing on what inclusion means on a practical level. We shared our different experiences in the room, and considered the potential challenges faced as practitioners when approaching our ArtsTrain sessions. We discussed the ways we can incorporate new technology and apps to make music more accessible for the SEND groups we work with. We then spoke about the importance of doing check-ins with the young people, and encouraging an ethos of respect. We also shared practical advice on how to better support neurodivergent individuals who take part in our sessions, keeping in mind that 1 in 28 people are neurodivergent.
“The reflective practice session offered a vital chance for meaningful realignment and personal growth, in addition to serving as an excellent opportunity to reconnect with fellow music leaders.”
We discussed the principles of inclusion and how to incorporate these into ArtsTrain’s programming for young people. We also discussed why we value equity over equality - considering what needs to be put in place, reasonable adjustments that can be made to support young people's needs.
We shared advice on resisting making assumptions about the kind of music young people want to make, and taking note of the self-deprecating language they use. Often this may be delivered as a joke, but it can hint at a more serious point they are trying to express. We discussed how to tune into the quietest voice in the room, and how to embody the atmosphere we want to create, in order to make sessions more inclusive. For instance, think about how you arrive in a session and how much check-ins can help take the mood of the group. Instead of focusing this on ‘how are we feeling today?’, these can be more creative, such as ‘What song makes you think of being on a plane?’ or a question about the group’s own Desert Island Discs choices.
We try to make our sessions as youth-led as possible, but we discussed balancing this with sessions that are also guided by practitioners and music leaders. It’s often a case of considering what a music leader can offer from their lived experience and knowledge, but also valuing and learning from the young people in the room. We chatted about knowing how to react in a moment if a young person makes a disrespectful comment, and the importance of create the ethos of respect for other people in the room.
We also spoke about the challenges as a practitioner when moving from a heavy, emotional session, such as one practicing lyrics that are of a difficult subject material, into a different setting, and how to adapt to this. At these points, it’s good to have an open conversation with the young person, trying to understand and challenge what they have written. It’s important to give them the space to express their feelings, and then try to build a positive rhetoric: ‘What they are saying and why might they be saying it?’
After our discussion, we asked our music leaders to complete an activity: to express themselves creatively on the topic of inclusivity. A couple of music leaders created a song on the topic, others created drawings, art and word graphics.
We ended the session by writing down something we admired, valued or respected about another person in the room, as a ‘confidential compliment’. We didn’t share these directly with the group, but instead took away the writing describing each of us, in order to read in our own time.
“I found the music leaders’ session thought-provoking, insightful, full of opportunities to learn, to listen to other people’s experiences and gain insights. The improvisation task was a great icebreaker and the confidential compliment at the end such a lovely way to show appreciation. I left the session with a better understanding and a sense of belonging. It was a great way to connect with the team and also share my own thoughts, feelings and creativity.”
It was very inspiring to hear about our music leaders’ experiences and reflect on our own practice. From being more aware of our own unconscious biases to assumptions, there is always more we can learn in improving inclusivity, and ensuring our projects can be inclusive from start to end.
Inclusivity is a learning process and something we strive to stay aligned with as it evolves.