musical tree tour - woodland · 2017. 5. 17. · gameli tordzro, a ghanian musician, carried out...

Musical Tree Tour Report - FEI Lanarkshire

Musical Tree Tour 2003-4

Report by

The Forest Education Initiative – Lanarkshire


Cutting a log to make the pegs.

Contents 1. Project summary 2. Aims and Objectives of the project 3. Funding, staffing, contracting and training 4. The tour 5. School / Group arrangements and learning outcomes 6. Additional project work 7. Evaluation 8. Conclusions and future work

Appendix 1: MTT Project Overview Document Appendix 2: Teachers’ Notes Appendix 3: Tree-tastic quiz Appendix 4: Children’s Responses Appendix 5: Collated H-form Evaluations from Staff and Teachers Appendix 6: Project Budget

PAN AFRICAN ARTS SCOTLAND


1. Project summary 1.1 The Forest Education Initiative -Lanarkshire (FEIL) was founded in February 2003 from a meeting of over 25 local professionals working in the woodland, forestry, furniture, milling and volunteer sectors. Musical Tree Tour was our first major partnership project. 1.2 During 2003-4, Musical Tree Tour (MTT) visited 10 primary schools and 4 community groups throughout North and South Lanarkshire. The project provided a practical opportunity for school children (P5 aged 8 and upward) and local people to make xylophones from green wood and learn to play them. The xylophones could then be used indoors or outdoors as an instrument or interactive sculpture in the school grounds or wildlife gardens. 1.3 As part of the project, two practitioners were contracted to bring their particular skills to the project. Kenny Grieve, a green woodworker who had initiated similar ‘Wood Tour’ projects worked with people on the technical aspect of making the xylophones. Gameli Tordzro, a Ghanian musician, carried out music workshops to show people how to use the xylophones. Liz Conacher, a Cultural Co-ordinator employed by South Lanarkshire Council brought her expertise in education and expressive arts. 1.4 The project was co-ordinated by FEIL and funded by South Lanarkshire Council (SLC), North Lanarkshire Council(NLC), Forest Education Initiative Partnership Fund, the Forestry Commission (Scotland) and the Central Scotland Forest Trust. 1.5 As a first major project crossing many professional as well as geographical boundaries, the project was an excellent experience for all. Lessons were learned on project management, partnership communication, schoolroom discipline and we even learned to play a few tunes together! The good networking and partnership working aspects of the project have since led to more effective and impromptu working across the FEIL membership. 1.6 For the children, teachers and communities involved, the project was different, fun, and had a sense of achievement about it. Many different skills, attributes and abilities are needed to cut up a log, trim down the wood, measure and build a xylophone and then play a tune, tell a story and perform. Even more skills are required to tune a xylophone as we soon learned …


2. Aims and Objectives of the project 2.1 The Aims of the Musical Tree Tour (MTT) were as follows: 1. To bring a traditional woodland craft to schools and community groups in the area, and encourage hands-on participation in a craft which helps promote sustainable management of woodlands; 2. To provide a practical opportunity for young school children, P5 upwards, to participate in simple technology and related expressive arts activities; 3. To provide an opportunity for schools, community groups and the public to learn more about wood and its uses; 4. To encourage a responsible approach to working with hand tools and equipment; 5. To establish an interest in green woodworking and sustainable timber awareness in Lanarkshire with a view to future projects, events and group work. 2.2 The Objectives of Musical Tree Tour were to: 1. Organise and deliver wood tour to 12 schools and two community events throughout Lanarkshire; 2. Organise and deliver weekend public events alongside the tour; 3. Promote sustainable use of timber being felled in school grounds; 4. Carry out evaluation and produce report on tour. 2.3 A Project Overview Document (POD) was drafted as a summary of the project, key personnel and how it would be funded and managed. See Appendix 1. As with many projects, they evolve and additional activities, training and personnel were brought in to add to the project.

Cutting a log – a demonstration for parents by the kids.


3. Funding, staffing, contracting and training 3.1 The budget forecast in the Project Overview Document was £5000 based on contracting Kenny Grieve and some additional costs for marquee cover and publicity. As the steering group began to work on the actual project, additional costs were identified. During the course of the MTT, additional funding was sourced over and above our original estimates. The FEI Partnership Fund was the major contributor to the project with a grant of £3410. North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Councils contributed £1000 and a further £1000 was sourced from the Central Scotland Forest Trust (CSFT). Part way through the project, South Lanarkshire Greenspace, offered us funding to extend our influence into specific communities they were working with. This enabled 4 more days of the project to go ahead. Funding in kind was a major part of our application calculation and there was much more support and facilities provided free of charge than is recorded. All funds were held in the FEIL account and managed from there. 3.2 Staff were mainly from the North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire Countryside Ranger Services, along with a Community & Projects Officers from CSFT. All staff attended meetings to contribute and exchange ideas, skills and take on responsibilities for liaising with particular schools, community groups, skilled practitioners or sourcing timber, tools, venues, publicity or yet more funds. One of the challenges of such a creative project is how to balance the planned project with new ideas that everyone is keen to include but involves more materials, funding and staff time. The staff working on MTT certainly worked well together although old geographical boundaries had to be respected when it came to schools and certainly when it came to educational budgets. 3.3 Training was an important aspect of the project as many staff involved had done little or no green woodworking before and this was evident in the first phase of the Tour.

Kenny Grieve of Gameli Todzro of

Brotus Rural Crafts Pan African Arts


4. The tour 4.1 The first phase of the Musical Tree Tour was carried out over October 2003 and visited the following venues:

21-22nd October- Chatelherault Primary, Hamilton 23-24th October- Ballmalloch Primary, Kilsyth 25th-26th October- Public Event at Palacerigg Country Park (2 community groups) 27th-28th October- New Monklands Primary, Glen Mavis. 29th-30th October- Leadhills Primary, Leadhills

4.2 Each two day session involved one class from P5-P7 pupils and aimed to create their xylophone (at least 1) within the two days. Two days was considered enough time although 3 days would have been better. Schools were reluctant to commit to a three day project. Most schools managed to make their instrument in 2 days, dependent on the size of the class. Kenny returned to the schools afterwards to finish off where they had been unable to complete their instrument. 4.3 Twilight sessions were held after school hours and proved popular with some schools, but in other schools, the turnout was very low. However, this allowed more time to finish the xylophones by demonstrating the techniques to the parents and visitors that came along. This also enabled the children to show the adults how to work with the tools, timber, shave horses and play the xylophones with Gameli. 4.4 Alongside Kenny making the xylophones, Gameli worked with the other half of the group playing his Ghanian xylophones, drums, storytelling and making up tunes and rhythms together. This proved very popular and brought an added dimension to the project. Gameli also participated in the Twilight sessions. 4.5 After this first phase, an evaluation was carried by the staff involved which highlighted the need for the following:

- more intensive staff training needed in skills, tool ID and use; - better teacher liaison and awareness of the project and the Tour needed; - better class management, tool use and group discipline required; - two days was too tight for making a xylophone.

MTT Training Day for staff.


4.6 There had been the assumption that staff were experienced in green woodworking skills, tool names and could visualise the construction of a xylophone. This was not the case as some staff were unable to support Kenny Grieve in class work without instruction. Training sessions were therefore set up to enable everyone involved, and some interested volunteers, to learn the process, tool names and safe tool use. This was attended by all staff involved in MTT and other FEI members. The format of the training day was as follows: Aims of the training day: 1. To learn the identification, safe use and care of tools used in MTT; 2. To increase awareness of a typical MTT day; 3. To increase knowledge of timber types and selection for MTT purposes; 4. To increase knowledge; 5. To trial run additional activities linked to MTT. Content of the training day: 1. Introduction to MTT, it's purpose and expectations of the group 2. Timber selection for green woodworking - on site at Chatelherault 3. Tool identification, uses and work area layout 4. Logging and splitting the wood 5. Axing the 'blank key' 6. Shave horses and drawknives - further work on the 'blank key' 7. Drilling & Pegging 8. Review and re-do from practical sessions. 9. Paperwork, handouts, teachers notes etc. 10. Summary, combined Bach concerto recital ! … & dates for MTT 2004. 4.7 Timber for the project was supplied by each local council from within the Country Parks and cut to size as per the cutting list supplied by Kenny. Green wood (ie. freshly cut and still wet) was chosen as it is softer and easier for the children to work on. In order to make the xylophone easier to make and tune, the preferred timber was one piece of sycamore, with few branches. Sycamore is a very hard timber when it is dry and would hold the note well. Ash was acceptable, but not as hard, but other ‘hardwoods’ were seen as not hard enough for the purpose. The timber was cut within the week before the events at the venues.


Kenny Grieve (Brotus Rural Crafts), Leadhills Primary Pupils &

Gerry Convery (SLC Councillor) 4.8 Publicity and photo shoots were arranged by each employing authority (NLC, SLC and CSFT). In South Lanarkshire, Cllr. Gerry Converey came along to Leadhills Primary for a visit and photo shoot and to test out his musical skills! In North Lanarkshire, local press and Saga radio were used for general publicity and posters for public events. A photo shoot with Cllr Barry McCulloch was also arranged. 4.9 In 2004, after the evaluation and training was completed the following dates and venues experienced the Musical Tree Tour:

March 2004: Tuesday 16th - Wednesday 17th March St Paul's Primary, Hamilton Thursday 18th - Friday 19th March Beckford Primary, Hamilton Saturday 20th Public Event, Springhall, Rutherglen Monday 22nd - Tuesday 23rd March Killdrum Primary, Cumbernauld May 2004: Tuesday 18th May - Wednesday 19th May Greengairs Primary, Airdrie. Thursday 20th - Friday 21st May Glencryan Secondary (Special needs), Cumbernauld Saturday 22nd Public Event, Plains Country Park Monday 24th - Tuesday 25th May Loch Primary, Hamilton

4.10 Tuning the xylophones when they were first made was not possible due to the green nature of the wood. They needed to be stored for several months before being tuned by a professional. They could then be used alongside other tuned instruments in school performances, school grounds or in the music room. 4.11 Numbers were written on the keys of some xylophones in order to write and record some simple and / or well known tunes. These should be done starting from the lowest, bass note (big key) as number 1 and the highest note as 5 or 8, depending on the size of the instrument. However, this isn’t essential as the xylophone can be used to create rhythms without any numbering of the keys.


Gameli working on a tune with a visiting parent during a ‘Twilight Session’.

5. School / Group arrangements and learning outcomes 5.1 Teachers were given a handout prior to the workshops with background information on the project, some workroom preparation and guidance notes. These worked well where the teachers had received them. 5.2 Later in the project, a schools pre-talk proved more useful, whereby we could show the teachers and pupils some tools, equipment and pictures of what we would be doing. 5.3 School ages within classes needed to be taken into account as did the academic year. Some pupils in Primary 5 classes were 8 years old at the beginning of the academic year and some found the activities more challenging than others. Previous ‘Wood Tours’ had been done in May/June when the pupils are older. 5.4 Discipline and learning styles also needed to be taken into account. This was a very different activity from normal school work and the discipline required to take care of tools, lay them safely down on the floor and not ‘play’ with them without a purpose caused some concern. Patience was tested a few times within some classrooms. Discussion afterwards, staff training and confidence along with more classroom organisation helped later in the tour, as did increased awareness and involvement of teachers. As the children were learning different skills and getting excited, making mistakes, misusing tools and some lack of supervision by us led to some frayed nerves. We all had to learn, and learn again about woodworking skills as well as patience and tolerance. 5.5 A Tree-tastic quiz was created to compliment the practical side of the project and to help with children centred evaluation. See Appendix 3. 5.6 Another activity taken along to show a link between wood and furniture was the FEI Tree-to-table log activity. This is a log bound with rope but cut into modular pieces that form a table. The challenge for the children is to arrange the pieces into a table and then put the log back together again.


5.7 Throughout the project, whilst staff were instructing, teaching and supervising children in their work, some history, mathematics, design, music and art became part of the session. This was all added value to the project. With hindsight, this might have been better done in a more structured way. One obvious outcome for many of the children were the more kinetic learning styles thrived in the practical environment and the usual class room stars on an academic level were not so bright. 6. Additional project work 6.1 A Leaflet is being produced to coincide with the follow up Project, Xylophonics. This will show how the children made their xylophones during the Musical Tree Tour and some of the techniques, stories and tunes they worked on in Xylophonics. 7. Evaluation 7.1 The Phase 1 Evaluation was a meeting of staff, contractors and funders which led to the training day and some changes in the project management. See 4.5 and 4.6 above. 7.2 The Children’s Quiz /evaluation form worked well and we got some very good feedback from this. It was also fun for them. The responses were collated – see appendix 4. 7.3 At the end of the project, a simple ‘H-form’ evaluation tool was used. These were completed by staff, teachers and others associated with the project. These were collated and combined in a summary form. See appendix 4. This provided a thorough evaluation and helped us see how many similar comments were being made. 7.4 The main areas for improvement were:

- Schools should compete for the project to visit, thereby showing (hopefully) some commitment to it by class teachers as well as head teachers;

- Pre-event training for staff essential; - Children and teachers need to be more aware of the aims and activities

within the project; - Adequate time needs to be allocated for the project; - Be more vigilant with regards to some people’s attitude and language within

the classroom; - Health & Safety needs to be more to the forefront of the project plan.

7.5 The main areas of success were:


- A great project idea with lots of curricular potential; - That the children enjoyed themselves and felt a sense of achievement; - Staff training was good and useful beyond the project; - Gameli, who was brilliant with the children; - Having a finished xylophone at the end of it. 8. Conclusions and future work 8.1 The MTT project worked well for all involved and was a great partnership achievement. There are now lots of xylophones in schools throughout Lanarkshire and lots of children and teachers who got a great sense of achievement from making them. 8.2 Although we were successful in getting enough budget to run the project, it was fragmented and sometimes limited to a particular geographic area. The Education departments within each council were happy to fund schools within their area but not to contribute to the bigger ‘Project Pot’. This is understandable and should be taken into account in future partnership projects. Geographical boundaries also prevented some staff working in other areas, contributing their skills, expertise and support. Staff posts were not always replicated in other areas.

8.4 A post-MTT review of xylophone usage within the schools has shown that schools do not use them as much as they could, due to a perceived lack of musical knowledge. With this in mind, Phase II of Musical Tree Tour will aim to address this issue by providing further training on how they can be incorporated into school activities. This project is to be called Xylophonics and will involve fewer schools but create stories, music and music books based on the 4 seasons and their local trees. 8.5 Overall, the project worked very well, created a lot of new and worthwhile partnerships, skills sharing and learning outcomes for staff, teachers and even the pupils! As the first FEIL joint project, it was excellent.

New skills – new expressions!


Appendix 1: Project Overview Document

Project title Musical Tree Tour Last updated 17.10.03

Summary

A tour through 12 schools and 4 groups in NLC / SLC experiencing green wood techniques and musical instrument creation associated educational initatives.Community groups and public events on weekends of tour.

Joint with Kenny Grieve of Brotus Rural Crafts, rangers and countryside staff. IN SL, music and storytelling workshops have been funded through SLC Cultural Advisers.

Aim

1. To bring a traditional woodland craft to schools and community groups in the area, and encourage hands-on participation in a craft which helps promote sustainable management of woodlands;

2. To provide a practical opportunity for young school children, P6 upwards, to participate in simple technology and related expressive arts activities;

3. To provide an opportunity for schools, community groups and the public to learn more about wood and its uses;

4. To encourage a responsible approach to working with hand tools and equipment. 5. To establish an interest in green woodworking and sustainable timber awareness in Lanarkshire with

a view to future projects, events and group work.

Objectives

1. Organise and deliver wood tour to 12 schools and two community events in each council area 2. Organise and deliver weekend public events alongside tour in council area 3. Promote sustainable use of timber being felled in school grounds 4. Carry out evaluation and produce report on tour

Outcomes

1. Increased awareness of wood, it's uses and safe working techniques 2. Increased appreciation of skills 3. Increased awareness of sustainable use of woodlands 4. Increased awareness of woodlands and tree . 5. Opportunity to explore music and storytelling and relate to curriculum. 6. Awareness of council rangers and greening unit staff

Schedule

1. Secure funding to match FEI funds 2. Select and confirm dates 3. Approach and confirm schools June and September 2003 4. Arrange and confirm public dates and venues, August 2003 5. Select and arrange tree felling dates in advance 6. Arrange venues, transport and wood delivery for schools sessions -Oct 2003 7. Arrange venues, transport and wood delivery for public sessions - Oct 2003 8. Complete H&S guidelines- Sept 2003 9. Publicise public events Sept/Oct 2003 and Feb/Mar 2004 10. Arrange staffing for each event - Sept 2003 and Mar/Apr 2004 11. Check timber cutting and delivery dates May - Sept 2003 12. Run events! Sept / October 2003 and March/April 2004 13. Review and write report

Resources

1. Staff NLC Greening and Countryside Rangers ; SLC countryside rangers 2. Timber - NLC / SLC cutting squads and timber on sites if possible 3. Publicity NLC / SLC / FE PR departments 4. Transport for delivery of timber 5. Mini-marquees for venues

Threat s or opportunities

Threats: 1. Weather (Use mini-marquees - staff implications) 2. Concerns over safety (Show previous H&S comments from teachers / H&S plan) Opportunities: 1. Establish stronger link between schools and woodlands nearby or within school grounds 2. Link in to Sites Directory if appropriate (SLC) 3. Sustainable use of local wood from school grounds and local sites 4. Promote regular events at NLC SLC venues (eg. NLC courses at Palacerigg)

Organisation

Lead partners: Ann Mckillop & Gerry Lewis Staff: Countryside Ranger services in both councils PR: both councils working together to promote public events in liaison with FE Funding / finances : via FEI. Shared contributions from SLC / NLC / FE?

Assumptions

Schools will be interested and available on the dates on offer Relevant to national curriculum (promote FEI webiste links)

Risks and contingencies 1. Weather (see above) Projected Costs Kenny Grieve @ £150 per day x 28 days + £4200 plus £800 publicity and material costs for community

groups and other project costs= £5000


Appendix 2: Notes for Teachers by Kenny Grieve, Green Woodworker.

The main aims of these activities are to: give the pupils a great experience of working with real tools; give pupils a practical introduction and understanding of how things are made; give children the skills and confidence to use tools in a way that is safe for themselves and those

they are working with; boost self esteem, determination, concentration and team working skills. The following notes will give an idea of what happens during the working sessions at a school. These can be discussed and varied to suit the particular need of the class and work situation. Preparation and Organisation Work Area Work can be carried out either inside in a gym hall, dining hall or outside in a playground if the weather is suitable. Hands-on practical work has to be carried out in a different room from the music and rhythm sessions. The practical area has to be easily accessible for unloading the van and setting up the equipment. I need to arrive early to avoid driving into the playground as pupils arrive. The van is unloaded and the equipment taken to where the practical workshop will be held. Wood chips and sawdust will be created. Class Size Class size depends on how the day is broken up, taking into account breaks and dinnertime. Classes are usually divided into two groups so that up to about 16 can work at the practical at any one time. The 16 are divided into 4 groups of 4 with each group carrying out various tasks. Each group works at all the tasks in rotation. Group Working Children will be divided up into groups of 3 or 4 depending on numbers. Please ensure they have name badges/labels relating to each group. Teachers know which pupils cannot co-operate and should separate them accordingly. Teachers should emphasise that pupils must stay in the group indicated and not move or distract other working groups. Supervision A minimum of one school helper is required to help in supervision during a practical 2 station session, 3 for a 4 station session. (For South Lanarkshire schools the Countryside Ranger Service will provide 3 staff to cover supervision. The school must provide supervision for pupils that require one to one support.) Where there are children who require one-to-one supervision they will be accommodated with minimum risk to other pupils. I am happy to be called Kenny, Mr Kenny or Mr Grieve as the school requires. I prefer Kenny. Equipment and Materials - Kenny will provide all tools and equipment.


Appendix 3: Tree-tastic quiz.

1. Wordsearch

bark sun leaf water

C G W S U N B R A N C H A I T C A R R S E E D O K O R R E O

D I A I R T G L E A F S

branch air seed soil roots

2. What does a tree need to grow?

_______________________________________ 3. Give 4 reasons why trees are important.

_______________________________________ _______________________________________

4. What has been the best bit of Musical Tree Tour? ________________________________________ 5. You might find all these animals in a woodland. Unscramble the tangle to find out who eats who... Frog eats ___________, spider eats __________ Bat eats ___________, Fox eats ____________

6. Name 5 things that are made out of wood. ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ 7. What are you making with Kenny and the Rangers? _________________ 8. Name 2 instruments you are playing with Gameli. __________________


Appendix 4: Children’s Responses

Musical Tree Tour

Results of the question ‘What has been the best bit of Musical Tree Tour?’

Responses by South Lanarkshire Children

Best Bit of MTT Beckford Pr St Pauls Pr Loch Pr Splitting the wood 1 Sawing the logs 2 1 2 Axing the wood 2 2 Working on the Shaving Horse 4 7 9 Drilling 1 Playing the xylophone 1 Making music with Gameli 3 5 4 Making up songs with Gameli 2 All of it! 5 1 4 Seeing the finished xylophone 1 The quiz 1 TOTAL 15 20 23


Appendix 6: Project Budget Income: Forest Education Initiative Partnership Fund 3410 North Lanarkshire Council 1114 North Lanarkshire Council – Education 150 South Lanarkshire Council 1100 South Lanarkshire Council – Education 504 Central Scotland Forest Trust 1000 Forestry Commission (Scotland) 500 South Lanarkshire Greenspace 709 8487 Expenditure: Kenny Grieve, Brotus Rural Crafts 4950 Gameli Todzro, Pan African Arts 2047 Publicity & Posters 413 Central Scotland Forest Trust – Public Events 964 Leaflet – initial costs 100 8474 The original budget, as per our FEI Partnership Grant Application (£5510), did not include Gameli’s costs. Once we had decided to contract Gameli into the project, we sought funds elsewhere and part of his fee was paid directly to him by South Lanarkshire Education.

musical tree tour - woodland · 2017. 5. 17. · gameli tordzro, a ghanian musician, carried out...

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