“You Can Only Aspire to What You Know Exists” – A Musical Journey Through Education

Hello, welcome back to Education on Fire and thank you so much for joining me. Today was my solo show about the Ger Graus Gets Gritty season. But this was my kind of takeaway. I was going to try and sort of summarize it from my perspective, but I thought, actually, I think the best way to frame it based on all the things I've learned from, from chatting to gear, was actually to kind of frame my thoughts and what I've learned around my own personal experience. And I thought maybe some of his takeaways, some of the things that we chatted about, some of the over themes, actually might be a good way of doing that, and a few stories and, and a few sort of insights and some of the, the dots that joined for me based on how he was so good at sort of explaining things from, from his past all the way through to his experience and in his different roles as educator in Kania and the Children's University. And all of those things I thought might be a way to sort of, sort of help me pinpoint exactly why the conversations were so important to me and why I think they're as relevant now as they. I was at school back in the 80s and 90s, so I thought that'd be a great way of doing it. So let's see how this goes and I hope it kind of makes sense and kind of gives you that insight really into why it's important for me. So I'm going to start with the quote that children can only aspire to what they know exists. And the reason I'm saying that is because as a professional musician, as a music educator, that came from my experience at school, I only knew the existence of what music was all about because I had the opportunity to do that in school. We had great music in primary school and I really, really enjoyed that. But as an 1112 year old going to secondary school, I was obviously like many boys going to be a professional footballer or do something in that kind of field. And as we transitioned from primary to secondary, one of the music teachers came down and actually said, right, we're going to give you the opportunity to try all these different things. We didn't really know what it was. We went into a room, we had to buzz on a mouthpiece. I think it would blow on a re, like a clarinet, play a few rhythms or clap some rhythms back. And some of those I really enjoyed. The rhythms I kind of thought were relatively straightforward. Didn't really understand what all the, all the fuss was about. And then we had a letter home and you had to just sign which instrument you thought would be the best and still obviously going to be a professional footballer. I decided the drums sounded like the best of the best of a bad bunch, or rather that was the thing I found the easiest to actually to do. And I thought that might be the best thing because the reason they'd done that is because they'd almost set up this new American style system where everyone going into the first year of secondary school, now year seven, had to learn a musical instrument. And our music lessons were like a win band. And this was all fully funded for the first year and then it was actually subsidized from there on in. But the purpose of this was actually to give the people the right kind of instruments to sort of get them going. And I was indeed matched up with the drums. That was the lessons that I had. And we had a whole year of learning lessons. And I absolutely loved our music lessons. The things I'd learned in my individual lessons that we brought back into the hall. When I was sat there in this wind band, excited to be behind these drums, there were two or three other children around me as well doing the same thing. But I got something out of it. I actually sat there thinking, I really love this as an idea and sort of fast forward a year or so when I had the opportunity to them to join the. The Junior Wind Band. I just remember that feeling of what it's like to be in the heart of a band playing music and the thrill of actually wanting to learn and to get better at it. Practice was just something I wanted to do over and over and over and. And so it was that opportunity. I could only aspire to what I knew existed because I was given that opportunity. And the same thing happened as I went through. Like I said, I really enjoyed the junior band. And then I got really excited when I had the opportunity to do the senior band because I could see your older pupils doing that. And then some of these older people will then do a solo. And then I heard that they were going to go to music college. And then I heard that they were in the profession. In each of these stages I saw someone else doing. I could actually think, well, I really love it. Why can't I do this? Why can't I find out how that's going to happen? And my life expanded from the junior to the senior band to the orchestra and then going to play in the county ensembles, playing in the community in the brass bands. And I did two or three of those and all the way through to managing to go to music college. And I've been in the music profession now for nearly 30 years, amazingly, but only because as a child, you can only aspire to what you know exists. And at that point I started to understand what existed, but also what spoke to me, what I really, really love to do and what excited me. And that isn't to discount all the other bits of education that came through, but it was that exposure that did it. I didn't have the same thing, that same feeling of anything in some of the other subjects or some of the other areas. I really enjoyed sport, played a lot of football and a lot of rugby. But actually it was the music that really took me forward and that was my introduction to music. That was the way these things were shown to me. And I want to talk here about the. The community aspect of this because it was. It was my music teachers in school that opened this opportunity. It was their support that allowed it to happen. It was the foresight of the head who obviously wanted this music program to be there because he was so passionate about music. It was the support of them. My. My visiting music teacher who went to my parents and said, look, I think there's an opportunity here for Mark to improve and to do these things. I'm happy to give him some lessons. I have some time between when he was finishing teaching at school and then going on to do his shows in the local cities around where I lived. And it was absolutely amazing was all of these things happening. And then we talk about people who were involved in what you do, that community of people that do that for my parents supporting me, to be able to get me to rehearsals, to. To organize all the things that needed to do it, to the people who lived me, who supported me financially because I set up my own car washing business to pay for my drum kit and all of those sorts of things. The opportunity to travel all around Europe, to travel to America through all the ensembles I was playing with. And the more that I did, the more that I had. And my drum teacher said, just play as much as you possibly can, get all the experience that you can. And that was great advice because it's only by doing that you actually have this opportunity to kind of really excel, to gain experience and want to be able to. To move forward. So I don't think this would have happened without being in that school at that time or certainly in that way, because my parents aren't particularly musical. My dad was a motor mechanic. My mum had worked as a nurse and, and had other jobs. And then, then was a stay at home mum when we were quite small. So without that opportunity, I wouldn't have known it was existed. And without their support and the support of to be able to make this happen, it certainly wouldn't have happened in the way that it did. And I'm incredibly grateful for that. And it sort of brought me through to the. The afterword that Gare had spoken about the idea that the task is not to make the impossible possible, but to make the possible attainable. And for me, that was exactly what it was. I didn't even know this is what I was trying to achieve, of what that attainability was going to be, if that's indeed how you would describe it. But just the fact that actually it is possible if you know what you're doing, if the things are in place, if the communities around you, if the structures are in place and the opportunities are there, actually you can make anything which is possible attainable with all of those step by step and stepping stones in order to kind of take you to the, to the next path and just enjoy what you're doing with the opportunities that come with you. And that was such an important, such an important thing for me and has taken me to just have the most fantastic career and for which I'm very grateful for all of those people who've made that happen. Now, of course, I sort of made it sound like you just do this and then you do that and then before you know it, you're, you're in your career or you're doing the thing that you're passionate about. There's obviously much more to it than that. And obviously as a musician, one of the things that's really important is the amount of time you spend doing it and the amount of practice that you put in. And one of the key experiences I had was when I'd first joined my first brass band, which was a thing that happened outside of school, there was the first concert I had to do. There was a drum solo. It's part of a medley of Glenn Miller songs and it was called Miller Magic. And they had this little drum solo and I was obviously very nervous. I wanted to kind of give it my best shot. And I just practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced. And the thing that I learned from doing that, even in the concert sat there, the lights are on you. You've been working at this for sort of months and months on end was the fact I'd done it so many times. It was just so ingrained in my muscle memory. I don't think it could have ever gone a different way than it did. It went absolutely fantastically well because I've done it so many times, even without thinking, even under those different circumstances in a concert scenario, even with the heart racing, even with those nerves going through, it was such a brilliant experience. And the actual feeling during and afterwards was just incredible. And I sort of think about that essence of what the practice really does a lot. And especially now as a music educator, when I'm teaching my pupils and we're talking about practice, that whole kind of sense of what Garrett had mentioned before about the comma, for example, because it's one thing just saying you just need to practice, you just need to play this a lot until you kind of get used to it. But one of the things that's worked really well for me is the sense of them understanding how that works and why it works. I can talk. Talk about neuro pathways and, and how it kind of joins the dots and your body, your right hand and your left hand and your right foot kind of all start to work together. But actually it was when I started to realize that that visualization, those stories that, for example, that kind of makes. Makes a difference really comes into play. And, and also that sense of when things happen without really knowing that they're doing. And so one of the things that I often say is that, you know, if my pupils imagine coming to school and going to reception on the first day they meet the person in, say, fantastic, can you just go to the music department? And someone will meet you there? And they go, well, how would I get there? And that's it, exactly that. It's completely new. You don't know where you're going. You'd need someone to give you a hand, someone to point you in the right direction, maybe show you a map, someone to take you. And so those first few times, that repetition of going in that same way to get to the music department to find your class or to find your practice room, you have to think about it. But each time you do it, it gets a little bit more familiar. You find a little shortcut, you find a way to kind of get there easier. And then, of course, a few weeks in, you probably don't even remember the journey of going through reception to getting to that practice room, to getting to that music department, because it's completely automated now. You know, you're not even thinking about it. It just happens as you go. And, and I said, this is the same thing about practice. It's just the repetition. And it just becomes second nature the more that you do it. And the great thing about understanding that is the fact that this process happens over and over and over. So the first skill that we're learning or the first piece that we're learning feels like that first time you go to reception and have to find a new room, find a new way of achieving this goal of getting from A to B, the way of actually being able to play this piece with a new skill. But you practice it and then you achieve it, and then you have this opportunity to perform it or whatever your. Your aim is, whatever your goal is in that particular place. But then there's another piece, there's another opportunity, and then you go through the same process again. You need to find that new way of getting there, the fact that it might have a new skill. So you take your time, you get help, you get support, you get shown how to get to that place that you want to be, that new music room, that new opportunity in that practice room, and then you get better at. And again and again and again through that practice, this becomes like second nature. And then there you are, you're done away, you can go again. And so once you understand the cycle of the kind of the doing it slowly, the getting support to help you there, getting that familiarity, and then actually knowing where you are and what you're doing and why you're trying to do it, you understand that the next time you're starting a new thing to learn. Oh yeah, this is where I am in this particular part of the process. Now I'm a bit more familiar. I've been practicing it for a little while. I kind of know how to get there on my own. Just takes a bit of thought. And then before you know it, you're towards the end and oh yeah, I'm old. I just managed to do this piece and I know it so well. I've practiced it so well, it was almost took me no time at all. And I'm doing it instinctively. And I think then you suddenly get a real excitement about the fact that you know the process. And I take on that example for myself. I still do the same thing today. If it's a new piece, if it's something that I actually really need to work on, I use the same processes, the same skills that we talk about in class, But I understand that journey to be able to get there. And of course, there are many things you can do much easier in the same way as when I sort of explain to people, if you want to write a story, you have to Understand how words fit together, how you know the Alphabet, how you start to build up sentences, how the handwriting might be important or how you communicate or what that delivery mechanism is. But you're not having to go back to learn those first little words, first of all, you're just expanding that vocabulary. You're learning how to extend stories and understand how to put those things together exactly the same way as you would do in a musical environment. Environment as well. And I think understanding how all those things come together is really, really valuable for all of my pupils. Now, the one thing that is different often as a music person and a music teacher, is actually what's involved in order of getting better from your immediate community. And by that I mean your teachers, your parents and how that works. And the reason I brought this up is because I had a parents evening recently, and this particular parent was saying, you know, we're not musicians ourselves. We're not quite sure how to support our child. What is it that we need to do? And so I was able to sort of stand back and say, actually, you're doing everything brilliantly just by taking the next step. And by that, I mean just doing all the things that are asked or all the things that are available. So, for example, you're carving out time for them to practice, even if it's only a few minutes a day or however many minutes you can fit through the week. And of course, that depends on what your other activities are and how old you are and all those sorts of things. But they were taking the time to say, look, we've put this time aside for you to actually practice, and that's really, really key. And as I mentioned to my pupils, the reason you do maths and English almost every day at school is because they want that repetition. We don't have the luxury of that. We just have one lesson a week. So the practice time becomes that regularness that you have to do on your own. The other thing I mentioned to this parent was the fact they were filling in their practice diary. I actually knew that they practiced. If they had any questions, anything they wanted support with, I was able to answer. And I said, just doing that. There are so many people that don't do that, but by actually doing that means we've got this ongoing dialogue, this ongoing conversation, which means that I can help you and you can help me, and we can support each other as we're going through that. Such a brilliant thing to be able to do. The fact that they come to their lessons with their sticks and their music and their Practice diary, just all the small things. But doing it on a regular basis, week in, week out, all of those things just really help to build up the patterns of behavior, to understand what's going on and how that is going to progress. And you think, oh, week by week. It doesn't sound like there's much going on. I'm not getting any better. But it's only when you sort of step back and say, but think what you can do today that you couldn't do maybe back in September. You know, you've been playing for two terms now. Look at, look at the difference between that. And I sort of say it's often a little bit like if you have a relative that you. You. You see maybe once a year or twice a year or something. So what's the one thing they say? They always say, oh, haven't you grown or haven't you matured or haven't you done this? And I said, it's because they can see what you were like six months ago and then what you're like today. There's a big change. And they don't see the incremental kind of getting torn a week in, week out. That sort of happens, sort of under the radar. And I said, this is the same from a music point of view. If you think back about what you could play before and what you can play now, it's like chalk and cheese. But all that regular practice, all that regular playing in between, that's what makes all the difference in terms of that progression. And I think in music specifically, this idea of personalized learning really comes into it, because the way that I learn, the way that I can practice, the way that I can put these things together, was certainly different than my sister when she was learning an instrument. For example, every child that I teach has a different home scenario. Maybe they've got a house where they can have a drum kit. The noise doesn't matter. Maybe the noise does matter. So they've got an electric drum kit. Maybe they can't have a drum kit at all because there isn't enough space. So therefore, maybe you're using cushions or pillows. Or you can learn and progress and improve your skills in all of those different scenarios. And maybe you might feel that one's better than the other, but it's actually really more your attitude and the thing that you want to do. Putting yourself in an opportunity to get the experience, to join a band, to join an ensemble, take the opportunities at school, to take those opportunities outside of school, that personalized learning, taking the advantage of everything. Not the average. That's not an average person learning. Everybody's individual. Everyone has these different opportunities. There's no one size fits all, but there's no one way to do these things. There's no one route to get from A to B to. To be a better musician. As we're using music into this particular story for today, and I think when you get excited about what you can do, what your experiences are, then you realize that it's just about making those next steps and taking that next part of your journey. And I really love that, because then it suddenly feels exciting for you. And that was always the thing for me with music. The first time I went to London to have a lesson, the first time I actually went to music college, and you're. You're going into the practice room for the first time when you're meeting your. Your peers and suddenly realizing there's a big world out there. The first time I went into a recording studio, the first time I was playing with my teachers in an ensemble, those opportunities are there. And it's. That was personal to me. It was learned from my experiences and my understanding. And it doesn't happen in the same way for everyone else. And I think understanding that that's the only way and the right way for you, whatever the actual picture looks like and whatever the experience looks like, then I think you don't have that. It should be like this and it should be like that, because other people have done it differently. You can only do it from your experience. And it's your personality, especially as a musician, that helps you kind of create your musical voice. And. And that's the one that people want to. To share, they want to be part of, and that's what music making is really all about. So as we sort of conclude, as I look back about what Gary and I have talked about, we've talked about trusting teachers, trusting education. I know the opportunity for me to learn an instrument came because my head teacher trusted in these young music teachers who wanted to make a difference with their passions. I also know that that probably wouldn't happen today in the same way. I'm not sure it fits in the timetable. In the same way, the opportunities might not be there. The funding certainly might not have been there. I think even by the time I'd left school and sort of gone to music college, that having music funded free of charge or heavily subsidized is very, very rare then, certainly very rare in my experience since then. So if we wanted real change, even if we take the Government's idea of actually broadening the curriculum, giving children opportunities. If we turned around and said, fantastic, we're going to make music available for everybody, what does that look like in the current scenario, the current curriculum, how much time is there? Are we just trying to fit in our really short lunch hours or actually we're creating time during the school day to make this happen? Are we going to have funding in place to make this happen for somebody who's going through their sort of 15 year journey while being at school? Or is it actually going to get taken away in three years time or when the government changes? Are we actually putting these things in place place because they are really, really important for the whole of a child sort of learning experience. And also this sort of brings me through to one of the other things that was key that I really liked that Gare said, was this whole sense of, of well being and not well being. I think one of the key things for me and the things even now, my well being, my actually being well in myself is actually to be a musician. For me to be able to enjoy what I do, to be able to pass that on to other people because I'm living something through the talents that I have and something which is an innate part of who I am. That's very different than having a mindfulness class because I'm not having the opportunity to be fully me because I'm not feeling well. Or you know, this idea that we spoke about about having not maybe great lunches and short play times and, and everything being stressful in exams and high stakes and then having a well being idea to help us support that. Why not have this curriculum that we've spoken about on this podcast series that expands all of those ideas. What if a whole afternoon was, was just dedicated to music as we're using that as the example today. But whatever the, the topic is, whatever the skill is, whatever the, the learning area is, having people can really dive into it in a way that makes a really massive difference. It takes trust, it takes understanding, it takes finance. Because even if you wanted to bring all that music back into schools now do we have the staff within schools that could do that? Are we going to give them the training? Are there the music teachers out there to then suddenly fill the demand? That would be if every school wanted to give every child the opportunity to learn an instrument and to have that paid for, certainly to get them going and then to have ensembles for them to perform at in school. The opportunities are amazing and, and some of these things are low barrier to entry. I think if you heard my live stream with Andrew Groom talking about their big sing that they were doing through the the Loughborough Schools foundation, you could hear his passion and what he's trying to do as part of their initiative for those things and to make it fit within their community, within their local area, to get people involved from the local schools to come together. I'm sure that concert that happened last week for them, there'll be someone there going, this feels very different to me. I've stood there with these other people singing this and I felt something I've not felt before. And that isn't to say that music's the answer to everything. It's my experience and it's why I get passionate about it. Children should have the opportunity to have such a great experience across the board because at that point they'll find something that lights their fire and they can take that forward to find that next step, to find that next teacher, to find that next group. Group, that next community event, that next opportunity to be able to step into that. And that's what I love. That's what I hope everyone can do. And that's why I hope it's important for educators to kind of really embrace this as an opportunity to find a way to do it and this bigger sense of the community at large. You know, organizations working together with musicians, with theaters, with concert halls, to actually make these things even more and more accessible, to have the funding there to be able to get into those places, to come into schools and also for businesses, you know, the opportunity to sort of fund these things, but with a real practical idea of we're funding this particular project for these bunch of children, maybe to go and listen to an opera, to go and see something at music theatre, to actually have a conversation with a musician whose job it is, is to play the drums in this particular show. What a great thing to be able to do. And you're never quite sure what that's going to look like, but it is something which I think every child should have the opportunity to experience. So no matter what the barriers, no matter what those areas in education that feel like a real hurdle to be able to get to work in and to change things, I think my biggest takeaway is the fact you can only do what you can do in the here and now with the child that you're with or with the class that you're with. So, yes, in my musical conversation, I'd like every child to have the opportunity to learn. But at the moment, if it's Just Child A. And I can give them everything that I possibly can with my experience in that opportunity, and it makes a difference to their life. As my teachers gave to me, then that's a fantastic opportunity as well. And while we might like the whole system to look different, and there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't have those conversations, hence education on fire, but also to be able to do the one thing that you're able to do for the next person that you're having a lesson with, the next person you're having a conversation with, the next person you're sharing your experience with. Because my teacher, who got me to hold a sticks in a certain way and used a practice pad in something which was called the old house. It was literally the old, probably caretaker's house in the middle of school way back when. It was sort of rickety, it was old, it was cold. But it opened up a real kind of doorway for me to experience life in that particular way. That teacher saw something in me and wanted to support me and made that possible. He didn't know that I would have the opportunity to work with with some of the greatest orchestras in the country, that I would sit in a West End pit playing a show, that I'd be sat in the Royal Albert hall doing concerts, that I'd be in a recording studio, that I'd have all those opportunities. His thing was, what can I do today? What can I do tomorrow? How can we make this happen? And for all those people who are doing that on a daily basis, I thank every one of them that did that for me. Me. And if I can endeavor to do that to my pupils tomorrow, then I'm so grateful to have the opportunity to pass it forward. So the Gare Grouse gets gritty season for me is that opportunity to pass those things forward. I hope all of those takeaways have been something which have given you food for thought. And think about the next time you're making a difference, that next conversation that you're having, that next opportunity that you're enabling, is going to make a difference to a child. And that's all we can do. And if we do that every day, then the world will be a much better place. Thanks so much for listening. I really hope you enjoyed the season. And we'll be back with our three final episodes talking about the early years, about schooling in general terms and then further in higher education in a few weeks. So do make sure you listen out for details of those. Make sure you're on the mailing list, which you can do@educationonfar.com to keep up to date with all those things. And I've loved this series. It's been an absolute honor to chat to Gare, and if there's anything you want to share with us, remember the hashtag educationonfire is the best way to do that. Thanks so much indeed for being on this amazing journey.