The National Music Plan
The National Plan for Music Education will be rolled out across Wales from September 2022. The vision of this plan is for all children and young people across Wales, regardless of background, to have the chance to learn to play an instrument.
Experiencing the joy of music, in all its forms, should be at the heart of every school and setting.
The plan aims to
- Break down the barriers to access music provision by all learners
- Support schools and settings in their delivery of Curriculum for Wales
- Build stronger links with organisations to ensure a diverse range of opportunities for music-making and enjoying music
Merthyr Tydfil’s approach to realising the vision outlined in the National Music Plan is currently being developed in partnership with schools, community groups and a wide range of organisations.
A considerable amount of funding has already been invested in developing Merthyr Tydfil’s music instrument resource, in order to support the development of a loan scheme, giving access to all learners of musical instruments in and outside of schools and settings.
There are a number of programmes of work linked to the plan, which will be developed. These are
- First experiences and Live music experiences
- Music pathways
- Making music with others
- Music for health and wellbeing
The Music Service offer, currently outlined in MENU (Music Education Needs Us) will be built up in line with the National Music Plan. The current MENU consists of
- Whole Class Ensemble Tuition
- Small group lessons
- 1-1 lessons
- Use of ‘charanga’
- Techniques and Warm up videos
- Merthyr Tydfil Youth Music
- Expressive Arts Projects
- Outreach projects from the Royal College of Music and Drama
- External exam preparation and entry
To find out more about the service, please get in touch with Andrew.may@merthyr.gov.uk