For almost seven years, the Yamaha Music School (YMS) State School Partnership Project (SSPP) has been providing host schools with a set of near top-of-therange instruments and equipment, on permanent loan, to enhance its daytime music teaching. To cover the cost of this, the school runs group YMS lessons out of hours to students from the host school and its local community.

The largest of Yamaha’s state school partnerships is at Walton High in Milton Keynes. Originally linked to Chappell’s music shop in the town, it later migrated to Walton High, taking with it an already established and loyal body of students.

In our state school projects, an administrator – usually school office-based – manages the day-to-day activities of the YMS. But one secondary establishment has built its YMS operation from scratch and now boasts more than 200 out-of-hours Yamaha students per week.

Jack Hunt School in Peterborough is distinguished by its strong leadership, where community education officer Simon Sykes has overall responsibility for its YMS. Together with head of music John Walmsley and music teacher Amy Mucklin, Sykes champions a powerful vision for music education at a time when the school itself is undergoing major change.

‘Jack Hunt School has around 1,500 pupils, with a planned expansion in 2007 via a private finance initiative project,’ explains Sykes. ‘It will add 30 more students to each year group and new buildings for the music department. We have 46 students taking GCSE Music, eight studying AS Music and three studying at A2. We promote extra-curricular activities and community programmes vigorously. Within school we have a senior and junior choir, an orchestra, a jazz band and rock bands taking part in local festivals. Community programmes include our YMS and a thriving ballet school.

‘We launched the Yamaha project in 1999 with a set of YMS keyboard stock and started with a single class of six new students for our YMS keyboard teacher, Becky Beavis,’ Sykes continues. ‘As community education officer I look after the YMS and each term report back to the governing body. We have great enthusiasm and support from the leadership at Jack Hunt School: John, our head of music, regularly spends time to talk with the Yamaha tutors and our assistant head and head are both very enthusiastic and supportive.’

Sykes is convinced that, having run the YMS for almost eight years, there are some ‘essential ingredients for success’ – including enthusiasm and commitment from the senior management team; good leadership of the YMS from within the school;  effective administration, and communication.

In Jack Hunt’s case, the school ticks all these boxes – but what are the real benefits for the school? The inclusive nature of the YMS, with its focus on group and Cooperative activities, prompted the school from the start to encourage its own students to enroll in the YMS out of hours. In the experience of John Walmsley, this considerably enhanced students’ key musical skills – ‘very helpful for in-school assessment and especially difficult to achieve with keyboards’, he points out.

Recently appointed music teacher Amy Mucklin points out some Year 9 work on protest songs and how this particular activity had been transformed into a much more musical one – thanks to the availability of good-quality  eyboard accompaniments which students of all performing abilities could control to produce work of which they were proud.

Today, the school boasts 130 Yamaha keyboard students. Some 50 of these learn on the ‘Junior Play For Keeps’ keyboard course, for beginners aged six to seven years old. As Sykes points out, this enables the school to develop relationships with children and their parents several years before they join Jack Hunt. The school soon will reap the benefit of the enhanced musicianship of the children who have learnt on this course as they join Jack Hunt and study Music at KS3.

The remainder of their YMS keyboard students learn on the ‘Play For Keeps’ course, which takes them from beginner right up to grade 8.

The school has also introduced Yamaha’s fastest-growing course, Guitar Encounters.  Taught by Chris Watson, its launch heralded the arrival of another set of instruments provided by Yamaha: electric guitars, PA, FX units and more.  With high demand for guitar lessons, Sykes expects Watson will soon reach the 100 students mark.

In addition the school operates Yamaha’s Drum Encounters led by Simon Kirk (which has now grown to 26 students) and Vocal Encounters led by Maria Bell. ‘Vocal Encounters is at the fledgling stage with four students,’ says Sykes, ‘but we have high aspirations for its future development. Each course has its own set of stock, used extensively for National Curriculum work as well as for Yamaha classes.’

The success of Jack Hunt’s YMS has been achieved through enthusiasm, commitment and a genuine desire to engage with pupils, parents and the wider community. It has been given a high profile within the school, which has also developed strong links with the local media and a lively, active marketing mix. The school has made good use of partnerships with other schools and benefited from having Yamaha teachers who are proactive, keen to grow constantly and strive for excellence. Coupled with an excellent administration assistant in the very efficient and well-organised Susan Spencer, the YMS treats all its students as valued customers. The school’s YMS concerts aspire to high professional standards of presentation and mean that students feel they are part of something significant.

Music teacher Amy Mucklin is a former pupil of Jack Hunt School so has a  particular insight into how the Yamaha experience has improved life for everyone. ‘Having access to top keyboards,’ she enthuses, ‘has raised our students’ interest and expectations.’

STATE SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP - WANT A YMS?

We still have a few vacancies for additional state school projects. If you would like to run a YMS operation at your school, contact Kathy Filby; tel: 01908 369216; kathy.filby@gmx.yamaha.com