Paritor Music Education Blog

Hints & Help: Analysis of New Intake by Postal Area

2012-05-25T01:56:00.001-07:00

Recently we were asked if there was any way that Ensemble could show an analysis of new intake by postal area so. Clearly it’s important to know where your new students are coming from and perhaps even more important to know where they are not coming from so that steps can be put in place to address the lack of interest.

With Ensemble it’s a simple process to get a list of the entire new intake for a period of time. From the Pupils menu select the Pupil Extract option. On the second tab entitled Pupils, select the option for One Record per Pupil Activity. In the Starters/Leavers box select New Starters and select the relevant date range. Note you can select a specific period (term), a date range or a specific date. You should also select the type of record to include, i.e. new starters at school activities, centre activities etc.

You can add other criteria to the extract by selecting other options on this or other tabs but once you have set all the required options click on the Extract Data button. This will select all the matching records and display in Insight.

Note in the screen shot below I have used the Column Selector to remove all the columns we don’t need leaving me with just the Gender, Post Code and Activity. Notice also that as well as providing a column of information containing Post Codes the system has also provided a column of just post code areas. I have kept Gender and Activity so that we can also analyse by these values.

Now that we have the raw data it’s a simple job to group the data by Post Code Area and then create a New Summary Dataset of the result.

Once you have done this you will have a second dataset showing a breakdown of postal areas and the number of new starters.

If you want you can visualise these results in a graph by clicking on the New Chart button and following the steps. An example of this is shown below.

The above provides a good visualisation of new starters per postal area but say you wanted to go one stage further and show how these values are made up between boys and girls.

We have a column called Gender which contains F or M so we just need to reorganise the data we originally extracted to show a count of these for each Post Code area. We can do this in the following way.

Go back to the first tab where the extracted data was first shown and where you grouped the data by Post Code Area. You need to add the Gender column to the grouping but in order to do this you need to show the columns again. (They would have been hidden when you group by Post Code Area). To do this, click on one of the small “+” plus signs over on the left. This will expand the grouping and show the columns. From here drag the Gender column up into the group by area as before and then create another summary dataset by clicking on the summary dataset column. You will now have a new dataset as below.

We now need to Pivot the result so that we get count for each gender. To do this, click on the Pivot Table button and work through the wizard.

Select the Post Code Area as the Row Label.

Select Gender as the Column Label

Finally select _Count as the Summary Label.

Click on the Create button to create the new dataset which should look like this.

You can now use the chart wizard to create a new chart which will visualise this data. You will need to select a type of chart that will display the female and male values for each post code area such as a Bar or Column chart.

Select PostCodeArea as the Label column and tick both the available series columns in order to show both Female and Male values

The result is a chart that clearly shows the new starter counts for each post code area split between Female and Male. You can easily change the breakdown from Gender to some other category such as instrument by group by the appropriate column.

A word of caution though, not all postcode areas have the same number of pupils living in them and so an area showing a large intake may in fact have a large number of possible pupils in that area.

Hints & Help: Teacher CRB Information for Schools

2012-05-25T01:49:00.001-07:00

Schools often ask for CRB information on the teachers you schedule to work with their pupils. All this information is stored within Ensemble so it’s a simple process to extract this information an produce on a report.

The first thing you need to do is extract teacher information in order to get at the teacher details including the CRD information and the schools they work at. To do this, select the Extract Teacher option on the Teachers menu. On the Teachers tab click the box to include a record for each lesson. You will also need to select the period of time covering the time the teachers will be at the school.

Clicking on the Extract button will send the extracted information to Insight. This will show a line for each lesson a teacher is schedule to work. This is more information than we need so we can remove a number of columns. To do this click on the “Select Columns” button, this will display a list of columns. Click the “None” button to remove all the columns and then tick the columns required. These are ActivityType, ActivityTypeID, TeacherID, LastName, FirstName, PoliceCheck, PoliceCheckSubmit, PoliceCheckRef, Venue, VenueAddressLine1, VenueAddressLine2, VenueTown, VenueCounty and VenuePostCode.

This will show the column information we required but it currently shows a line for every type of lesson each teacher in involved in. So we need to filter out all but school lessons and organise it so that we have a single line for each school per teacher.

Click on the Filter button and add a filter to the ActivityType column to select just those with a value of “S”. This will select just the school lessons. No drag the ActivityTypeID column heading up into the Group by Area. This will group the data by School but we also need to group by teacher. In order to do this you need to show the columns again. (They would have been hidden when you group by Venue). To do this, click on one of the small “+” plus signs over on the left. This will expand the grouping and show the columns. From here drag the TeacherID column up into the group by area as before and then create a New Dataset.

It’s important to drag the ActivityTypeID first and then the TeacherID column.

After clicking on the Create New Dataset button you will set the following.

As you can see the new dataset has all the same columns but now you only have one line per school/teacher combination.

Now that you have the data organised as you want it it’s a simple case to create a report containing a page for each school with a list of teachers working in the school together with their CRB information.

To create your report click on the Produce New Report button, this will take you through a report wizard consisting of a number of pages, each of which asks questions about the report you require.

On the first page you can enter a name for your report. The second page asks how you want to group the report. The grouping specifies how the report in organised, in this report we want all information to be grouped by school. We can therefore add Venue to the Group By list. You may have more than one school with the same name and so to ensure that each school have their own group we need to add a unique identifier to the grouping. The column ActivityTypeID uniquely identifies each school so select this column and add to the Group By list.

The next page of the wizard asks for the columns we want displayed on the report. We want to list the teachers name and CRB information so select FirstName, LastName, PoliceCheckSubmit, PoliceCheck and PoliceCheckRef columns.

The next page asks for any summaries you want added to the report. You used this to add totals to columns. In this report we don’t require any summaries so we can skip to the next page. This page asks how we want the data in each group ordered. We will order ours by the teacher’s last name so add LastName to the Order By list.

The next page allows you to specify how you want the report sectionalised. The reason for creating sections is to split a report up into areas covering one person or in our case one school. Sections are useful they allow you to email each section out to the related recipient.

With this report we want to have the option to email the information to each school so we select to section it by ActivityTypeID, this is the column that identifies each school.

We now have all the information to create our basic report so we can click on the Create Report button. This will generate the report and display it on the screen. The report has the teacher information but we now need to add the School details and tidy up its look.

To do these we need you switch to the report design view and from here make a few changes. The design view looks like this.

The design is split up into a number of regions.

· Page Header – Defines the area at the top of each page.

· Page Footer – Defines the area at the bottom of each page

· Report Header – Defines a page to include at the beginning of the report

· Report Footer – Defines a page to include at the end of the report.

· Header and Footer for each group – Defines the information to display at the beginning and end of each group area whenever the Group By value changes.

· Detail – Defines what included for each record in the dataset.

Our report has two groups one for ActivityTypeID and one for Venue. We need to hide the first group header and its footer. To do this right click somewhere on group header area and select Hide, then do the same for the group footer.

We now need to expand the heading for ActivityTypeID, do this by hovering over the line along the bottom of the area until the cursor changes then hold down the mouse and drag the line down so as to make the area bigger. You will see that the report wizard placed a field to display the ActivityTypeID within this area. We need to remove this by clicking on the field and then hitting the delete button.

We can now add the School name and address by dragging these fields from the field explorer over on the left hand side. Expand the Database fields node by clicking on the plus sign. Find the field called Venue and drag this into the group area. No repeat this for the other address fields. You can align the address information by dragging the fields around the area. You should end up with something like this.

To make the report look better you can also remove some of the column headings and move some of them down into the group area. The final design looks like this.

If you click back on the View Document button the report will be produced and should look something like this.

If you want to re-use the report at a later date you should switch back to design mode and click on the save definition button.

Paritor Hub Partner Road Show

2012-04-13T09:02:00.001-07:00

Hi All
As you know, the Paritor/FMS Hub Management Conference was held on the 5th and 6th of March at the Beeches Conference Centre in Birmingham. Delegates attended to address the issues faced with the transformation into Hubs this September. The presentations on Data Protection and the Common Pupil Dataset were recorded and are now available to see, along with the Panel Discussion and Breakout Session notes, from the link below.
As you may also be aware, Paritor Ltd have released two 'free to use' pieces of software, for use by Lead Hubs and Hub Partners. These have been created to help tackle the problem of collating the necessary information from Hub Partners to be sent to the Arts Council England. Both pieces of software are also available to download from the page.

Click here to see the Paritor FMS Conference details

The Paritor FMS Conference was held for the Hub Leaders, but the issues discussed and solutions posed will also affect your Hub Partners.
During the last two weeks of May, we will be holding a FREE Hub Partner road show. We will be appearing all over the country to demonstrate Paritor Hub Partner, the free data collection tool designed to solve the issue of securely collating pupil and lesson information from Hub Partners.
Each local session will be for a small number of people, approximately two hours long, and will look at how the Hub Manager and Partner Tools will assist in the collation of Pupil Data required by the Arts Council England. This provides an excellent opportunity for your Hub Partners to see the tools and support that is available to assist in this task.
Below are the dates and locations for the road show. There will be limited spaces on each location and so booking is essential. We recommend that you attend and invite your main Hub Partners to come too.

Date	Morning	Afternoon
Monday 21^st May	Bristol	Birmingham
Tuesday 22^nd May	Liverpool	Manchester
Wednesday 23^rd May	Newcastle	Tees-side
Thursday 24^th May	Leeds
Friday 21^st May
Monday 28^th May	London	London
Tuesday 29^th May	Brighton	Southampton

To book a place at any locations or if you have any more questions please email Georgie Stevens

Arts Council briefings on the music education hub tendering process.

2011-12-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

If you are interested in attending a particular session, please contact the relevant ACE office for more information and to book your place http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/

The Arts Council are also more than happy to put on additional briefings if required.

Yorkshire Area - ACE/FMSDate: 7th DecemberTime: 11am – 3pmLocation: Queens Hotel,

LeedsNorth West Area - ACE/FMSDate: 9th DecemberTime: 11am – 3pmLocation: Midland Hotel, Manchester

Yorkshire Area - ACEDate: 12th DecTime: TBC (all day)Location: Oldroyds Mill

North East Area - ACEDate: 12th DecTime: 12.30 - 3pmLocation: ACE office, Central Square, Forth Street, Newcastle NE1 3PJ

South West Area - ACEDate: 12th DecTime: 1 – 4pm Location: Riverside Conference Centre, Exeter

North West Area - ACEDate: 13th DecTime: 1 - 4.30pmLocation: ACE, The Hive

East Area - ACEDate: 13th DecTime: 1 - 4.30pmLocation: Eden House, Cambridge

North East Area - ACEDate: 14th DecTime: 9.30am – 12noonLocation: ACE Office, Central Square, Forth Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3PJ

South East Area - ACEDate: 15th DecTime: 11am – 2pmLocation: Brighton Dome

East Midlands Area - ACEDate: 20th DecTime: 10am - 1pm (registration at 9.30am)Location: Nottingham Trent University Conference Centre

West Midlands Area - ACEDate: 13th JanTime: AM & PM SessionsLocation: ACE Office

DfE has released the National Plan for Music Education NPME

2011-12-01T01:47:00.000-08:00

The very first National Plan for Music Education entitled 'The importance of music education' was released on Friday 25th November. Well anticpated, the plan comes after the comprehensive review conducted by Darren Henley stressed the significance of a good music education in his review earlier this year.

To read the plan, visit: http://www.education.gov.uk/a00200352/national-plan-for-music-education

JAZZ EDUCATION AWARDS – NORTH & SOUTH OF THE BORDER

2011-11-17T04:02:00.000-08:00

On 1 December, at the Royal Academy of Music, Aberdeenshire, Devon, East Renfrewshire, Lincolnshire and Southampton will be awarded Diplomas of Merit for their outstanding commitment to jazz education in 2010/11. Devon’s reward for a remarkable record of five diplomas on the trot, three of which were accorded special merit status, will be a special trophy awarded by Paritor Ltd (sponsors of the NMC/MEC music awards scheme, see below).

Ivor Widdison, Chair of the Awards Panel and his colleagues on the Panel, Andrea Vicary, Trinity Laban College of Music & Drama, Dr Catherine Tackley, Open University and Bill Martin, Yamaha Music Education Manager pay tribute to the above Music Services and to those of Bolton, East Riding, Gloucestershire, Kirklees, Manchester, Oxfordshire, Perth & Kinross, Tower Hamlets and Wigan who in opening windows to the world of music reveal also the very special joys of jazz.

For further information please contact Ivor Widdison by email: ivorwiddison@yahoo.co.uk

NMC Music Education Awards 2011

2011-11-14T08:47:00.001-08:00

NATIONAL MUSIC COUNCIL LOCAL AUTHORITY MUSIC EDUCATION AWARDS 2011

Sponsored by Paritor Ltd

The National Music Council (NMC) Local Authority Music Education Awards 2011 took place on Monday 7 November 2011 at London's Southbank Centre.

To read more about the awards or to view the pictures, please visit www.paritor.com

Hints & Help: Sending Emails from Paritor Software

2011-11-02T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hello all and welcome to the return of the Hints & Help blog. The plan is to reinstate this as a regular feature keeping you up to date with the latest new features and tips with all of our Software.

The blog today is on a simple but important topic: Emails. Many of you already use the system to send out emails, but very few are aware of all the different ways it can be done.

Before we get started on the different ways you can send out emails, I first want to mention how you set them up. To send emails from the system. There are two older Hints & Help blogs that will help you out on this. To find out how to set your SMTP settings click here. And if you want to know how to add your Email signature click here.

Sending Basic Emails

You can send emails to anyone by going to the Ribbon Menu and selecting Tools –> Send Email.
Then simply enter the recipient and message text as you would with any email. It is important to note that any emails you send from here will not be logged in anyone’s Correspondence, even if they have the same email you have entered.

Sending Emails from a Record Card

You can send an email directly to a recipient from their Record Card. All you need to do is go to the Communicate tab at the top

and select the Email icon on the top left hand side. Anything sent from here will be logged in the Correspondence tab of that Record Card. Note that you can also send Texts, Letters, produce Mail Merges and print Labels from this tab. For more information about the Correspondence tab click here.

Emailing a Selection from Paritor Insight

Once you have data in Paritor Insight, either from an Extract or selecting Email Selection you can filter and group the data in any number of ways; for example by School Year or Postcode, once you are happy that you have a list of people you would like to contact you can click the Email icon on the top right hand side of the menu.

You will then be able to send an email to a list of recipients, all of whom will have the email logged in their Correspondence tabs. When you use the system to multiple recipients it sends one email to each recipient which means that they will never see the other email addresses of the other people you contacted.

Sending Emails to Pupils in a Lesson

The final option I want to tell you about is how to Email all Pupils in a Lesson. This can be done from the lesson itself. Simply open up the lesson, select the Pupil view and click Email Pupils on the top left hand side

This will allow you to send an email to all the Pupils in that particular lesson.

I hope that you have found this week’s Hints & Help blog interesting, if you have any questions or thoughts please comment, call us on 01395 445092 or email us at support@paritor.co.uk for more information.

Thanks for reading this Hints & Help blog. Hopefully it will return next week, if you would like the Blog to stay please let us know!

NATIONAL MUSIC COUNCIL LOCAL AUTHORITY MUSIC EDUCATION AWARDS 2011

2011-11-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

The National Music Council (NMC) have announced that they will celebrate the National Music Council Local Authority Music Education Awards 2011 on Monday 7 November 2011 at the Southbank Centre in London. These important Awards highlight the work of local authority music departments throughout Britain and are sponsored for the first time by Paritor Limited.

The Major Trophy has been awarded to Blackpool for outstanding work during the past year.
Andrew White, Music Adviser, Blackpool said “The prestigious NMC Major Trophy Award will have a massive positive impact upon all involved in Blackpool Music Service. This award will allows us to collectively celebrate our achievements, have pride in what we do and, increase our personal aspirations. We are proud and elated by this wonderful news”.

Diplomas of Merit have been awarded to Bolton, Devon, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Southampton, Staffordshire and Tower Hamlets and will be presented by Darren Henley the Managing Director of Classic FM. The PRS Foundation will be awarding a Diploma of Special Merit to East Lothian for their commitment to creative music making.

Jazz Services will be recognising a commitment to jazz education through their Will Michael Awards which, will be announced separately.

Robin Osterley, Chair of the Awards Panel, said: “We were delighted that this year’s award scheme elicited more applications than we have ever had before, and we are very grateful to all those Local Authorities who took the trouble to apply in the midst of a very busy schedule. At a time when music education is undergoing a comprehensive review, and when financial pressures are so great, we would do well to remember that there are so many Authorities out there doing their level best, sometimes with limited resources, to provide outstanding opportunities for young people to learn music, and most importantly, make music. We should also make special mention of our sponsors Paritor, who have been so incredibly helpful in this year’s scheme, and express our lasting gratitude to them.”

Mark Pemberton Chairman, NMC, said “The NMC Awards scheme is the most prestigious awards that Local Authorities can obtain for their music education provision. It’s excellent news that the number of submissions was so high and the winners are to be congratulated on their achievements.”

The NMC LA Music Education Awards Scheme (co-ordinated with the assistance of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Federation of Music Services) has been in existence for over 35 years. The Council is grateful to the PRS Foundation and Jazz Services for their commitment to music education through their awards for creative music-making and jazz education respectively.

Ends

For further information or to attend the Awards please contact
Harriette Goldsmith
Administrator
National Music Council
Tel 01707 662662
Email info@nationalmusiccouncil.org.uk
Web http://www.nationalmusiccouncil.org.uk/

Notes for Editors:
Founded in 1953 under the auspices of the International Music Council and UNESCO, the National Music Council sits at the centre of a complex network of national music organisations many with their own extensive memberships. Membership is drawn from all areas of the music business and is open to organisations with an interest in music and its development in the UK.

Through the annual awarding of a Major Trophy and a variable number of Diplomas, the Council seeks to provide recognition for those LAs that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to music education provision in a particular year. Reports from previous years can be found at: http://www.nationalmusiccouncil.org.uk/

Paritor
Over the course of three decades Paritor has evolved to a powerful software company, imperative in the working lives of many performing arts educators. The company’s mission is to assist with the management of education within performing arts, allowing them to run as successful and efficient businesses. To ensure that Paritor remains a leader in its field they incorporate innovative technologies, pioneering business practises as well as implementing the opinions and ideas of performing arts educators on how the software could be improved so that the products are constantly evolving.
Simon Dutton, Managing Director of Paritor says of the awards ‘Paritor are proud to sponsor the National Music Council’s Local Authority Music Education Awards. As the UK’s leading supplier of management software for music services we understand the importance of being able to provide inspirational music education for young people and also help services face the difficulties presented through a lack of resources. The NMC awards recognise the outstanding opportunities provided by music services and so we felt that it would be an ideal collaboration, a chance to give praise to, shine a light on and encourage the greatest music education.’

Trombone Day at ArtsForms Music & Arts Service (Leeds)

2011-09-27T02:20:00.000-07:00

Trombone Day – 4^th October

ArtForms Music & Arts Service (Leeds) & The British Trombone Society are holding a day for young trombonists of any level, including workshops and performances from Black Dyke Band trombone section – open to any player in full-time education The day is free to attend, and players can be from anywhere in the UK – more info: http://www.artformsleeds.co.uk/clients/artforms/MODULES/NEWS/NEWSMOD_newsitem.asp?itemid=168

Music GCSE/A-level results 2011

2011-09-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Statistics released by the BBC compare Music GCSE/A level results for both 2010 and 2011.

Music Education split in Bedfordshire

2011-09-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

Two new music services have been launched this term in the Bedfordshire area, Bedford Borough Music Service and Central Bedford Music Service. Previously these two service were amalgamated and ran by Richard Hart, but due to budget cuts there have been a change to the way that they operate and a split between the new unities.

Richard Hart will run Bedford Borough whilst his previous deputy Chris Jones is set to take over Central Bedford.

Both service will continue to use Ensemble and Simon, our MD has been to the Bedfordshire area to visit with both the services and to assist with an easy transition.

Resource Management System

2011-09-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

This term sees the launch of our brand new product which will add to the Live series, the Resource Management System. The RMS will allow you to access real time information about the resources you hold by using a hand held device and barcode scanner which syncs with the core Ensemble database. At the touch of a button it will be possible to check out instruments and other resources to students and teachers or even for repair. When an instrument has come to the end of it's life, you can then write offf as well as doing a usage analysis.

It is an excellent way of being able to keep track of your resources and therefore eliminate loss of instruments, which costs some services thousands each year unnecessarily. But, additionally it provides you with access to invaluable information, such as an accurate real time stock check and the ability to analyse the popularity of each group of instruments and future investment decisions.

Norfolk County Music Service gain funding for TRIORCA

2011-07-22T02:43:00.000-07:00

Norfolk County Music Service, together with partners in Germany and Serbia, have secured major European funding for TRIORCA, a new international youth orchestra of 100 talented young musicians, aged from 16 to 25, from three diverse European city-regions - Norfolk, Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany and Novi Sad in Serbia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-13995558

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama use Academy Software

2011-07-18T03:10:00.000-07:00

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (pre-college) are to use Academy as their key management and administration tool.

It will allow them to bring their data together, bring communication to a new level. Here at Paritor we will be working with them closely to develop the software so that it meets their needs as a large pre-college department.

4 New Music Services in July

2011-07-18T02:30:00.000-07:00

This month we have added 4 new customers to our ever expanding list of Ensemble users. Trafford, Rochdale, Telford & Wrekin and Bedfordshire Borough are the latest.

It is a turbulant time for Bedfordshire Borough, as they are currently following the split between themselves and Bedford Central, another customer of ours. Simon has been working closely with the Borough to help them set up a new business.

First month for York Music Service

2011-07-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

This month has seen the launch of York Music Service, a charitable organisation which will support music teachers who are either to lose work or be made redundant following cuts from York Council. The majority of the service will be delivered over the internet where parents and students will be able to apply and pay for tuition online.

This term they have been down to visit us in Devon where we were able to offer them guidance and assistance on the management and administration side of the business and help get them set up. Derek Warley pointed out that this initiative was to keep costs to a minimum and encourage pupils to use modern technology.

Alison Goffin, co-Director of the Service, said "It's an unsettling time for everyone at the moment, as we dismantle the council's music service after what must be 40 or 50 years of teaching, and say goodbye to some of our staff who are off to new careers. At the same time, setting up a new company is an exciting - and daunting - project, and we're really grateful for all the help and support we've had from Paritor, FMS colleagues and friends in the music industry. We know it's not all going to be plain sailing, but we think we've got enough experience to cope with the challenges that are no double awaiting us!"

'Selling your music service'

2011-06-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Marc Jaffrey, Think Again Media will be running a one day course for Heads of Music Services, senior leaders or anyone in the service regularly going to schools who is builidng relationships that will influence sales decisions.

There are two dates available:

29th Sept, Birmingham

30th Sept, London

For more information please visit www.thinkagainmedia.co.uk

NMC Awards Reminder

2011-06-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

The deadline for entries to the National Music Council Local Authority Music Education Awards scheme is Friday 12th August. The scheme recognises those authorities that are able to demonstrate imaginative, inclusive and all round high-quality music provision in a particular year. For more information please visit www.paritor.com/ NMCAWARDS

Easy transition

2011-06-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

Our customer relations survey revealed that more could be done to support services with the transition of data into the new Ensemble system. In response we have developed many new ways to assist.

This month we have released an easy and stressfree system of importing the data into Ensemble as well as a very comprehensive help and reference guide which is available in an interactive and easily searchable format at hand 24 hours a day.

'Make Yourself Heard' Competition

2011-06-29T07:19:00.001-07:00

This year Paritor is proud to be supporting Music as Therapy International, a small charity which takes some of the benefits of music therapy to vulnerable children and adults around the world. Our main fundraising event is a nationwide competitioin for performing arts organisations. Each organisation will be invited to submit a 60 second ad promoting their business and showcasing their work. These films will then go to public vote and the winner will receive a golden package of prizes as well as featuring on the homepage of the site. After the voting has ended the site will turn into a searchable directory. If you are interested in applying please email charity@paritor.co.uk.

What does the Ebacc mean for music?

2011-06-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

There is a danger that keeping the English Baccalaureate as it now stands could make it 'impossible' for those studying GCSEs to have the option of music. This news comes following a report from a leading body, the Incoporated Society of Musicians.

Deborah Annetts, CE of ISM: 'Without music GCSE being given the weighting it deserves, our cultural and creative economy will be put at risk, and young people who want to be involved in the music sector will have their efforts hampered'

The ISM noted that teachers have already reported a drop in students taking GCSE music. For more information please visit: www.ism.org.

M & iCon 11 deemed great success by delegates

2011-06-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

The17th May marked our first ever Management and Innovation Conference, and performing arts educators from all over the UK including Northern Ireland met at the Royal Opera House. The conference was a huge success and covered many important topics from operational innovation to what is needed to secure a successful music education hub.

To find out more about the day, the presentations or the presenters themselves please visit www.paritor.com.

Music Educators' Orchestra launched in Dublin

2011-06-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

Designed to sustain music educators both musically and creatively. Members will play a range of works including imaginative "open score" pieces to classical "minatures" to new arrangements, allowing all members to gain creative ideas and exercises to use themselves.

www.irishmusiceducation.ie/?p=400

National Music Council Local Authority Music Education Awards 2011

2011-06-22T02:49:00.000-07:00

This month applications forms and letters have gone out for the awards, which are sponsored by Paritor.

If you have not yet recieved an application form you can download one from www.paritor.com.