Forum 21

From Bullet to Fiddle

We are looking for pilot communities!

With Festival & Forum 21 we are taking steps to realize the scientific research project ”From Bullet to Fiddle”. We are looking for communities, with varied socio-economic conditions, to be engaged as pilot communities. We are looking for communities that are willing to involve all their children in music as a daily part of the regular school curriculum.

Festival & Forum 21 will engage in raising funds enabling our pilot communities, together with their cultural schools, to build music programs engaging children on a daily basis, from early age in preschool thoughout all school years.

The project will involve Scientific Institutions leading the research project. A team of researchers will follow, document and report what happens, both within and outside school walls, when children get to make music as part of their daily school activities.

The purpose

The purpose of the scientific research project ”From Bullet to Fiddle” is to manifest that musical classrooms can address major societal challenges such as chaotic school environments and rapidly escalating criminal activities among young people.

Can musical classrooms become an economic investment on national levels? By building minds of children through music, can we build a Society with less crime, less violence and less drug related problems?

But doesn’t music steal time from ”more important” theoretical studies?
Report from a Scientific Study in Switzerland between 1989-92.

“About 50 classes, out of 10 cantons [2 000 students] were involved in the study. The project was evaluated by a small team of researchers, located at the University of Fribourg, and supported by the National Research Foundation. Each class included in the study had a control class, located usually in the same schoolhouse or at least the same town.

The students of the experimental classes received 5 weekly lessons of music tuition. This is 3 lessons more than the regular curriculum. The spectacular part about the extension of music education was that the students did not have more lessons on their schedule than their control groups. The additional music lessons were cut from the main subjects, usually from Math (one hour less), Language (German, one hour less), and either Second language (French) or Science (one hour less). This was a cut of 20–25 % percent of tuition time in these subjects.

The task for the research team was to examine a thesis that classes with extended music tuition would benefit by developing social behavior, team spirit, creativity, school motivation and achievement in more or less all non-musical school subjects. The research team examined if this thesis would hold for a larger population of students and a variety of teachers.

After one year, more so after two and definitely after three years of extended music education, the research team was in a position to report pleasing developments and results in these classes. A large majority of the students enjoyed to be members of a music class, what they had learned and achieved in the musical domain was remarkable.

The students played lots of instruments and had impressive repertoires of music pieces and songs, in some instances also dances. Their musical knowledge, activity and appeal surmounted by far what is known from regular classes. This was visible and audible not only in their day-to-day school activity, but also in performances which they often gave, for example at community events. Striking, and carefully watched by the researchers, were further developments in extra-musical domains.

Investigations were done in how classroom climate, school motivation and social relationships developed. The results were good, in some instances statistically with significant differences to control groups. Even more important than this – since highly charged in an education politically sense – was the fact that the average achievements in the time reduced subjects were not lower than in the control groups, who got the regular amount of lessons in these subjects.

Maria Spychiger, Professor in Music Pedagogy, Switzerland
(From lecture at Festival & Forum 21, Stockholm 2000)”

Thirtyfive years of visiting and filming musical classrooms

For more than thirtyfive years Göran Staxäng, the Director of Festival & Forum 21, has visited and film documented schools with extensive music programs involving all children. Interviewing children, parents, teachers and principals in these schools gave insights into how musical classrooms result in enhanced study motivation, better study results and positive development of children’s minds.

Benefits becoming a pilot community

What could happen in a pilot community engaging all children in music? Could the community enhance life quality, offer good schools and develop a vivid cultural life, attracting creative people and corporate investments?