ONLY GIRLS ALOUD
Only 'Fitzalan' Aloud
We were delighted to receive funding from the Arts Council of Wales to support our new and pioneering Creative Collaborations project: ‘Only Fitzalan Aloud’!
Only ‘Fitzalan’ Aloud was a 10-week singing and composition initiative held in Spring 2020 at Fitzalan High School in Cardiff. Aloud Choir Leaders, Amy Wadge (Grammy Award-winning singer/song-writer and Aloud Ambassador) and the Fitzalan music department worked in collaboration to deliver bespoke song-writing activity for teenage girls and Only Boys Aloud singing rehearsals for boys.
The project aimed to increase pupils’ participation in musical activity, using song as a catalyst for confidence, aspiration, and mutual respect.
The project succeeded in breaking down barriers faced by many of the students and was highly innovative in its commitment to understand and improve cross-cultural learning.
A formal evaluation of the project can be found here.
Evaluation Consultant Clare Williams stated: ‘’Rarely have I seen a project achieve transformation across the board and have more of an impact than this one’’.
The project laid the foundations for the development of our Only Girls Aloud choir programme with teenage girls in Wales..
One participant commented:
“My confidence has improved. Originally, I was scared to sing in front of people - It’s embarrassing to mess up. But I’ve learnt that everyone messes up so why should I feel embarrassed?”
The success of this project was also testament to both the quality and equality of the partnership. It was the first time that both The Aloud Charity and Fitzalan High School had been involved in such an opportunity, and both parties were highly invested in learning from each other, to improve knowledge, exchange skills and enhance delivery.
Fitzalan Music Staff told our evaluator:
“Working with the Aloud staff was an absolute pleasure and privilege which has informed our future practice. Aloud staff were supportive of pupils and staff which created a wonderful atmosphere each week. We have thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with Aloud and look forward to working together again.”
“The pupils felt valued and special to have been part of the only school to be chosen for this project. Pupils’ confidence in performing as part of an ensemble has developed greatly as the Aloud team were continuously supportive and encouraging to our pupils. We had also noticed that pupils’ confidence in reading notation in their curriculum lessons had improved as a result of using scores in their Aloud rehearsals and embracing the challenge.”
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