How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (2024)

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The Music Generation programme was started with U2′s seed money 14 years ago and now teaches one in 12 children in Ireland Ukraine war: fears grow as cold winter approaches Patrick Kielty: ‘It’s tricky to get through Heathrow, called Paddy, with a balaclava in your bag’ Getting a helping hand with the cost of childcare IN THIS SECTION Mercury prize 2024: CMAT misses out as Leeds indie band English Teacher win for debut album Oasis respond to criticism of dynamic ticket pricing for sold-out UK and Ireland shows MJ Lenderman: Manning Fireworks – Richly talented singer, songwriter and guitarist is the real deal Max Richter: In a Landscape – Strikes a pleasing equilibrium between music to admire and music to enjoy Oasis, Ticketmaster and the great rock’n’roll swindle Transgender woman says she was unable to receive ‘basic healthcare’ at Dublin hospital after gender surgery If you laughed at the one about the Leinster House bike shelter, you’ll love the one about the loo rolls ‘She lived on her own until she was 98’: Meet Ireland’s oldest woman ‘I was perhaps very naive leaving a €3,000 bike locked outside a building under a CCTV camera’ You’ve no right to park outside your home. You buy the house, not the road in front of it Kevin Kilbane: Ireland lack midfielders, but the absence of grit is inexcusable NCAD denies discriminating against student with Down’s syndrome US economy added 142,000 jobs in August Heimir Hallgrímsson hoping Ireland can pull off Aviva upset against England Boy (11) accused of petrol-bombing police during rioting in Belfast ‘meant to be in school’ not court International students in Cork ‘shaken’ after rope attacks Card spending increases amid summer getaway More than €3m worth of cocaine, cannabis seized at Dublin Airport in past week FAQs References

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The Music Generation programme was started with U2′s seed money 14 years ago and now teaches one in 12 children in Ireland

How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (1)

How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (2)

Ronan McGreevy

Sat Aug 31 2024 - 06:00

In 2009 the economy was experiencing the full shock of the financial crash. The banks were broken, unemployment soared, tax revenues crashed along with household incomes and fear gripped the country.

It was the wrong time to be looking for public money to expand a pilot project nationwide that sought to give a musical education to every child in the State who wanted one.

Enter U2 and The Ireland Funds, a global philanthropic group. With State funding a nonstarter, they stepped in with a pledge of €7 million over five years. In February 2011 Music Generation was born.

Thirteen years later Music Generation is now in every local authority in the country with the exception of Cork County Council (which is coming on board). Last year some 115,936 children received tuition, one in 12 children of those under the age of 18 and probably one in 10 children of school-going age.

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How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (6)

“We have scaled nationally,” says Music Generation director Rosaleen Molloy proudly. The head office is upstairs in the National Concert Hall. It’s a small staff, nine people in total, and there are more than 500 teachers across the country.

U2 and the Ireland Funds have given €13 million in philanthropic funding since it started, but Music Generation is now self-sustaining with €14 million coming equally from the Department of Education and local authorities annually. It is not a lot of money for such an ambitious programme.

The goal, she says, is not to produce the next U2, Van Morrison or Sinéad O’Connor, though that might happen. Rapper and singer Denise Chaila and Rusangano Family, the rap trio, were early beneficiaries.

[Music project linked to U2 now teaching one in 12 children in the StateOpens in new window]

“It’s about the power of music to help your emotional, social, psychological and creative development,” she says. “Every human being has the ability to create music.

“I’m enormously proud when I visit the length and breadth of the country to see the joy on young people’s faces having had the opportunity to work with the most amazing musician educators.”

At O’Connell Boy’s primary school in Dublin’s north inner city, senior infant students under the guidance of music teacher Ailbhe Kehoe use percussion instruments like shakers to instil a sense of rhythm. They throw scarves into the air to understand the concept in music of high and low. It is part of the Music Explorers programme for Music Generation’s youngest pupils.

How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (7)

The City of Dublin Education Training Board (CDETB) music development officer Kieran McGuinness believes prioritising Deis schools such as O’Connell’s, at primary and secondary level, is important to democratise access to music. Not everybody wants to learn music, but many of those who do have been stymied in the past from learning how to play.

“We are not trying to find musicians, we are trying not to miss someone,” says McGuinness. “You hope that people will create music. I got a voice note from one of my tutors. One of the teachers came in and said: ‘You’ve got to hear this.’

“This guy has never played the piano before. By the end of the first day he was playing chords, working out songs and suddenly he was there every week. He was crazy about it. He had always wanted to do it, but he couldn’t afford it.”

Music Generation at local level is run by Local Music Education Partnerships led by education and training boards and local authorities. Critically, it is a devolved process, so the success or failure of Music Generation in each area is up to those involved at local level.

The programme is in 29 primary schools and four secondary schools in Laois. There’s even a waiting list for the programme.

The remit of Music Generation Laois extends to men’s sheds, direct provision centres and Traveller halting sites. A Ukrainian women’s choir meets once a week under its auspices. Their plaintive version of The Fureys’ Steal Away speaks to a whole generation of Ukrainians who have lost their homeland.

The Shared Island Songwriting Project – a series of residential “hot houses” with children and young people from Laois, Offaly and across Northern Ireland – is being led by Music Generation Laois. The project will culminate in the creation of 12 original compositions, which will be showcased at festivals and arts centres.

Some 4,500 people in the county – or one in 20 of the population – are involved in a Music Generation programme one way or the other, says Music Generation Laois director Rosa Flannery.

“I feel now, after 12 years, there is a whole community behind us,” she says.

How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (8)

One of those who have benefited is 16-year-old Tony McInerney, a teenage Traveller who got involved with Music Generation through a youth club in Portlaoise. He and his cousin Martin Donoghue are taking vocal and piano lessons. They perform as the Bass Brothers and released a video last year of their self-penned song What I Will Always Be, which is about Traveller culture. It has been posted on YouTube.

Music Generation is not just for marginalised communities.

Siobhán Buckley, the harp tutor for Music Generation Laois, has 156 students in the county. Some will go on to become professional or semi-professional musicians. Others will play for the fun of it.

“Music Generation is there to transform the lives of children and young people through music, and I can absolutely attest that is the case,” says Flannery.

“We have seen so many people who have said: ‘My life changed when I signed up.’ They want to play music or study it at third level. They are authentic because I know the people involved.”

The improved economic fortunes of the State mean U2′s money is not needed as it was, but the band are still involved as “thought leaders”, says Molloy, contributing ideas about how Music Generation can reach as many people as possible.

The band declined to be interviewed for this article, but did post a video link, which was broadcast at the Music Generation annual conference earlier this year.

“That’s why we are all here. We all believe in the transformative power of music education,” bass player Adam Clayton said from Las Vegas, where the band are completing a residency at The Sphere.

“We know there is a lot more to be done to achieve equality of access but, as we look ahead to Music Generation’s future, we are filled with excitement and ambition for what is to come.”

How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (9)

Music Generation’s ambition to reach every child who wants a musical education has gone a long way to being fulfilled.

“You are actually demystifying the myth that is there that perhaps you have to be good at music or you have to be talented to learn,” says Molloy.

“Every human being has the ability to make and create music. It is our job as the musician educators in this field to open up the doors and tap into that innate musical ability that everybody has.”

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How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland (2024)

FAQs

How U2 helped to transform the teaching of music in Ireland? ›

U2 were one of the original funders of Music Generation when it was first mooted back in 2009 during the recession when the Government said it could not afford to roll out a pilot music education project nationwide. They stepped in with an initial donation of €5 million and then provided a further €2 million in 2015.

How did U2 impact society? ›

U2's charity work has helped millions of people around the world. In particular, Bono's work with ONE and RED has helped fight against poverty and the AIDS epidemic. The band has also worked together, using its music directly by playing a variety of concerts to raise money for important causes.

Is the band U2 Irish? ›

U2, Irish postpunk band that by the end of the 1980s had established itself not only as one of the world's most popular bands but also as one of its most innovative. The members are singer Bono (byname of Paul Hewson; b.

What has U2 done for the world? ›

From the ONE campaign to the Chernobyl Childrens Project, from supporting communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina to working to close the gender gap for women living in poverty, U2 have worked with many great causes and activist communities.

What makes U2 special? ›

Initially rooted in post-punk, U2's musical style has evolved throughout their career, yet has maintained an anthemic quality built on Bono's expressive vocals and the Edge's chiming, effects-based guitar sounds.

Did U2 ever support the IRA? ›

But U2 are, and I think they felt the need to clarify that they did not support the IRA with the 'this is not a rebel song' speech in the 80s.

Are all members of U2 Catholic? ›

Clearly what type of church you attended was of little consequence to the four boys, with Bono coming from a mixed Catholic and Anglican family, Edge and Adam Clayton being raised Protestant, and Larry who was born in to a strong Irish-Catholic family.

Is U2 a religious band? ›

While U2 were never a religious band, the members' closeness to religion is widely known. Along with the Edge, Bono was also part of a religious congregation, a movement within the Protestant Community. The band were left unsure over the music they were making, due to the uneasy relationship between religion and rock.

What was special about the U2? ›

The U-2 provides high-altitude, all-weather surveillance and reconnaissance, day or night, in direct support of U.S. and allied forces.

What was U2 known for? ›

U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records worldwide. As a young teen in Dublin, the artist formerly known as Paul Hewson was a member of the street gang called 'Lypton Village.

Does U2 stand for anything? ›

While the band shares a name with an American spy plane, the exact origin of the name is unclear. What's established, however, is that they were previously known as Feedback — one of the only musical terms they knew — and the Hype before settling on the name.

How much does U2 give to charity? ›

2020 Celebrity 100 Earnings

The Irish rockers donated $11 million to help provide hospitals across the Emerald Isle with PPE for their doctors, nurses and staffs. Factoring in estimated taxes and fees on earnings, that means U2 essentially gave away all of its take-home pay for the year.

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