I began the session by talking the students through the plans for the Europhonix launch on February 19th. I explained about the three stages of the Eurotunnel train journey (on land, in tunnel and on land) and we discussed how we might synchronise our 'Home-Away-Journeys' music to the journey. We talked about the idea of being as creative as possible with our music so that those listening could have a special experience. I played them Whitstable's "Wrong Place" composition (from last week) and they thought it was great when the loud bang came at the end. This really triggered their imagination and they began discussions in earnest about what jokes they might play on the listeners. One idea, for example, was a news broadcast to interrupt the music announcing some kind of danger; Som mentioned recording some water and having that on the recording - a drip first of all, and then gradually more and more. Hannah and Ainsleigh came up with the marvelous suggestion that we could use real water on the coach to accompany the sounds, and we discussed how this could be achieved. One possibility, they thought, was that if a few students were on each coach with syringes then they could drip on various lucky people.

We then listened to our recordings of last week. The students like how the piece is coming together but this week wanted to record music for the car radio. I asked them what sort of music they wanted for this and Hayley came up with the idea of recording snippets of contrasting styles and mixing them with Jermaine (of Whitstable Community College)'s radio piece so that it sounded like somebody switching stations on the radio. For the rest of the day we recorded a number of short pieces, just using a microphone, our voices, an electric piano and Ainsleigh's bagpipes.

The first composition (based on opera) took the students a long time to organise themselves for. As much as possible, I let them organise themselves (or fail to organise themselves) only helping them occasionally rather than ordering them around, as I wanted to see if they could work out how to do this. The disadvantage was that this took a long time for them to do; the advantage was that their other compositions were simpler in idea and also organised much more efficiently. They finished their 'opera' piece, which I recorded and had time to play back to them before it was time for lunch.

Just before lunch break, Tim had a quiet word with Bobby with the result that she was asked to leave the class, mainly because of her general attitude. This was done in a way that did not upset the students or the flow of the class. After her absence the rest of the students found it easier to organise themselves and their productivity was much higher. During lunch Tim apologised for taking Bobby out. I said I could understand as (certainly in my sessions) she can be quite difficult, not so much in a playful way like the majority of the students, but more disruptive. That morning for example she would not stop talking. I would ask her to stop and she would carry on whilst I was talking to her (and afterwards). She also seems to come to physical blows with whomever she sits beside (except Hannah - her talking partner). As a result the class was much more streamlined without her. It's interesting that she was not present on the first session. On the second session, when she was present, the class appeared to display many more discipline problems. In the afternoon of today's session the class worked much better again. Tim and I discussed whether she might be allowed to come back to Europhonix. I said that I would respect whatever he decided; that ideally I would like her to be in the sessions, but that I believed that she did need to address her behaviour. I didn't mind that the students wanted to have some fun but that they also had to accept that there was a job to do as well, which required teamwork and focus. I recommended that Tim spoke to her and asked Bobby what she wanted to do. If she decided that she would like to come back then it would be good if she recognised how her behaviour had been disruptive and be willing to try to be better behaved.

After lunchtime the students continued with their compositions and came up with ideas for an assortment of pieces. They organised short compositions parodying other musical styles, including drum & bass, Celtic, pop, jazz and classical. With each composition, the students became more confident. It was the usual scenario (and not just restricted to this school): they start off struggling to have any ideas and find it impossible to work as a team in order to execute their ideas, then by the end of the day it's like they have learnt how to come up with new ideas and have learnt ways of executing them. The problem that I'm finding with this project is that by the time I finish the day with them they are just beginning to get somewhere (as far as their thinking abilities are concerned) and then, as it's a whole week before my next visit when I see them again, it's like they are out of practice and I have to start again.

At the end of the day Jackie came in with some of her staff and listened to our recordings. She thought they were very funny. I also had a good chat with Tim (and another dance tutor who had joined us for a chat) about teaching technique, especially with relation to class discipline. Tim said that he found that when he was in front of a class he sometimes found himself becoming something that he didn't like: not quite an ogre but certainly setting up a 'me versus them' scenario. He said that he would go into a class with good intentions but that sometimes the pressure of having to achieve certain standards changed how he would react. His implication was that my laid back teaching methods were better and that if an inspector had come in at the end of the day s/he could not fail to be impressed. I told him that I was sure that there were parts of the day, like this morning, where if an inspector had have come in, I'm sure they would have been horrified with the apparent disorganisation. I said that I always found it useful for me to remember how I was taught, and to consider now what I thought that I had gained from those 'happy' days. I said that, for example, quite a few of my educational experiences had taught me that many adults are thugs. I seemed to have forgotten what most of my teachers had taught me subject wise, although their memory lived on. On the other hand, I also found it interesting to consider what had stayed with me from what I think of now as my good teachers. For me, it wasn't really the subject material either, but rather essential life skills such as humour and respect. I said that these memories helped me to consider how I behaved in front of my students.