I’m sitting in on an electro-acoustic composition workshop at John Willmott School in Sutton Coldfield. The workshop, attended by sixth-formers from several local schools, is being run by composer Alistair MacDonald and is one of a series for pupils in the Birmingham area mounted by Sonic Arts Network. The workshops will culminate in a concert in the city later this month. And the excitement and interest among the participants at John Willmott is palpable.

“The project’s really broadening our idea of music”, says Elizabeth Mantle. “It’s completely different from what we did in GCSE. And it will help when I decide whether to do composition at A level.”

Leaving the workshop in progress, I talked to Paul Wright, Sonic Arts’ education adviser. He was brimming over with enthusiasm for the role of electro-acoustic music in education. “We have equipment which can capture, transform and structure sound as never before. With the help of one of our composers, the equipment can put music into the hands of children of all backgrounds and abilities. And it makes them feel like a million dollars when they compose and perform with it.”

Soon to celebrate its 15th birthday, Sonic Arts is an association of composers, performers and teachers interested in the creative uses of new technology in music. Appointed in 1990, Wright has been the driving force behind the implementation of an education programme remarkable for its enterprise and scale. The association has mounted schools projects in, for example, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Wandsworth, while a previous Birmingham project involved children from four local primary schools in the creation of a piece of music fashioned from the materials used in building the city’s Symphony Hall.

In this case, the children collected sounds made by wood, metal, glass and textiles, and transformed them using digital hardware. They subsequently performed their composition in the hall, in the process exploring the space and structure of the building through work-stations sited on its different levels. Sonic Arts’ plans for 1995 include a residential course for teachers on the creative applications of music technology for special needs children and, for 1996, a microtonality project for GCSE and A-level students at the South Bank. What about schools unable to afford such costs?

“We do have a small fund which can be used to start projects if there isn’t any money available at all. But, really, what is needed is a national funding policy for this kind of work in schools.”

Which is an important point, given that the national curriculum requires all pupils to “explore, create and record sounds” using technology. Then it’s back to the workshop in the music room. Here, after some experimentation, Elizabeth Mantle is all set to invent a piece of music, and Angelina Socci to record it. The piece will draw upon sounds sampled from the inside of a piano and, subsequently, transformed in the ways mentioned. And Elizabeth will use a keyboard to trigger those sounds.

The experience is astounding. For Elizabeth creates an emotionally charged movement in which pitch, dynamics and timbre are developed and structured with confident awareness. Afterwards composer Alistair MacDonald praises his pupil: “The contrast between the high, metallic sounds and the low, warm sounds was good.” And Elizabeth’s colleague, Emma Mahoney, has constructive criticism as well as praise: “The piece could have done with more perspective, making use of the background sounds. But it had an intensity to it and the abrupt ending sounded just right.”

Whereupon, equally abruptly, the school bell rings, signalling the end of rather a special day for these pupils. For during its course, they have learned much in terms of musical perception and creative insight. Thanks to Sonic Arts.

Compositions by pupils involved in this project will be performed at the Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham on January 23 at 7.30pm. Information from Sonic Arts Network on 0438 359344.