30 Second Briefing

1. The mission

Finish This… invites your class to respond to, and resolve, a deliberately unfinished operatic piece entitled ‘Blue, Red, Yellow…’.

In the first lesson, students ‘discover’ a special toolkit package from the ENO, presenting the operatic stimulus via video, and tasking them to step into the role of an ENO composer and create their own musical response.

2. The approach

The Finish This… scheme of work and resources have been co-created with teachers and secondary specialists, ensuring schools receive a project that is packed with curriculum links, offers flexibility within a structured framework, and provides a meaningful, student-led experience for your class.

3. The accessibility

Finish This… offers multiple entry points to composition, accommodating a variety of different learning styles, interests, and skillsets.

Students’ creations are notated using graphic scores, no specialist equipment is required, and participants have the freedom to use any combination of voice, body percussion and instruments. And did we mention that it’s FREE to all state schools?

4. The resources

You’ll receive access to online CPD training, lesson plans, and a toolkit resource package delivered to your school. Plus, our online hub offers a suite of classroom video activities and supporting CPD films.

5. The learning objectives

By the end of the project, your students will have created their own original musical material and had the chance to showcase it on the ENO’s online platforms.

They will be able to demonstrate how musical elements (such as melody, harmony and pitch) can support the meaning of words in a song, reflect on their own and others’ compositions to offer feedback, and develop skills in collaboration and ensemble performance.

What did teachers say?

“A high-quality teaching resource that brings wonder and imagination to the music curriculum in an inclusive and accessible way.”

“As a music specialist, it gave me things to consider and do differently. Finish This… is completely unique in its offer and is of an extremely high quality.”

“A unique project that has high expectations of the students as musicians, which gives them confidence. They were engaged and inspired.”

“Finish This… has completely raised the profile of composing in our school. It was the most exciting project, broke down so many barriers and was completely inclusive.”

Interested?

Find out more and sign up at www.eno.org/finishthis or get in touch at finishthis@eno.org.

The post 5 reasons to try… The English National Opera’s ‘Finish This…’ appeared first on Teachwire.

The production’s acclaimed cultural learning programme, Wicked Active Learning, promotes curriculum enrichment, personal development, wellbeing, diversity and inclusion, self-confidence, career pathways, and the delivery of cultural capital.

The programme supports classroom-based learning through a range of free resources and lesson plans, and learning outside the classroom with ticket discounts, exclusive benefits, official workshops, Q&As, and free resources to assist in the organisation of school trips.

A venue preview video and school trip guide provide everything needed to complete a risk assessment and book an enriching school trip.

Tickets, workshops, and Q&As can be booked directly with the production’s in-house education team, who can be contacted via telephone, email, or live chat for expert advice and support.

Classroom-based learning

Free downloadable lesson plans, script extracts, production images, and theatre-maker career videos support the delivery of SMSC, PSHE and citizenship, literacy, and oracy teaching, as well as English, music, drama, and art and design programmes of study.

Lesson plans inspired by, and themed to, the production include:

• Anti-Bullying (KS2-4) lesson pack

• Diversity + Inclusion (LKS2, UKS2) lesson pack

• Fake News + Propaganda (Primary) lesson pack

• Self-Confidence (Primary) lesson plan

• English (KS2-4) lesson packs

• ESOL/EFL English (Intermediate) lesson pack

• Drama (KS3-4) lesson plans

In support of English and Art + Design teaching, there are also free written and visual resource packs for teachers, designed to inspire further lesson ideas.

The 26-page English Teacher resource pack looks at the literary inspirations behind the musical, other famous prequels and sequels, the witches and wizards of myth and legend, the magical worlds of fantasy fiction, the history of magic, and the enduring legacy of Baum’s ‘Oz’.

The Art + Design Teacher resource pack looks at the production’s acclaimed design elements, including set, costume and lighting. 

Music learners can watch a free video of composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz discussing the musical themes and inspirations of his score, including the song ‘Defying Gravity’, which is a set work for Pearson Edexcel GCSE music and included (together with ‘The Wizard & I’ and ‘No Good Deed’) in the repertoire of the ABRSM’s new ‘Singing for Musical Theatre ARSM’ diploma.

Learning outside the classroom

A class or year group trip to Wicked provides an enriching live London theatre experience, supporting cultural and social education, personal development, self–confidence, the capacity to think imaginatively and creatively, and the delivery of cultural capital.

Benefits provided to schools/colleges include:

• Book directly with the in-house education team

• Save over 60% on school class and year group tickets

• Free teacher ratios (10:1 secondary / 5:1 primary)

• Extra tickets purchasable at the applicable school group rate

• Official workshops (Wellbeing, Anti-Bullying, and Musical Theatre)

• Post-show Q&As

• Free venue preview video

• Free school trip guide including risk assessment supporting resources

• Coach/minibus set down/pick up directly outside the venue

• One minute from National Rail and London Underground stations

A school trip to Wicked also provides the opportunity to visit one of London’s most unique theatres and heritage buildings, originally built as a ‘Super-Cinema’ in 1930.

A detailed history of this 2,328-seat Art Deco venue is included in the free resources.

For more information, call 020 7183 5109, email Hello@WickedActiveLearning.co.uk or visit www.WickedActiveLearning.co.uk

Savings and Benefits featured may not apply when booking through third party agents, and only apply to the London production. See website for details and T&Cs. ©2023 WLPL. All rights reserved.

The post What your pupils will learn from a trip to see the award-winning ‘Wicked’ appeared first on Teachwire.

Finish This… invites your class to be ENO Composers and tasks them with a mission to respond to, and resolve, a purposefully unfinished operatic piece titled ‘Blue, Red, Yellow…’, presented through film and animation straight to your classroom.

It’s a unique musical starting point for your pupils to embrace their imaginations, express themselves and experiment with sounds, music, colour and stories – all through the lens of opera.

What’s included?

• A short film, especially commissioned for young audiences, presenting the operatic stimulus
• Music-making films, to play in the classroom
• Online Teacher CPD, co-delivered by a specialist teacher and the ENO
• Lesson plans and supporting CPD films
• ENO Composer badges and certificates, posted directly to your school
• A toolkit of printed resources, posted directly to your school
• Supporting visual aids for SEND learners including social stories, chat mats, Makaton signing and communication cards
• Access to an online hub with downloadable resources
• An opportunity to have your pupils’ work showcased on the ENO website and turned into a short animated film.

The programme is free to all state, non-fee-paying schools nationwide and has been co-created with teachers, artists and learning specialists.

“Easy to understand lesson plans and videos which guided teachers of all experience and musical levels.”

Teacher from 2022–23 participating school

“It was the most exciting project, broke down so many barriers and was completely inclusive.”

Teacher from 2022–23 participating school

“It has been fantastic! The children had so much fun – every step was accessible to them and allowed them to show their own personalities through their creativity.”

Teacher from 2022–23 participating school

“An immersive, inclusive experience to enable everyone to create beautiful musical compositions.”

Teacher from 2022–23 participating school

The post English National Opera’s FREE and inclusive music-making programme for KS2 and SEND learners appeared first on Teachwire.

The way the topic is typically presented in various music syllabi for GCSE and A level has drawn criticism for imprecise wording, the weighting in marking criteria, and the quality and relevance of set composition briefs. What should be a process of discovery and delight in the musical imagination can often lose its charm and purpose – not least due to the pressures on all concerned relating to deadlines and target grades.

Teach Secondary talked to composer Matthew Kaner about his route into composing for a living, and what advice he would offer for any students struggling with the demands of GCSE and A Level composition.

Kaner is an award-winning composer, as well as a Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His past works include a collaboration with the Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, which saw Kaner’s setting of the poem Pearl performed during the 2022 Proms season. His music has garnered critical acclaim both in the UK and internationally, and his debut album, Chamber Music, was released in November 2022.

Educational value

Did you start composing early on in your school days?
I wrote a few pieces when I was at primary school! I’m not sure I really knew I was composing – just having fun at the piano, really. I wrote them by ear, and wouldn’t have known how to notate them at that point.

There was a very inspiring choir mistress who ran my local church choir, which I sang in as a treble. I was fascinated by her ability to sight-transpose, improvise and compose; seeing her at work made me want to try writing music myself.

What help and support were you given in composition whilst at secondary school?
I only became more serious about composition when I began studying for my GCSEs. I was a terrible violinist, but my head of music seemed to notice that I wrote more interesting music. It wasn’t until I got to A level that we actually sat down together and talked through some of my pieces – but even then, it was very ‘light touch’.

The first one-to-one composition lesson I really had was in my final year at university. Though I can still remember how an ensemble came into our secondary school and showed us how to use some techniques found in the music of Shostakovich and Bartok.

How restrictive do you think the composition modules are at GCSE and A level music?
I teach an undergraduate module at the Guildhall that prepares students for teaching composition, so we look quite closely at the GCSE and A level syllabuses. To be truthful, we often laugh at the criteria, sample papers and ‘commissions’.

The requirements can be quite far-fetched and restrictive, and it seems that rather than emphasising the step-by-step acquisition of skills, exams focus on the students achieving an end product that’s completely unrealistic for that stage in their creative and musical development.

I see it when students apply for the degree course – huge orchestral scores for travel agency adverts was something we had a lot of one year. It takes years to learn how to orchestrate, and is a travel agency advert really that inspiring a task for an aspiring young composer? What’s the educational value of that kind of task?

Eclectic mindset

Are there any life experiences, or aspects of your teenage years, that you draw on in your music now, or which have particularly inspired you?
Yes, many. My aunt is a cellist in the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and I often got to see her perform and rehearse, including lots of new music, throughout my teenage years.

I also took a lot of inspiration from jazz musicians around that time, and attended some incredible performances by artists like Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock at the Barbican during my late teens, which left a very strong impression on me.

In the early 2000s, the BBC Proms season was still widely televised, and I vividly recall watching long interview segments with composers as eminent as Mark Anthony Turnage, Oliver Knussen and Helen Grime on BBC4. Steve Martland was a regular guest in the BBC TV box too, and would often comment really thoughtfully about any new works being performed. That made me realise how composition was a viable career path and something I might at least try to aspire to.

Straight out of school I was also very fortunate to do a couple of weeks’ work experience with the then learning manager of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln Abbotts, and gain insights into day-to-day activities of the orchestra, the amount of new music it performs and the educational work it does.

Where would you direct any aspiring school-age composers looking for further support and experience?
There are some fantastic summer courses out there for aspiring young composers, including one run by my colleagues at the Guildhall School, as well as another at the wonderful Sound and Music – the UK’s national organisation for new music.

Lots of new music groups also run special educational workshops across the UK, such as Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Riot Ensemble. If you can make it to any live performances of new music, there’s nothing quite as exciting as hearing something for the first time.

Who were your own composer role models and inspirations as a teenager?
As a teenager I was fascinated by all sorts of things, ranging from contemporary jazz to Indian classical music, new and older Western classical music, dance music – anything I could get my hands on, really.

Obsessions have always come and gone for me, but I still try to maintain that eclectic mindset – I can never predict where the next exciting discovery is going to come from, and always try to listen with open ears.

If you were to give one piece of advice to student composers, what would it be?
Listen to as much different music as you can! Keep an open mind, and try to challenge yourself to engage with things you might not necessarily understand on first listen – some things take time to appreciate.

When it comes to your own music, have the courage to try things and take risks, but also look closely at others’ music. There’s so much you can learn from looking at scores and trying to work out how a composer creates and manipulates sound and musical material.

Helen Tierney has run music departments in comprehensive schools for over 25 years, was an advanced skills teacher for secondary music in Barnet and now works freelance in music teaching, examining and dementia work; her book, Music Cover Lessons, is available now (Rhinegold Education, £39.99)

The post GCSE Composition – Composer Matthew Kaner’s advice for students appeared first on Teachwire.

Whilst navigating the requirements of the curriculum, we should seek out opportunities for personalising students’ learning as much as possible. Student-centred teaching can be challenging, but the payoff is worth it. It involves teaching according to how the student learns, and tailoring the delivery accordingly.

Ensuring that lesson content is relevant to the individual is, I believe, the most effective way of harnessing their intrinsic motivation to learn in music lessons and enabling them to thrive. Allow learners to participate in ways that are meaningful to them.

One way of doing this can be to incorporate different music genres into lessons. Do they listen to rap music on their way to school? Do they attend indie-rock gigs at the weekend? Are they into drum and bass? Everyone will have their own interests, so try to meet them where they’re at, rather than imposing upon them a style of music that sounds alien to their ears.

Practice needn’t make perfect

If you’re a professional, or have ever spent considerable time perfecting a skill or talent, it’s easy to forget how hard it can be to practice, and how deflating the process can be. You may well have some students who are applying themselves to mastering an instrument, but also many more who have no interest in bettering their music skills, and feel under pressure to perform.

You’re not going to have a homogenous student group, and it’s not necessarily everyone’s goal to become the next Jimi Hendrix or Freddie Mercury – but they can all contribute to creative tasks.

If a student has ownership of their learning, they’ll be that much more motivated to engage – so try turning the process of practising into a hands-on, problem-solving exercise that involves peer-to-peer interaction and teamwork.

The wealth of technology now available in classrooms opens up the possibility of ‘gamifying’ students’ learning with the aid of interactive music tools such as Soundtrap, or music-based apps such as Groovebox, iReal Pro, Piano Motifs, Chord Wheel, InTune, Amazing Slowdowner, Topline, Nail The Pitch and many more.

The bigger picture

Studying music can facilitate further learning in other subjects too. Music can be an integral part of a student’s educational journey, so help them to make the most of this across the board. Try drawing upon other subjects in music lessons and vice versa.

Allow students to gain an understanding of how music is made not just through listening and performing, but also through analysis and producing a broad range of musical styles, genres and instruments. The playing and performance side of the subject might leave your students cold, but as technology and communication expectations have improved, the processes of music production may appeal more.

Moreover, this can be achieved without an eye-watering price tag. According to Stu Brewer, a production and guitar lecturer at the HE music teaching provider WaterBear, “I’ve worked in secondary education at various schools, and have seen the curriculum and budgetary pressures schools are under.

“However, a combination of cloud-based resources, and music technology companies shifting their focus to future music makers, has led to cost-effective, often even free solutions that are suitable for schools wanting to engage their students in the world of music production.”

Ease of access

Established companies such as Ableton and Roland now offer free, web-based resources for those interested in learning about sequencing and beatmaking techniques, allowing virtually any internet-capable device to access quality music-making resources without the need for additional expenditure.

Akai is a company that’s become synonymous with the process of sampling and its adoption by urban genres. It has developed a free to access, online version of its legendary MPC sampler, MPC Beats, which introduces students to pattern-based music creation and also provides learning tools to help students further explore musical techniques relating to recording and programming.

Ableton, meanwhile, includes a ‘Lite’ version of its renowned Live software with purchases of its dedicated hardware and apps, enabling students to learn about clip-based recording. This approach is good for students unfamiliar with traditional music theory, with its emphasis on creating and manipulating blocks of sound, rather than the more linear layouts of other recording software.

These companies also produce feature-rich versions of their recording software specifically designed for tablet devices, and fully compatible with desktop setups. These not only put a multitude of different sounds at students’ fingertips, but also enable them to create complete tracks using only the kind of tactile, touch-based interface they’ll already be familiar with.

Get creating

By exploring alternative approaches to recording, students can become highly engaged in the methods and techniques used to create the music that speaks to them. See trap music, for example, and how its trademark frenetic hi-hats and distinct rhythms can be re-created using the sequencer functions found in the aforementioned software packages.

This can be instantly gratifying for students, while fostering their creativity – and also lets students decide where they want their adventures in production to go, rather than always being led by the teacher. It reduces the amount of time teachers need to spend one-on-one with each student, while at the same time boosting their sense of personal satisfaction and achievement.

In terms of hardware, the cost of recording interfaces – modules that enable computers to make high quality recordings of microphones, keyboards, guitars and other instruments – has plummeted. Focusrite’s Scarlett range lets users connect multiple mics and instruments into one device simultaneously, and works with both computers and tablets. And if the cost of a sound interface is still too prohibitive, you can still get usable results from your recording device’s in-built microphone.

There are whole subgenres centred around lo-fi recording techniques and found sounds. In my own experience, non-traditional capturing techniques that utilise a smartphone’s microphone, for example, can do lots to spark students’ creativity.

The impact of easily accessible recording technology is really being felt at further and higher education. What we’re seeing at HE are producers who possess few ‘traditional’ skills at playing an instrument, but can still produce fantastic music.

The common consensus from my students is that the spark for this exploration often begins at secondary level. It doesn’t need advanced tech to make that happen, but an emphasis on music making that’s immediate and accessible certainly helps.

Whole school harmony

Maths
Time signatures, especially compound time, can aid understanding of division – for instance, via rhythmical activities based around dividing bars and demonstrating this through clapping.

Science
Why not use music to explore the science of sound? The physics behind how instruments function is genuinely fascinating.

Art and design
Task students with creating an artwork that depicts a song of their choice or one chosen for them, taking into consideration style, colour and texture.

English
Encourage students to analyse and/or create song lyrics in their favourite musical genres.

History
Add a different dimension to history lessons with learning activities centred on musical genres through the ages. Encourage class discussion, and set students the challenge of matching music clips to specific eras.

Kaya Herstad-Carney is singer, songwriter, senior lecturer and performance coach; for more information about WaterBear, visit waterbear.org.uk

The post KS3 music – Engage your students by helping them become producers appeared first on Teachwire.

Each of these documents mention, some in great detail, the implementation and impact of Whole Class Ensemble Teaching (WCET). Specifically, they highlight the importance it plays within the primary curriculum.

Since 2017, I have been privileged to be part of this, delivering both brass and ukulele lessons within my school. 

So why should we be offering this opportunity and how do we inspire the next generation of musicians?  

Instrumental lessons

The National Plan says that within KS1 ‘pupils should experience the mechanics of how instruments create sound, exploring simple class instruments, such as simple hand or tuned percussion and recorders.’

This should then be developed by the time they reach KS2. The plan suggests flute, violin and djembe as examples of what you can deliver. 

The excitement I witness every week underpins how important this whole-class opportunity is for so many pupils across the country.

We should afford all pupils the opportunity to play an instrument, and make music alongside friends. It’s also one that we as practitioners should be facilitating.  

So how do we prepare for the task of coordinating 30+ children to play as a group?  

Music National Curriculum

The internet is awash with different schemes that will offer something different in every aspect. 

When considering your selection, look to see if you can you try before you buy.

All the major platforms offer a free option and, as budgets are precious, this is something I strongly advise exploring.

Look at the additional aspects of these curriculums, too; can other classes benefit from the investment?  

Additionally, other music teachers are now starting to develop great resources. You can access these via Teachwire, and Tes Resources – these personally have been brilliant for me.

Here, I was fortunate to stumble across Mr Gray’s Music Shop and haven’t looked back since. 

You will also find that the hubs across the country have developed guidance for their teachers and schools.

Through a quick search you can locate YouTube channels and PDFs to support most instruments.  

However, one size does not fit all and you will need to think carefully about your location and demographic.

What do you want as the outcome for your school? A mix of resources might be more appropriate than using just one scheme.

Take time to consider everything before you commence with the lesson.  

Music lesson KS1 KS2

Singing, listening and performing are the key components for a successful lesson.

The first session is all about exposure to the instrument.

Listening activities should feature different performers. Ideally, we want pupils to see what can be produced, and an overview of how that person started.

Our goal is to show it is possible to be like those who perform music. I regularly reference Alison Balsom, Jess Gillam, Alexis Ffrench, Wycliffe Gordon and many more in conversation, underpinned by examples of their performance.

I’m constantly reminding myself that I could quite easily have the next virtuoso brass player sitting in front of me.  

The first weeks of term are a key opportunity to embed the process and ensure everything is automatic.

Keep repeating processes to ensure everyone understands.

My ukulele class were not the greatest fans of the Ukulele Magic – Ukulele song, but after successive weeks of listening, all the parts were soon learned.  

Other essential elements include: 

Singing

Singing always features in every music lesson.

Most primary schools have packed calendars over the year, so it is easy to select a limited repertoire. However supplementing this with other pieces will give children a broad variety of genres. Think about including pieces that are traditional, modern and from overseas.

One of the most popular pieces delivered in recent years at my school was Oranges and Lemons. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed learning it, especially supported by the playground actions! 

Targets

Although exposure to multiple types of music is desirable, targets should be achievable. One or two pieces performed well is better than four or five fairly average ones.

It might be that throwing in multiple songs seems like a good way of keeping the interest up. However, in the long term the establishment of skills over a few pieces will have a greater impact. Therefore, it will a better performance for the class and school to enjoy.

You can help keep your children engaged with repeating a song by including short games and tasks. Focus on rhythm and pitch.  

Recording

Record everything that you do, too; this is the greatest and most effective way to show progress.

There are a variety of different secure platforms that can be used. Seesaw seems to be popular among many schools, and Stream offers the opportunity to record straight to Microsoft 365.

Essentially, whatever you do, have the evidence to share when it’s required.  

Multi-sensory experiences 

Lastly, don’t forget to ensure that what you deliver incorporates a multi-sensory approach.

Often, I will use five strips of masking tape to act as a stave on the classroom floor.

When you are focusing on identifying notes, ask the children to step on the stave to show you the position of the note.

Equally, if you want to describe how music will ascend and descend in pitch, this an important way to demonstrate the process.

It’s also much more interesting than just showing a piece of music with a series of black dots!  

Nick Sermon is a class teacher and academy music lead. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicsermon 

The post Music National Curriculum – how to take control of instrumental lessons appeared first on Teachwire.

Sometimes this is because music, like subjects such as art and PE, is one where teachers feel that their lack of personal skill and experience means that they cannot teach it effectively.

However, I often also hear from teachers who are themselves accomplished musicians who feel that they ‘don’t know how’ to teach music.

You may find that you have both these types of teacher in your school. But that needn’t cause you an issue when you are planning CPD.

It just needs some thought before you launch in!  

How to improve music CPD 

As with all CPD and training, music requires a personalised approach to be truly effective.

There is nothing worse than sitting through an INSET session and thinking ‘What has this got to do with me?’.

Before organising any training, you should consult teachers on what they feel they need help with.

The school should then look to provide that instead of wasting time (and potentially budget) going over already-familiar ground.

It might be that the most appropriate approach could be a whole-staff INSET.

However, other approaches include team teaching, demonstration lessons, or providing reading materials, depending on individual teachers’ needs.  

Music activities

Music, like all performing arts, is one of those subjects where you have to ‘put yourself out there’.

Often, it’s not a lack of skill or musical knowledge. It’s usually a simple case of low confidence that causes the most problems.

Fortunately, this is something that we as teachers all know how to fix, because we deal with this every day with our pupils!

We can plan training for under-confident teachers to contain easy-win activities early on. These will boost their confidence so that they can tackle the harder stuff later.

A top tip would be to probably not start with singing unless the staff have specifically requested this. A lot of adults have real hang-ups around singing out loud in front of other people!

Perhaps start with a body percussion activity. Or, if your staff are really petrified of practical music, you could begin with a listening activity. Then, all they have to do is talk about the music rather than practically participate in it.

Where teachers feel they are ‘not musical’ at all, I often like to start by asking them to bring in their favourite song and talk about why they like it.

This underlines the fact that that in the relationship between songwriter and audience, the audience’s opinion is most important. Regardless of whether they could write or perform the song themselves.

Music is written to be listened to by non-musicians!  

Music building blocks 

Where teachers consider their level of personal music skill or knowledge to be lacking, it’s important to tackle this first. Then you can move into how to teach.

After all, it is pretty much impossible to teach a concept successfully if you don’t understand it yourself. This is why I gave up teaching maths after my NQT year!

It can be worthwhile to start with the ‘interrelated dimensions of music’. You can go over the definitions and examples of the concepts of: pitch, duration, tempo, dynamics, texture, timbre, and structure.

This will give teachers a solid foundation of the building blocks of music. In turn, it will be easier to lead listening, performing, and composing activities in the classroom.

Depending on what your staff have identified as their areas of need, you might consider some instrumental or singing training. This will develop practical skills alongside that theoretical understanding.

You could even take this as far as having all the teachers sign up for a Grade-1-athon challenge. You could organise sponsorship for them to learn an instrument and take their Grade 1 exam.

This has the added advantage of being great PR for your school. It also gives you the chance to raise some money for your music budget!  

Draw on existing skills 

It’s important to remember, too, that teachers are professionals with high levels of relevant knowledge and skills, even if their musical ones are a bit patchy.

Just because they may not be music specialists, doesn’t mean that they should be treated as if they know nothing.

Music contains what appear to be some very specialist concepts, but these can be related to similar areas in other subjects to help teachers understand them.

For example, the development of music listening skills is a similar process to the development of reading comprehension. You can also liken the development of technical fluency on an instrument to the development of motor skill and hand-eye coordination in PE.

With music being a practical subject, however, sometimes the easiest way to explain something is to demonstrate it, which is where demonstration lessons and team teaching can be really useful CPD experiences.

Music CPD packages

If your school buys in a whole-class instrumental programme delivered by a specialist, this can be a great opportunity for CPD if you can arrange it so that the class teacher participates, rather than using it to cover their PPA.

Similarly, if you have one-off workshops, or participate in performance projects with your local music hub or national organisations, the opportunity to observe the specialist leadership of these sessions can be invaluable for teachers. 

For subjects like music there is a real temptation to buy in an all-singing, all-dancing package. But often, the ‘training’ aspect is limited to how to use that resource.

This can be a good approach to get you started on your music improvement journey. However, it will only get you so far.

It is worth looking beyond this simplistic approach. Try strategies that empower teachers to develop their own musical skills and knowledge. This will allow them to take real ownership of the curriculum, and extend and transcend a resource-driven approach.

Ultimately your goal should be that every teacher feels confident to create and deliver their own lessons.

This may seem like a long way away now. However, you’d be surprised how quickly the judicious use of appropriate CPD can revolutionise music in your school!  

6 great books about teaching music 

• Mastering Primary Music by Ruth Atkinson (Bloomsbury, 2018) 

This book aims to help teachers to plan and teach inspiring music lessons, through the use of case studies, reflective reading, and questioning.  

• How to Teach Whole-Class Instrumental Lessons: 50 inspiring ideas by Kay Charlton (Collins Music, 2020) 

A great book for anyone leading a whole-class instrumental programme, full of practical ideas to get your pupils playing with confidence.  

• Teaching Primary Music by Alison Daubney (Sage, 2017) 

This book gives really clear advice for teaching music, underpinned by research evidence explaining the why behind the how of music teaching.  

• Children composing 4-14 by Joanna Glover (Routlege, 2000) 

Composing is the most common area of concern for primary teachers, and this book focuses exclusively and in depth on this area of the curriculum. 

• The Primary Music Leader’s Handbook by Dr Elizabeth Stafford (Collins Music, 2021) 

This book for subject leaders covers all aspects of successfully leading music in your school, including ideas for supporting and upskilling non-specialist staff. 

Dr Liz Stafford is the director of Music Education Solutions®, a global music education consultancy company, and Author of The Primary Music Leader’s Handbook published by HarperCollins. Follow Liz on Twitter @DrLizStafford

The post Music CPD – three steps to effective and efficient training appeared first on Teachwire.

Though some schools still provide a high level of music education, the numbers of trainee teachers specialising in music has dropped over the past decade (Ofsted’s Research Review of music, July 2021).

Primary trainee teachers also receive little specific music training during their studies.  

However, the review also demonstrates the importance of music and its place within an effective curriculum.

It argues that while lessons improve a child’s specific knowledge of music, they also have a positive impact on phonemic awareness, literacy, memory and academic achievement in other curriculum areas. 

One notable area on which the review focuses is the types of learning in music.

Over the past few years, approaches have shifted from focusing purely on what pupils should be taught, to look more keenly at how pupils learn best.

The review outlines tacit, procedural and declarative learning that takes place within music lessons. Understanding these can support excellent teaching across the board.  

Tacit knowledge 

Tacit, in this context, refers to implicit knowledge gained through everyday experiences rather than specific teaching.

Often, tacit knowledge is difficult to verbalise. This is because pupils gain their understanding through home life or cultural experiences.

Children can gain this knowledge through repetitive acts. For example: informally listening to music, engaging with cultural or religious events, or through dance, musical theatre or other media.

Tacit knowledge can also support pupils with developing subject-specific knowledge. However, each pupil will have a different starting point and so will approach new learning differently.  

An example of tacit knowledge in action is that pupils will be able to ascribe emotion to certain types of music.

This includes things like film scores. They have passive experience of watching films where the score creates a particular feeling.

This will support pupils in developing the ability to analyse other pieces of music. You could also use it to support understanding major and minor keys.  

One way to approach this could be to play altered versions of famous film score extracts with the key altered. E.g. the Imperial War March from Star Wars – composed in a minor key.

Can the pupils explain why the ‘feeling’ of the music has changed? Is it now unsuitable for that part of the film? 

Procedural knowledge 

Procedural knowledge refers to gaining knowledge by performing a task repeatedly.

An increase in procedural knowledge allows you to carry out a task to a higher standard or more efficiently.

Pupils can gain this procedural knowledge by repeating a simple task often. This will allow them to be able to perform more difficult tasks which follow a similar format or use the same core skills.

Children can develop the physical skills they require to carry out tasks by developing their procedural knowledge.

This works by consolidating specific motor tasks as muscle memory.

One way to develop procedural knowledge is the use rhythm call and response, which is a key element of Samba Band music.

The lead (not necessarily the teacher!) plays rhythms for the rest of the group to copy.

Copying the rhythm requires the use of accurate listening skills, as well as procedural knowledge of how to replicate the rhythm.

The lead can control the difficulty of the rhythms, slowing increasing the complexity in order to scaffold pupils as they develop these skills.  

Declarative knowledge 

Declarative knowledge means factual information that the memory can store.

Provide pupils with specific information about eras, styles, composers or performers through an increase in factual knowledge. You can then apply these within wider learning opportunities.

Often music is not treated in the same way as subjects with a more factual focus, such as science or history. You can, however, employ the same techniques.  

One way to develop declarative knowledge is to create knowledge organisers for a particular unit of learning.

You could focus on items such as a composer who had significant impact on the development of a particular genre or era of music.

As with the development of any factual knowledge, a key approach is to use recall activities regularly. This will ensure that pupils remember these facts, and can apply them effectively. 

Ben Connor is a primary deputy headteacher at a school in Bury, Greater Manchester. He has been teaching for 13 years in various schools and currently leads on curriculum and teaching & learning. 

The post Music National Curriculum – three key takeaways from Ofsted’s review appeared first on Teachwire.

30 Second Briefing

Four ways to get involved 

1. MUSIC: Record and film your own version of the ‘Silent Night’ Christmas carol. The top three most creative school videos will get a FREE online visit from Gemma to their school assembly or class.

Also included in this pack are resources for your schools to integrate into lessons or assemblies: 

2. ENGLISH: Challenge your class with a special ‘Silent Night’ poetry slam activity. 

3. GEOGRAPHY / CITIZENSHIP: Learn key facts about four Middle Eastern countries and read stories from people living there. 

4. RELIGIOUS STUDIES: Discover more about the worldwide Christian faith through Advent stories and reflections from people across the region. 

“At a time of year when Christians in the Middle East can feel isolated, we hope that this special recording of Silent Night will help everyone feel more connected together across the world.”

Gemma Hunt, TV presenter and children’s author

The ‘Silent Night’ resources can be used flexibly, so mix and match for a fun- and fact-filled festive term! Find out more about how to get involved here.

The post A ‘Silent Night’ challenge from Gemma Hunt appeared first on Teachwire.

Bob Marley’s lyrics have never felt more relevant. Schools today face enormous demands for ever more student wellbeing support, and increasingly require strategies to help cope with mental health demands both across subjects and within specific departments.

As the same time, there’s considerable evidence pointing to the power of music to heal, calm and unify. Music is a natural go-to in this area. It has the potential to yield great benefits for whole school communities, with the result that many music departments are now being asked to plan explicitly for both wellbeing and musical outcomes – but it’s a complex task.

Exponential rise

Bev Vincent knows this landscape well. Having previously worked as a head of performing arts at secondary, she now works as a communication and wellbeing practitioner, where her recent work has seen her liaise with eating disorder clinics and hospital schools, helping facilitate student reintegration back into school.

“The waiting list of young people in need of many types of support at present has risen exponentially,” she says. “If we had caught them earlier in mainstream settings it would have been much easier to keep them in their schools…”

Yet while she speaks positively of the intrinsic value that performing arts, and especially music, can have within this field, she also expresses some concerns regarding current practice.

“Teachers need training to deal with the difficult emotions and anxieties that arise from wellbeing activities. The planning needs to be detailed, careful and long-term. This isn’t just about box-ticking.”

So how can wellbeing strategies be made to work alongside school music life with integrity? Many secondary departments are facing a fall in GCSE and A Level music numbers and the loss of subject teaching time at KS3 and 4, while across the UK, music teachers are increasingly finding themselves running the show solo.

COVID restrictions have also left a considerable long-term impact on the musical life of schools, with some departments still struggling to recover their extra-curricular provision.

Hoping for magic

Professor Katrina McFerran of Melbourne University, and co-author of the Handbook of Music, Adolescents and Wellbeing, recognises the importance of identifying school-specific needs, as well as the need to manage best solutions for issues such as staffing, skills and spaces. Having seen the complexity involved in deciding on what works best for schools and departments in Australia, her team came up with a matrix designed to help. As she notes herself, “You can’t just add music and hope for magic.”

Meanwhile, the performing arts department at Finchley Catholic High School, under the leadership of Courtney Wood, came up with a musical response to the school’s Y7 transition initiative – in the form of a project based around the novel The Lion Above the Door.

As Wood explains, “We collapsed the performing arts timetable for the first few weeks of term, so that students could learn as a whole Y7 group popular songs with themes relating to the strand. The songs would be a starting point for facilitating conversations within a safe weekly space, and a catalyst for exchanges of ideas between the students on topics such as bravery and friendship. This gave them opportunities to discuss fears and anxieties related to the song material, rather than risk exposing personal issues.”

The work culminated in a Y7 ‘welcome event’ performance, which FCHS headteacher Niamh Arnull hailed for its positivity, remarking how “Heart-warming it was to hear their amazing voices in harmony.”

Other strategies at FCHS included building improvisation into schemes of work to enable opportunities for self-expression. Wood used the concept of mood as a starting point in students’ compositions, with positive results – especially among those for whom non-verbal communication was an easier first step for them to take.

A musical safe space

Another response was to organise a ‘drop-in singing group’ for students that entailed no pressures to participate and no planned performances. Wood recalls how this sat very well alongside the school’s established vocal groups and provided an important outlet for singers not drawn to the choir while still improving participants’ confidence, and in some cases, enabling transitions from the informal group to others regularly rehearsing and even performing.

At a Cheshire comprehensive school where Fionnula McGranahan runs the music department, the priority use for its practice rooms is to provide a musical safe space for informal and social musical connectivity. “We are lucky to have five practice rooms that we can open to students at lunchtimes and after school,” says McGranahan.

Above all, she recognises how this allows students to be freely creative, whether singly or with friends. Because let’s be honest – which music teacher hasn’t eavesdropped outside a practice room and marvelled at the teacher-less music-making?

McGranahan’s yoga-influenced classroom warm-up activities, having initially been introduced to support vocal preparations, are now included in music-making lessons for their own sake, and have proved to be a staple of students’ classroom experience: “I found that after the giddiness they settle into it, with most feeling a sense of calm before moving into the singing.”

LSAs at the school have also been invaluable in enhancing and refining the school’s wellbeing practice. One of them, Maria McKernan, sees this at work daily, and can relate it to her own family experiences.

“My daughter had speech therapy, but it wasn’t until after she took up the flute that we saw a significant improvement,” McKernan recalls. “Both of my children became less anxious when facing school exams and interviews, because of their history in performing and completing music exams.”

Holistic and sustained

A similarly holistic and sustained approach is also at play within the work of the award-winning charity Orchestras for All. According to artistic director Emma Oliver-Trend, “The music is the wellbeing, and the wellbeing is the music in our work. Our programmes are one seamless set of activities.”

Oliver-Trend cites the charity’s recent ‘Rise and Shine’ sessions, where gentle physical movement encourages individuals to focus on breath and space for the day’s music-making to come. OFA has also found success in blending yoga techniques and singing.

For the sole staff members running a music department, there’s plenty of advice out there on how to blend music with wellbeing. In short, think creatively, plan in small steps and build a team of allies. Perhaps your flute peripatetic is a mindfulness guru on the quiet…?

Make musical wellbeing connections with other schools and local performing groups. Dig deep, and you’ll soon find that opportunities arise to make that magic appear.

Find out more

• Orchestras for All’s website includes a page containing wellbeing advice for teachers and students, alongside a range of resources
• Making Music maintains a helpful evidence bank that collates the findings of recent music-related research and surveys
• The Ukelele Project is a successful national initiative the uses music to combat loneliness and promote individuals’ wellbeing
• Lambeth Music Service has carried out a considerable amount of work in the area of music and wellbeing, making its website an informative read for teachers across the country

Helen Tierney has run music departments in comprehensive schools for over 25 years, was an advanced skills teacher for secondary music in Barnet and now works freelance in music teaching, examining and dementia work; her book, Music Cover Lessons, is available now (Rhinegold Education, £39.99)

The post Music and mindfulness – How singing and playing can improve students’ wellbeing appeared first on Teachwire.