Primary Music Magazine Issue 3.0: Autumn Term 2018

An online magazine to support and inspire primary music

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Issue 3.0

Autumn Term 2018

Inside this issue Creative Curriculum How to plan topic based lessons without sacrificing musical progression.

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Musical Learning Journey How St John’s School prioritized music as part of their whole school development 6

Imaginative Listening Encouraging your pupils to respond creatively to music

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Primary Music Magazine

Issue 3.0 Autumn 2018

Letter from the Editor

We are so excited to bring you the first of three issues for the academic year 2018-19, fresh from our discovery that issues 1.0 and 2.0 have been seen by 10.5K of you!

There is plenty to inspire you in this issue, including planning tips, activity ideas, and stories from schools who make music their top priority.

We hope you enjoy the content in this issue, and would love it if you got in touch with us on Twitter to share your thoughts!

Liz Stafford

Do you have an idea for Issue 3.1 of Primary Music Magazine, out in February?

Tweet us @primarymusicmag or fill in the contact form at http://musiceducationsolutions.co.uk/get-in-touch/

• Music Improvement • INSET • Courses • Qualifications • CPD Programmes • Consultancy

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For a full list of our UK-wide music education consultancy services visit www.musiceducationsolutions.co.uk

Email: liz@musiceducationsolutions.co.uk Telephone: 07570455887 Twitter: @musicedsolution Facebook: MusicEducationSolutionsLtd

Primary Music Magazine

Issue 3.0 Autumn 2018

Contents 4. Creative Curriculum 6. A Musical Learning Journey 10. Imaginative Listening 15. Project One Dot 16. Island of Opportunity 18. Getting Connected 23. All children love Music 24. Rocksteady 26. Teaching World Music 30. Primary Music Magazine Awards 32. Music Express 34. Interview

Pictured is Natasha, a Year Two pupil who has just started learning the cello at school. Natasha says “I like the cello because it makes a really nice sound.�

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We’ve all been there, whether as music coordinator, PPA cover teacher, or classroom teacher… How can we make music ‘fit in’ with our current topic?

Thematic planning is a great tool for learning, it can engage and motivate even the most learning averse children to find out facts, deepen their understanding, and develop new skills. However, for subjects like music, which often languishes forgotten at the bottom of the pile, a thematic approach can be problematic as it gets sandwiched into the remaining gaps.

Creative curriculum

How can we make our topic themes fit our music goals, rather than the other way around, asks Elizabeth Stafford

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Music suffers particularly from this treatment as it is a skills-based subject, and this therefore means that it needs to be delivered steadily and regularly. If your child is learning to ride their bike, tie their shoes and tell the time, you probably don’t ask them to ride their bike one weekend, tie their shoes the next, tell the time the following weekend, and then expect to see an instant improvement in the bike riding when they try again three weekends later! However, that is often how the development of musical skills is treated in a thematic curriculum approach.

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We think about the theme, and how music can fit round that, and not the other way around. In fact, let’s be honest, we mostly think about what songs we can find to fit with our topic, and leave it at that! But what about our pupils’ composing, listening, improvising and instrumental playing skills?

Of course, schools aren’t choosing topics and then just coming up with random content to teach them. There is a thought-process around what skills, knowledge, and understanding the pupils need to develop. However this is usually based around ‘core’ subjects, and the development of literacy and numeracy, rather than around the non-core subjects.

So there’s an easy fix. We can consider the skills, knowledge and understanding that our pupils need to develop in the non-core subjects, like music, at the very start of the planning stage, when selecting our topics. In fact, radical though it may sound, we could think of ONLY the non-core subjects when we plan our themes!

Why? All subjects, and especially skills-based subjects, require linear progress, but often in our thematic planning, we are suddenly asking pupils to compose a piece when they’ve never done composing before, just because it fits the idea of (or because we couldn’t find any songs about!) an arbitrary topic such as ‘Space’ or ‘Rainforest.’ We would absolutely not ask a child to write a story having not first taught them how to read or write any words. As teachers we all have that common understanding, whereas not all of us have the same level of understanding about music, or other non-core subjects.

So let’s start with music and the non-core subjects. Think together of how our pupils need to develop their skills over time, and how can we construct topics which facilitate this. Then, and only then, let’s have each and every teacher use their expert knowledge of the core subjects to fill in the gaps…

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A Musical Learning Journey How one school in the Channel Islands has prioritized music as part of their whole school development plan.

by Heather Paul At St John’s School in Jersey we are passionate about ensuring that we deliver a varied and broad curriculum that is enriching and enabling our children to become the best they can be. At the heart of our values, is the creative curriculum and we are always ensuring that we are constantly reflecting on our practice to provide the best opportunities we can offer.

As a school we had prioritised music development. As Music Coordinator, I contacted the Music Development team at Jersey Music Service, who came to visit, reviewed our school and together we were able to identify the ways forward specific to our vision and core values.

We have an incredibly supportive and talented team of Teachers and support staff, who will always give things a go (including learning instruments.) Music has always been delivered, however after speaking with staff; I found 6

out that they wanted a consistent resource to deliver the curriculum. Jersey Music Service funded the Charanga music scheme, which enabled the children to have progression of skills throughout the school and the teachers to have a scheme that was easy to use.

As a musician, I know the value and benefits in learning an instrument.

I knew this was an area that I wanted to make accessible to as many children as possible.

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I looked at the curriculum for Early Years, Key Stage 1 and 2, and identified instruments that would complement the skills the children have to learn.

Our Foundation Stage and Nursery are using percussion.

Our Key Stage 1 children are accessing the pBuzz.

Year 3 are learning the recorder.

Year 4 are learning the Ukulele.

Years 5 and 6 are learning the keyboard.

In Upper Key Stage 2 I felt the continuity of one instrument was important to allow the focus to move from learning the instrument to creating music.

I felt that this would ensure that the children are developing a variety of skills, an awareness of different instruments and hopefully making choices on taking up an instrument through the Jersey Music Service. We wouldn’t have been able to fund all the instruments if it wasn’t for our amazing Parent Teacher Association, who kindly funded them all.

We already had a school choir which is headed by another talented member of our team; Helen Fairhead. She had provided lots of community opportunities for the choir to perform. As a flautist, I organised a small flute group and we supported the choir with their performances. However, there was still a gap for the other instrumentalists in school.

I was keen to ensure that pupils have an opportunity to use their new instrumental skills. With help from Jersey Music Service we were able to set up our first School Orchestra. They provided us with a variety of music encompassing all the different (some not traditional orchestral) instruments learnt throughout the school. We made copies of the music available for the Peripatetic Staff to ensure that if children were finding the music challenging that they could benefit from additional help with the experts!

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After lots of practice we were able to showcase our learning in our first summer concert along with our Choir, Flute, and Jersey Sings groups. After speaking with parents regarding the concert they felt that providing their children with opportunities to perform boosted their confidence and desire to aspire with their instruments.

As part of my other role with the Creative Curriculum, I was able to design a whole school focus to enable the children to have high quality performances and participate in a variety of activities led by music experts.

We decided to fit in with the whole school focus on global citizenship, by having a variety of learning experiences linked to the particular country, that each class were focusing on. We had Samba drumming workshops, Capoeira, carnivals, local bands performing and teaching Jèrriais (Jersey French), instrument making, body percussion workshops for the younger children and much more.

There was a real buzz throughout the school, children were talking about Music and their experiences - the profile of Music was raised.

We are extremely thankful for all the support we have had on our Musical Journey. Even though it has sometimes been a little bumpy, we strive to ensure that we can make things as tuneful as they can be!

Heather Paul is a Primary School teacher in Jersey, who has responsibility for Music, Design and Technology and the Creative Curriculum. She has been teaching for 14 years and in this time has taught in both private and states schools. She has been a musician since the age of 8 years and plays the flute and saxophone.

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I have a saying…

“Music is like vegetables. Some you like, some you don’t like, but they’re all good for you”.

Invariably, you get a pupil who says that they don’t like any vegetables, to which I respond – “What about crisps, or chips?”

Now, I know that isn’t the most nutritional of answers, however it gets pupils onboard with my philosophy of listening to, and appreciating music.

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Opening children’s ears through Imaginative Listening In one of my many roles, I’m a Primary Music Specialist with Scottish Borders Council. As a teacher (and learner), I’m most engaged through listening, and I have a real interest in the power listening possesses to help engage pupils in developing their Knowledge of Music – that being their understanding of the unique expressive power that music possesses. For me, the imagination is the gateway to opening pupil’s ears (and minds) to this expressive power.

One of the Experiences and Outcomes for music in Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence is: ‘I have listened to a range of music and can respond by discussing my thoughts and feelings. I can give and accept constructive comment on my own and others’ work.’ Getting a pupil to share whether they ‘liked’ a piece of music or not, or to discuss ‘how it made them feel’ is quite easy on a superficial level. Encouraging and equipping pupils to elicit the musical ‘why’ behind their thoughts is where the real challenge and benefit lies.

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Without the confidence to share or the language to explain, moving a pupil from ‘hearing’ to ‘listening and discussing’ can be quite a stagnant process. I have found Imaginative Listening breaks down the confidence barrier when it comes to sharing and provides a wonderful opening through which to instil a shared language around the musical ‘why’. Pupils love engaging with their imaginations, and music is a wonderful vessel through which to channel this love of the imagination.

Imaginative Listening is exactly as the name would suggest – An opportunity for pupils to listen to music and assign meaning based on their own imaginations.

This is a great start or end to a lesson, and is particularly effective in lessons that occur directly after a break, as it helps to calm the body and awaken the mind. I have used Imaginative Listening to great success with every age level in the Primary setting. When engaging the pupils in Imaginative Listening, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer; after all, music is like vegetables. The pupils are encouraged to be as creative as possible with their answers, and all opinions are valued. In terms of potential repertoire, programmatic music is the best, as it has been composed with some kind of narrative in mind. When starting out, the BBC Ten Pieces resource is a fantastic starting point, as there are 30 ready made programmatic pieces awaiting unfurling. Once your confidence in facilitating the activity has grown, progression comes in the form of unpacking each pupil response from a music-concept perspective.

This is where the shared-language and understanding starts to develop. I pose questions such as, “Why do you think the music made you think of that?” or “What do we know about music that might help to explain your story?” The language that I eventually want the pupils to use is the language I model from the very beginning. For example – “I can see how you imagined that as a battle scene, the dynamics were very loud, the texture was thick, and there were a lot of percussion instruments.”

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In today’s day and age of short attention spans, Imaginative Listening is a sure fire way to purposefully engage your pupils in listening to music. It is also a great way to help your pupils learn to share and explain their thoughts and feelings about music.

Not only this, it helps foster curiosity and exposes pupils to great music that they may not have otherwise come into contact with.

Introducing Imaginative Listening in the early years of a pupil’s education invariably leads to more substantive conversations about music in the upper years. Imaginative Listening is one of those activities that will leave your pupils wanting more, and for me, that is the perfect barometer of success. Please be warned, it may very well awaken your imagination too!

Vaughan Fleischfresser is currently the Teaching Fellow in Music Education at the University of Edinburgh, as well as a Primary Music Specialist with Scottish Borders Council.

Originally hailing from Australia, he holds Bachelor Degrees in both Music, and Education from the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane), and also holds a Master of Music Education Degree, which he obtained from VanderCook College of Music (Chicago). Vaughan is a passionate Music Educator, and advocate, and has worked across all settings in Music Education, including Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Instrumental, and Community Music. In his spare time, Vaughan is the conductor of the Edinburgh University Female Voice Choir, and the Peebles Concert Band. @VFleischfresser 12

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A step-by-step guide to Imaginative Listening

1. Choose a piece of music.

2. Ask your pupils to find their own space, lie down, and close their eyes. If the floor isn’t conducive to lying, then sitting is fine, as long as they close their eyes. After all, closing your eyes strengthens your ears.

3. Inform the pupils that they’ll be listening to a piece of music that they’ve probably never heard before, and that as they listen, they should imagine what the piece of music is about e.g. a story, a picture, an event, a time of day, or year.

4. Play the piece of music. Once finished, ask the pupils to sit up slowly, open their eyes, and share what they thought the piece of music was about. You may need to have a sharing order already devised, as more often than not, everyone wants to share.

5. Once everyone has shared, play the piece of music again, however this time ask the pupils to imagine one of the stories their peers shared, so as to give them a different perspective on the same piece. This is also beneficial for those who are less confident at the task, as it gives them some examples to tap into.

6. After a couple of weeks, start to expand the sharing session into the ‘why’, encouraging deeper reflection about the music, and the use of musical vocabulary.

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Primary Music Magazine

Promotion

Issue 3.0 Autumn 2018

INTRODUCING PROJECT ONE DOT Snape Maltings launches an all new KS2 singing resource for the Friday Afternoons project.

This Autumn sees the launch an all new, free resource from Snape Maltings’ Friday Afternoons, designed to encourage and support creative vocal work in the KS2 classroom.

Created by Emily Barden and David Ashworth, Project One Dot is an introduction to the Friday Afternoons world, a ‘first steps’ into the resource designed to support quality singing and creative music making in a flexible and adaptable way.

The Project consists of four songs specially chosen from the Friday Afternoons Song Bank, all of which have been classified as ‘one dot’ (easy) in level. Each module contains musical exploration activities and extended creative work, which can be taken as stand-alone ‘mini projects’ or as part of the complete module.

Designed to support teachers to develop the skills of both their students and themselves, the resource provides tips on singing the songs successfully, teachers’ notes, National Curriculum mapping guidance, assessment points and teacher skill development included throughout.

After completing Project One Dot you and your students will have a set of four Friday Afternoons songs to perform, along with original compositions and arrangements devised by your young people.

The free online resource will be supported by a national training programme, all of which will be launched at the Singing Strategy Symposium on Monday 12 November 2018. If you’re interested in the project and would like to find out more, get in touch with us on fridayafternoons@snapemaltings.co.uk or visit www.fridayafternoonsmusic.co.uk

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Island of Opportunity

Jersey-based Music Development Partner Gina McLinton discusses their mission to ensure equality of opportunity in music education for all children across the island. @GinaMclinton For the last two years, my job for Jersey Music Service has been helping primary school colleagues deliver the music curriculum in Key Stages 1 & 2, with the aim of broadening access and providing more opportunities for children to take part in practical music making.

This process that we call MEPAS (Music, Evaluation, Planning and Support) involves auditing current provision in schools, highlighting strengths and tailoring a bespoke programme of support designed to upskill teachers and boost their confidence whilst providing a clear plan for future development and ongoing support.

I have visited many primary schools to deliver demonstration lessons to non-specialist teachers, often using Charanga and Music Express and similar packages, showing how to use these packages alongside ukulele, recorder and glockenspiel. As teachers become more confident, I develop this to include team teaching developing their skills at a pace they feel comfortable with. I have also delivered teacher workshops on how to use these instruments to deliver primary music lessons. I’ve found that teachers really enjoy this approach and feel much more confident about using the instruments in their lessons with the children.

“Staff confidence has increased and the children are accessing music sessions which are of a higher quality�

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Those schools lucky enough to have specialist primary music teachers have benefitted too. I have organised regular primary music co-ordinator

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meetings and training and with our secondary colleagues, we are currently looking into formulating a new Jersey framework for assessment to replace the old National Curriculum levels.

Researching and signposting resources has had an impact too, saving colleagues time and money on finding the most cost-effective, up to date materials for their schools. I have organised external workshop providers to provide specialist workshops that the whole school can enjoy. These have included bringing over a specialist samba teacher and a project using Jersey French to link music with local language and culture, providing schools with external performance opportunities for their pupils.

Several schools now have flourishing orchestras that include orchestral and classroom instruments with the idea being that they are inclusive and fun.

They have benefitted from bespoke arrangements of well known, pop and classical tunes that the children love to play. Training the teachers in basic conducting skills has been the main catalyst for this and Head Teachers are very grateful to have an ensemble that can perform at important events.

“The children have treated us to performances of Pachelbel’s Canon and Kum Bah Yah – we can’t wait to see what they will produce next!”

When schools have been through this MEPAS process, we review progress to see how the pupils and teachers have benefitted and arrange a date for when the school will receive its next phase of support. This lets the schools know that I will continue to help them and colleagues know that they can also phone me for advice or help whenever they need it.

I used to be an instrumental teacher for Jersey Music Service, a job that I loved, and moving into the area of curriculum support has enabled me to have an even greater impact on many more children.

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Getting Connected

Digital technologies can provide children with music tuition and live performances, wherever they go to school. By Sarah McWatt

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Here in North Yorkshire, we are surrounded by beautiful landscapes but the nitty-gritty of living in the countryside isn’t always quite so idyllic. It can feel lonely growing up in a place where public transport is poor, where there aren’t many children, and where opportunities to engage in music and the arts are few and far between.

NYMAZ is a youth music charity that firmly believes every child should have the right to make music, no matter how remote their geographical location. We discussed this issue with Music Education Hubs and a common thread appeared – it was difficult to offer a high quality, diverse music education to children in rurally isolated areas when the

Primary Music Magazine

Connect: Resound Case Study

By Andrew Raine, Lincolnshire Music Service

We are seeking to use the Connect: Resound technology to provide tuition and live music experiences to, firstly, the far, outlying reaches of Lincolnshire where, currently, it can be financially challenging to deliver to and secondly, to the most vulnerable children in our society. With a mixed model of face-to-face and online delivery, we feel Lincolnshire Music Education Hub can make a positive impact on those pupils who currently miss out. By using the technology to share CPD, live music experiences and staff liaison, we also aim to encourage whole team participation in the digital age!

The potential of the equipment is quite farreaching and can have a positive impact on the musical life of many children within the county. My advice would be to start talking with schools as soon as possible, and especially the local authority, if you are governed by one, as there will be a wealth of knowledge with the correct people to help guide you. Our positive links with county council teams such as digital, information governance, IT and media have ensured we have the right knowledge in place from the outset, about everything from levels of broadband connectivity to existing firewalls.

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transport, cost and logistical barriers were so high.

We were curious. We wanted to find a way to give children in rural areas the same life opportunities as those in urban areas. Could digital technologies provide the solution for the Hubs?

We set ourselves the challenge of investigating how online innovations could help more children in remote locations access music education & enrichment activities.

And so, Connect: Resound was born.

By running pilots in schools we identified a tried and tested model for remote real-time music learning. Our costeffective, reliable technology set-up facilitates live online instrumental tuition.

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It enables a teacher from the local music service to give a lesson to an individual or a group remotely, but in real time. Using technology in this way means that the Hubs can reach far more pupils in more schools. And the results have been fantastic, not only in terms of musical development and progression but also the improved focus and concentration of students.

Last year we were awarded funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation to extend the project for four more years. We are continuing to tackle rural isolation but also investigating how the technology can be used to work with children in other challenging circumstances, including those with mental health issues, young unaccompanied migrants and looked after children.

Another strand of Connect: Resound is bringing unique, inspiring and high-quality music experiences to the classroom. Our special series of live online broadcasts is designed especially for children and young people and is opening up the world of music, from different genres to venues, including festivals and outdoor events. Pupils can delve deeper too, with exclusive opportunities to ask questions and find out more about the musicians, the music and the instruments played.

Everyone is welcome to tune in to access these free events; the only requirement is an internet connection.

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Those interested in exploring practice and research relating to online music tuition are invited to join the NYMAZ Remote Music Learning Network.

Members of this group receive regular ebulletins with news from the sector, plus invites to CPD training and live broadcasts.

For more information on Connect: Resound visit www.nymaz.org.uk 20

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All children love music, but not all children love music lessons….

Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the company of young people, whether as a parent, teacher or as a passer-by, will instantly recognise that music is extremely important to young people’s lives. Music, like clothing, hairstyles and body art, helps young people explore and create their own identity, and helps them to forge friendships with likeminded peers. The importance of music continues into adulthood; it would be extremely rare to find an adult who didn’t like or listen to music, apart from on religious grounds.

But here we are talking about ‘music’ not ‘music education’. A study conducted by Youth Music found that ‘91% of children and young people aged 7-19 said they like listening to music, but only 39% report engaging in music-making activities.’ This statistic, suggests a disconnect between enjoyment of and engagement with music.

If we want more children and young people to engage with music education, then we need to tap into their enthusiasm for music. This may be at odds with our own interests and expertise! As

This is an edited extract educators it is important to find ways to bridge from Unit 1 of the Level 4 the musical gap between our pupils and Certificate for Music ourselves, and that means valuing and respecting their musical interests.

Educators (Trinity CME)

To find out more about this flexible, distance-learning qualification visit https://musiceducationsolutions.co.uk/cme-2/ 23

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Promotion

Music has the power to ensure that no child is left behind

Rocksteady are on a mission to empower as many children as possible through music, making music accessible to all.

One student who has really benefitted from accessing the music lessons is Tom, who has severe learning difficulties and needs one to one support at all times. Tom’s experience of school is quite different to that of his fellow students, as his condition excludes him from many regular activities and lessons. However, one area in which Tom excels is music, so his school supports him taking part in Rocksteady through pupil premium.

Tom’s teacher says: “Rocksteady has really made an impact on Tom, he loves to sing and really comes alive with music. He loves nothing more than performing in front of people and the bigger the reaction he gets, the more he performs. Tom counts down to his weekly sessions and has really built a good relationship with his band leader. When Tom sings, he puts a smile on everyone's face.”

These stories are echoed around the country. Mei Lim, headteacher of Weyfield Primary Academy, Guildford, explains what effect a partnership with Rocksteady has had on her school: “We have all been immeasurably enriched by Rocksteady’s involvement with the school. How can you really quantify the confidence it has given the children? One Y3 boy, who was so anxious in Reception he chose to wear noise-cancelling earphones, is now part of a rock band and recently put himself forward for the school council.

A Y5 pupil with an ASD diagnosis, who struggles to interact with his peers and is physically awkward, becomes king of cool with a pair of drumsticks in his hand.” www.rocksteadymusicschool.com

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1. Do your research. There are many great resources available on the web showing the key characteristics of many world-music genres/styles. Try not to make any assumptions about what a world-music style should sound like.

2. Decide what key characteristics are important to share with the class. For example: West African music is full of call & response, the music is lead by rhythmic ‘signals’ played by the Master Drummer on their drum.

3.

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Keep it practical. Benjamin Franklin said “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”

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Ten Top Tips for

Teaching World Music

By Mike Simpson

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4. Teach it aurally. Most world-music genres are best learnt aurally – as they are in their culture – the use of conventional music notation is very much a western-classical tradition!

5. Use whatever instrumental resources you’ve already got. For example: Most hand-drums are good substitutes for West African djembes; The school drum kit can be pulled apart and used as the core of a samba band (toms and bass drum for surdos, snare for caixa); Create a classroom gamelan with glockenspiels/xylophones (using pentatonic notes A C D E G to replicate the slendro scale) and suspended cymbals played with soft sticks near the bell to replicate the gongs.

6. Find out why the music is played in that culture. For example: West African music is often dubbed ‘music for purpose’ – every piece is played for a particular reason/occasion. In the Malinke tradition in West Africa (where the djembe originates), any piece titled “Soli” is played at a circumcision – knowing this may determine your repertoire selection!

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7. Understand that the culture has defined the music. For example: Respect for instruments and the teacher is paramount to Japanese taiko drumming which is evident in the martial-arts-like movements the drummers perform before and during each piece. Even when using classroom instruments to play gamelan, it’s important the students take their shoes off and understand why the Indonesians show respect to instruments by removing their shoes.

8. Try to immerse them in the culture to better understand the music. Use the web to put it all in context: Make sure the students see videos of the music in its cultural context. Show them pictures of the landscape and people. Show them videos of the music. Let them sample some of the food!

9. Watch the videos before you show them to the class! Behaviours or clothing (or lack of it!) that are acceptable in one culture may not be appropriate to show to children in our culture. The Inspire-works YouTube channel has playlists of videos sourced from across the globe that are appropriate for classes to watch to back up your teaching.

10.Have fun! Caribbean steel pans music is known as the sunniest music on earth, the Rio Carnival is the largest party in the world, dhol drums are played en masse at Punjabi weddings – try to pass on to your students some of the joy celebrated in the music’s home culture!

Mike Simpson is director of world music education company InspireWorks, and an examiner for Trinity College London. @MikeSimpsonTV 28

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Event Preview: Curriculum Music Conference 2019

PanIndoAfroSamba Workshop Music Education Health-Check: How are you doing?

What primary teachers want to know about secondary music, and vice versa

Primary Music Magazine Awards Ceremony

Trade Exhibition and more….

Thursday 21st March 2019 Forest Arts Centre, Walsall, West Midlands £65 (EARLY BIRD by 31st Dec) / £85 (from 1st Jan)

Tickets: https://musiceducationsolutions.co.uk/products-page/ 29

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We are delighted to bring you the first ever Primary Music Magazine Awards! Nominations are open now, and the shortlist and final winners will be announced in Spring 2019.

These awards are designed to showcase the best primary music education products and companies, to help our readers make an informed choice on how best to resource music in their schools.

The awards will be judged by the Primary Music Magazine team and, for the ‘Chosen by Children’ category by a group of primary school children!

Entry to the awards is free of charge, and entries must be received on the official entry form by 31st December 2018.

Introducing the Primary Music Magazine Awards!

Categories & Criteria Best Vocal Resource

A physical or digital resource that supports singing in primary schools

Best Instrumental Resource

Best Listening Resource

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A physical or digital resource that supports musical listening in primary schools

A physical or digital resource that supports instrumenal learning in primary schools

Best Curriculum Scheme

A scheme of work that supports the delivery of the primary music national curriculum

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Best Composing / Improvising Resource

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Best Music Technology Resource

A physical or digital resource that supports composing or improvising in primary schools

Best Workshop Provider

A company or individual providing music workshops to primary schools

A physical or digital resource that supports the development of music technology skills in primary schools

Chosen by Children

An open category for any physical product or resource, which will be judged by a panel of children

The judging panel must be provided with access to the resources for all categories except Best Workshop Provider. Please note that physical resources are unable to be returned.

Shortlisted candidates will receive a paragraph of coverage in Issue 3.1 of Primary Music Magazine, and posts on associated social media channels, as well as an invitation to attend the award ceremony at the Curriculum Music Conference.

Winners will receive a certificate, and half a page of coverage in Issue 3.2 of Primary Music Magazine, and posts on associated social media channels.

Nominations Close: 31st December 2018 Shortlist Announced: February 2019 in Issue 3.1 Winners Announced: 21st March 2019 at Curriculum Music Conference Winners Profiled: June 2019 in Issue 3.2

Nominate Now: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DMPR62R

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Promotion

Issue 3.0 Autumn 2018

Collins ‘Music Express’ – A sure fire success!

by Sue Nicholls When the first edition of ‘Music Express’ was published in 2002, teachers everywhere gave a collective sigh of relief that the long-awaited answer to all their music planning prayers had been answered! However, no publisher can afford to stand still in a rapidly-evolving educational landscape, and so in 2014 the second edition was launched, to be received even more enthusiastically by the EYFS and primary workforce.

This ‘Music Express’ is an entirely new scheme – a more ambitious and imaginative project altogether – showcasing the talents and skills of respected and experienced music educators: Maureen Hanke, Helen MacGregor and Stephen Chadwick – an updated scheme that reflects the changes in best music education practice and incorporates cutting-edge technological advances. The new ‘Music Express’ offers exciting and diverse music lessons for generalist and specialist alike, with bags of pupil appeal, valid cross-curricular links and musical content which amply fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum.

The revised structure of this later edition provides greater flexibility in order to support every type of school setting. ‘Music Express’ Years 1 to 4 offers 12 units of work per year, arranged non-hierarchically, under familiar topics to accommodate popular classroom themes and is delivered as three activities per lesson. The ‘strands’ of singing, performing, improvising, composing and listening are fully covered across all units presented in engaging and varied lesson structures. Y5 and 6 have longer units, following the pattern of half-terms, thus allowing for greater depth of study and extended work for older, more experienced pupils. Adjacent year groups, i.e. Y1 & 2, Y3 & 4, Y5 & 6 share common unit titles. This feature ensures musical progression, but also recognises the dilemma of those teachers working with mixed-year groups, practitioners who need a flexible music scheme to accommodate different age ‘mixes’ and variations in pupils’ musical experience and understanding.

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‘Music Express’ online provides exactly the same teaching material as the books; however, the digital version has additional supportive resources: i.e.

Song Bank, Warm-ups, Skill Builders, Instrumental Resources and a Glossary. There are also assessment sheets for every unit, which follow the universally approved three-tier descriptors: Working At; Working Towards; Working Beyond, to record pupils’ progress: these borrow statements from the National Curriculum for Music, as criteria for assessment.

Being offered the choice of a published or digital scheme is very important.

There are many small rural schools that still experience an intermittent or unreliable internet connection: the option of having ‘Music Express’ in book format is essential in order to guarantee regular music provision. The publisher sensibly permits teachers to make one copy of every DVD/audio CD – a very useful strategy, which I would recommend to all prudent music subject leaders!

‘Music Express’ provides hundreds of high-quality musical ‘springboards’ to encourage experiential and immersive music-making across the EYFS and Primary phases: the activities are appealing and engage learners, they support and empower teachers and offer opportunities for all pupils to explore music in every style, tradition and genre.

If you haven’t yet taken up ‘Music Express Online’ free trial, I would urge you to do so!

Spring into Seasons (Y1) then launch yourself into Solar System (Y5), sate yourself with Food and Drink (Y4) and then fire up a flamboyant flash mob in Growth (Y6). Enjoy exploring and sharing this excellent and proven resource with colleagues and pupils… and put music at the heart of your school’s curriculum!

Find out more online at www.collins.co.uk/musicexpress and sign up for a free trial!

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Interview: Will Todd

Q. How did you first get into music?

I loved music from an early age, particularly messing about on the piano at home. I think that was the start of my composing - bashing the piano until something seemed to work! I had lots of singing at my primary school and a great church choir. I loved singing - it's how I learnt to read music.

Q. What was your first experience of ‘formal’ music education?

I had some violin lessons when I was 8 via the local authority music service in County Durham. Soon after that I joined the music service orchestras which helped me develop as a musician.

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Q. What do you think you would be doing now if you didn’t have that experience?

I was lucky to have so much support in my early years with music. I took it for granted then but now realise how precious it is, particularly as I now support the Durham Music Hub as it works to continue this amazing opportunity for young musicians. Without these experiences its hard to see how I could have achieved the things I have.

Q. Why do you think music education is important?

I taught myself a lot of music. I was hungry to try and work things out and always working on ideas. But teaching helps you to understand things in a wider context and it can also make things clear to you really quickly, when working it out yourself can take a long time! It provides a framework in which to be creative and musical and gives you confidence.

Q. What can primary teachers do to inspire their pupils to develop their interest & skills in composing?

Let children write songs! Children are natural songwriters - they love playing with words and rhymes. By harnessing their love of words into a musical context it can give them confidence to explore more complex musical formats at a later point.

Q. What musical projects have you got coming up?

I just finished a piece for Opera North Youth Choir, which they are performing with an orchestra later this year. It’s based on a story set in WW1 as part of the commemoration of the 1914-18 war. I'm very excited to hear it!

Will Todd is one of the UK’s leading contemporary composers. His work encompasses choral works, musical theatre, and orchestral pieces, as well as jazz compositions and chamber works. Find out more at www.willtodd.co.uk

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Monday 12th November 2018 1.30pm – 3.30pm St Paul’s Centre, Hammersmith Further details: https://musiceducationsolutions.co.uk/products-page/

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PrimaryMusic Magazine

Issue 3.0: Autumn 2018

Issue 3.1 out February 2019

Primary Music Magazine

Issue 3.0 Autumn 2018

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