Naxos Music Box opens up There’s never been a better time for schools to beef up the breadth of their online resources at relatively little cost, so as to provide more useful material for teachers delivering online or blended learning. One such resource is Naxos Music Box, launched in the summer of 2020. Billed as “a comprehensive introduction to the world of classical music for 4–12-year-olds”, it’s built on the Naxos founder Klaus Heymann’s key philosophy of bringing classical music to as wide as possible an audience. Extensive sections on the orchestra, music history, music around the world, and 50 of the world’s most well-known composers all come accompanied by listening examples drawn from Naxos’ own world-class library of recordings. The education version of Music Box (available only directly from Naxos UK and not from the global website) also has separate log-ins for student and teacher, and provides considerable support for teachers in the way of guidance notes, extended tasks, and clear pathways through the material; at a time where some lessons are covered by non-specialists for Covidrelated absences, this support level is very reassuring for already stretched schools. At the beginning of 2021 when the latest UK lockdown was announced, Naxos took the decision to make Music Box available free of charge for a limited time. Their Education Sales Manager Julian Edwards says: “At the start of January we found ourselves in yet another lockdown and remote teaching situation in the UK, and music educators were crying out for more varied resources to help with blended learning and delivery. We were really pleased to be able to show our support for already under pressure teachers by making Music Box available totally free of charge: over 300 schools and music hubs took up our offer and found it an invaluable resource; many have now subscribed for the year.”
Primary Music Magazine readers can benefit fro published prices for school subscriptions. To tak Naxos’ Music Education Sales Manager Julian Ed
