Issue 5.2 Summer Term 2021
FEATURING: Music of India - Top of the Baroques - Bringing Bali to Britain- Making a Model Music Curriculum - Resource Reviews - Music & Mental Health - Teaching Online - Inclusive Practice in Music Teaching - AND MUCH MORE!
Bringing Bali to Britain
Mike Simpson discusses how to respectfully replicate gamelan music in your classroom
When my wife, Jacqui, and I
every community. Being a tropical
arrived in Bali in Indonesia to start
climate, all activities are outdoors
an intensive year of
studying
so the sounds of live music and the
gamelan, shadow puppetry and
sights of wonderfully elaborate
dance, we immediately realised the
dance costumes are always seen
arts are more prevalent in their
and heard at all times of the day.
society
than
any
others
we’d
experienced. As part of their Hindu Dharma beliefs, gamelan music, shadow puppetry and dance have to be performed at ceremonies which take place almost daily in
The
standards
are
high
with
children as young as 7 years old performing
complex
music
or
dance in rehearsals that take place daily after school in the local
‘banjar’ (open sided meeting halls
instructing them. Respect is a word
in the centre of the village). I
that sums up the Indonesian
became fascinated with the level of
attitude to the arts – they take off
excellence these young children
their shoes before approaching
were able to achieve and was
musical instruments as a sign of
delighted
gamelan
respect, the shadow puppeteers are
teacher, a prince in the Ubud royal
highly revered within the society as
family, invited me to observe him
they also have to be a trained
teach the rehearsals of his boys
Hindu priest and are required to
gamelan group who were all aged 7
give moral or spiritual teaching as
-11 years old. There were some
part of the shadow puppet plays
aspects that were similar to any
which are enjoyed by all ages
ensemble
been
throughout the night when they
involved with in the UK; the
are performed. Gamelan and dance
teacher ensured everyone was set
teachers are also highly respected
up properly, rigorously rehearsed
and
tricky musical phrases with small
performing view it as a privilege to
groups or individuals, and also
be in the group representing their
urged them to leave instrument
community at a religious ceremony
cases in neater piles! There were
or a performance.
when
my
rehearsal
I’d
the
children
or
adults
other aspects that were different though; the boys had a respect for
So, how can we replicate such a
the teacher I’d not seen in the UK,
unique musical culture in our
they stood up and bowed to the
classrooms without authentic
teacher when he arrived and there
instruments?
was total silence when he was
Instrumentation
music
is
heterophonic;
the
or
balungan (core melody) is always
sufficient
an eight note (or multiple of eight
replacements for most gamelan
notes) melody and is played at alto
instruments. Use notes A, C, D, E &
range,
G for the Slendro scale (used
crotchet melody cycle. Soprano
commonly in Java and only for
instruments decorate the balungan
shadow puppetry in Bali). Use
by playing each note twice (i.e.
notes E, F, G, B, C for the Selisir
quavers), tenor instruments play
scale which derives from the 7-tone
every other note of balungan (i.e.
Pelog
(most
minims) and bass instruments play
commonly used in Bali in the Gong
one in every four notes (i.e.
Kebyar
minims). Rhythmic decoration is
Classroom
glockenspiels
xylophones
will
parent
be
scale
ensembles).
Gamelan
usually
as
a
constant
then added by the reyong pot
greater
gongs (known as a bonang in Java),
difficulty of playing gamelan and
cymbals and drums.
also
The largest
appreciation
a
greater
admiration
of the cycle and other gongs
Indonesia who can play so fluently!
once or twice in the cycle.
Reyong/Bonang
living
of
children
The
age
the
gong always plays on the last beat
punctuate the melody by playing
their
of
in
kotekan
(decoration) is also tricky to play
Technique
due to the interlocking rhythmic
The gangsa/saron (metallophone)
parts. The 3-stage teaching method
damping technique is the most
(first say the rhythm, then play it as
challenging technique in gamelan.
body percussion, then play it on
The student should pinch the edge
the instrument) is very useful to
of the last note with their thumb
ensure the students are playing the
and forefinger whilst playing the
rhythms
next note with their hammer. It is
instrument, especially as the polos
quite typical in a Key Stage 2 lesson
(on-beat decoration) players sit in
for the students to find this a
between
coordination challenge and leave
decoration) players which can be
their hammers stuck to each note
very distracting!
which would of course produce a harsh and poor sound. I always teach this technique to Key Stage 2 classes
to
complexity
demonstrate of
the
the
required
technique which gives them a
correctly
sangsih
on
the
(off-beat
Cultural Significance
cues on his drum which in turn
Even if you are using classroom
inform the gamelan musicians to
instruments as your gamelan, it is
change the tempo, dynamics, play
important
an angsel (short break phrase) or
to
observe
the
Indonesian custom of removing shoes to show respect to the instruments, being careful to not
step over any instruments. Like West African drumming, most pieces of gamelan music are used for a specific purpose in a specific ceremony
(e.g.
a
tooth
filing
ceremony to celebrate the coming
of age, a funeral march or for a particular scene
in
a
shadow
puppet play). A piece we frequently teach in gamelan workshops, the Baris Warrior Dance, is usually performed by a boy aged between 8
-14
years
old
performance.
who leads The
the
kendang
drummer must watch the Baris dancer closely to notice the visual dance cues (such as the glance of an eye or flick of the fingers) in
order to play the correct rhythmic
play an entirely new tune. A balungan (core melody), played usually on the ugal metallophone, is either an 8-note or multiple of 8notes melody. The strongest beat of the cycle is always the last beat of the cycle. A piece would therefore start on the last beat and end on the last beat and should be counted as “8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7” with the largest gong always playing on the last beat (beat 8).
Leadership I advise setting up the gamelan
Mike Simpson is the co-founder
instruments so the students are
and
facing you. This is actually the
Inspire-works who have a team
common layout for a Balinese
of specialist facilitators leading
gamelan but may need some
workshops from different parts
careful thought for a Javanese
of the world to over 65,000
gamelan,
particularly
some
children
face-to-face
and
students
are
multiple
200,000
online
year.
if
playing
musical
director
each
of
hanging gongs.
Inspire-works’ Online Learning
Our gamelan facilitators always
Platform
play
(pulse-
Primary Music Magazine’s Best
keeping gong) and the kendang
Instrumental Resource 2019,
(drum) to ensure the ensemble is
and they are 3 times finalists in
rhythmically in time and also can
the
respond to the aural cues from the
Inspire-works also holds the
drum.
Guinness World Record for the
both
the
kempli
is
Music
the
winner
Teacher
of
Awards.
Largest Samba Band which they
achieved with 1,675 London school children at the Royal Albert Hall. www.inspire-works.co.uk @inspireworksUK
LEARNING IN LOCKDOWN: PART TWO
Bev Cullen is a self-employed music teacher at two SEND primary schools. In the second of a series of articles she shares her journey towards providing suitable online music teaching and resources for her pupils.
After receiving positive feedback from parents and teachers about the songs I had filmed (see Part 1 of this article in the Spring 2021 Issue of Primary Music Magazine), I wanted to do more, but was getting annoyed with
myself. I had to start the song from the beginning, over and over
again, everytime I made a mistake! I had to find a more efficient way of working.
Challenge Number 3 How to edit out mistakes from the middle of a video?
I sent out a begging email to all staff at schools I have contracts with, to see if anyone could help with my challenge. Thankfully, one teacher
recommended using ‘Video Editor’ - a free editing software programme, that I was not aware of, that was already installed on my laptop! My knight in shining armour sent me a cheat sheet of how to use the software, and I found the programme fairly easy to use.
I filmed myself singing and signing My School. My Makaton Signing
Choir would lead the whole school in singing and signing this song in our weekly assemblies before lockdown, so the children were familiar with it. I then filmed a separate, spoken introduction to the song.
Using my cheat sheet, I opened Video Editor. All I had to do was click on the ‘add’ button, - search for the videos - double click on the ones I wanted
– then drag them into the order that was needed.
Once the videos were in the correct order it was easy to use the Trim function to get rid of the start and end of videos, and the Split function (to cut clips into parts) followed by a ‘Trim’ to delete mistakes from the middle! I soon worked out how to add title pages, photos, text and graphics into the storyboard to make the videos more interesting and educational.
Over the next couple of months I focused on filming Makaton signed songs for the pupils working at home. I chose some songs that the children were already familiar with and some new songs that would teach useful signs e.g. ‘Happy Birthday’ (it’s always someone’s birthday!); another Rainbow song
(to teach colours and to link to the pictures of rainbows that were in people’s windows to say “thank you” to the NHS); and ‘We’ll Meet Again’ for the VE Day celebrations.
I wanted to encourage parents to engage with the children alongside the videos, so that they could learn the signs and use them with their children.
Also, I didn’t want the signed songs being used on the ‘device baby-sitter’,
so I did a series of five Sensory Song Videos, showing parents how to engage their children in sensory music activities. Sensory Songs are based on the concept of Sensory Stories, where sensory experiences are incorporated to make the story/song more ‘real’, more meaningful, and easier to understand.
Around this time, one of my schools was doing a topic about Flat Stanley.
They requested ‘flat’ versions of all their staff so that children working at home could have cartoon avatars of the staff that they normally work with in school. The member of staff organising this introduced me to Bitmoji and ‘Flat Bev’ was born! She began to appear at the end of my videos.
The first Sensory Song video I filmed was ‘What Can You See?’. This is a Call and Response song about the seaside – ‘I can see the patterns of the waves on the sea’. I gave our parents ideas for sensory activities to do alongside the song. For example, moving blue material to represent the waves; putting water with blue food colouring into a tub with a lid and to move the water from side to side; putting water into a larger container for the child to explore with their hands and/or feet; watch the patterns of the
beads on a toy ocean drum or watch waves on YouTube. The other four verses/videos cover ‘What can you hear/smell/feel/taste’.
I was enjoying practising my new skills so much that, throughout June 2020, I videoed and edited six signed songs and two activity/information videos for parents. I also registered for a one day webinar ‘Mobile Video
Kickstarter - Smartphone Video Shooting and Editing For Creative Professionals’. This was advertised through the Musician’s Union and delivered by the Federation of Entertainment Unions. This free course was just what I needed at this time. Although the course was aimed very much at journalists, reporters and storytellers, I knew these skills would be applicable to my song and music activity videos.
I was taught how to use the camera on my phone to film, taking into account lighting; camera angles; close ups; background noise; using mics etc. One of the most important pieces of advice was ‘always film in landscape!’ I was also taught to use free editing software, and by the end of the day I had created two different reportage/interview style videos and was
eager to use my new skills. The next signed song I filmed was another ‘Call and Response’ song called ‘Good Friends’. I was now able to film myself singing the call and response parts separately, then overlay the two videos to create a duet with myself. I did make a major faux pa though and forgot that vital piece of advice ‘always film in landscape!’. Oh well, we learn from our mistakes!
Since the start of Lockdown, I had been sharing my videos only with parents and pupils at the schools that I worked with. I was getting positive feedback from parents about their child’s responses to the Signed Song Videos – especially songs they recognised. I realised what a positive impact my videos were having and wondered how I could make my videos accessible for anyone to benefit from…. Please join me in the next issue and I’ll tell you about Challenge 4 how I learned to set up my own YouTube channel and Facebook pages
Bev Cullen is a Specialist Music Teacher, Musician and Makaton Tutor. She has experience of working with children from 6 months - 18 years, in mainstream education, special needs and community settings. She has worked as both a curriculum and instrumental teacher and she also delivers workshops and training to teachers. She is currently studying the Special Yoga for Special Children Foundation Course. Find Bev on Facebook: BC Music
Get Pl
Music Mark launches new campa The UK Association for Music Education - Music Mark, has launched a new campaign this Summer called Get Playing which celebrates the many benefits of musical learning. With a new webpage and original illustrated resources, it aims to encourage young learners across the UK to connect with their local music hub/service to Get Playing – whether that means learning to sing, play an instrument, or simply taking an interest in the wealth of musical opportunities available.
This new initiative emerged from conversations with Music Mark members around the UK telling of the huge and varied impact of the pandemic on the music education sector. The recruitment of new young musicians for the following year has been particularly disrupted, with many music centres having been unable to fully open for almost an entire year.
Get Playing therefore signposts to these centres as the ‘go to’ places for musical learning whilst recognising the joy and reassurance music has brought to many throughout this challenging time. On social media, you can join in with the campaign and celebrate musical learning in all its forms with #GetPlaying.
laying!
aign to celebrate musical learning Along with all 10 of the illustrations, the webpage features a ‘Find my local music service’ function to make it even easier for parents, families, and those interested in music education to connect with the UK’s music hubs/ services.
Find out more at www.musicmark.org.uk/getplaying
Attend the national Curriculum Music Conference LIVE in Birmingham on 22nd June, or watch online up to 7 days after the event!
Tickets and information: Curriculum Music Conference 2021 | Music Education Solutions
Making a Model Music Curriculum What’s right for your school? Dr Liz Stafford considers how schools can ensure that their music curriculum meets the needs of their whole school community. The notion of a ‘model’ curriculum is bizarre at best. A curriculum is not a document, it is a multi-faceted entity. It works best when it is grown and developed to suit the needs of pupils, by the teachers who are going to deliver it. Where our current National Curriculum excels is in the amount of flexibility educators have to create bespoke content and delivery modes to suit the needs of their school. A model curriculum which maps detailed content and specific teaching methodologies into each year group actually makes it more difficult for schools to deliver a quality experience for their pupils.
In order to design an effective music curriculum for your school, you need to take into account the following considerations.
Values, Mission and Purpose The starting point for any curriculum design exercise is the question ‘why are we doing this?’ Before we can decide on content, delivery methods, resourcing, and assessment strategies, we must first consider what it is we want our pupils to get out of the music curriculum. The values and purpose inbuilt into our curriculum will vary from school to school but might include:
Establishing a life-long love of music
Preparing for further study at secondary school
Developing self-confidence, teamworking & leadership skills
Learning to respect music from a wide range of cultures
Meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum for music
Developing creative thinking, and self-expression
Having the chance to participate in musical activities that would
otherwise be unavailable to them
Once we have established the purpose of our music curriculum, then and only then, can we can start to think about how we might deliver it.
Pupil aspirations and interests We as teachers might think we know the purpose of our music curriculum, but how does that sit with the young people that we teach? In any curriculum design process, it is important to consider our own pupils, their interests and aspirations, whether these are directly applicable to the subject or not. With a subject like music, we also need to be acutely
aware of the cultural background of our pupils, and the wider role that music plays in cultural identity.
There can be no curriculum content without context. And for a subject like music, which plays a so much wider part in our pupils’ lives than just during school hours, it is vital that our pupils buy-in to our curriculum by
understanding how it is relevant to them.
Pupil consultation on curriculum design can be a tricky business, particularly when this process might result in requests from pupils to study music or artists that we might consider problematic from an educational perspective. However, involving pupils in the construction of our curriculum means that it will be more engaging, and have more impact, than if it is designed solely by adults to be ‘fed’ to children.
Staff confidence & skill Once we have agreed our curriculum values and purpose, and consulted our pupils on what they would like included, we need to consider the level of confidence and skill in our teaching team. It is no good creating an
‘ambitious’ curriculum that can’t actually be taught due to staff needing specialist skills or extensive training!
This is where the idea of a curriculum being a flexible, ongoing process can be really helpful. Perhaps the curriculum of our dreams might be deliverable in a few years time after some training and development, but until we get to that point, compromises will have to be made, and a plan for developing our workforce over time will need to be drawn up, financed and implemented.
Surveying staff about their level of confidence and musical skill at the start of the curriculum design process, alongside the work on values and purpose, and pupil voice, is vital. Otherwise a lot of wasted work may be carried out on creating content that is simply not deliverable.
Availability of resources We might think that once we have the information about the purpose of our curriculum, our pupils’ ideas for making it engaging, and have
assessed our teachers ability to deliver it, we might be ready to start talking about content. Well… yes and no!
An important part of the curriculum design process is thinking about the resources needed to deliver our curriculum, including the resource of time itself. There is no point developing a curriculum that requires an hour a week of input if our timetable will only allow for 45 minutes, and equally
there is no point creating content which requires specific resources to deliver it unless we know there is budget to purchase these. As we start to think about the content of our curriculum, we need to be realistic about the amount of time and cost of resources needed to deliver it effectively. Again, perhaps we will need to start with a ‘plan A’ while we fundraise so that we can implement our dream curriculum in the future.
The place of commercial schemes of work You might be thinking, based on everything you’ve just read, that a commercial curriculum scheme of work must therefore be a ‘bad’ thing? Fortunately that is not necessarily the case, although like any resource it is of course possible to use a commercial scheme of work badly!
With music being one of the subjects that teachers are often least confident about, a bought-in scheme of work can be a great starting place until you gain confidence to implement your own ideas that are personalised to your school community. The mainstream, market-leading schemes of work such as Charanga, Kapow, and Music Express, come with curriculum documentation which will help you understand how and why the lessons have been designed in that particular way, and provide a costeffective ‘one stop shop’ for teaching resources, to which you just need to add a basic collection of classroom instruments.
Over time as you gain confidence, you will start the process of questioning these schemes of work, and finding areas where you think it
would be better to do things differently. This is the point at which you can take control of the curriculum, going back through the process outlined in this article, and seeing how all your existing resources might fit into your own bespoke curriculum. This may result in you continuing to use the scheme if it is meeting the purpose of your curriculum, or mixing and matching it with different resources, or moving entirely to your own scheme which you create and resource yourself.
Curriculum Design is a continuous process It is important to remember that the process of curriculum design is a continuous cycle that can’t be completed in one go - or ever! Even when you think you’ve finally implemented your curriculum of dreams, something simple like a change in staffing, or a key resource breaking without the budget for it to be replaced, can knock you back a few steps. You might find a different cohort of children respond completely unexpectedly to your curriculum, and you will almost definitely find that aspects of it become quickly out of date. (I guarantee that sea shanties will no longer be ‘cool’ this time next year!)
As Finney stated in 2017 ‘The music curriculum can be defined as a dynamic set of musical processes and practices framed within historical and contemporary cultural discourse and dialogue that comprise the material encounters of pupils and teachers.’ It is not a list of repertoire or a set of instructions but a flexible entity with, perhaps, a life of its own!
Britten Pears Arts’
Friday Afternoons
receives its digital world premiere
On Friday 14 May, Britten Pears Arts premiered its latest instalment of its Friday Afternoons project. EVERYTHING – was due to be premiered in 2020 but had to be postponed because of COVID and only two of the twelve songs were released. The ten previously unheard Friday Afternoons songs by composer Russell Hepplewhite with texts by renowned children’s author and former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen are now available to watch on Britten Pears Arts’ YouTube Channel. EVERYTHING is a cycle of 12 songs about...well, pretty much everything! The elements, human discovery, invention, movement, language, atoms
and cells all feature. These songs are designed to fire up the imaginations of
infant and primary school children with a healthy dose of fun, humour, playfulness, and heart Each of the ten songs were performed by ten choirs who were selected after entering an open call in December last year and hail from across the UK including Amherst School Choir, Kent; Cornwall County Choirs; Dublin Youth Choir; The Grange Choir, Monmouth Boys' Prep; Lodge Moor Children’s Choir, Sheffield; The National Youth Choir of Scotland; Poco Amabile, Cumbria; Scunthorpe Co-Operative Junior Choir; Somerleyton Primary School Choir, Suffolk and Southend Boys' and Girls' Choirs. Composer Russell Hepplewhite is becoming increasingly known for his operatic, musical theatre and choral music. His operas commissioned by English Touring Opera for young audiences have been widely performed
and won much critical acclaim. He was described by the Evening Standard as, ‘One of the brightest young talents to emerge in recent years.’
Friday Afternoons has five Ambassadors – Tom Appleton, Emily Barden, Charlotte Brosnan, Dominic Ellis-Peckham and Charles MacDougall – who are all professional choral leaders to act as a creative advisory group. The Ambassadors help to develop the online and in person resources with a focus on supporting classroom teachers and improving the skills and confidence of music specialists. Each of the five ambassadors were paired with two of the choirs premiering EVERYTHING. Britten Pears Arts’ Friday Afternoons mission is for every young person to have access to high quality music through using their voice. The songs are available online for young people around the world to sing, adding to the Friday Afternoons Song Bank.
Michael Rosen, whose texts appear in the EVERYTHING project
Friday Afternoons provides its full song bank including EVERYTHING, warm ups, leader tutorials, case studies, lessons and worksheets to support teaching repertoire plus arrangements and creative responses. All the resources are available for free at: https://www.fridayafternoonsmusic.co.uk/resources
Friday Afternoons was originally conceived as the culmination of the
worldwide 2013 Britten centenary celebrations, taking its name from the set of simple songs the composer wrote for his brother’s school to sing every Friday. Since then a new collection of songs and additional resources has been made available annually, with Friday Afternoons projects being run in schools all around the UK and across the world
More information online at www.fridayafternoonsmusic.co.uk
Developing Essential Musical Skills
and singing in front of their peers.
Esme Higgins considers how we can develop our pupils as performers, composers, and critical listeners.
to have the young people perform
A good way to begin this process is
as a group, enabling them to build their confidence and ability within
In this article I will discuss techniques and ideas for helping young music learners to develop as performers, composers and critical listeners. The ideas I discuss are drawn from my own experience of music education and the methods that I have found most beneficial in my own development as a
the safety of numbers. Group singing
exercises
are
a
good
starting point. Starting each music lesson with group singing exercises will help young learners to quickly develop confidence performing in front of each
other as well as
create a valuable feeling of group togetherness.
musician. I feed these experiences
Young people may also find that
into
experimenting
the
workshops
that
I
with
technology
facilitate. My aim is to help each
such as backing tracks; sampling
learner develop their full musical
and vocal or guitar pedals can help
potential, as well as developing
to develop performance skills.
confidence
Centering a workshop on the use
through
and the
self-esteem
music
making
process.
Performers It is important that music learners
get plenty of experience playing
of
a
loop
pedal
is
a
good
introduction to this. Learners can begin with a pre set drum beat on the pedal and then layer each sonic component to the song. They
could do this with a cover or an
track to improvise over. Once they
original song and experience how a
have a line or phrase that they are
full
happy with, they can start to build
band
performance
would
sound.
their composition.
Music learners may have their own
Young people may prefer either
musical preferences and tastes,
working alone or in a group to
which should be nurtured, but it
develop
can also be useful for young
compositions. Offering a choice is
performers to have experience of
an important part of developing
playing
of
confidence because a learner can
different cultures and genres. This
take control of their own pace and
will
future
nature of challenge. Experience of
opportunities for performing in a
both working alone and in a group
variety of genres if they choose to
is
do so.
development. Working alone will
or
singing
broaden
music
their
important
for
songs
a
or
learner’s
help to deepen their personal
Composers Improvising can be a great way to introduce a music learner to songwriting and composition as it enables
their
creativity
experimentation.
and Through
improvisation, young people can
styles and techniques whereas working as part of a group can improve a learner’s ability to
communicate ideas effectively, as well as accommodate the ideas of their peers.
try out ideas and explore different
Many music learners may find
styles, techniques and melodies.
notation a helpful tool, whether
The learner could use a backing
it is standard staff, tablature, lead
sheets or another form. Software
own. This will help them to
such as Sibelius can be helpful as it
develop their own opinions and to
enables the user to listen to their
consider what aspects of music
compositions whilst they create
they like or dislike.
them. However, developing as a
A good activity to help learners
composer
develop their critical
does
not
rely
on
listening
notation skills and it can feel like a
skills is to have them listen to
block for some people, especially
multiple versions of the same song
those who struggle with music
and then discuss the differences
theory. Therefore writing by ear
and similarities as a group. Sharing
should
encouraged.
opinions and preferences amongst
Working this way may help to
peers will help learners to develop
develop the learner’s aural skills
their communication skills and
too.
enable them to hear and consider
Critical listeners
the thoughts of others.
Learners will develop their critical
Having
listening skills by playing music
constructive
regularly and learning how to
important part of developing as a
communicate musically. When a
musician. Creating a space for
learner
their
young music learners to give
practical music making skills they
feedback to each other on their
are developing their ability to
original pieces or performances
listen
will help them to get used to this.
also
is
be
developing
critically.
Young
music
the
learners should be encouraged to
It
actively listen to music on their
constructive
is
ability
to
criticism
important
to
accept is
an
encourage
feedback,
where
positive notes as well as possible improvements can be discussed. When learners critically listen back to their own performances or compositions they are opening up possibilities for self-improvement and development. As a young learner myself, I have experienced the value of not only putting emphasis on technical progression, but on other skills that also go into making a wellrounded musician and a confident young
person.
helping
For
development
example, as
a
performer, composer, and critical
Esme Higgins is a singersongwriter and guitarist from Merseyside. Esme completed a
degree
in
Popular
Music,
songwriting at Leeds College of Music in 2018 and since then
listener, will also aid a young
has
person in improving their ability
developing
to
facilitating participatory arts.
work
communication
with skills
others, and
in
She
been
is
focusing her
studying
career
for
on in
the
building confidence. These skills
Certificate for Music Educators
go far beyond music making in the
with Music Education Solutions
classroom.
Online Courses from
Subscriptions and single courses now available for 2021/22! Confidence in Primary Music Excellence in Primary Music Planning & Assessing Primary Music Composing in the KS2 Classroom Singing in Primary Schools Improvising in the KS2 Classroom Dive Deeper into Music
Click here to view our full range!
Top of the Baroques! Explore the funkiest period of European musical history with your class!
The ‘Baroque’ period of European musical history ran from roughly 1600 to around 1750. The music of this period is flamboyant and dramatic, appropriately enough for the era that invented the Opera! Composers and
performers often used elaborate musical ornamentation - where additional very fast notes, or trills, or both, are added to a simpler melody - and the music was generally designed to impress! There was also an emphasis on contrast, whether that be between solo and ensemble sections, or dynamic contrast, along with a preference for contrapuntal textures where two or more melodies weave around each other. Due to its showy characteristics, Baroque music can be great for capturing your class’s attention during listening activities. It also works well for different stages of listening development as it is good both for imaginative listening (what’s happening in the story, who are the characters, how do they feel) and also more formal musical analysis around structure and the interrelated dimensions of music. Overleaf are some ideas for some
Baroque music to explore with your class.
Henry Purcell England’s finest home grown Baroque composer is probably best known for his opera Dido and Aeneas. With younger children you might want to explore the Cold Genius’s song from King Arthur and explore how the character might be feeling (cold) and how this is represented in the music. There is also a brilliant version of Sound the Trumpet here which has so much learning potential; from challenging standard perceptions of masculinity with the counter-tenor voices, to talking about imitation and ground bass devices, to noticing how the musicians suddenly surprise the audience by fusing this baroque piece with a piece of Cuban music!
Johann Sebastian Bach Bach is often thought of as the ‘master’ of baroque, and perhaps all music! His Concerto for 2 Violins is well worth exploring with your classes and would be especially good for discussing the teamworking skills needed to perform music successfully. It contains opportunities to explore the use of themes and motifs, which could be a useful opener to a composing activity using ‘question and answer’ type structures.
Barbara Strozzi In her day Strozzi actually had more music in print than any of her contemporaries! Much of her music is for female voice and accompaniment, reflecting the fact that she was an in demand professional singer and lute player. Many of her songs are worth a listen, but Amor, non dormir piu is considered one of her finest works. You could potentially have some interesting discussions with older children about why her music has largely been forgotten when the music of her male contemporaries has endured, and why all the songs are about love!
Dr Liz Stafford is Editor of Primary M consultancy company Music Educat KS1 music in a local authority primar
Antonio Vivaldi This Venetian composer’s most famous work is probably The Four Seasons, which provides a great opportunity to understand how music works in terms of conveying external ideas. Young children will love to dance along and act out the movements - maybe becoming birds, running water, or thunderclouds in the relevant sections of the Spring movement. Older children should notice the repetition in the music, giving you the chance to talk about structure.
George Frideric Handel Although German born, Handel spent much of his career in England, composing for royalty and for the church. His coronation anthem Zadock the Priest will give you a good conversation in how to build suspense, and his Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah is a riotous piece of exuberance which your class will find both exciting and also probably a little bit hilarious! You could have a useful conversation about the different textures employed - unison, homophonic and polyphonic.
Manuel de Zumaya Inevitably, due to colonisation, the music of the European Baroque influenced music in South America during the same period. While there are many reasons to feel uncomfortable about this, one positive aspect is that unlike in Europe at the time, there were many composers of colour in South America. The work of Manuel de Zumaya (sometimes Sumaya) is considered to be the pinnacle of Mexican baroque music. His motet Adjuvada nos Deus is absolutely stunning, and provides a good opportunity to talk about musical textures, including the idea of polyphony - where multiple melodies weave round each other.
Music Magazine, and Director of the music education tion Solutions. She teaches Foundation Stage and ry school in the West Midlands.
Expert-led, research-informed CPD sessions for primary teachers, delivered via Zoom in small groups. 4.15pm-5.45pm. £45 per person. 29th September 2021: Curriculum Design in Primary Music 10th November 2021: Development & Progression in Primary Music 2nd February 2022: Developing Musical Vocabulary in Primary Schools 3oth March 2022: Developing Notation Reading in Primary Schools 11th May 2022: Improvising in Primary Music 22nd June 2022: Composing in Primary Music
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An introduction to the music of India Kay Charlton
The Bollywood Brass Band
Where do we start with Indian music? It is a vast subject, as broad as it is deep - from highly sophisticated classical music to folk music, devotional, and of course, ‘Bollywood’ songs from the colourful film industry whose influence is global, from music to fashion.
When I started playing with the Bollywood Brass Band, my knowledge of Indian music was scant - I was aware of sitar and tabla, ragas and long musical performances with little that related to my western music education. Over the years my knowledge and interest has grown; India has many regions and genres and traditions, so let’s take a look at some musical styles and some ideas for exploring them with our pupils.
Bollywood The Indian film industry is one of the largest in the world, a leader not only in film production, but in consumption, selling approximately 2.2 billion tickets annually across the country! Most people are familiar with the nickname ‘Bollywood’ which was coined in the 1980s - like Hollywood, but with a ‘B’ for Bombay, although the city has been called Mumbai since 1995.
Hindi movies, with songs and elaborate dance routines, have mass appeal and are hugely popular, both in India and in the diaspora. In fact, ‘Bollywood’ accounts for less than half the total production, Chennai (formerly Madras) is the movie capital of the South with the nicknames Tollywood (Tamil), Kollywood (Telugu) and Sandalwood (Kannada)! There is crossover between languages and north and south - popular films are
remade or dubbed for all markets. The first ‘moving picture’, Train Pulling into a Station, was made in France by the Lumière Brothers in 1896. It was shown in Paris, London, New York and Bombay - India swiftly took to the new art form and the first Indian silent feature film was Raja Harishchandra made in 1913 by Dadasaheb Phalke (available to watch online). After Indian Independence (1947) the film industry flourished into the so-called ‘Golden Age’, when some of the most critically acclaimed films were made. Film plots are multi-genre, a mixture of comedy, romance, action and melodrama - often called ‘masala’ films after the Indian spice mix. Songs are an essential ingredient and are often released before the film in order to create advance publicity, and the songs themselves become big hits across
the world. The music is influenced by many styles, including Indian folk and classical music, and composers have also followed Western trends such as rock and roll, rock/pop and hip-hop. The actors who ‘sing’ and dance in Indian movies are megastars, but in fact they don’t sing, they mime to ‘playback’ singers who are famous in their own right.
Film composers of note RD Burman (1939-94) revolutionised the sound of Indian film music in the 1970s. Ilaiyaraaja (b. 1943) from South India, this composer is known for combining western musical influences with Indian folk and classical music instrumentation. AR Rahman (b. 1967) a prolific composer, Rahman wrote the music for the British film Slumdog Millionaire which includes the hit song ‘Jai Ho’.
Record-breaking playback singers Lata Mangeshkar (b. 1929) & Asha Bhosle (b. 1933) are superstar sisters. Mangeshkar is called ‘the Nightingale of India’ and has recorded songs for over a thousand Bollywood films, including the massive hit Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995). Asha Bhosle is said to have sung over 12,000 songs! S. P. Balasubrahmanyam (1946-2020) began his career in Tamil and Telugu cinema in southern India and became the first crossover singer to become successful in Bollywood. He was a Guinness world record holder - singing more than 40,000 songs over his 50 year career!
Acting superstars Amitabh Bachchan has been acting in Bollywood films for over 40 years. He became famous in the 1970s, starring in two massive films: Sholay and Deewar (1975). Rajinikanth A south Indian actor who works primarily in Tamil cinema; in the 1970’s he often played Amitabh Bachchan's roles in Tamil remakes of his films. Shahrukh Khan has starred in many hit films including Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema. Aishwarya Rai Bollywood royalty, Rai is married to fellow actor Abhishek Bachchan (son of actor Amitabh Bachchan), they both appeared in the massive hit film Dhoom (2004)
Classic Bollywood Movies Mother India
1957
Bollywood’s answer to Gone with the Wind
Sholay
1975
A ‘Curry Western’ staring Amitabh Bachchan
Bombay
1995
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge Lagaan
1995
Music by A R Rahman, a north/south crossover hit A romantic comedy starring Shah Rukh Khan
2001
Oscar nominated, starring Aamir Khan
Devdas
2002
The third remake of this classic story, starring Shah Rukh Khan
Activity Idea: Create your own filmi music The song ‘Jai Ho’ features in the Model Music Curriculum. It’s from the British film Slumdog Millionaire (2008) which isn’t a Bollywood film, but this song is firmly in that genre. Hindi movies often have many themes in the same film, what story lines can you see in Jai Ho? https://youtu.be/ xwwAVRyNmgQ.
Make up musical themes for the characters and action, think of ways that you can use:
Melodies
Bass lines
Backing chords
Call and response ideas
Ostinatos/drones
Improvisation
Classical music Classical music in India has a long history and has developed into two distinct styles - Hindustani in the north, and Carnatic in the south.
Rag & Tal These words have various spellings! They are interchangeable, except that rag/raag and tal/taal is more commonly used in the north and raga and tala (or thala) in the south. There is no harmony in Indian classical music, so melody and rhythm has developed into very complicated systems which are different to, and more complex than, those found in western classical music.
A rag can loosely be described as a scale or mode - a set of notes that create a particular mood or colour, creating a tonal framework for composition or improvisation. Each rag has its own features, such as rules about ornamentation and note emphasis and the order of the notes, and is often associated with a certain time of the day. One of the first people to classify and develop the rag system was Tansen who lived in the 16th Century. It was said that he was such a great artist that he could bring rain by playing rag Megha Malhar or light a fire by singing rag Deepak! A tal is a repeating rhythm pattern, or cycle, which can be compared to a bar in Western music. A cycle can have between 6 and 16 beats; the most common tal In Hindustani music is teental (or tintal) with sixteen beats: 4 + 4 + 4 + 4, usually played on the tabla, a pair of drums that can produce many different tones. Each tonal stroke on the tabla has a spoken syllable associated with it known as a bol (from the word ‘to speak in Hindi).
Listening - Hindustani tradition ‘Sahela Re’ by Kishori Amonkar is recommended listening for Year 3 in the Model Music Curriculum; it is in rag Bhoop (or Bhupali, a major pentatonic scale) and teental https://youtu.be/ipauyMfVYso. UK sarod player Soumik Datta plays in rag Desh (recommended for Year 8 in the Model Music Curriculum) https://youtu.be/Ix-BoQQDYkw . Compare the performances of father and daughter sitar maestros: Ravi Shankar https://youtu.be/Nyt7RXNMIrY Anoushka Shankar https://youtu.be/YYvLQKzDuCI Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain keeps an ostinato in the left hand while playing virtuosic patterns in the right hand tabla. At 7.31 in the video he speaks the bols and then plays the pattern https://youtu.be/k-agKmcz45E.
Hindustani music is heavily influenced by the Moguls, who originated in Persia (now Iran). Music from South India is less well known in the West than that of North India and has developed a separate system of rhythmic and melodic structure.
Listening - Carnatic tradition Compare these two instrumental versions of ‘Deva Deva Kalayami’: Bollywood Brass Band with violinist Jyotsna Srikanth https://youtu.be/ h9e74eKapYo Prince Rama Varma https://youtu.be/vhPqEqAYhQM Carnatic music is renowned for the virtuosic technique of Konnakol vocalised percussive syllables; it has become a performance art-form of its own and has been compared to Western beat-boxing techniques.
Listening - Konnakol Watch percussionist RN Prakash performing ‘Carnatic Suite’ with the Bollywood Brass Band; the konnakol starts at 4.54 mins: https:// youtu.be/3O4_19Cnz5w. An amazing performance accompanied by mridangam drum https:// youtu.be/hmY1hEjK2h0.
The Model Music Curriculum doesn’t mention rag on the listening list until Year 8 (rag Desh) and tal doesn’t get a mention at all! Don’t wait that long to listen to some virtuosic playing or have a go at playing in this style with your pupils.
Activity Idea: Explore a rag Play rag Bhoop over a drone on C - play your own drone on a keyboard or find one online. Using the notes C D E G A, start with an alaap - a slow introduction with no rhythm. Explore the scale slowly, experimenting with melody, gradually extend the notes upwards to create more complex phrases. Add a teental (4/4) rhythm cycle, or groove, played on hand
drums.
Activity Idea: Try some Konnakol Over a rhythmic cycle in 4, chant these syllables (‘tha’ is pronounced ‘ta’). Mix up the sounds; try making your own patterns up too - like scat singing
in jazz.
1
2
3
4
Tha
Ka
Dhi
Mi
Tha
Ka
Jho
Nu
Bhangra Bhangra is a British Asian phenomenon. Its roots lie in the folk dance of the Punjab in Northern India, and its rhythms derive from the beat of the dhol. Folk bhangra music is performed during the harvest festival of Baisakhi and the dance moves derive from farming activities e.g. picking fruit, digging the ground, planting seeds. With immigration to the UK from Punjab in the
1970s, bhangra music became increasingly popular, and groups were formed to perform at weddings and cultural festivals. ‘Bhabiye Akh Larr Gayee’ by the Bhujhangy Group (1978) features in the Model Music Curriculum. Compare it with ‘Mundian To Bach Ke’ by Panjabi MC (2008) which sampled the ‘Knight Rider’ theme from the 1980s TV series. Contemporary bhangra is a fusion of Punjabi folk music and Western pop music and is influenced by Bollywood film music. Groups use standard western rock/pop instruments as well as dhol, dholak and tabla. Bhangra is particularly popular at weddings, where young and old alike will shake their shoulders and 'change the light bulb' on the dance floor! Bhangra superstar singers include Malkit Singh and Jazzy B.
The dhol is a barrel shaped, two ended drum played with sticks, traditionally used as an instrument of war by the Sikhs. Listening: Bollywood Brass Band, dhol introduction: https://youtu.be/Io80SGw_9XU
Activity Idea - Learn to play chaal The dhol plays an integral role in Bhangra, if you don’t have a dhol drum, work out how to play the rhythm on other drums - you need a high sound and a low sound. It works well on the djembe or tom-toms from a drum kit. Learn it slowly and speak the sounds or bols first.
NA strike the treble end DHA strike both ends simultaneously
Beats
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Bol
Dha
Na
Na
Na
Na
Dha
Dha
Na
Treble
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Bass
x
x
x
Fusion Indian music was brought to mass attention in the West for the first time when George Harrison and The Beatles collaborated with sitar player Ravi Shankar in 1966. This brought a new sound to Western ears and made Shankar famous to a whole new audience. In the 1990s the ‘Asian underground’ sound developed in the UK, first-generation British Asians created music that mixed and remixed Indian classical music, Bollywood singing, jazz and the club sounds of dub, drum’n’bass and jungle.
Listening - Fusion Within you without you - Ravi Shankar and The Beatles, https://youtu.be/ HsffxGyY4ck ‘Ever so Lonely’ - Sheila Chandra, this was a big pop hit in 1982 when Chandra was only 16! https://youtu.be/wPFH89P6f0Y Talvin Singh is a producer, composer and tabla player. He won the Mercury Prize in 1999 for his debut album OK, https://youtu.be/VclOPJCMlCY Nitin Sawhney is a prolific British composer, producer, songwriter, DJ, and multi-instrumentalist. ‘Homelands’, from Beyond Skin (1999) https:// youtu.be/MukSXrNr07s
Activity idea - Create your own fusion piece Using elements of the music you listen to at home - pop, hip-hop, grime etc.
Make a new piece by combining western-style beats and riffs with elements of Bollywood, Classical music, Konnakol or Bhangra.
There is a wealth of music from India and its influence has spread far and wide. I hope this article has introduced you to something new, and inspired you to listen to great music and try out some ideas with your class.
The Bollywood Brass Band was established in 1992. The band has played for festivals, venues and Indian weddings worldwide and has released six CDs. www.bollywoodbrassband.co.uk
Big Emotions! Dr Liz Stafford explores mindfulness & music with EYFS and the Big Emotions Wisdom Bundle
In the first half of the Summer Term 2021 I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to trial the Big Emotions Wisdom Bundle with my Reception Class. The Wisdom Bundle includes a storybook, songbook, activity ideas and resources, which are supported with online downloads and videos via the Wisdom Hub.
We began by watching the ‘audiobook’ version of the story - which was actually a video of the artwork from the book combined with narration, so the phrase ‘audiobook’ doesn’t quite do it full justice. In the story a little boy boy and his cat go on an epic adventure, both physically and emotionally, experiencing lots of different feelings along the way. The children loved the story, and the following week they could all still remember it - a sure sign that it had captured their attention. For the next few weeks we used different parts of the story to explore the songs for each emotion, and the associated musical and other activities. At first I found the songbook layout quite difficult to navigate, but then got
used to having to flick backwards and forwards through the relevant sections to find the activities I needed. In a way it was nice to have this flexibility of mixing and matching different elements, rather than just having to deliver a rigid lesson plan. The songs are beautifully written and performed by Laura Loft, and the children really enjoyed joining in with all the actions (especially the ones to accompany the words ‘Crash, Bang, Crashety Bang!’) The one thing I did notice about the songs was that they sit very low in the voice, and my children struggled to sing along at pitch. This wasn’t necessarily a problem this time round as I was technically not meant to be encouraging them to sing anyway (thank you Covid-19!), but I could see this being a problem in the future if we did decide to incorporate full singing into the sessions.
The musical activities within the Wisdom Bundle had some nice ideas for exploring the different dimensions of music, and the different emotions from the story. In our most recent lesson, we learnt the song ‘I am calm’ and then did some breathing work while listening to the backing track, as well
as blowing a feather in the air, and using our instruments to make ‘calm’ music, noting that we needed to pay quietly and slowly. The accompanying craft activities were also great to dip in and out of, and the children absolutely loved the colouring sheets!
We didn’t use the
assembly resources but it is useful to know that they’re there for future reference. I would definitely recommend this bundle to any EYFS or KS1 settings looking to provide something a bit different for music or PSHE!
NYMAZ & Flash Company Arts launch FREE ‘Five a Day Music’ summer singing resource Celebrate the arrival of summer in song! NYMAZ and Flash Company Arts have released a special summer Five A Day singing resource for early years, reception and Year 1 children. It is free of charge and designed to make it easy for teachers and nursery staff to embed a daily singing routine and ensure every child receives a music education.
The Five A Day Summer Pack provides a music programme for children aged 0 to 5 for the next school half term. The idea is to spend as little as five minutes a day singing together using short songs that are simple, fun and easy to learn. Each song has only a few different notes and reinforces the learning of basic musical concepts such as a steady beat, pitch and dynamics. The pack is a sample for the full Five A Day resource which is to be launched in the autumn and will provide a year’s worth of music activities for the under-fives.
The songs have been created to fit the school year and the seasons, covering topics from from being outdoors to sharing, and support areas of development from language acquisition and motor skills through to concentration and listening. Singing is a joyful activity and the songs also
deal with subjects such as feelings and offer a means of self-expression. They are simple, fun and easy to learn but they reinforce the learning of basic musical concepts such as a steady beat, pitch and dynamics.
The Five A Day Music Summer Pack is available to download for free from www.fiveadaymusic.com
This taught course comprises three half-day webinars across the course of a term. These will be supported with access to online learning materials, and challenges, ideas and activities to try out in the classroom, culminating in a short assignment. On completion of the assignment participants will be awarded with the Music Education Solutions® Primary Music Leadership Certificate. Session 1: Leading Music in your school In this session we look at how to motivate, inspire and support staff to teach music with confidence, how to manage an extra-curricular programme, and how to address differentiation including for SEND pupils. Session 2: Planning & Assessing Music in your school In this session we look at how to create pedagogically-sound schemes of work and lesson plans, how to satisfy an Ofsted Deep-Dive, and the resources and
software available to help deliver the national curriculum for music. Session 3: Delivering music in your school In this session we look at activity and resource ideas to help you deliver performing, listening, composing and improvising activities in the classroom.
Autumn dates for 2021: 23rd September, 21st October, 25th November Spring dates for 2022: 17th January, 14th February, 14th March Summer dates for 2022: 6th May, 10th June, 8th July
_________________________________________________________ Price: £150 per person
Further information & booking HERE
Inclusivity in Music Education
As part of a professional development course I am currently undertaking, I was asked to consider what I could do personally to challenge discrimination and promote inclusive practice in the musical learning of my students. It got me thinking not just about what I can do in my current role but also how my experiences across my career have helped me take steps towards my goal of inclusivity in music education. As a white, middle-aged male, it could be argued that I belong to the group that needs to most understand diversity, inclusion and discrimination yet understands the least. However, an important step is to recognise the need to change. I am also part of the international teaching scene and the schools that I have worked in are definitely ‘Anglo-centric’. However, again, I have seen changes in curriculum since I started teaching. At the beginning of my career, I was a classroom teacher and we were still
teaching the ‘Victorian Britain’ topic- in Germany and Kuala Lumpur! Thankfully, we worked to change that curriculum to make it more relevant to the situation of the students in those schools. As a music educator, I believe that Music should be a subject that is available for all. Many cultures, throughout the world, have a rich heritage of music but in schools, historically speaking, the ‘masters’ are still European males such as Beethoven and Mozart. At the younger age groups, where I specialise, this is less of an issue because we tend to learn musical skills rather than knowledge. In my department we try and encourage multiculturalism through the skills taught. For example, the Year 1 children were improvising on a given rhythm using specific Indian raags in the run up to Deepavali and then did a similar task based upon the pentatonic scale in the Lunar New Year composition. During my time in Cairo, I had a student approach me to join the choir for the Christmas concert. The population of Egypt is predominantly Muslim but there is a significant minority of Coptic Christians. The school’s policy at the time was to only allow the Christian children to perform in the Christmas Concert. When the student approached me (this child was a
member of the KS2 choir, which was different to the choir for Christmas) and expressed interest I was keen to get them involved. I looked at the programme that I was considering and adapted it by making it more secular and submitted the idea to the school’s management. Unfortunately, this idea did not come to fruition because it happened in the aftermath of the Arab Spring (2011) and so the school had to consider culturally sensitive
issues that were bigger than just the Music curriculum.
COVID-19 has brought many difficulties to teaching music in Singapore, not least the ban on singing. However, the guidelines for teachers to sanitise every instrument at the end of each lesson has meant that we have had some extra time for listening activities for the students. We have linked these activities to specific units such as Deepavali and Lunar New Year (both mentioned earlier), where we have looked at various instruments from around the world and famous musicians from different genres but
also ‘stand alone’ activities such as lullabies from around the world, where we concentrated on similarities in style. Pre-COVID, when we could sing, and even now (when I set families projects at home), I have tried to move away from the ‘Western-centric’ repertoire that I am most knowledgeable about and comfortable with. I have taught songs in Arabic, Mandarin, Malay and most recently, in a bid to include all elements of the school community, Tagalog. One issue that I have struggled with is the uptake of boys singing in choirs. Many of the boys enjoy the singing sessions but do not want to be involved in extra choir sessions. I have had many conversations with my peers about how to include boys. One idea was to start a ‘boys’ choir’. However, then there is the debate about whether that is exclusive or inclusive and how do I make that choir appealing to boys. What is a ‘boys’ choir song’? In the end we decided that the choirs were inclusive because they offered the opportunities to join but that there were other issues that meant that they chose not to join. It was International Women’s Day recently and my colleague and I
designed some activities for Year 2 children to highlight some of the
discriminatory issues that female performers have had to deal with. I chose Ivy Benson as the focal point of the activity and the issue that she had with male arrangers who were deliberately writing ‘mistakes’ into the scores so that her all-girl big band would sound bad. We turned it around and deliberately wrote our ‘errors’ into the parts that we gave to the boys. This then led to a discussion about why it was done and whether it was fair. As with most teachers, I strive to make sure my lessons and activities are inclusive and that the curriculum is diverse but it is an ongoing issue that needs to be reviewed and re-evaluated regularly. However, I do think that I have benefited from teaching overseas because I have learnt about other cultures and having such a broad community at the schools I have worked at has also meant that there is a constant reminder about the importance of diversity. The experience of teaching across three continents and working with colleagues from all over the world has enriched my understanding beyond, what I believe, I would have achieved if I stayed in the UK. Furthermore, the transient nature of teaching overseas (so far I have moved country every six years) forces me to re-examine and learn about the country that I am settling into and the community in which I am working.
Adam Briggs is currently the Head of Infant Music and the Y5/6 Brass teacher at Dulwich College (Singapore). He has been teaching internationally, across 3 continents, for over 20 years. During this time he has been a primary class teacher, Head of Key Stage and Head of Department.
Delivering the EYFS through music Dr Liz Stafford reviews Collins Music’s latest resource It’s no secret to regular readers of this magazine that this year I returned to Foundation Stage teaching for the first time in two decades! The way we approach learning in this phase is very different from KS1, which is not always reflected in the music resources on offer to schools. I was therefore
really pleased to receive a copy of Collin’s Music’s latest resource for Early Years Foundation Stage, as it is based on a thorough understanding of how EYFS works. The authors Sue Nicholls and Sally Hickman have put together a fantastic range of activities which cover all areas of the EYFS framework, not just ‘expressive arts and design.’ This is a true reflection of how we work in EYFS and is a really welcome change from resources that
are designed to be delivered ‘in a music lesson’ - which is not really ‘a thing’ in EYFS! The resource is really clear that it represents a range of starting points, which should be picked to suit the children’s interests, rather than a scheme which has to be worked through in a certain order. Each of the starting points can be tailored for either nursery or reception aged children, meaning you effectively get double the resource for your money. This format also allows you to use the different age range ideas as support or challenge if children are working above or below age-related expectations. The range of topics is comprehensive and any of them are likely to fit with the interests of your class. From pirates to recycling, space to snow,
dinosaurs to food, there really is something for everyone! Each topic has a literacy resource such as a story or poem, songs to join in with, and music to listen to, with clear instructions for delivering the musical learning activities. Alongside are activity ideas for play dough, sand, water, painting, small world & construction, role play, and creative design, making each topic an holistic approach to the entire EYFS framework. I can’t wait to get started!
Those Amazing Musical Instruments! Dr Liz Stafford reviews Naxos’s latest release This music non-fiction text from Naxos has a nostalgic, retro 1980’s vibe in terms of design, but is brought into the 21st Century through online sound resources accessed by short links within the text. The book is written by Genevieve Helsby, with acclaimed conductor Marin Alsop featured as the ‘guide’ to the orchestral instruments featured. There is information about each instrument including construction & design, how it is played, and its role in the orchestra, interspersed with some entertaining pub-quiz-style factoids which aim to bring the history of each instrument to life. I had no idea that as a boy, Mozart was terrified of the trumpet! The range of each instrument is displayed in an unusual chart that looks almost like a slider on a mixer desk, without the actual pitches shown. Given that orchestral instruments are from the western classical tradition, where staff notation is used as standard, this is an interesting decision as one would assume that it would be ideal, and more useful, to show instrumental ranges with note names and staff notation? I must admit to having some discomfort on one of the pages where there is an unfortunate joke poking fun at a European composer’s name. In the light of ongoing conversations both within and beyond education around diversity and inclusion, and the British Values that we teach in schools, this seems a little out of step with modern thinking. In terms of educational value within a primary school setting it is difficult to see how this volume adds anything further than can be found on the many ‘instruments of the orchestra’ websites that already exist. However some children find these kind of non-fiction texts fascinating, so on that basis it could make a useful addition to your school library, especially with the generous ‘education price’ discount.
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