Spring Term Resource Ideas
The Kodály HUB
A public on-line Knowledge Center with a Songbook, Community, Forum and further resources to assist teachers in their everyday work. The Songbook contains several hundred songs and music listening materials from all over the world. The songs are analysed using many key, searchable parameters and (when relevant) accompanied by a game or movement activity to support the teaching objectives and increase the enjoyment of the lesson.
ABRSM Practice Apps
The new Music Case app to help with practice from ABRSM is now available free to download from Google Play and the App Store. This joins the suit of apps on offer including Practice Partners, Scales, Aural and Sightreading Trainers and Speedshifter.
Find out moreFree online resources from Cumbria Music Service for KS1&2
Cumbria Music Service first launched online resources in 2002 as Tuned-in – which quickly won a reputation for imaginative and eclectic ideas approaches to music making in and beyond the classroom. These have now been updated as a free set of online units for teachers and children, designed to stimulate the development of creative ideas – an area of concern for Ofsted (Wider Still and Wider: 2008-2011).
Units contain video, images, audio and ideas for class discussion. Strategies for framing tasks, and encouraging children to shape and structure their own creative responses are suggested in the teacher resources which can be downloaded as pdfs.
Charanga
Cumbria Music Service has teamed up with the UKs leading online music resource, Charanga, to provide exciting curriculum-linked digital resources for primary and secondary teachers.
Your school can sign up for a 30-day free trial, and benefit from a subsidised rate when you register.
Developed in line with the 2014 National Curriculum, and the holistic teaching approach favoured by Ofsted, Musical School can be used as a week by week Scheme or more flexibly through the Freestyle mode. Musical School also includes Music World; a safe online environment created to encourage children who are learning to play instruments and can also be used for sharing homework with pupils. There is support for teachers such as how to handle instruments, how to rehearse to ensure accuracy and control, as well as how to assess performance.
visit Charanga
Sing-up
Going from strength to strength since 2007, Sing Up Membership offers the complete singing solution for your school, with countless songs and resources to place singing at the heart of school life.
Membership gives access to the extensive online resource bank – over 600 songs from pop to curriculum-focused hits, specially arranged for children’s voices. There are hundreds of comprehensive lesson and assembly plans guiding you through the Song Bank, making planning easy and learning fun.
visit Sing-up
BBC Ten Pieces
Ten Pieces III is using a brand new set of classical pieces to engage children aged 7-14 and inspire them to make their own creative responses to the music.
Free teaching resources are now available for all 10 pieces from the Ten Pieces III repertoire to help students explore and get creative with the music over the 2017/18 academic year, including:
- Exciting animated short films presented by Naomi Wilkinson and Lemn Sissay
- Orchestral and choral performance films
- Classroom lesson plans for primary and secondary teachers
- Downloadable and simplified instrumental and vocal arrangements
- MP3 recordings to listen to and download
Musical Futures
Musical Futures is a movement to reshape music education driven by teachers for teachers.
Musical Futures has a rich collection of guides and resources that you can download for free.
visit Musical Futures
Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids
The DSO provides a fun guide to instruments, orchestras and composers.
visit DSO Kids
Miss Ward Music
A fantastic independant source for KS3 with helpful summaries on genres, assessment and areas of study.
visit Miss Ward Music
Starting a school band
Tips and resources for starting a school band
visit Music by Arrangement
Do you have any favourite online resources to share?
National Youth Choirs GB Women Composers resource
NYCGB have ending their year-long 'Women in Song' project, by releasing a list of music by female composers and arrangers to inspire other choirs.
The list is a useful tool for primarily at leaders of youth and community choirs, and gives repertoire ideas and practical information, with 150 suggestions ranging from Hildegard von Bingen to Arianna Grande
Get the list on their website now.
Read moreSpring Term 2017 Resource Ideas
Free Online Teacher Resources and Live Workshops
Free Online Teacher Resources and Live WorkshopsAs part of an ongoing partnership between Music for Youth and the National Union of Teachers (NUT), we have commissioned a suite of resources that are aimed at non-specialist teachers and leaders teaching music to 6-11 year olds.
Rhinegold Music Teacher magazine
A great place for fresh ideas and inspiration for the new school year.
Teaching Jazz and Improvisation
National Association for Music Education
Follow this link for some great advice on how to teach improvisation to beginners. And while you're there explore their Music in a Minuet blog.
ABRSM: Libretto - Getting started with jazz
Mark Armstrong reflects on the value of teaching jazz and offers some practical ways to begin.
Read moreSummer Term Resource Ideas
Classic FM online
Bringing together an eclectic selection of videos, quizzes, guides, quotes, reviews and much more.
Music Education UK
If you want to keep up to date with what's going on in music education right across the country this is an excellent place to start. There are listings for CPD training events and music summer schools alongside the latest news and helpful links.
Read more
January's Resource of the Month
Women Composers
A wonderful resource with information about often overlooked composers spanning 4 centuries.
Read more
November's Resource of the Month
The music examinations board ABRSM has just launched their new online resource for primary school Classical 100 in partnership with record label Decca and Classic FM.
Classical 100 is a free resource for all primary school teachers looking to engage and inspire their pupils with classical music. Complementing existing teaching resources, this easy-to-use web-based resource sets out to stimulate a child’s lifelong appreciation, understanding and enjoyment of music in all of its forms.
It offers 100 pieces of fantastic music – new and old – designed to whet the appetite and spark a child’s curiosity in music. Crucially, every piece featured has been carefully selected by primary school specialists for teachers to use and draw upon in a variety of settings, whether a school assembly or music lesson.
Read more