Free use of materials that deliver the full music curriculum

What is the most effective way of using creative music to explore the interdisciplinary teaching of themes and topics in the classroom?

There is a method of teaching which helps to deliver the national curriculum both for music and also a number of other subject areas.

What’s more, it can be used by you or your colleagues irrespective of whether you have had any musical training or experience in the past.

The approach incorporates lesson plans written in simple language with a clear layout, teacher’s guides, and a website that incorporates everything you need to teach the lessons.

As a result the approach allows all children to compose and perform their own rhythms from Year 2 onwards.

Better still, it is possible to use these materials free of charge for a month so that you can experience in detail the process that focuses around the performance of music which the children in your class create themselves.

For most primary school children this is one of the most exciting activities that they can imagine. Very quickly they develop a great sense of pride in the fact that the music is “their” music. They wrote it, they created it, they perform it.

The approach – which can be experienced via the free trial – is achieved through using the multiple possibilities of the interactive whiteboard.

From the start children learn about the basic building blocks of music by creating with them and performing the results using age appropriate notation that is easy for non-musical teachers to understand and use.

This develops general musical skills in rhythm, pitch, singing, and using instruments, and as a result children begin to explore both creativity and personal performance skills, all within the context of team work.

There are clear links to literacy and numeracy from the very beginning of the project, and later on the children are encouraged to make up music and lyrics in relation to other subject areas.

You can find more information about this resource by clicking here.

Sign up for a free trial course at http://www.abcmusic.org.uk/trial.php

Alternatively, please do email me at tom@abccreativemusic.com

Tom Bancroft