• NMC Composers

    The commission from Rhinegold with NMC Recordings is near completion. I was able to visit Music Sales and interview Judith Weir for the video that will accompany the resource on her work and it struck me that as a whole the commission will reveal some powerful yet practical composing advice for young people. Judith made…

  • ROH Fanfare 2016

    Fanfare 2016 webpages are now live! It was a pleasure to work with the Learning & Participation department to develop new resources for teachers and students.  http://www.roh.org.uk/learning/schools-and-colleges/fanfare  The webpages include: Fanfare 2016 resource pack – this is an updated version from the one handed out at the CPD workshop (also attached as a PDF) Fanfare…

  • Let’s have some serious fun

    I discovered this wonderful video clip from a 1985 documentary following the vocal group ‘Fascinating Aida’. It reminded me of the King Singers equally amusing video about the history of Music: And then the even more amusing: I don’t see it as a problem to make something amusing of something serious; the Kings’ Singers performance…

  • Teach Through Music – Artist collaboration (1)

    I’m so grateful to TTM for giving all the Fellows an opportunity to work with an artist. My initial priority for such a collaboration was to investigate opera writing for children. Getting a new post during the TTM year meant my priorities changed; I would be the musical director for Into the Woods at my…

  • Orchestral Disturbance

    I stumbled upon this: ‘Modern Toss presents a comedy take on a Classical Music concert’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02ysg91 And that it does. It got me thinking that is kind of activity would be excellent to try with classes. Give them the video performance of a piece of music and let them recreate the sounds. They have to think…

  • Response to ‘How do we get music teachers the CPD that they want?’

    My response to John Kelleher’s http://www.teacherandmusician.com/2015/08/how-do-we-get-music-teachers-the-cpd-that-they-want.html/#more-692 I think Music teachers need to see a wider variety of activities as CPD – not just formally organised events (that often cost a lot of money… how much is the average INSET course per day?). Joining a choir and being rehearsed by excellent practitioners (such as Simon Halsey and…

  • GCSE Music 2016: ensembles?

    I spent the morning going through the four main specifications with a group of teaching colleagues from other schools. It was good to spend the time (nearly 4 hours) discussing and spotting some intriguing similarities and differences between the boards.  The set work and unfamiliar balance is one I’m particularly concerned with: Edexcel gives 85%…

  • Are Art and Music so different? (Guest Editorial)

    Editorial for TeachTalkMusic can be found here: https://teachtalkmusic.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/are-art-and-music-so-different/?utm_content=buffer648c0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer Thanks to David Ashworth for the invitation. Text of the Editorial is printed below. Are Art and Music so different? Art happens unexpectedly. No one expected the British artists of Emin’s generation to become famous like they did – least of all, I suspect, their art teachers.…

  • Keep being taught to learn

    “Musical Futures is a global movement that transforms, engages and inspires people through making music that is meaningful to them; the festival builds on its aims to create exciting, innovative, tried-and-tested learning methods and approaches which are based on the way self-taught musicians learn. Dedicated to providing hands-on training and resources, the Music Learning Revolution…

  • How important is planning composing at GCSE?

    I spent a lovely afternoon meeting the Music Department at the Stephen Perse Foundation Senior School. We discussed approaches to developing free composition skills at GCSE and reflected on the value of pre-planning; how much is useful, necessary? I wondered if the more one plans *before* the actual composing does it speed up or limit…