Teaching Materials

Increasing music literacy without increasing marking

As music teachers, we know that music literacy is very important. This resource will look at ways we can increase students’ vocabulary across KS3 and 4, with short, time-efficient tasks that do not...

Teaching Materials

Putting on a concert or event

The aim of this resource is to provide music teachers with a toolkit that can be used to make sure that any concert or event is a success for staff, students and audiences.

Teaching Materials

Developing wider listening: jazz, part 3

The final part of our Developing Wider Listening resource on jazz focuses on what happened in jazz after the Second World War. We'll look at the new styles that emerged and consider how jazz ‘coped’...

Teaching Materials

Breathing for wind players and singers: practical guidance

Following a resource on the idea of ‘enhanced natural breathing’, we take a look at practical ways to help students rediscover their natural breath and then enhance it for their musical needs.

Teaching Materials

The one-person music department

Working as a one-person music department is an important topic, and one that’s close to my heart. Being in this situation isn’t easy, but in this resource, we’ll be looking at some ideas on how to...

Teaching Materials

Developing wider listening: jazz, part 2

In the first of this three-part Developing Wider Listening resource on jazz we looked at the origins of the genre, from its roots in the work songs and spirituals associated with slavery in America in...

Teaching Materials

OCR AoS6: serialism

OCR has three works by Berg, Webern and Schoenberg among its suggested repertoire for AoS6, Innovations in Music 1900 to the present day. In this resource, we’ll look into those pieces and put them in...

Teaching Materials

Transposition for brass

It always comes as a surprise to non–musicians – and, indeed, to many musicians – when they’re told that approximately 90% of the time, orchestral trumpeters are not actually playing the notes written...

Teaching Materials

Edexcel AoS3: wider listening, part 2

Last month we looked at the first two of the four pieces of music suggested by Pearson Edexcel for wider listening as part of Area of Study (AoS) 3, Music for Stage and Screen. In this month’s...

Teaching Materials

‘No-practice’ instrumental lessons

In an ideal world, our students would bound up to the practice room door exactly two minutes before their allotted lesson time, instruments and books in hand, keen as mustard to demonstrate the fruits...

Teaching Materials

Marketing your music department

In this resource, we’ll be looking at how you can effectively market your music department. We’ll consider why this is something you should do, and also some of the steps you need to take. We’ll look...

Teaching Materials

Festive study: ‘White Winter Hymnal’

In the lead up to Christmas, there are a lot of pulls on a music department. Having back-up resources that require limited effort from teachers and yet create rich learning activities with...

Teaching Materials