This resource focuses on the key areas of music theory that are common across all exam boards. I'll also share some ideas and strategies that have worked in my own lessons, with the aim of providing...
James Manwaring Secondary education
Teaching programme music should be the fun bit. It's where music is at its most descriptive and vivid, with an obvious narrative that offers an ideal launch point into the exploration of so many core...
Jonathan James Secondary education
With graded instrumental repertoire widely available, and three out of four GCSE exam boards linking standards to an equivalent grade, there can be a bias towards performing at KS3 as the means to...
Anna Gower Secondary education
The aim of this resource is to cover both the usual areas required for examination, as well as offering some more context that might provoke wider exploration beyond the prescribed work and enhance...
Jonathan James Secondary education
My students might be resistant to classical music. How can I get them on side?I want to keep things practical, and don't want to turn my lessons into a music history lecture or old-fashioned music...
Jane Werry Secondary education
This is the third of three resources designed to help students revise effectively and positively for this summer's written music exams. The first (Music Teacher, March 2019) was a general resource,...
Simon Rushby Secondary education
In part two to this three-part resource (Music Teacher, March 2019, with part one February 2019), we saw how Romantic composers of all creative persuasions, whether nationalist or individualist, took...
Jonathan James Secondary education
This resource is intended to provide activities and ideas for students that will help them to revise effectively for the summer GCSE music exam, and it follows a resource on general strategies for...
Simon Rushby Secondary education
Revision can be a word with largely negative connotations. For teachers, it can mean producing ‘packs’ and summary resources, going back over old ground with students, and finding innovative ways to...
Simon Rushby Secondary education
In the second of this three-part resource (for part one, see Music Teacher, February 2019), we will be joining the story of the symphony at its heyday in the 19th century, where the form expanded and...
Jonathan James Secondary education
What is music? What is composition? What is a ‘new direction’ in music? Who is John Cage?
These are the topics I'll cover in this resource on John Cage's Three Dances for two prepared pianos, one of...
The short answer is that it gives a lot of bang for your buck: you can explore many musical concepts through a unit on variations in a relatively short space of time. These include meaty compositional...
Jane Werry Secondary education