Teaching Materials | Tips for teachers

AQA AoS1: the orchestral music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

This topic is part of Area of Study 1 for AQA GCSE music and includes a ‘study piece’: the second movement of Haydn's Clock Symphony (covered in its own resource, Music Teacher, November 2017)....

Secondary education

Putting on a school musical, part two

The first part of this two-part resource (Music Teacher, December 2019) looked at the creative side of putting on a musical. This second part will consider the practical side, including ideas on how...

Secondary education

Do Now activities

A Do Now activity (sometimes called Do It Now) – as its name suggests – is an activity that students do as soon as they enter the classroom.
Their two main purposes are to settle the class, and to...

Secondary education

World tour: the Caribbean

This is the first in a ‘World tour’ series of resources exploring musical styles from different parts of the world that otherwise might not make a big impact on the Key Stage 3 curriculum.

Secondary education

Learning through sound

This resource looks at placing sound at the forefront of everything you teach.

Extra-curricular music

A Christmas stocking for KS2 to KS5

The following is a Christmas stocking of ideas for KS2 through to KS5. The aims are to widen listening using the right vocabulary, to try out different compositional techniques – and to have some...

Primary education

Putting on a school musical, part one

If you've never put on a musical or you're about to embark on the process, then this resource is for you. It is split into two parts, the first covering the musical side and the second dealing with...

Secondary education

Stormzy vs Mozart

This resource uses the idea of comparing the music of Stormzy and Mozart as a springboard for performing, listening and analysing at KS3. The idea is not to promote one above the other, but to...

Secondary education

Time management in instrumental lessons

This resource is intended to help visiting music teachers improve their time management in 20- to 30-minute lessons, teaching individual students or small groups.

Extra-curricular music

Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

This is one of the two set works chosen by IB for assessment from 2020, and it allows students to approach many different concepts and themes: Romanticism and Rachmaninov's place as the ‘last great...

Secondary education

Homework at KS3

Homework can be a valuable means of covering some of the factual knowledge about music that you want to bring into your lessons. By covering some of this in advance through homework tasks, you're...

Secondary education

Getting started with Cubase Elements 10: part two

This is the second part of a two-part resource on Cubase Elements 10. Part one (Music Teacher, October 2019) covered the basics of the software, how to start students off, how to get started, creating...

Secondary education