Primary Music Teaching in the 21st century
I wrote this article for the British Kodály Academy Newsletter (Spring 2011)
1100 words
As a primary school teacher I have always tried to put a lot of music into what I do. Over the years this has included playing guitar and singing with my classes, teaching ‘cello, running a computer music club, leading the school choir and so on. In November 2008 I moved to Forest Gate in Newham, and on my first evening there I read a copy of The Newham Recorder.
I wrote this article for the British Kodaly Academy’s newsletter (Spring 2014)
1100 words
“…if it is possible to change the world we have not created, that of nature, why not change the world of our own creation, that of culture…?” 1
Paulo Freire
Since writing in the Spring 2011 newsletter about my recent introduction to Kodály music teaching I have completed the BKA’s HE1 and HE3 Methodology courses and worked my way through the Elementary, Intermediate and Advanced Musicianship courses with the Kodály Centre of London (David and Yuko Vinden).
Continue reading “My Kodály Journey – Part II (three years on)”
I wrote the following article for the Slow Education movement’s website: http://sloweducation.co.uk/
600 words
Parents, teachers and head teachers are increasingly attracted to ‘slow education’ as the schools they are involved with become more limited in their outlook: a narrow curriculum (e.g. the E-BACC in secondary schools) feeding a test-driven system (e.g. SPAG tests and high stakes SATs in primary schools) where there is little room for reflection and experimentation and, as if to highlight this, a devaluing of the creative arts.
An article for the briefing document of the Westminster Education Forum’s Keynote Seminar: ‘The Future of Music Education in England’. 09.12.16
600 words
We heard from numerous organisations on the day: Youth Music, In Harmony, Sistema England, Musical Futures, individual schools, individual authorities and so on. I am encouraged by Westminster Education Forum, in writing this article, to focus on relevant issues “…not your organisation’s achievements or activities”.
Click on this link to read an article about music teaching at Manorfield, published in the Autumn 2105 edition of the Sing Up magazine:
250 words
I have been very lucky to be offered the chance to teach music across the whole school from Nursery to Year 6. Discovering the Kodály approach has been musically enlightening but also pedagogically reassuring. For the last three years I have been a Year 1 teacher. A major feature of current educational thinking in England, led by Shirley Clarke, Dylan William and others, is the primacy of the explicit ‘Learning Intention’ usually broken down into several ‘Success Criteria’.
Continue reading “‘Learning Intentions’ vs Unconscious Learning”
This is an essay I wrote about a Year 4 pupil learning music. It’s 2300 words.
Child Profile
‘…Hungarian musical education is not merely a method, rather a philosophy on the role of music in society, in the life of the child, youth and adult.’1
Erzsebet Szonyi
Serkan, aged 9 (d.o.b. 18.12.03), lives with his mother, his father and his younger brother who is in the year below him at school. They all speak Turkish at home.
This is an essay that I wrote as part of my initial studies with the British Kodaly Academy in 2010/11.
2200 words
‘Kodály training is a holistic musical training for children: one in which the ear, the emotions, the mind and the technique are being attended to at the same time…’
Mannie Burn, BKA Newsletter, Summer 2002
The system of music education developed in Hungary during the twentieth century is named after Zoltan Kodaly (1882 – 1967).
29.06.16
Being in the Room
To begin with I sang ‘Hello Everyone’ with variations of so/mi. The only rule is that the last pitch will be the starting pitch of the next time. At first quite a few children don’t join in. I cajole them in a lighthearted way; it’s the afternoon, they look like they’d rather go home!
24.06.16
Motivation, Musicianship and Multiple Brains
All in a circle I remind them of the sea shanty song from last week. We sing ‘I’ve Been to Harlem’ without any warm up. The whole lesson is 30 minutes so I treat this first run-through as a warm up! I encourage the class to rock from one foot to the other on a slower tempo (minims). During a second run-through I produce a lightweight plastic football. In response the singing picks up a little in anticipation of a game*.
Continue reading “Yr5_Motivation, Musicianship and Multiple Brains”