You booked it – we made it bigger!
Due to a rush of bookings, we have decided to release more places for our Music Teacher’s Toolbox on 25th March. Get in quick before we run out of space again.
You’ll get expert guidance on using Figurenotes with different instruments and in different scenarios. You’ll learn how to get your students to progress to reading standard notation. Whatever your teaching situation, there’s a way for your music lessons to incorporate inclusive, cross-curricular learning using Figurenotes. Want to create your own resources? You’ll be guided through the software, allowing you to tailor your resources to your pupils’ needs. With warm up ideas, games, and personalised advice, you’ll leave inspired and ready to shake up your teaching. It is also a great chance to network and share good practice.
Take a look at the full programme and complete the booking form, so that we can tailor our sessions according to your needs. You can also pay online or request an invoice at checkout. Get in touch if you need to send a purchase order.
We’d love to have you there, but you’ll need to book soon, as we always get fully booked!
We are delighted to announce an exciting new partnership with Snape Maltings (formerly Aldeburgh Music).
Their Friday Afternoons project encourages children and young people to sing. Since 2013, there have been more than 80,000 participants, from all around the world. New songs are commissioned annually, with the most recent compositions from Jonathan Dove, creating a song bank of repertoire for children and young people’s voices.
To add to their inclusive resources, Friday Afternoons has asked us to produce Figurenotes scores for some of the newest songs. Five of Jonathan Dove’s songs are now available in Figurenotes. Both stage 1 and stage 3 are available to download free from the Song Bank, allowing your pupils to progress towards reading standard notation.
If you’re heading to the Music Education Expo on Friday 10th February, make sure you visit the Friday Afternoon stall (M1) at 3pm for the launch.
The resources make reading music more intuitive, particularly when it comes to rhythm. Figurenotes is ideal for class teachers who want to get their whole class singing and playing together, whilst letting students progress through their reading at their own pace. The system is truly inclusive, so those with ASN/SEND can access the same resources as the rest of the class, removing those barriers that can exclude some pupils. Get your whole class started on Figurenotes and let each pupil move onto the next stage when they are ready.
To find out more about extra resources and training, sign up to the Figurenotes mailing list. Like us on Facebook and Twitter.
If you want to improve the delivery of your sessions, making music truly inclusive, come to our Music Teacher’s Toolbox for excellent training. Our award-winning CPD is delivered by Drake Music Scotland on 25th March, 2017. See the full programme here.
Are you visiting the Music Education Expo this Friday?
Make sure you’re at stand M1 at 3pm.
We are launching some exciting new resources in partnership with Friday Afternoons.
Snape Maltings (formerly Aldeburgh Music) is hosting the launch at the Music Education Expo with a visit from Emma Lines from Drake Music Scotland, the charity behind this site.
Visit the Friday Afternoons stall (M1) at 3pm on Friday 10th February
Look out for another blog post on Friday explaining the resources and more about the Friday Afternoons project.
To find out more about resources and training, follow us on social media using the buttons below.
Sam Dook from ‘Carousel’, a disability led arts organisation in Brighton, tells us of the joys of collaboration and composition, along with some great advice on which resources to use to get you started.
For the last two years we have explored implementing Figurenotes in our music projects. It has proven to be very successful; perfect for supporting artists with learning disabilities to create and notate original music, as well as learning to play instruments. We have found Figurenotes to be incredibly inclusive, it enables people of all abilities to participate in group musical activities.
Project participants use Figurenotes flashcards to explore sound
When using Figurenotes in sessions, it is very useful to have a selection of colourful resources to work with. One of the first resources we used was the ‘Five Note Row’ (available from the Figurenotes Resource Base). I would thoroughly recommend this resource. It is a great way to quickly see how a simple bass line and melody can be created through a simple choice-making process. When trialling this resource, I found it worked brilliantly to assign the playing of the bass line part to one person or group, and the melody part to another person or group. This makes for a great teamwork exercise too.
We have also experimented with creating our own Figurenotes resources. A pack of laminated flashcards is really useful if working with larger groups. You can get flashcards of colours and chords from the Resource Base. The latest resource I tried to develop was a set of handheld cards in Figurenotes colours, including a joker card.
Handheld Flashcards
The idea was to use these cards in the early initial assessment stage of implementing Figurenotes in a project. The cards were a perfect size for a simple colour-matching exercise or a game of snap, both of which will inform the facilitator of individuals’ abilities to match the colours, which is an integral skill needed when working with Figurenotes scores etc.
We are still thinking of variations of games you could play with these cards. One idea would be a game whereby at some stage in the game you would make a musical part from the hand that you are holding by laying the cards out and playing the sequence. I think there could be many ideas on these kind of themes that would make for fun, engaging ways to explore music using Figurenotes. You can pick up the resource here:Figurenotes Cards.
One piece of advice, if you are making your own resources, is to use the same shades of the colours that are already present on official Figurenotes resources, as the colour shades work much better if they are universal across all the resources.
A new project of ours, called ‘The Carousel House Band’, aims to further explore Figurenotes. The band is embarking on a variety of commissions, collaborations and challenges to test the flexibility of the system. The band’s most recent collaboration was with learning disabled singer Daniel Wakeford, who is known to many as one of the stars of the Channel 4 programme ‘The Undateables’. Daniel is a talented singer and songwriter.
Daniel Wakeford
The band wanted to explore writing an original Christmas song with Daniel. We used Figurenotes as a way of exploring creating chord sequences.
Daniel wrote original lyrics and explored melody and composition with the band. ‘When the Stars of Christmas’ was the result of this collaboration. You can hear it here. The bass guitar score is at the end of this blog.
The band performed the song live to an audience at the Blue Camel Club, a learning disabled led club night in Brighton
The Carousel House band with Daniel Wakeford
The Carousel House Band will continue to explore using Figurenotes in different settings throughout the year. I am writing a regular blog about the journey of the project.
Learn more about Carousel and their work in Brighton here.
We wanted to start 2017 with some positivity, so when Bern MacLeod emailed to tell us how they’ve been using Figurenotes in a project in Uganda, we thought we should share it with you all.
How do I tell the story of Figurenotes in Uganda?
In 2015, we conducted workshops where 22 orphan students from the countryside used the tools and jigs that we brought to Mbale in Uganda to make their own 3 stringed diatonic stick dulcimer. All of them successfully made a dulcimer. We then contacted a wonderful Ugandan musician who immediately took to using Figurenotes to teach the children.
Over the past year a 30 piece orchestra has been formed at one primary school. All of the students have learned to read Figurenotes and all are able to play the dulcimer. Some of the children play drums, shakers and thumb pianos, as well as Ugandan harps and violins. You can see some of the progress in the photos and videos below.
Figurenotes was very useful since many of the students are not fluent in English and there are many local dialects. In fact, teaching in Figurenotes improved their English. The teacher, Mr Ogarima Johnson, is writing a book on his experiences with Figurenotes.
We have refined the process of making a dulcimer into a kit, which requires the students to do a minimum of woodwork, while retaining their pride in constructing their own instruments. In a small community in British Columbia we had students construct, finish and tune their dulcimers and learn ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ and ‘Row, Row Row, your Boat’ over two full days. Because the dulcimer is diatonic in G and open tuned, it is difficult to play a clashing note. As the students progress, we can add frets to permit a number of keys to used.
The joy and pride of the students is a wonderful experience. There is a better description of this in loveistheanswer.ca under the music project education heading. I would be very interested in hearing from others teaching students of other cultures and languages as well as anyone who wants to have children make their own instruments.
Bern MacLeod and Judy Storr
Vancouver BC
Canada
We hope Bern’s story has inspired you to start 2017 with positivity and enthusiasm. Happy New Year!
Figurenotes HQ will be closed from lunchtime on 15th December until 4th January 2017. I can’t say whether Santa and the elves work here the rest of the year, but that can’t be a coincidence!
Please be sure to get your orders in by 10am on 15th December, in order for our elves to work their magic and get everything posted by the recommended Royal Mail posting deadlines. I’m afraid we don’t offer sleigh delivery, as it is in the workshop preparing for the 24th.
I’d better stop writing, before I give away all our secrets! Just one more thing…make sure you sign up to the mailing list to get your hands on the last bits of the Figurenotes Advent Calendar. Gifts and discounts to reward you for being so good throughout the year.
We asked Santa and he can’t find your names on the naughty list, so you must have been very good this year. We’ve decided to treat you all to a Figurenotes Advent Calendar. Sign up via the mailing list and we’ll send you a gift each Sunday of Advent. From resources to discount codes, those people who receive our mailing list will get 4 gifts throughout December. To join in the fun and get your hands on some exclusive goodies, sign up here.
For those who love a good sing song, there are only a couple of Carol packs left in the online shop. We’ve also added the Creative Christmas resources from the last Music Teacher’s Toolbox on to the Resource Base.
Like to get organised for the year ahead? Book your place on our next Music Teacher’s Toolbox training day – 25th March 2017. We have only released 10 places and they are already getting booked up!
Although we cannot guarantee delivery by Christmas, the last postage date advised by the Royal Mail to mainland UK is 15th December. Please get your order in by 10am on this day for it to be processed before Christmas.
Well done for surviving the Christmas concerts and endless requests for Jingle Bells. The end of term is in sight!
One of my favourite jobs on a weary Monday morning after a weekend of training is reading the feedback forms. It is so rewarding to see how valuable this type of training is to so many people. Some of our most experienced Figurenoters were training alongside those completely new to this way of notating and learning music, and everyone found what they were looking for.
Thank you to everyone who came. Thank you for your enthusiasm and your willingness to try new things and new ways of thinking about teaching.
There was a long waiting list for this CPD, so we’ve decided to release 10 places for the next Music Teacher’s Toolbox on 25th March, 2017. Click here for more information. Remember that members of the Resource Base get 10% off using the code RB2017. These days always sell out, so make sure you’re the early bird! Please tell us what you’d like to see on this training day, as we’ll be discussing the programme very soon. Sign up to the mailing list to stay updated.
See some of the feedback from last weekend below:
“Immensely useful. Gained loads of confidence, motivation, and success! Loads of ideas as to how to implement this work within our charity. Everyone was extremely helpful and enthusiastic. Thank you so much. A very interesting and informative day.”
“Lots of new ideas. Wonderful resources for Christmas. Renewed enthusiasm and reminders. Fabulous day! Well worth the trip. Please just keep doing what you’re doing!”
“A great day sharing ideas, resources, and getting a better grip of the Figurenotes software. Loved the band workshops – lots of useful ideas and lots of fun!”
“Excellent day. Very well presented, in an open, friendly setting. Absolutely everything has been useful! Nice to network and I picked up loads of ideas to take forward.”
“I really enjoyed the day and gained more ideas of how to use Figurenotes with pupils. Thank you!”
“I just love it. It has worked so well!”“Wow! Figurenotes really transformed my lessons. I love it!”“The way of displaying rhythm is brilliant. It makes total sense.”“I’ve tried to use colour before, but Figurenotes is just perfect.”
We were drowning in compliments at the ABRSM conference. With over 500 instrumental teachers attending, Emma and Lauren were kept very busy explaining how Figurenotes could help in instrumental lessons. One of the first people through the door was a teacher we met here last year. It was wonderful to hear how Figurenotes has transformed his teaching during the past year, especially in one particular special school. He is now taking his pupils towards stage 2 Figurenotes, so we suggested some ideas from Fi Sharp’s blog.
Thanks to the ABRSM for gathering such an interesting group of delegates and exhibitors in one place. So long, and thanks for all the biscuits.
“You’re going to need a bigger boat” – Music Teacher’s Toolbox is proving so popular that we’ve booked a bigger space.
Looking at a fully-booked CPD course, we thought we’d better make room for some others, so we have released 2 more places. You can see the full programme and book. Please remember to fill in the booking form to give us a little more information about your work and what you’d like to learn.
On November 19th, we welcome a host of musicians and teachers from across the UK for our Music Teacher’s Toolbox training. Not only will they get hands-on experience of using Figurenotes in many different settings, they’ll also have access to the software, expert advice and tuition, and unlimited amounts of fun and inspiration!
Our Figurenotes play-together at the end of each training day is a chance for our participants to put what they have learned into practice in a band setting. Most discover a previously undiscovered love of the bass guitar and are surprised at how easily they can play something completely new to them. This experience often influences how Figurenotes can be used in their teaching. We love seeing those ‘Eureka!’ moments when they see which pupils will benefit most from a particular Figurenotes teaching technique.
We have just released 2 more places on this previously sold out course, so please get in touch if you’d like to improve your skills in inclusive music in a fun, supportive environment. Find out more on our website.
