Drake Music Scotland, the charity behind this site, recently won a Curiosity Award. This has allowed us to make a demo Figurenotes app, which we hope will act as preparation before taking up an instrument. The app will develop musical skills in a game-like environment. We don’t know if this app will be made available to the public yet, as it is only a prototype for now, but we wanted to share this exciting news with you all. There is a sneak peek in the photo above.

Lauren recently presented at Light Bytes to tell them how the app is developing. Light Bytes and the Curiosity Awards are run by Creative Edinburgh, Creative Dundee, and We Throw Switches; and supported by Creative Scotland. The app has been developed by Alex Horowitz. We love how he has taken the simplicity of Figurenotes and made a beautiful journey through the clouds, helping you to improve your skills as you go. Fun, motivational, and educational. If you want to see Lauren’s presentation, it was sent out via Periscope on Twitter.

We can't wait until 19th November. Why? It is the next Music Teacher's Toolbox! *insert your own personal fanfare here*

These training days are packed full of inspiration, whether you are new to Figurenotes or an experienced Figurenoter. Perfect for freelance music practitioners looking for some CPD. Great for teachers in both mainstream and special schools who might be looking for a way of teaching music to a class with a mix of abilities and needs. Ideal for those organisations who want to offer CPD to their staff without organising their own training days. Make the most of Drake Music Scotland's experts.

Further details on the programme are available here. You can book online or send us a purchase order. Take a look at some videos from previous training and read what the participants have said. If you have any questions then please call 0131 659 4766 or email Lauren at Figurenotes HQ.

Are you a member of the Resource Base? Congratulations, you get 10% off! Use the code RB2016 at the checkout.

Places are limited and we always get fully booked, so secure your place now. We can't wait to see you all.

Ok, so your school may not have a Steinway, but I’m sure we have all run into this issue when using Figurenotes in schools. Those beady eyed Figurenoters among you may have seen that we now have Reusable Stickers in our online shop. These went down a storm at the ISME Conference at the end of July, as they are great for those teachers that may not be able to put stickers on school instruments, or don’t want to have stickers on their piano for all of their pupils’ lessons. Perfectly sized for piano, which makes them great for pitched percussion too, this sheet gives you four octaves of stickers. They are bigger than the usual Figurenotes stickers. The icons are printed onto plastic, making the stickers easy to remove from the keys and stick back onto the sheet. Be careful of those oily fingers on the back, as this will shorten the lifespan of the stickers. Reusable Stickers are now in the online shop for an introductory price of £9.99. Only a limited amount are available, so be quick to get yours before they are all snapped up.

Reusable Stickers #new #music #piano #percussion Perfect for #pianoteachers and #percussionteachers

A video posted by Figurenotes (@figurenotesmusic) on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:07am PDT

These new Reusable #Stickers are hugely #popular! Get them while you can. Introductory price £9.99 while stocks last. www.figurenotes.org/shop #piano #musiced #music #percussion A photo posted by Figurenotes (@figurenotesmusic) on Aug 18, 2016 at 4:15am PDT

Have you ever wanted to be part of an orchestra? The BBC have launched their Get Playing initiative, which includes a virtual orchestra. You record your part in time with the conductor and they’ll do the rest. You could feature in the Last Night of the Proms!

Worried about reading the music? Don’t worry, we’ve Figurenoted the parts for you, so you can play too! Check them out on the BBC Get Playing website. You can play along with the conductor, or choose to play just the tune.

We can’t wait to see your entries! Deadline is 27th August.

We now have a dedicated space on our Resource Base for BBC Ten Pieces. So, if you’ve been wanting to get involved, but weren’t quite sure where to start, or if you’ve been brimming with ideas and want even more, click on over to our Resource Base.

We have lesson plans, scores, creative activities, poetic inspiration, and more! All in wonderful, multicoloured Figurenotes.

These ideas can also fit into a class where not everyone uses Figurenotes. Just choose your resources carefully and edit the Figurenotes files using your software, should you want to.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with and create. Please do send us (and the BBC) your creative projects and performances. We love seeing videos and photos from your sessions. Make sure you have permissions before sending though.

Good luck!

Did you know that Figurenotes is SQA approved?

You can use Figurenotes for both performance and composition in SQA exams all the way up to Advanced Highers!

This means that accreditation can be opened up to a huge range of people that struggle with traditional notation, whether this is because of additional needs, such as dyslexia, or not. By allowing alternative forms of notation to be used and submitted, the SQA is leading in inclusive music accreditation and is recognising that music is music, regardless of how it is read.

If you would like the exam board that you use to start recognising Figurenotes as an alternative form of notation that can be used in accredited exams, please let them know. We would be delighted to follow up with specific information, but they need to know that teachers and pupils want inclusive accreditation.

This is something we should all be fighting for, regardless of whether you work in mainstream or special education. You never know when one of your pupils will need this support and recognition.

We are super excited about presenting with the Finnish creators of Figurenotes at the ISME pre-conference seminar on Special Music Education and Music Therapy! 

Figurenotes will have quite a presence at this incredible conference. You’ll also be able to get our event discounts on resources. There will be performances, workshops, presentations, and papers from international stars of the music education scene.

You can join us for some Figurenotes fun, and lots more besides, by registering online. You’ll need to be quick though, as registration will soon be closing.

If you have any questions regarding this ISME event run by Drake Music Scotland and Edinburgh University, please contact Emma Lines or call 0131 659 4766.

Most teachers and Figurenoters tell us that tutorial videos are the best thing for them to learn from (apart from our excellent training days). We have been busy updating our old Figurenotes software tutorials on YouTube. Some have already gone up, but we would love to take your suggestions for more! If you have any suggestions then please get in touch via our Facebook page, Facebook group, Twitter, or email. No request too small or too simple.

To see all our YouTube videos, visit our Figurenotes channel here. There is a specific playlist just for the software, but feel free to explore our other videos, from training through to Figurenotes Stars. We would love you to send us some videos of your pupils, children, or even yourselves, using Figurenotes. We might even add you to our ‘Figurenotes Stars’ playlist!

Get in touch now.

This Sunday, we will be setting off bright and early to the EPTA conference in Edinburgh. To those not in the know, EPTA is the European Piano Teachers Association.

After chatting with EPTA at the Music Education Expo in February, they got very excited about the potential of Figurenotes for their members, and invited us to this Sunday’s conference.

We are really looking forward to talking to lots of new piano teachers, opening up their teaching practices to new methods of teaching, and promoting inclusivity in music education.

There is also a surprise new product that we’ll be selling, which is particularly useful for piano teachers. If you are a member of our Facebook group ‘Figurenotes – Let’s Make Music’, then you will have had a sneak peak already. We will release more information soon, so keep your eyes and ears open.

We love watching the end of this video. People often start off scared, thinking they are ‘unmusical’ or that they can’t do it. That feeling doesn’t last long with Figurenotes.

That moment when you think you aren’t musical…

…and you discover you can play with Figurenotes!