Our Music Teacher’s Toolbox was a huge success last Saturday! Not only did we explore how to make the most of those minuscule music department budgets, but we rocked out to everything from Prince to the King of Pop. Our participants arrived with limited or no knowledge of the software and left us Figurenotey technical whizz kids, excited to go and create their own scores.

“It’s given me a wealth of ideas to take away. The balance between listening to presentations and information, and practical, creative elements was really good. Really enjoyable. Thanks for a great day. It was a lovely relaxed atmosphere.’

It seems everyone left feeling inspired.

“Excellent! Gave me lots of good ideas to try and inspired me to explore more in the future too. All very useful. Session on software was particularly helpful and the opportunity to meet other in the sector was very enjoyable. A good atmosphere. Very inspiring!”

“This workshop has opened up a wealth of possibilities for me to be able to use with my group. I found this amazingly useful and am feeling excited about trying all the new ideas and skills. Thank you very much for today. Very much appreciated.”

Thank you to everyone who came. Remember, if you’d like training, we can provide bespoke training to your school or organisation. Alternatively, come along to our Music Teacher’s Toolbox training days. These run twice a year and are for individuals and small groups to come together, learn, and share. Great CPD from the leaders in inclusive music – Drake Music Scotland. For more information, see our training pages.

Keep an eye on our YouTube channel for wee videos

The nicest part of our job here at Figurenotes HQ is when we go out into the big, wide world and share our knowledge of inclusive music education. That magic spark when you see a fire light behind the eyes of a music teacher or practitioner, knowing that what they do with that inspiration will change the lives of their pupils.

We have a pretty full schedule when it comes to training and projects, whether for organisations or schools. We recently did some bespoke training for the Tinderbox Project, Beatroute Arts, the DASH Club, and Aberdeenshire Council. Our upcoming training for teachers in the Scottish Borders will be fun!

Our ever-popular Music Teacher’s Toolbox days are special to us, because they bring together individuals from different organisations, as well as freelance musicians and teachers. Bringing together people from all forms of music education, some of whom often feel quite alone in their area of work, is so beneficial in terms of sharing ideas, good practice, and networking. We are building a wonderful community of Figurenoters, particularly in Scotland, where we see so many people returning each and every course, always excited about what they will get out of it this time round.

If you haven’t got your CPD booked yet, and would love to be inspired by Figurenotes, then enquire through the training pages. Limited places also available on the Music Teacher’s Toolbox on 23rd April, 2016.

Apologies to any customers experiencing problems with Figurenotes software v3.  Some issues have been reported, which can’t be fixed immediately, so we are withdrawing it from sale for the time being.  We will be in touch with those of you affected directly and if you experience any problems, please let us know, as this information is very useful.

In the meantime, you can buy the previous version of the software for the cheaper price of £35.  If you want access to other tunes and resources then you should consider a subscription to our Resource Base.  This is regularly updated and great value for less than £2 a month.

We will of course keep you updated on progress so keep a look out for news, particularly via our mailing list.  We are truly sorry that we have had to take this action, as we know some of you have been waiting patiently for the new software.  Please get in touch with us via laurenclay@drakemusicscotland.org if you have any feedback, comments, or questions.

We cannot wait for April 23rd. Why? Because Music Teacher’s Toolbox is back!

Come and join us for some seriously inspirational CPD from the experts at Drake Music Scotland. This training day is perfect for all music practitioners, educators, therapists, and community musicians. The full programme can be found here.

• Get a tutorial using the new Figurenotes software

• Learn how to use Figurenotes on a shoestring, making your budget go further

• Get creative with Figurenotes, especially useful when your department is lacking in resources

• Loads more interactive, inspirational, and adaptable ideas and sessions.

Book early to avoid disappointment. This is a hugely popular day and space is limited.

Remember that all members of the Resource Base get 10% off these training days.

Book now

To stay up to date on v3, please join our mailing list

Improvements to the new software will include:

• Triplets – This opens up a whole new world of pieces to play. A little bit overexcited about finding all the pieces with triplets in. First stop, Mars!
• Text Boxes – Moveable text boxes allow greater control over instruction and expression markings. They also work brilliantly for second verse lyrics.
• Expression Palette – Fantastic for adding extra expression markings, such as dynamics and articulation. This is particularly good for developing more towards standard notation.
• Improved Stability – Lots of fixed bugs and improvements, including the problem with the moving page in the Windows version.

We will also have value bundles of 10 or 20 copies, each licensed to two computers. These offer great value and are brilliant for organisations and schools.

We recently sent three of our Figurenotes gurus down to London to spread the word at the Music Education Expo 2016. Welcome to all those that we chatted to on our stall. Welcome to our community of Figurenoters and brilliant teachers, musicians, and all-round inspirational people. Join our Facebook group if you want more contact with others.

Figurenotes was a finalist for Best SEND Resource in the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence. Sadly, we didn’t win this year. Well done to all the finalists and winners at the awards. It was lovely to be surrounded by people doing such fantastic work.

Thank you to those that nominated us for this award. It is so lovely to have our hard work recognised. All the staff at Drake Music Scotland, the charity behind these resources, send a big thank you to you all.

We are off to London for the Music Education Expo, 2016! Figurenotes has been shortlisted for the Best SEND Resource in the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence. We won this award in 2014 and it is very exciting to be shortlisted again. Fingers crossed!

Come and see us during the Music Education Expo on Stand H17. Special prices apply when you buy resources at the event, so bring cash to make sure you get the best deal. We are really looking forward to getting more people hooked on Figurenotes and helping break down barriers within music education.

We have our Figurenotes elves until 17th December, when we have to give them back to Santa. Elves don’t get Christmas holiday like the rest of us. Please get your online orders in by 9am on 17th Dec in order to get them processed and posted by 4pm the same day. I’m afraid we cannot guarantee delivery by Christmas. This will be our last posting date before 5th January. For orders by invoice, please get them to us asap, as it takes time for invoices to be processed and paid. We will do our best to get them done before Dec 17th, but we cannot guarantee. Keep an eye on the Figurenotes Facebook page for lots of Christmas fun, free tunes, and silly videos. Merry Christmas!

Through the work of Drake Music Scotland, Figurenotes has been shortlisted for Best SEND Resource at the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence. After winning the award in 2014, we are delighted to announce that we are finalists for 2016. It is wonderful to have all our hard work recognised and supported in this way.

We have great connections with a lot of the other finalists:

BBC Ten Pieces has Figurenotes resources as part of their brilliant music education initiative, making it easy to incorporate it into your teaching. Congratulations to the BBC Ten Pieces team for being shortlisted for Best Classical Music Education Initiative.

East Ayrshire Council has been shortlisted for Best Education Council Major Award. Drake Music Scotland have used Figurenotes extensively in their work with East Ayrshire Council in schools. It has been a really rewarding relationship and we are extremely pleased for them. SoundCity: Brighton and Hove are also up for this award, who have had Figurenotes training and continue to push for inclusion in their work.

Well done to everyone who made the shortlist, particularly our fellow finalists:

• Theremini (Moog)
• Skoog (Skoogmusic)
• SoundLab (Heart n Soul/Unthinkable Consulting/Goldsmiths/Public Domain Corporation)
• AlphaSphere

The Favela Brass Project has been using Figurenotes to teach their students with great success! They provide free instrumental music lessons for children in a small favela in Rio de Janeiro. Founder, Tom Ashe, says that Figurenotes “makes students’ first musical steps as simple and enjoyable as possible.” Their students regularly perform on trumpets, trombones, saxophones, glockenspiels, samba instruments and more! One of their most recent performance was at the Queen’s Birthday celebrations put on by the British Consulate-General in Rio de Janeiro. A huge boost for the students, not only for the prestigious performance opportunity, but also in motivation to practise! To find out more about Favela Brass and their Figurenotes journey, take a look at their website and Facebook page. We particularly like how Tom and his colleagues find new applications for Figurenotes all the time. It is such an adaptable tool to have in your teaching toolbox. Take a look at how they teach fingerings using Figurenotes projected on the wall.