Please note that, while our online shop is still open, there is likely to be a delay in processing orders due to the coronavirus. The situation is changing quickly and we will be following governmental advice on how we handle it.
We are very excited to see that the BBC Young Composer competition is accepting alternative notation. This means you can enter with your Figurenotes scores!
This would make a great project for a school class, as the deadline isn’t until 11th June 2020. Plenty of time to learn how to create your own original music, write it up in Figurenotes, and send it in. If you’re aged 12-18 and are a budding composer, take a look at the entry requirements and have a go. The prize looks fantastic!
You could use some of our creative composition resources from the Resource Base to give you a boost. Figurenotes works brilliantly for creative composition. You can take inspiration from abstract art that uses colour and shape; maybe use our composing dice made up of rhythms and pitches; or perhaps you want to map out your ideas using coloured sweets or other foods. The possibilities are endless!
Let us know if you’re planning on entering, as we’d love to know how many Figurenotes entries they get.
ThumbJam is undoubtedly one of the greatest apps of all time! This much has always been known amongst music botherers. With over 40 exclusive real instrument samples and hundreds of ready-to-load scales, the flexibility and sensitivity of the app allow for a level of musical expression equal to a traditional instrument. Perfect for beginners and virtuosos alike. S
Here are just a few of the features:
“ThumbJam makes use of tilt and shake to add vibrato, tremolo, note bends, and volume swells for more realistic and expressive results. It supports up to eleven (or five on iPhone) simultaneous touches and up to 24 voice polyphony per instrument. You can even load more instruments simultaneously and split the screen to play them. Delay and lush stereo reverb add depth to the sound. Put on your headphones or plug in to your home stereo and prepare to be blown away.”
In fact, ThumbJam was so good upon first release, it has survived a long stint without any need for drastic changes and updates.
Until now! And guess what they decided to pop into their latest update? Figurenotes integration!! That’s right, now you can add Figurenotes shapes. colours or both to your ThumbJam session. It only takes a few clicks.
Here is Karen, a member of Drake Music Scotland ensembles and fantastic iPad musician, explaining how it all works:
Why not try ThumbJam and Figurenotes in your music sessions?
Our ever-popular training for music teachers and practitioners returns on Saturday 21st March, 2020.
Come and develop your knowledge of creating a more inclusive music classroom. Whether you work in a mainstream setting, as a private teacher, in a specialist environment, or any other music-making context, you’ll learn how to realise your pupil’s potential.
You’ll be using ideas from BBC Ten Pieces to create some mind-bending compositions. Figurenotes is SQA approved, so you can use ideas like this in your composition modules.
We’ll get your blood pumping with some group rhythm work. Learn how to develop a sense of pulse and use Figurenotes to build rhythmic complexity quickly and confidently.
The most fun session of every MTT is our big play-together. We get you playing an array of instruments, including some accessible tech (such as iPads), using Figurenotes. You’ll get tips and tricks on how to introduce Figurenotes on different instruments and how to build an ensemble in no time! We’ve got some cracking new tunes for this session and can’t wait to play them with you.
This is just the start of what you can learn from one of our training days. We tailor each day to our participants, so the earlier you book, the more we can cater to what you want to learn.
Edinburgh, EH16 4NT
10am – 4pm
£69.99 – Resource Base members can use RB2020 at checkout for 10% off
As we wrap up our final Music Teachers Toolbox Training Day of 2019, one of our favourite things to do here at Figurenotes HQ is to read the lovely feedback we receive from our participants!
It was wonderful! The facility is amazing in terms of the equipment and all the staff were kind and inspiring!
For me it’s the notion of using the colours, giving that more room when delivering activities. The simplicity.
Excellent for finding resources and inspiration. Meeting with other musicians working in a variety of settings.
It has been an invaluable learning experience learning to use Figurenotes as I have now a better understanding of the system. Keep doing what you do!
This time around, we were feeling a little festive! Our creative sessions were jam packed with festive fun, using festive films and pictures to create original compositions. Our play together session included a little festive treat in the form of Last Christmas by George Michael and a real ear worm in the form of our Figurenotes song!
But what really makes these days special are the people that come along. We welcomed people travelling from Glasgow, Brighton, Aberdeen and even further afield with people travelling from Denmark and New York City to attend our to attend our training day! It is their enthusiasm for making inclusive music that inspires us to keep coming up with fresh ideas.
The team would like to thank everyone that attended for your energy and commitment to making music accessible for everyone!
“I’ve been using Figurenotes with ASN pupil since earlier this year &love it. Was great to hear a bit more from Drake Music Scotland at #sameconf23. Will now expand my use of this excellent resource with pupils to stop ASN being a barrier to learning & participating in music.”
It’s statements like this one that makes the 6am starts worthwhile. We got off to a sleepy start on Thursday and headed off to Stirling University for the 23rd annual SAME Conference (Scottish Association of Music Educators). What a joy to be surrounded by esteemed colleagues in the exhibitor hall and to meet so many current and new Figurenotes users over the two day conference. We even dusted out the old floor piano for a bit of fun with the delegates.
Whilst Rebecca and Emma were mingling behind the Figurenotes stall in the exhibitors lounge, Pete was leading a session on Figurenotes and other inclusive techniques called Everybody Plays – Inclusion Ideas for the Classroom.
Events like these are such a great way to reconnect with colleagues and share good practice. Teachers can often experience isolation and just having the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other and refresh really can help inform your practice. We collected some great stories from Teachers using Figurenotes and how it has helped them in the classroom.
We would like to thank the organisers, all the delegates and exhibitors for taking the time to chat with us. We look forward to the next SAME Conference in 2020.
Looking for some inspiration for the new school year? Well, look no further. The new BBC Ten Pieces Trailblazers are designed to help challenge the way young people think about orchestral music and 2019’s list features composers that led the way in introducing new cultures and sonic delights to the orchestral world!
Each piece comes with a video, a whole host of six week lesson plans and multi-ability arrangements.
At Figurenotes HQ we have been busy creating some Figurenotes arrangements for a selection of the BBC Ten Pieces. These are now available to download in PDF format on the BBC Teach Website. Also, for you lucky Resource Base subscribers, you can download editable versions of these pieces and alter them using Figurenotes software.
We kicked things off this year with an arrangement of the Doctor Who Theme by Ron Grainer and Delia Derbyshire. One of the finest television theme tunes of all TIME (see what we did there?) and great fun to play! This song provides a great opportunity to experiment with digital sound effects. Why not check out the bank of sound effects available on the BBC website.
Next we have Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. This is a great piece, perfect for group lessons as it consists of two bar phrases layered over each other. You can break it into manageable chunks and experiment with call and response.
Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor by Johannes Brahms is one of the more tricky Figurenotes arrangements but it is a very recognisable melody line with a more simplified bass part taken from the Tuba line.
This year’s commission does not disappoint. It is a truly majestic Hans Zimmer all over piece! The title Earth is very topical and you can connect loads of exciting Earth related resources in the classroom and beyond! We have been experimenting with using images of Earth to create graphic scores.
Get creative with these resources and more by visiting the Ten Pieces site and the Figurenotes Resource Base.
The final leg of Figurenotes Collect is over! This collecting exercise culminated in visiting Craigmarloch School in Inverclyde. Craigmarloch is an exceptional facility born of the amalgamation of the former Lilybank and Glenbank Schools. The school is one of three in the New Port Glasgow Community Campus, working closely with Port Glasgow and St Stephen High Schools to provide valuable shared experiences for all young people on campus.
Craigmarloch itself is
unique in being the only special school in Scotland to have two music teachers.
Rebecca was lucky enough to meet one, Jill Henderson, a seasoned specialist
music teacher with an enormous energy for life! Jill very kindly showed Rebecca
around and encouraged her to take part in her sessions. The first session, led
by Matilda, an Associate Musician of Drake Music Scotland, was a multi sensory
adventure featuring technology, singing, movement and colourful exciting props.
It was a beautiful experience and each young person was visibly delighted
throughout. Next, Jill and Associate Musician Annona Thorton led a transition
session for the upcoming S1 classes where they played exciting music together
using Figurenotes.
Figurenotes is perfect for
such occasions, allowing young people of varying experience in music play
together.
There are over 100 Figurenotes users in Craigmarloch School and an additional 100 in Port Glasgow High School. Wow! Big thanks to Jill, Matilda, Annona and all the lovely staff and pupils at Craigmarloch and Port Glasgow for taking the time to chat and allowing us to be a part of the magic.
If
you are using Figurenotes in your school/council/community project we want to
hear from you!
Another
leg of #figurenotescollect done! And what a day it was! This time around
Rebecca visited the lovely Parklands School in Helensburgh. Parklands opened in 1993, a purpose-built school for
pupils with Complex Special Educational Needs. Since then the range of
provision has been extended and the school now meets the needs of pupils from 5
to 18 years with moderate, severe and profound learning difficulties, autistic
spectrum disorders, complex and multiple disabilities and associated emotional
and behavioural difficulties.
Rebecca visited Annona Thornton, retired music teacher and one
of our Associate Musicians at Drake Music Scotland. Annona works with a small group of pupils at
Parklands using various technologies combined with Figurenotes, enabling these
fantastic young musicians at differing levels and abilities to play together.
Annona uses Figurenotes colours on a powerpoint presentation, which allows these
young musicians to jam along to their favourite songs too! It was such a
relaxed atmosphere throughout the whole school. It was wonderful to see these
young musicians actively participating in making wonderful music and generally having
a great time!
We even busted out the old drum kit and set up for a performance
in the Assembly Hall.
As some of you may already know, we are in the process of applying to update the current Figurenotes Software. A part of the application requires us to estimate our reach i.e how many people are using Figurenotes.
With this in mind, we have launched our new project Figurenotes Collect! We are delighted to announce that we have been getting out and about in the Figurenotes Community, visiting projects, school, concerts and meeting some Figurenotes users.
Teens+
Rebecca was lucky enough to visit Teens + Ravenscroft, a unique service providing further education, life and social skills, transition to ownership of tenancies and lifelong learning, to young people who, due to their needs, would ordinarily be excluded from accessing any form of further education once they have left school.
Rebecca visited one of our Associate
Musicians, Fi Sharp. Fi leads a small group of young adults with a variety of
needs, in their quest to learn and play music.
It was fantastic to see these young
adults interacting with Figurenotes in different ways to suit their stage and
it was a real treat to experience people of differing ages and musical
abilities playing together.
Big thanks to Fi and everyone at Teen+
for allowing me to come along.
If
you are using Figurenotes in your school/council/community project we want to
hear from you!
