December is upon us and the festive season seems to be in full swing here in Scotland! You’ve probably been preparing for concerts and end of term performances before a well-earned break. Before you get cracking with the Christmas cheer, we thought we’d better give you a few bits of housekeeping news.
In order to get your parcels in time for Christmas or the new school term, you must get your UK orders to us by Monday 17th December, 2018. It isn’t too late to grab your Festive Figurenotes pack, or magnets as a stocking filler. We use Royal Mail to post orders, so we cannot guarantee delivery by Christmas, but this is in line with their recommendations.
Our office will be closed over the Christmas break, from Friday 21st December to Monday 7th January. No orders will be processed during this time. However, Software and Resource Base subscriptions ordered through the online shop will be sent by email, so you’ll get immediate access when you pay online.
As you may have seen when we advertised the role, a new face will be starting at Figurenotes HQ after Christmas. Please use the email address figurenotes@drakemusicscotland.org for all queries and contact.
Have a lovely Christmas and a very happy New Year, from all of us at Figurenotes HQ and Drake Music Scotland
“Today’s training has been a fantastic experience. Fantastic course and people! Thank you very much!”
“Music Teacher’s Toolbox has given me a new way to approach teaching, making music easier to understand and play. Everything was fantastic! I got a very comprehensive understanding of Figurenotes. I’ll be back for the next one!”
“Really brilliant! I learned a lot and had a good time. Keep it up!”
You can see why we love running our Figurenotes training days. We consistently get this feedback and it is brilliant to see people ending the day brimming with enthusiasm and inspiration.
Our next Music Teacher’s Toolbox will be announced after Christmas, when our new Figurenotes Officer starts their role. Make sure you sign up to the mailing list for updates. In the meantime, join our Facebook group, ‘Figurenotes – Let’s Make Music’, to network with other teachers and musicians. Let us know what you’d like to see at the next training day by posting within the group.
The group of trainees were brilliantly enthusiastic and got stuck in with all the activities. We worked on building pulse, rhythm, matching skills (inspired by UNO!), and ensemble skills. With Thumbjam solos on the iPad within our Figurenotes band, everyone got stuck into some Blondie at the end of the day.
Thank you to everyone that came for such a fun-filled day. We can’t wait for the next one!
We have an exciting opportunity to work with Drake Music Scotland, the nation’s leading organisation providing music education possibilities to disabled musicians of all ages. Based in Edinburgh, we have been working for over 20 years to enable people to learn, play, compose, and perform music. You can learn more about our fantastic disabled musicians on the Drake Music Scotland website.
Do you have an excellent knowledge of music education?
Are you passionate about accessibility in all aspects of music-making?
Are you comfortable in a varied role that includes marketing and customer support?
Are you an accomplished musician with a good knowledge of music notation and theory?
If you are keen to learn more about Figurenotes, book a place on our Figurenotes training day. Our Music Teacher’s Toolbox event takes place on Saturday 24th November, which is 2 days before the closing date of Monday 26th November.
This November, Music Teacher’s Toolbox will have a reinvigorated structure. Although we always vary the activities, this training day will look a little different than usual.
This Music Teacher’s Toolbox will lead you through building up a rounded musician, focusing on the core skills a musician should have. Get new ideas for each stage of learning, from initial ideas of pulse, through to building an ensemble. All the topics covered are transferable to any musical setting and we always approach our music making in an accessible way, so you can tailor it to your pupils’ needs.
Figurenotes Fundamentals
Focus: Pulse and Rhythm
Focus: Introducing Pitch
Focus: Instrumentation, Chords, and Ensembles
New Figurenotes Helpdesk
New Networking Session
After a lot of brilliant feedback from people attending our training days, we know how valuable these days are for networking and discussion. This is especially true of our Music Teacher’s Toolbox days, as we attract so many freelancers and teachers who feel alone in their schools. We would love to help you connect more, so we are incorporating a networking session into the extended lunch period. We will also be running a dedicated Figurenotes Helpdesk, where you can ask any specific questions you don’t feel are relevant in the group settings, or you’d rather ask one on one.
As always, members of the Resource Base get 10% off the cost of their place. Just use the code RB2018 at the checkout.
Don’t want to pay online? Get your school/organisation to send a purchase order and we can invoice you instead. Make sure to complete your booking form, so we know where to send all the details for the day.
Places are extremely limited, due to the available space, so book early to avoid disappointment. Places are already getting snapped up!
“I feel sorry for those people that couldn’t make the training today, as I think they’ve missed out on something great!”
It is always wonderful to get a glowing review from our training sessions. Over two days, this one combined both Figurenotes and demonstrations of the technology that Drake Music Scotland use in their work. If you are interested in booking a bespoke training session or workshop, you can find more details and contact information on our website.
Last week, we packed up our kit bags and headed off to the University of Aberdeen to train students and recent graduates. The group was wonderfully enthusiastic and full of questions, which we love! We did tonnes of rhythm games, from body percussion to vocal work. Some really interesting pieces were created from modern artworks, all with audience participation! There were brilliant improvisations using the technology, but the sound effect switches were a particular hit. Squealing pigs, anyone?
Working with people who are totally new to Figurenotes is particularly rewarding, especially current students and new teachers. The enthusiasm and imagination that the group brought to the sessions gives a lot of hope for the future of music education.
If you’d like to receive some training in Figurenotes, you can either book a training day for your organisation, or come to one of our Music Teacher’s Toolbox days. The next Music Teacher’s Toolbox takes place on Saturday 24th November, 2018. As usual, it will take place at our space in Edinburgh.
You know it is a good summer when even up in Scotland we get a heatwave! Our staff will be making the most of the weather and getting their holidays in while schools are off. It is generally a quieter time here at Figurenotes HQ, as our school and community projects take a break and all the hardworking teachers that order Figurenotes resources get a well-deserved rest.
In light of this, any orders made mid-July to mid-August may take a little longer to process and be sent out. If you are desperate to get your hands on your parcel and need it urgently, please contact Drake Music Scotland. You can call during office hours (Mon-Fri, 9-5) on 0131 659 4766, or email info@drakemusicscotland.org.
Resource Base subscriptions and Figurenotes Software orders will not be affected, as long as they are bought through the online shop, rather than via purchase order. These are automated and sent out via email. Please check your junk folders if you haven’t received your download emails.
From everyone here at Figurenotes HQ, we wish you a brilliant summer break and can’t wait to get back to music-making next month.
“I loved my day. Thank you very much. You have inspired me and made me very excited to get back to school and get started. Today has even made me want to learn how to play the guitar!”
Our last Music Teacher’s Toolbox was another fantastic day spent with an enthusiastic group of teachers and musicians. Thank you to everyone that came along and shared the day with us. We always love how much you throw yourself into the band sessions, in particular! There were some excellent renditions of Valerie and many other tunes. Well done for embracing the challenge of playing instruments you haven’t played before.
As part of our focus on BBC Ten Pieces, we created an iPad orchestra using Thumbjam and Figurenotes. Read about how to create Figurenotes overlays for Thumbjam here.Our orchestra played the Figurenotes score for the Lark Ascending (available via BBC Ten Pieces) and our soloists improvised their parts using the pentatonic scale. It sounded beautiful. Hats off to everyone that was using Thumbjam for the first time and sight-reading their part.
We then heard some wonderful compositions from each of our small groups. Each composition was based on a different piece from the BBC Ten Pieces lists. We were treated to a jazz interpretation of Firebird; an exciting rendition of Hall of the Mountain King using iPads, chime bars, and ingenious use of a Wowee speaker and ocean drum; as well as Mussorgsky with a Latin twist.
Resources from this training day are now on the Resource Base. Not a member? Join for just £23.99 a year. You’ll get discounts on future Music Teacher’s Toolbox events too.
Our next instalment of Music Teacher’s Toolbox will be on Saturday 24th November, 2018. Pop the date in your diaries now.
From its establishment in 1997 Drake Music Scotland’s primary purpose was to create music-making opportunities for disabled people of all ages. For the first 10 years this was primarily achieved through the use of accessible music technologies, giving those with limited mobility and co-ordination the means to control musical sounds and express themselves creatively. As well as working with physically disabled people, we also provided opportunities for those with learning difficulties. Many of these were able to play conventional musical instruments, but the main issue for us was how best to help them develop musical skills.
The ability to read music notation is a fundamental aspect of learning to play an instrument and joining in music making with other people. Notation presents a barrier for many learners – not just those with disabilities – and we hadn’t found a way round this. We relied on different approaches to music making, such as improvising, rhythm games, playing by ear, and creative composition using alternative notation such as graphic scores.
Essentially we recognised our own ‘teaching difficulty’ rather than seeing our participants as having a ‘learning difficulty’.
In 2008, we became aware of Figurenotes and, since that moment, this colourful notation system has had a major impact on our work. Our former Artistic Director, Brian Cope, went to Helsinki, where Figurenotes was invented and developed by Markku Kaikkonen and Kaarlo Uusitalo with their pupils at the Resonaari Music School. He returned to Scotland enthused by its simplicity and effectiveness, and we didn’t look back. Although other colour-based systems have been created, Figurenotes presents all the fundamental features of notation in a clear and accessible way, and at the same time allows learners to progress through three simple stages towards standard notation. Following our ‘Inspire’ pilot project, testing Figurenotes with a variety of learners from young children to adults, we needed no further convincing. Our mission was to introduce it to Scotland, make it more widely available by creating Figurenotes software and resources, and bring music leaders and educators on board with this revolutionary, but simple tool.
Over the last ten years, Figurenotes has had a pervasive and positive effect on all aspects of our work. As we reach the major landmark of our 20th Anniversary Concert, putting disabled musicians ‘Centre Stage’, it is enlightening to assess the impact it has had. Rather than being a dramatic ‘solution’ to everybody’s needs, there has been a gradual growth of confidence in our flexible methodology. A combination of the right kind of open-minded, creative and versatile people – musicians and music educators – with the best combination of tools, teaching practices and technologies to create a holistic approach that can be adjusted to meet the needs of any learner, seeing opportunities instead of obstacles, and allowing people’s potential and talent to be realised.
Highlights
We have had many successes with Figurenotes, both on a small individual scale, at organisational level and in terms of the wider sector both here in Scotland and further afield. Creating a list of our ‘Top Ten’ achievements with Figurenotes is nearly impossible, but here we highlight some of the major ways we have helped our participants realise their potential with the brilliant Figurenotes system over the last 10 years:
Winning the award for Best SEN Resource at the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence
This award was in recognition of everything we had achieved since launching Figurenotes resources in 2012. It was the first in what is now a much longer list of awards and accolades won by Drake Music Scotland.
Collaborations between mainstream and special schools
Increasingly, Figurenotes is enabling pupils from all schools to play together in concerts and collaborations. Many of these pupils would not have had this opportunity without Figurenotes. One of the highlights was our Mambo concert in Angus that featured in the BBC Ten Pieces newsletter.
Links with national organisations to increase accessibility and inclusion
Our resources for BBC Ten Pieces, Friday Afternoons, and links with Sistema Scotland have given so many more people access to music making. It is great to see these projects increasing their focus on inclusion and accessibility.
Recognising our work finding digital solutions to break down the barriers to music making for disabled people, including development of the Figurenotes software. Our music software is now used world-wide by teachers and students alike. A great tool for composition and for adapting pieces to the needs of the musician.
This research project helped us see the huge potential of Figurenotes and it’s effects. The orchestra frequently plays with top musicians such as Sir James MacMillan, Nicola Benedetti, and Colin Currie. Prestigious performances in both Holyrood and Westminster prove that learning with Figurenotes can take you a long way.
From a pupil moving to a mainstream school to study music after learning with Figurenotes, to a pianist with Dyslexia who is now training to be a music teacher. We absolutely love hearing back from projects all over Scotland and further afield. Access to Figurenotes resources has helped brass projects in the favelas of Brazil, school work in Uganda, Israel, Australia, Europe and the USA; the list goes on.
Tirelessly training teachers
We have been training teachers and musicians to use Figurenotes to increase accessibility, inclusion, and success for years. Our Music Teacher’s Toolbox training days go from strength to strength, attracting people from Australia, Czech Republic, Sweden, among others. We have seen an increase in training requests from organisations, schools, and companies, which means more teachers using Figurenotes and more people gaining access to music making.
We are looking forward to the biggest highlight of all: Centre Stage
Not a sentence that many people in the UK have uttered in the last week, but we have been extremely lucky with the weather! Why? Emma, Pete, and Lauren just managed to get out of the country before all flights were cancelled.
Boston played host to the Massachusetts Music Educators Association (MMEA) Conference 2018. Drake Music Scotland and Figurenotes took to the stage, presenting on Figurenotes notation, technology, and inclusive music practice. We had been invited to present following the work of one Boston teacher fighting to improve provision for students with additional support needs. There are brilliant things happening in Scotland in this field, and Massachusetts’ teachers were keen to get ideas to take into their classrooms and propose to their decision makers.
“I wish I’d had this when I was learning”
“As a person with Dyslexia, it is a big deal for me to be a music major. We tend to get weeded out of music programmes. [Figurenotes] would include us!”
“This is just the best thing I’ve seen.”
“That progression makes total sense. So we can get all the kids playing and reading? That’s amazing.”
The wonderful feedback we received and the enthusiastic response from teachers made the long trip worthwhile. Some music education focuses attention on the most ‘gifted and talented’ pupils, often those who have already had the privilege of private music lessons. Making classroom music more accessible will include students who are often left behind or not given the chance to learn, as well as increasing engagement in the extra-curricular music activities within the school. Increased confidence from quick success makes motivating your class much easier, with no pupil left behind. It was wonderful to see the ‘lightbulb moment’ as these teachers understood what would now be possible in their classrooms. That was definitely worth travelling over 3000 miles for!
If you want advice on how Figurenotes could be used in your school, get in touch. Our next Music Teacher’s Toolbox training event will take place on Saturday, 24th March 2018. Take a look at the programme and book your place today.
Proceeds from Figurenotes resources go to Drake Music Scotland. This wonderful charity enables people with disabilities to learn, compose, and perform music.“Our vision is to transform people’s lives through the power of music. We play a lead role in making Scotland a place where ground-breaking new music featuring skilled musicians and composers with disabilities comes alive for everyone. We reshape the definition of musicians, musical instruments and ensembles, building momentum as the country’s centre of expertise in inclusive music technologies and as an innovator on the international stage.”Figurenotes is incorporated into almost every one of their projects. Pete Sparkes, Artistic Director of Drake Music Scotland, tells us how Figurenotes has improved their ability to deliver music sessions and unlocked the huge potential of their participants.
“The brilliance of Figurenotes is its simplicity. This notation has allowed us to work with schools and individuals who have previously found it difficult or impossible to fully participate in music. In much of the instrumental teaching world there is a focus on standard notation. While this method clearly works well for some pupils, and there are always examples of wonderful young musicians who have learned this way, we believe that a significant number of people never learn to play music because the teaching methods do not suit their learning style. Figurenotes is simple, concrete and adaptable.
Photo credit: Anne Binckebanck
Photo credit: Anne Binckebanck
Photo credit: Anne Binckebanck
One of the main benefits of using Figurenotes is that through early success we can build confidence and motivate further learning. Lack of confidence to tackle learning challenges is a major reason why some people give up music. There is a common perception that you need ‘innate talent’ to succeed. This is at best, misleading, and at worst, prevents participation in music. We know that early success with an instrument can lead to the realisation “I can play music.” This powerful motivation leads to increased confidence and future success.
We use Figurenotes throughout our programme – all over Scotland and beyond. On a Monday morning we have piano pupils working with their teachers on new Figurenotes tunes. Tuesdays see our flagshipDigital Orchestra devising new music using magnetic shapes and a whiteboard. Wednesday sees a training session for musicians from theScottish Chamber Orchestrausing Figurenotes to create more accessible resources for their Masterworks project. On Thursday, our Associate Musician is leading a school band using Figurenotes Guitars and iPads. And on Friday we continue our development of eye-gaze technology utilising Figurenotes colours. This is just a snapshot of the diverse range of projects we deliver. Figurenotes makes these projects possible and we love it.”
Proceeds from Figurenotes resources go to Drake Music Scotland, so not only do you get great resources to support your own work, you also get the warm feeling of enabling them to continue their important work in inclusive music.Come and celebrate 20 years of incredible music-making at their 20th anniversary concert, Centre Stage, to see the work you’ve been supporting.
Digital Orchestra. Photo credit: Kirsty-Jacqueline Lingard
