“Really great to see everyone’s ideas and the range of different minds from all over the world – great for inspiration!”

We had a fantastic time delivering our new online course designed to help people explore Figurenotes within their own teaching settings. Running 2 small groups across 3 weeks of training, we’ve really enjoyed getting to know more about the people involved and how they work.

Thank you to all our participants for engaging so well with this course. The activities and ideas created by your homework tasks were phenomenal and have such potential. We can’t wait to hear what you achieve in your lessons.

I have learnt how to use the Figurenotes system itself, but also some great ideas about planning, differentiation and different ways into composing.

Trainee 2021

Each week had a different focus, which was consolidated in the homework activity. Week 1 was an introduction to Figurenotes with particular emphasis on rhythm. Week 2 explored the world of creative play and composition. Week 3 focused on groups, ensembles, and differentiation.

As always, the creative composition task had the most wide-ranging results. The opportunities are endless when working with colour and shape. We have had everything from Kandinsky to puppets, train journeys to braille Bananagrams, Moomins to holiday snaps – and everything inbetween! What a creative bunch.

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Our in-person training nearly always has a visitor to Scotland from another country, but with online delivery we can reach so many more people who could benefit from this training. With participants from Hong Kong, Greece, USA, and the UK this time around, we hope to reach even more countries with our next course date.

If you are interested in attending this course in the future, please get in touch, as we are currently working out dates and timings for the next run. With so many timezones to consider, it is helpful to know what works best for you.

The information was presented really well and you are both super knowledgable about teaching to diverse groups. It was great to get your insight.

Trainee 2021

“I thought you’d like to hear this story” is always an intriguing start to an email.

We LOVE hearing your anecdotes and this is such a lovely one. Jill Henderson, at Craigmarloch School in Inverclyde, Scotland, sent us this wonderful story from her lessons and kindly let us share it with you all. Both Jill and Criagmarloch have been using Figurenotes for a long time now and their work is fantastic.

“During Lockdown I am working at the Craigmarloch Hub with a group of P5 children. One wee boy is very musical and has really taken to Figurenotes. He has got perfect pitch and can sing familiar songs (his favourite is Mary Had a Little Lamb) by colour and letter name. We always begin the day playing tunes on the glockenspiel.

Yesterday, I brought a selection of ‘name that tune’ for him to try, in second stage Figurenotes.  Within 5 mins he had played and identified them all then asked me why Mary had a little lamb was not there.  I said I’d write it for him for next week then got on with the morning routine.  

Next thing I knew, he had written out the song himself (first stage Fgn)!  As you can see, the note names, colours and even note lengths are accurate.  I had not explicitly taught this, he had clearly absorbed the knowledge by himself.

This is why Figurenotes is so great – it is clear and makes sense to beginners and those like this pupil, who are bright but like to learn in ways that are accessible and appealing. Figurenotes helps him do what he wants to do, which is play and sing music! Much of the time he refuses to engage in learning and shuts himself away in a quiet room to pursue his own interests, often to draw. 

I just had to share that with someone who would understand and appreciate how wonderful this is.”

Thank you for brightening our day, Jill. We’ve shared it in the hope that it brightens all of yours too.

Do you have similar stories? We would love to hear from you! Drop us an email at figurenotes@drakemusicscitland.org or join our Facebook group Figurenotes – Let’s Make Music!