A very apt Gingerbready tale rounded off our Developing Your Practice course at the end of November, leaving us within touching distance of the Christmas holidays. Our popular 3-week course came to a close with an engaging sound story, bringing together all the elements the group had studied over the duration of the training. This […]
Tech Army, Assemble! We’ve never responded to an offer of help so quickly. Scottish Tech Army got in touch to say Drake Music Scotland had been chosen by one of their corporate partners for a day of volunteering. This isn’t your usual volunteering. A team of highly skilled tech folk swoop in and give you […]
We have been in contact with some of you recently regarding the Figurenotes plugins for MuseScore 4. There were a few problems arising from changes within the MuseScore programme. We are delighted to announce that these issues have been fixed and an updated version of the plugin is now available. Please download the plugin again […]
Booking is now open for our ever-popular course for music educators and facilitators. Read on for more information, including funding pots and new discount for full-time students. Figurenotes: Developing Your Practice Come and join us for award-winning CPD for music practitioners and educators. Do you want your pupils to learn to play and read music […]
The festive cheer has well and truly taken over at Figurenotes HQ. We’ve been planning some Christmas Figurenotes activities for Drake Music Scotland musicians and thought we’d share the joy with you all. If you’re planning Christmas parties and events at your school or music setting then read on for some festive Figurenotes fun. Bauble […]
Snow is falling, all around me (we are in Scotland, after all). The children have indeed been playing (mostly Jingle Bells) and having fun. As we get the school Christmas concerts done and before the frostbite from carol singing starts to set in, we thought we’d better let you know the last order dates for […]
Only 3 places remaining on our Figurenotes: Developing Your Practice course. Delivered online in November. CPD for all music educators and practitioners.
Calling all MuseScore users. Are you up-to-date with MuseScore 4? Have you also updated your Figurenotes plugins? There are 2 plugins for Figurenotes. The first creates coloured noteheads in Figurenotes colours with just one click. The second creates shaped noteheads with Figurenotes colours for a slightly easier transition into reading stage 3. Both plugins have […]
Our staff band got a new member last week when MP Tommy Sheppard joined us to workshop some new arrangements for a youth music session we have planned. As the MP representing our local area, we are always keen to connect and share the powerful work that Drake Music Scotland does, as well as the […]
Did you know you can use your computer keyboard to input notes into your Figurenotes notation programme? We’ve got a lot of different ways to input notes into your Figurenotes score, so you are spoilt for choice. This one may not be as obvious as others, so we thought it needed a blog post. We […]
After feedback that our current training clashes with the school run (we see you, jugglers) we need your help to refine our options. We want to hear from you. What time of year is best? Which days work with your workload? Which times make life easiest for you? Let us know your thoughts and we […]
We’re feeling particularly festive this year. Everyone is in need of a big bucketful of joy after such a tough period and we’re hoping the Christmas break will deliver! Stock up on your mince pies, get out your fluffiest slippers, and enjoy not listening to Jingle Bells being played 30 times a day. Relax and […]
It was a long wait, but our first in-person training since the pandemic started took place last week. It was an absolute joy. We delivered training to new Associate Musicians of Drake Music Scotland who are working with the Sound Explorers projects. They spent two days in the company of Drake Music Scotland staff, with […]
Did you miss out on our online course back in April? Well, we have great news! Figurenotes training is BACK 🎉 for all teachers, tutors, music practitioners, and music therapists. Join us for Figurenotes: Developing Your Practice, running online in September. Live delivery takes place in small groups on Thursdays, September 16th, 23rd, and 30th. […]
“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 […]
We are looking for companies with experience in developing music software to help us take Figurenotes to the next level. An exciting opportunity has arisen to help us modernise our Figurenotes software as part of our programme: Figurenotes – Everyone Can Play! Drake Music Scotland welcomes bids from qualified organisations and individuals to transform our […]
“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 […]
Fiona Sharp of F Sharp Music Practice has had great success with her online music sessions during 2020 and into the new year. As many musicians worried about their future work opportunities, Fiona has continued to provide high quality sessions for many organisations including PAMIS and Drake Music Scotland. She has also delivered training sessions […]
We’ve got a special Christmas treat for members of our Resource Base – a new Musescore plugin! Subscribers to our Resource Base have long been able to download a plugin for Musescore that allows you to change the noteheads to Figurenotes colours with one click, giving you stage 3 Figurenotes notation at the touch of […]
Ten years ago today, Drake Music Scotland unveiled the prototype Figurenotes software at their ‘I Can Play Music’ conference at Glasgow City Halls. Drake Music Scotland look back at some of the highlights of this momentous day… The I Can Play Music Conference on 26 November 2010 at Glasgow City Halls was the biggest and […]
In our latest guest blog, Emmeline McCracken shows us how she uses Figurenotes in her work as a music therapist. Hello everyone, My name is Emmeline and I am a music therapist. I work for my own company, ELM Music Therapy, primarily with children who have profound and multiple learning difficulties and those with terminal […]
If you’ve ordered Figurenotes Stickers recently, you might have noticed a slight change in their design. The same shapes and colours as before, but without the shadows. We think this makes the shapes clearer and easier to see on the instrument – and you seem to agree! Thank you to everyone that has helped us […]
How can Figurenotes help as schools plan to return next week? Teachers, pupil support assistants and practitioners do incredible work all year round supporting our young people’s learning. We know that things will look very different when schools return next week, so at Figurenotes HQ we have been putting together some useful resources for delivering […]
Lockdown has brought different challenges to different people. You may have discovered that you’ve got tonnes of time to practise. Maybe you’re juggling multiple responsibilities and need to make your practice time as efficient as possible. Or you might find that having lots on your mind means you can’t concentrate very well at the moment. […]
Rhythm is so intuitive with Figurenotes – the note is as long as it looks! So how does it all fit together? Our newest #FigurenotesChallenge aims to help you/your students understand the relationship between different rhythms through this gentle movement activity. This is the first in a series of videos designed to develop rhythmic skills […]
On Thursday 30th April at 8pm, musicians all over Scotland are going to pick up their instruments and show their appreciation for our NHS and other frontline workers by having a great big play-along! This national event named the Over The Rainbow Project has been organised by MEPG (The Music Education Partnership Group) and will […]
Figurenotes projects have led to nominations in FOUR categories of the Scottish Awards for New Music 2020. Diversions, written by Ben Lunn, was performed by Drake Music Scotland’s Digital Orchestra and Hebrides Ensemble. The Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh was the setting for this accessible concert of new works. Figurenotes was used by some members of […]
“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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
As Drake Music Scotland celebrates 20 years of pioneering work, we hear from Chief Executive, Thursa Sanderson, on the role Figurenotes has played. 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 […]
Mark Browne and Jill Reeves have been using Figurenotes to great effect at Craigmarloch School, so we asked them to share their experience. Figurenotes has revolutionised music here at Craigmarloch School. Its visual style and literal colour-matching logic has engaged pupils at all ages, stages and levels, and it has become integral to learning across […]
At Drake Music Scotland, the charity behind Figurenotes, we love using Thumbjam. Obviously, we love using Figurenotes too, so we wanted to find a way to combine the two. Our Associate Musician, Clare Johnston, came up with a brilliant way to use Figurenotes with Thumbjam on the iPad. Clare is a bit of a Thumbjam virtuoso. […]
Our award-winning training is back! Due to a flurry of recent training enquiries, we thought we should open booking for November’s Music Teacher’s Toolbox. This time around, Resource Base members get exclusive access to pre-sale booking. Only a limited amount of places will be released, so make sure you grab yours early. All members of the Resource […]
Adam Featherstone, a teacher from Middlesbrough, tells us how he used music from Harry Potter to inspire a creative project with BBC Philharmonic musicians (pictured above with a musician from Priory Woods). I started to use Figurenotes in March of 2015 starting with whole class electronic keyboards, using single note melodies. I quickly progressed to […]