Wednesday mornings have never felt so good. We were sad to come to the end of the latest Developing Your Practice course. Luckily, all participants get an individual follow-up session, so we will see their lovely, enthusiastic faces again. “Really loved this training and will be recommending it to others. Lovely tutors who really engaged […]
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 […]
Keep an eye out for the postie if you’ve made an order with us recently. Figurenoters receiving stickers, magnets, and tune packs may notice a wee extra in their parcel. We’ve been gradually improving the environmental impact of our packaging, from compostable ‘plastic’ envelopes, to limiting the amount of paper included in each parcel. Our […]
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 end of November saw the Figurenotes team heading down to Southampton to present at the Music Mark Conference 2023. After the complimentary tea and caramel wafer on the tiny plane, we were set up nicely for a day of inspiring talks. The day started with a key note on Learning to Thrive in a […]
Figurenotes partnered with Early Years Music Scotland to deliver a free workshop in accessible notation
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 […]
The Scottish musicians and teachers among you will likely know the Youth Music Initiative well. This music education initiative, funded by the Scottish Government through Creative Scotland, has made so many projects possible over the last 20 years. It is a vital source of funding for the work that so many of us deliver. Drake […]
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 […]
“Not only was the training great, it was also really fun, which is so important” As always, we had an absolute blast delivering the Figurenotes: Developing Your Practice course. The interactive elements always have everyone smiling and it really brightens our day to work with such enthusiastic music leaders. The inspiration was sparking for our […]
Our highly sophisticated random selection tool has chosen a winner for our Figurenotes Champion competition. Congratulations, Lifesize! You have won a bundle of Figurenotes goodies, including a stickers value pack, your choice of tune book, a year’s subscription to the Resource Base, and the new Figurenotes Software (which you’ll receive as soon as it is […]
“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 […]
“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 […]
After a year of lockdowns, school closures, and U-turns, many of you will be total pros at remote, hybrid, synchronous and asynchronous lessons. Here we compile some of the top tips we’ve gathered along the way. Breakout Rooms = Practice Rooms Delivering to a group and need to check up on their individual work? Whether […]
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 […]
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 music sessions happen as Primary School returns? Educators all over the world are either in preparations or currently navigating the return of our young people to formal education. There are so many factors to consider, and when it comes to music it’s no different. Figurenotes have some great resources designed to […]
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 […]
How can Figurenotes help as we plan to return to our settings? Today the Scottish Government released guidance on returning to early years settings. Many practitioners in Scotland and all over the world will be wondering how music is going to fit in to the “new normal”. Here at Figurenotes HQ, we want to help […]
As a strange summer stretches before us, musician Francis Moore-Colyer looks ahead to the joy of what is to come. “After a long time at home, we can start to get excited about the future. When you feel ill, the very best bit is how good you feel when you’re better again. When you miss […]
Musician Francis Moore-Colyer shares some ideas for unlocking your creative side during lockdown. “If you have to stay at home, you might have more time to get creative. Everyone has a creative side, so let yours out! Thankfully, most of us have access to the internet or recorded music, which means we can play along […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
You booked it – we made it bigger! Due to a rush of bookings, we have decided to release more places for our Music Teacher’s Toolbox on 25th March. Get in quick before we run out of space again. You’ll get expert guidance on using Figurenotes with different instruments and in different scenarios. You’ll learn how […]