Figurenotes

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 a button. Now we have created a transitional tool allowing you to do even more.

If you want to ease your pupils into stage 3 notation more slowly, you can now use shaped noteheads with Figurenotes colours with our latest plugin.

Using shaped noteheads in this way allows pupils to adjust to the new stave appearance more gradually. Shapes can help reassure players that they are in the right octave, while still progressing their rhythmic reading.

Write your piece in Musescore or import it from the Figurenotes software. After highlighting the piece, click on the plugin in your Musescore menu to change the piece to either stage 3 or the new transition stage. Easy!

Once you’re logged in, you’ll find the new plugin under ‘Software Resources’, along with a Sibelius plugin and instructions on installing the new plugin.

Not a Resource Base member? Sign up today for only £23.99 a year – that’s less than £2 per month!

Membership will give you access to a huge bank of tunes, lesson plans and resources you can adapt to suit the needs of your pupils using the Figurenotes software for mac or PC.

Note: This plugin is currently only compatible with Musescore 3. We are working on a compatible version for Musescore 2 and hope to launch it soon.

In the meantime, why not sign up to our mailing list to keep up to date with all things Figurenotes and get your hands on our free resources bundle.

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 illnesses.

Although music therapy is very different from teaching someone to play an instrument, this can sometimes play a part in my therapeutic sessions. Often children will be keen to learn to play the piano with me as this is the instrument I use most frequently. Sometimes through learning some tunes together this can give a client confidence and also relax them into more therapeutic work. Often learning something can seem less daunting than the therapeutic process itself and can open many doors for the therapeutic work to take place. A few examples of this may be;

• Composing our own words to a learnt song.
• Moving into free improvisation.
• Relaxing a child enough for them to open up or share emotions.

As I work primarily with children with profound and multiple learning disabilities the use of Figurenotes has been invaluable in this teaching process. It has really allowed the children to quickly learn to play simple/familiar songs at the piano and allowed us to progress into other therapeutic processes. The matching of colours and symbols seems to be particularly appealing to many of the pupils on the autistic spectrum with whom I work and is quick and easy for them to grasp.

In my other work at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s hospital the quick and easy to grasp concept to allow children to learn and play tunes has been lifechanging. My work here is often not progressive as there can be children I only meet once on the ward and others who are long-term patients. It is wonderful to see not only the children’s but also their family’s faces light up around them as they perform songs they have learnt that day through the use of figure notes at a time when often the rest of their lives are unpredictable and out of control.

Here are some examples of children’s favourite songs that we have quickly written out in figurenotes.

Although I do not use Figurenotes in the same way as many others I find it very beneficial to my work and I hope that other music therapists will too!

“Figurenotes, Figurenotes, play what you see!”

Thanks to Emmeline for sharing her experiences. If you are interested in writing a guest blog, please get in touch with the Figurenotes team to share your ideas.

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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 with testing and feedback.

Not sure how the stickers work on your instrument? Check out our handy instrument guides and sticker charts, available on our Resource Base under the Instruments tab.

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 help teachers and support staff run simple, fun and successful music sessions that comply with physical distance guidelines. These videos and supporting material, designed and created by Drake Music Scotland‘s associate musicians are simple, fun and achievable. Something that our young people need now more than ever after a turbulent last term and summer break.

We even have something for a sing-free birthday! Pop your stickers on your chime bars, or find something that matches the colours and use it as an instrument. The possibilities are endless!

If you are new to Figurenotes, check out our website and access these resources by singing up to our Resource Base for £23.99 per year (less than £2 per month . You will find resources like these and much more under the Lesson Plans tab.

Happy Figurenoting!

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 music sessions in the classroom.

Created in conjunction with Drake Music Scotland, these resources and supporting videos are aimed at sensory groups of all ages and could perhaps fill the gap whilst visiting specialists may not yet be permitted to access your settings. For those of you that have previously had a visit from a Drake Music Scotland musician, some of these tunes may be familiar to you, like this one below.

Familiarity is great for our young people transitioning back into formal
education settings. Something familiar and achievable can encourage your young
people to feel safe, nurtured and sets them up for success after a long and
sometimes worrying break from routine. You can pop these songs on whilst
singing is not allowed, use the Figurenotes parts to play along or use the
Powerpoint presentations for lesson inspiration.

You can find these resources and more under the Lesson Plans tab on our Resource Base. For new customers, visit the Figurenotes website where you can sign up to our Resource Base for just £23.99 a year (that’s less than £2 per month). For those returning, we will be adding more to the lesson plans tab so keep coming back to check them
out.

Happy Figurenoting!

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 all of our customers continue to provide their vital contributions to the development of young people. We have teamed up with Drake Music Scotland‘s Associate Musician Fi Sharp to provide some useful resources which enable practitioners to carry out music sessions for their young people.

Fi has made these super handy videos which help to plan activities from our First Figurenotes pack. You can find these handy resources and supporting videos under the Lesson Plan tab on our Resource Base. There is something for everyone including emotion stories, movement activities, Figurenotes parts and fun-filled cross curricular activities like this one.

Whether you are new to Figurenotes or a distinguished #FigurenotesChampion, we have something for everyone on our Resource Base. Subscription is £23.99 a year (less than £2 per month) and is full of useful resources, tunes, lesson plans and much much more.

Brand new customer? You can get everything you need to get started with our Early Years Value Bundle!

Visit our online shop and grab your First Figurenotes pack today.

Happy Figurenoting!

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 something, the very best bit is how you feel when you get it back.

I miss making music with other people, face to face, in real time. And now I can’t wait to get back to it. There is no better feeling.

It’s going to be amazing to see other people beside me smiling along to the music.

It’s going to be wonderful to feel the energy of other people helping to drive the music onwards.

It’s going to be incredible to react to what other people do when they make music and to see where the music will go.

And it’s going to feel SO GOOD to look people in the eye at the end of a bit of music; to see that moment when we all realise that we’ve just created some magic!

I want to laugh and smile in that moment again – to feel the excitement that comes when we can go back to the start of the music and enjoy it once again!

I want that conversation where we say ‘let’s just go for it, let’s talk with music’ or ‘let’s use our imaginations and just see what happens’

I’m excited to get back to making music with others, in real time, in the future. I hope you are too. For now though, let’s be happy to wait a little while longer, if we have to. Because, after all, it’s this waiting, this missing, this wanting, that will make the moment feel even sweeter.”

What a wonderful ode to music-making and togetherness. This time has been hard on everyone. What have you done to share a musical experience during lockdown?

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 to our favourite tunes at home. Here is a lovely video from one of my fellow musicians at Drake Music Scotland — enjoy this great Scottish tune!

Firstly, get to know the song or piece of music, inside-out. Listen to it lots. Each piece of music is made up of lots of different individual sounds — the ‘ingredients’ of the music, if you like.

Now, you can find your own ingredients and add these to the mix! Use your imagination, your ears, and any instrument you have and just go for it! What sounds can you find to fit the music? I hope you find this fun 

But what’s all this about instruments? Some of us have them at home, some don’t. BUT…we can all make our own instruments out of things we find around the house. I’ve had fun watching videos on how to make household percussion. Why not have a go yourselves? Try this site for some ideas, or watch the videos below.

There will be more from Francis in his ‘Don’t lockdown your creativity’ series.

Share your videos and pictures with us via social media and let us know what you’ve been up to.

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 whilst promoting a healthy activity you can do at home.

You can use our FREE supporting resources on rhythm to create your own rhythm words or movements for each rhythm. Make it your own, or play along as it is. You can use your instruments to play along, or use the movements suggested in the video. Whatever works for you or your students.

Go on and have a wee go! Then share your findings with us. Drop us a line at figurenotes@drakemusicscotland.org or share on your favourite social platform. Tag us @Figurenotes and use the hashtags #FigurenotesChallenge or #FigurenotesAtHome. We will post our favourites on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

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!

Contact Rebecca at rebeccadirollo@drakemusicscotland.org for more information or to arrange a visit.