Sing Up is a new campaign to encourage schools and communities to use singing in a range of ways. The Sing Up site states that “Every child deserves the chance to sing every day. Singing improves learning, confidence, health and social development. It has the power to change lives and help to build stronger communities.”

The organisation promotes singing as a cross-curricular tool, in line with the National Curriculum. They also provide training for teachers to lead inspirational singing activities with young people. The site has a huge collection of songs, lesson plans, games and activities which teachers can take advantage of in their classrooms.

This Youtube video gives more information about the Sing Up materials.

Here are details of two fantastic resources for those teaching Literacy / Music / History linked to the topic of Ancient Greece:

‘Heroes of Troy‘ is a music resource for school children aged 9 to 11 and offers 7 songs to learn, each linking to an episode of the Trojan War. The website is audio-based, but also includes Teachers’ Notes, words and music for the songs, backing tracks…and well-known music presenter David Grant is on hand to teach all of the songs.

www.bbc.co.uk/schools/troy/

It’s intended to target a range of music objectives at Key Stage 2 but also links to the history topic Ancient Greece while offering opportunities to link music with literacy and performance.

Winged Sandals offers animated versions of different Greek myths, along with games and other online activities to try. This has always been popular with children whenever I’ve used it at school.

www.wingedsandals.com

Famous musicians and other celebrities have been getting involved in a range of activities which form part of the government’s ‘National Year of Music’.

Research shows that engaging in music is beneficial to children’s development in a number of areas, ‘including language, numeracy, social skills, physical development and emotional intelligence.’

The government is hoping to double the number of children in KS2 (aged 7-11) who are given an opportunity to learn an instrument for free by 2011.

What is your school doing as part of the ‘National Year of Music’?

Image: ‘needs to be played‘

Edgy Productions the largest supplier of end of year and leavers’ musicals for primary schools has launched a new website www.edgyproductions.co.uk making it easier than ever to choose the right school musical for an end of year production.

The new website gives teachers a chance to sample song clips, read full plot summaries and study character lists from around 30 musical productions to help them choose the perfect musical to suit their school. Schools can order the musicals on-line and they will be despatched within 48 hours, followed by an invoice to the school.

Edgy Productions produces modern, witty musicals for primary schools with the subject matter firmly based in school and about the humorous events that happen there. The names of the principal characters – head teachers, teachers, TAs, pupils and parents can all be changed to fit in with individual schools making it possible for teachers to tailor make the production especially for their own school.

Edgy Productions founder and songwriter Andrew Oxspring commented:

For more information go to www.edgyproductions.com or call 0845 8333348

Half of school music lessons are not good enough, with many schools abandoning the subject when pupils start revising for exams, according to a review of music education by Ofsted.

A pledge to give every primary pupil the chance to learn an instrument has backfired in some schools, which have dropped individual tuition in favour of whole-class violin or recorder lessons to try to meet it. Nervous teachers struggle to identify pupils with real talent, Ofsted says.

The report says that where lessons are going wrong, teachers often "talked too much", leaving little time for children to make music. They are also failing to teach pupils to listen to music properly.

But in the best schools music is a crucial way of helping pupils build self-confidence and self-esteem, the inspectors say. The report is based on inspectors' visits to 84 primary and 95 secondary schools in England between 2005 and 2008.

Link: http://ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/News/Press-and-media/2009/February/Too-few-schools-are-hitting-the-high-notes-in-music

Oxjam – Oxfam’s annual music extravaganza – have produced 20 stand-alone lessons, offering opportunities for singing, performing, composing, improvising, listening, and appraising. You can also explore rhythm, timbre, texture, structure, and pitch by using music from many cultures and countries. The lessons have been created for ages KS1, KS2, KS3, and KS4.

On the Oxfam Education site there is also a fantastic range of resources including assemblies (with all relevant resources) and Global Dimension resources.

Link: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/education/

Ten areas around the country are to pilot the Government’s £25 million Find your Talent programme to give young people the chance to encounter a range of high-quality cultural experiences for five hours a week both in and outside of school. Children in the pilot areas will be able to discover and develop their talents in the cultural sphere.

In time, the Government wants all young people to have the right to experience five hours of arts and culture every week.

The ten lead organisations chosen as pilots are:

• Bolton Borough Council;
• The Creative Foundation (serving Shepway District and including Folkestone, Hythe and Romney Marsh);
• Customs House (North and South Tyneside);
• Hampshire County Council;
• Leeds Children’s Services;
• Leicestershire County Council;
• ‘Liverpool City Region’ Partnership (serving three Merseyside neighbourhoods);
• North Somerset;
• Telford and Wrekin Council; and
• Tower Hamlets.

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SoundJunction is the award-winning site for listening to, exploring, discovering and creating music. On the site you can:

Listen and explore: rock, classical, jazz, African, drum ‘n’ bass, pop, fusion and much more. Listen to different musical instruments and see professional musicians on video — the violin to the udu, bassoon to drums.

Discover how music works by taking it apart and making it yourself and listen to 40 musicians talk on film about their experiences.

Create and compose your own music online with free software and discover how composers and remix artists make their music.

Learn about music’s background and history and get free music teaching resources and materials for exams in music.

Link: http://www.soundjunction.org/

I’ve just ordered in the BBC Come and Praise Complete music CDs and piano book. I’m desperate however to get a copy of the words to each song typed up so that I can photocopy it to acetate to use on the OHP in assemblies.

Does anyone have these words typed up or know where I can find them? If you can help please email me at rossa@primary-teacher-uk.co.uk.

http://www.singup.org/ is the Music Manifesto’s National Programme. The site has tons of information and resources for children, parents and teachers including free lesson plans and advice on how to get started with music in your classroom.

The Sing Up Magazine, which you can order for free on the website, is the first step to getting involved in the programme and accessing resources. It’s a termly magazine which available to primary schools and singing leaders working regularly in primary schools in England.

Each issue of the magazine will include 10 songs (on a CD) fully supported by learning materials and full performance, echo and backing tracks. Each issue will also feature an update from Howard Goodall, singing news and examples of good practice from all around the country.

There is loads of other free information and resources if you register for full access.

Link: http://www.singup.org/