‘Fame Idle is the story of three kids who are confused why everyone around them seem obsessed by celebrity culture and they are not. It’s a musical comedy with a moral message… “Fame ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.” It has a modern score and a witty script that follows Bobby, P.J. and Smudge as they discover what friendship means when faced with a chance of fame – but at what cost?’

Here is a video which highlights some photos and audio from the production:

Many schools have already put on their own performances of the musical and received extremely positive feedback. To find out more for yourself, visit www.fame-idle.co.uk.

www.cyberkidz.net

The site has recently been translated into English, so even more children are now able to take advantage of these resources.

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.

‘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

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‘

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

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

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/

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.

The pilots will trial different ways of offering young people a range of cultural experiences both within schools and in professional art settings. Different approaches will be used, based on partnerships between schools, local authorities and arts organisations, so that creative practitioners will spend time in schools, as well as children getting the chance to gain experience outside the classroom.

The areas, from 141 that applied, will become the first Find Your Talent areas and build on existing investment and experience, currently taking place around the country.

Find your Talent will include giving young people the chance to:

• perform on stage and attend top quality performances, exhibitions at museums and galleries, and heritage sites;
• get hands-on experience of the creative industries including film making, radio and TV;
• learn a musical instrument, and take part in a musical performance in front of an audience;
• produce creative writing and appreciate authors and how they work;
• learn about – and practise – new media and digital art; and
• develop art and craft skills.

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/