Sing up!

Sing Up 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 site's ambition is to make singing central to young children’s lives – in primary schools, the home and the wider community.

Ssssh!

This is an unbelievable story! Just imagine if this happened to your school choir!

First the shopping centre security guard stepped in. Then it was the turn of a police officer.
But it wasn't drunken youths or shoplifters who required their attention. It was a group of enthusiastic carol singers from a local primary school. The children, aged between six and 11, were told they were singing too loudly. Parents and many of the shoppers who had enjoyed the carols were astonished by the intervention.

"They were a small group singing to raise money and they were singing beautifully," said their headmaster Ian Jones yesterday. "After a bit a security guard came over and said we had only meant to be singing for one hour and could we please stop. I just said 'No', because I knew we were allowed to sing between 11am and 3pm. He said he had complaints from tenants that we were too loud. " just asked how he proposed to stop children singing. In the end he said we would have to stop or he would call the police."

The 29 pupils from Ysgol San Sior school, aged between six and 11, had permission to sing at the Victoria Centre in Llandudno, North Wales, last Saturday to raise funds for the school. "I couldn't believe what they were saying," added Mr Jones. "Some of the parents were incredulous. A member of the public came over and said she thought the singing was fantastic."
Then a Police Community Support Officer arrived and shortly afterwards Mr Jones decided he and his pupils should pack up.

Organiser Debbie Ankers, whose nine-year-old daughter was singing, said: "To begin with, I thought it was a joke - it was just ridiculous. They were asking us to leave but we couldn't just leave when we had children there with parents coming later to pick them up."

Sue Nash, manager of the Victoria Centre, admitted last night that security staff should not have intervened. "It was quite loud apparently, and we have had problems with acoustics in the centre whenever we have had live music here," she said. "It was a misunderstanding but it has all been sorted now. Mistakes do happen."

The pupils will be allowed to return to perform their carols at the centre this weekend - and will not be required to sing quietly.

A year 6 teacher with the X-Factor?

Not that I really watch this programme (or pantomime, from what I understand) but I thought it was quite interesting that there is a Year Six teacher taking part in the X-Factor.

Beverley Trotman is a Y6 teacher in Icknield Primary in Luton. Linda Crick, headteacher says, "Bev's wonderful and on Saturday we saw the real Bev shine through - the personality and depth and feeling she has. We're missing her terribly, but we're keeping our fingers crossed. All the kids and staff are voting for her. Obviously, it has its problems, especially with Y6 going into SATs, but this is a once in a lifetime chance."

Do it for Year Six, Bev!

Primary Music Teacher

I found this site, recommended by Primary Teacher UK. Primary Music Teacher is a website full of free resources for teaching music.

Primary Teachers too shy to sing!

The BBC writes that a study by the Institute of Education has revealed that half of primary teachers in England are unconfident about singing in front of a class. The study says that most primary school pupils spend an hour doing music, with 13% learning to play an instrument.

Professor Susan Hallam of the Institute of Education said it was shocking that one in three primary school teachers had received no training in teaching music and singing. "Teaching music is about so much more than learning to play an instrument or spotting the protégés of tomorrow; it's about developing social skills, team work, confidence, co-ordination and creativity. Today's research findings revealed a worrying lack of confidence in our primary school teachers when it comes to helping children benefit from music lessons, so we now need to evaluate the direct effect this is having on our children."

The study involved the analysis of questionnaires given to 350 trainee primary teachers.

This report shows yet more reasons why Music was voted the least popular subject to teach by readers of this blog in February.

Sibelius Groovy Music

A few weeks ago, Music was confirmed as the least popular subject to teach of Year Six Teacher readers. Perhaps a new piece of software could be the answer...

Sibelius Groovy Music is an interactive package for children in primary schools. It allows children to explore music concepts and then create their own music. The demonstration I have seen looks very children friendly, and completely different. We always used to use RM Music Explorer (what an awful program). Looking at the demonstration, Groovy Music blows that way out of the water!

There are three versions - Shapes for 5-7 year-olds, Jungle for 7-9 year-olds and City for 9-11 year-olds.