Teaching Materials

Vocal health for teachers

Whether you’re a full-time curriculum classroom teacher, a peripatetic teacher, a whole-class ensemble leader, or a music assistant, your vocal presence is vital for a successful learning and teaching...

KS 3

Developing wider listening: neo-Classicism

In music, the term neo-Classical can be applied to a wide range of pieces from the 19th century, where composers deliberately ‘harked back’ to music that had gone before, particularly that of the...

KS 4

AQA AoS1 Mozart operas: wider listening

This resource will provide a wider context to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, the set work in Strand B of AQA’s AoS1, the operas of Mozart. It will examine three of Mozart’s other operas, each...

KS 5

Dealing with performance nerves

Performing is considered by most teachers to be an integral part of playing a musical instrument. But it can create immense stress, especially for students who are shy or anxious. Performing has both...

Peripatetic Teaching

Edexcel AoS2 wider listening: Handel and the Beach Boys

The works listed on the Edexcel AoS2 Vocal Music wider listening list include a selection of three famous solo arias from Handel’s Messiah, ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’, ‘Rejoice Greatly’ and ‘Every...

Secondary

Developing wider listening: Impressionism

In this resource we’ll explore Impressionism through practical and listening activities, supported by contextual background. This resource follows a similar one on nationalism, and two further...

Secondary

Eduqas AoS A: Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 ‘Italian’

This approach to the Symphony focuses on dealing with sound in the first instance, before getting embroiled in the minutiae of a score. It suggests using a free MIDI file of the Symphony to take it...

Secondary

Running an ensemble

In this resource, Edward Maxwell gives practical advice on setting up and running instrumental ensembles at beginners, intermediate and mixed-ability levels, including choosing repertoire, writing...

Peripatetic Teaching

Composing activities on Dickens’s A Christmas Carol

This resource will outline how to use composing tasks to create a vivid, dramatic version of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol with a KS3 group. The tasks will focus on moments and motifs from the story and...

Composition

Developing wider listening: nationalism

In this resource – the first in a short series on ‘-isms’ in musical style – we’ll look at some of the key examples of nationalist music, charting its development from the late Classical period to the...

Secondary

Edexcel AoS6: New Directions – wider listening and other perspectives, part two

This is the second of two resources exploring Edxcel’s suggestions for wider listening and ‘other perspectives’ based around its A level AoS6, New Directions. Here, we look at two influential figures...

Teaching Materials

Improving students’ confidence: part two

Part one of this resource dealt with how we can change our language in our teaching to build our students’ confidence of our students. In this final part, we’ll look at how we can directly help our...

Instrumental & Vocal