Mind the (g)app: Mindfulness in the music classroom

As children recover from the pandemic, having an array of tools to support students' mental wellbeing is more important now than ever. Instinctively, in my classroom I have been using calming music (packed with sounds of nature) along with colouring activities to bring a sense of calm at the beginning of each lesson. It's been really helpful and is something the children notice if one week it's missing – as do I; their behaviour isn't quite the same without the quick burst of calm. Always on the lookout for something new, I've been having fun trying these latest resources with the children (and myself) and look forward to using them even more in the new academic year. Below, I'll outline what I've found out so far.

Mindful Tune-ups

This is a beautifully presented resource which is also very simple to use. The front screen provides two activities: a ‘Spin the wheel’ to randomly select one of four types of mindfulness activity, and an ‘instant calm’ button (with a calming sound file). Each page appears with an array of attractive illustrations and photography.

The ‘Spin’ activities all involve listening to music but with different activities to do:

• Playful percussion – This provides a piece of popular music like We Will Rock You by Queen or Happy by Pharrell Williams. There are six different tracks to choose from (these are updated termly) and the students are required to mark the pulse by clapping, tapping, dancing or using some percussion.
• Close your eyes and visualise – Here there are six different soundscapes which include: ‘Music from Mars', ‘Sounds of the Jungle’, ‘English Countryside’, ‘Walk in a Blizzard’, ‘Waves on a Beach’, and ‘Rain and Thunder’. The sounds are distinctive and different. Each sound file lasts just over 10 minutes. Realistically though, in a lesson I only managed to use about two minutes, but on my own I really enjoyed the full 10 minutes. This was my favourite resource available.
• Close your eyes and breathe – There are six drones provided with an array of sound worlds. There is an instruction of how to breathe and simply meditate with the sound in the background. The children were much more comfortable with some drones than with others. This wasn't a problem as there is a good choice available.
• Musical doodles – Again, six different pieces of music by Arlo Anwin from Winter's Approach to Moments From Home. They feature noises from nature but also beautiful acoustic guitar, the Banjo, tuned percussion, synthesised sound, and instruments from across the world. Students are encouraged to doodle as they listen.

Additionally, the ‘instant calm’ button simply plays a whole array of music. The sound files here can be any of those used in the four activities in ‘Spin’. If the first click of the music isn't suitable, then simply click again for another choice. Activities are updated on a termly basis, and schools can request for additional music items to be added. The simplicity of this resource is perhaps its greatest strength. It is very easy to use but is also really useful. Mindful Tune-ups, I am sure, will become a ‘go to’ meditation resource in many classrooms in the future.

The basics

Price: £150 for schools of 300 pupils, but prices vary and can be negotiated.
Find a video about the resource on YouTube.
mindfultuneups.com
Follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mindfultuneups

Calm Schools

The strapline here is: ‘Resources – free tools for resilient classrooms'. It provides 30 Days of Mindfulness in the Classroom (via a downloadable guide with free daily content). This includes meditation activities such as ‘Feelings', ‘Loving kindness', ‘Counting the breath’, ‘Sky gazing’, and ‘Body scan’, to name a few. In addition, there is a Self-Care Guide for Teachers. Again, free meditation content is provided, and you can set up a free trial account to use mediations such as ‘Panic SOS’ and ‘Afternoon reset’. However, the Mindfulness in the Classroom resource simply has meditations available directly in the document.

If you are a teacher, you can get a 40 per cent discount for the whole Calm premium package via the Calm Schools pages. This allows you to access the vast array of resources for adults, but also ‘Calm Kids'. Calm Kids is broken down into different age groups:

• Calm Kids 3–4 includes an intro session plus ‘Blowing candles' and ‘Warm heart’.
• Calm Kids 5–6 includes all of the above plus ‘Belly breaths'.
• Calm Kids 7–10 includes an intro session plus ‘Body radar’, ‘Follow the leader’ and ‘Flashlight body scan’.
• Calm Kids 11–13 include an intro session plus ‘Warm heart’, ‘Follow the leader’ and ‘Flashlight body scan’.
• Calm kids 14–17 includes an intro session plus ‘Loving kindness', ‘Breathing space’ and ‘Focus'.

These are excellent materials that support the educator and their students – it's a very welcome suite of materials that I'm sure I will be using.

The basics

Price: Calm Schools – free; Calm Kids – all content available through an adult subscription on offer currently at just under £30.
www.calm.com/schools
www.calm.com

Headspace for Educators

Headspace very generously offers a free subscription for teachers from Years 1 to 12. There are a few hoops to jump through with ID cards and pay slips, which, if yours doesn't quite fit what they are looking for, requires a few emails to their help desk. My colleague and I did get there in the end, and it was worth the perseverance. The idea is that if you improve your wellbeing, you'll be better able to support students in your classroom.

A few words directly from Headspace: ‘Take a moment with a meditation. Educators are pivotal to society — we entrust our children to them for eight hours a day, five days a week, 10 months a year. And Headspace is committed to addressing some of the most pressing needs of educators, such as reducing stress, increasing resilience, and improving sleep.’

In addition to being able to use all the regular Headspace content for yourself, there is additional content specifically for educators. There's a very helpful introductory video about emotional intelligence, and plenty more, including audio meditation files for different ages focusing on different areas. The resources also include a free daily practice guide, a guided mediation, a free course on Headspace Mindfulness in Classrooms, and Covid guidance.

Headspace is quite different to Calm, but is another very effective meditation resources. This generous offering from Headspace will most certainly help many teachers and their students.

The basics

Price: Free for educators able to provide evidence of employment.
www.headspace.com/educators

#TuneUp

Students at St Catherine's School, Bramley, taking part in #TuneUpTuesday © Courtesy TuneUp

Now for something a bit different. Aiming to support our students' mental health through arts engagement is #Tune Up. Even though the event occurred last year, the content is still available, so let's dig in and have a look.

#TuneUp was launched in November 2020, with the first event engaging 110,000 students worldwide. On a Tuesday in the November lockdown, the #TuneUpTuesday campaign gave schools the chance to celebrate the arts and use them to encourage positive mental health. The initiative was the brainchild of principal Kirsty von Malaisé and director of drama Hannah Proops from King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham. This was a highly successful event which has ongoing available resources – lots of arts professionals, teachers and students joined together to provide a wide range of content. The original event included an online assembly and a full range of video resources and workshops. The #TuneUp project continues to evolve, and to really understand this initiative, it's best to sign up and explore the resources.

The #TuneUp team says: ‘Since the pilot event, #TuneUp has over 560 schools signed up to access the online portal and has engaged with over 140,000 students across the world. We are currently in the process of submitting an application for funding so it will enable us to continue to grow the project and its network.’

So, what are they trying to do? Here are some of the aims:

• To provide a virtual platform for schools across the UK in the delivery of arts curricula and activities.
• To facilitate teen arts ambassadors to lead outreach activities in schools in their regions.
• To engage professionals and arts companies to share expertise with and support the programme's activities.
• To set up a youth arts steering committee.

The range of resources to get you started includes:

• Assembly: Two items here, an introductory shorter video and another 26-minute presentation introducing the ideas behind #TuneUpTuesday with inspirational examples and explanations of what's on offer. This was the assembly broadcast at the original event.
• Upskill: 52 arts activity videos that are short and engaging. From understanding sound and different types of drumming or vocal activities to free drawing, costume and lighting design, and photography. There's also clay work, painting masterclasses and poetry writing – all the different elements of the arts are covered here!
• Uplift: Split into Theatre, Dance, Music and Art, these are larger workshop-type resources and full performances (such as a Disney musical or an Opera North Performance) taken from a variety of resources already online.
• Upcoming: Here you have a whole array of videos in which students and practitioners share their stories of studying an arts course or working in the arts. This would be brilliant as an arts careers resource too.
• StepUp: Many arts organisations providing training are listed here, with links to find out more about them.

Although the contents isn't entirely clear from the home pages, this really is the most wonderfully inspiring resource. The founders must be very modest, as it took some detective work to discover who was behind this fantastic initiative. I would encourage all schools to enrol for access, especially to the Upskill video library. So many gifted people have contributed their time and talent here. Let's hope the team gets funding to move this project forward.

The basics

Price: Free (registration required)
www.tuneup.life