For home educators and schools during the Covid-19 lockdown, we have compiled a list of teaching ideas, resources, songs and musical games that are easily accessed and shared with children. We hope you find them useful, but most of all, have fun!
GCSE Resources
Click here for KS4 Composing Resources
YouTube channels we recommend
https://www.youtube.com/user/OllieTunmer/videos – Ollie Tunmer from The Beat Goes On is posting regular rhythm warm ups and exercises during the crisis on his Youtube Channel – great for a bit of movement, rhythm and pulse work!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfz4ZD1ADS08wFg70j0Niw – Koo Koo Kangaroo – Great for Kids of all ages, stay active, learn the dance moves, keep the rhythm and follow the pulse to the music. Our favourites are Dinosaur Stomp and Unicorns R Real!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuNYP6sYWgjAddNo534PEKQ – The Musication Youtube Channel has lots of really good videos to use in their Percussion Play-Along Playlist. Get the pots and pans out and get a few children in school or the whole family at home involved!!
https://www.youtube.com/user/DanMorley – A youtube channel that includes lots of useful short videos ranging from how to read notes to the history of rock music.
https://www.youtube.com/user/MyIndianSummerBand/videos – A youtube channel built by Brian Gossard that includes lots of educational videos explaining how rests work and different dynamics (loud and soft song).
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYys0uAwltVvMQ7zVif6kjw – Leeds’ own Tamsyn Durrant has a selection of fantastic videos of activities and songs for you to join in with.
Other helpful websites for schools
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/ten-pieces/get-creative-with-classical-music-at-home/z6tqqp3 – BBC 10 Pieces is a great place to start, they have some suggestions on their website for learning activities based on their current content and they will be adding more resources for home learning after Easter
https://www.facebook.com/NYCOSCreativeLearning/ – NYCOS – the National Youth Choir of Scotland are posting regular songs and singing games for various age groups on their facebook page for schools and home educators to follow and use.
https://www.classicsforkids.com/games.html – Games to help students learn musical terms and note names.
https://philharmonia.co.uk/resources/instruments/?desktop=true – Short videos introducing every instrument of the orchestra and demonstrating how it sounds are available on this site.
http://jamzone.littlekidsrock.org/songs/ – For those that have access to an instrument at home this site has lots of resources to help students learn a song. There are also short lessons included in the ‘Take a lesson’ section. In the ‘games’ section students can have a go at drumming and building a beat.
https://apps.musedlab.org/groovepizza/?museid=H1ZK4PRr8& – Type ‘Groove pizza’ into google and this website will pop up. It allows students to create different drum beats in different styles. They can change their beats by altering the number of slices, the tempo and other functions by changing the controls in the bottom left corner.
https://www.outoftheark.co.uk/ – Out of the Ark are adding a new song, warm up or musical activity every day which is available for free on their website
https://www.singup.org/home-schooling – SingUp have made available some free songs and resources organised into different age groups aimed at home educators for the duration of the school closures