Fun Music Company Music Curriculum2024-08-20T20:50:04+00:00

Attention: Anyone Teaching Music

How to Make Music Teaching More Rewarding And Fun, Without Spending Lots of Time or Money!

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A personal story from Janice Tuck, creative director of the Fun Music Company …

Janice … you look tired. Are you ok?

Huh? I thought. I didn’t feel tired. I thought I was doing well!

This was over 20 years ago. Here I was, a young teacher working really hard to deliver the most amazing music lessons to my students, and all the parents can say to me is that I looked tired!

However, the truth was, I was tired.

I realized I was burnt out, stressed and unwell even before the term really kicked off l and at the time it was a real wake-up call. At that stage I was still trying to plan every single lesson. I’d go home every night and try to plan what I’d do the next day for my students. I did workshops, trainings and conferences. I did everything I could to make myself a better music teacher.

And what did it get me?

All I got was my administration telling me I now had to meet the needs of the new curriculum that was coming in. They didn’t care how I did it, they just wanted that box ticked.

That whole situation led me on my quest to find better ways. It really made me think of teaching from a whole new perspective where I was making better use of my time.

Even back then, over 20 years ago I realized that was was needed wasn’t more lesson plans. It wasn’t more training, and it wasn’t more ideas for teaching.

What was needed was a platform, a system … A curriculum program.

I knew there had to be a better way than teachers sitting up at night, planning lessons. I knew that what made a difference was not lesson plans or the worksheets. When I had the lesson plans handled, I could focus on the children! I really wanted to make a difference for these children. I could see the potential if I could just spend time focusing on them. My issue was that I was stuck working hard to just create resources and plan the lessons for them.

That’s when I had the vision of the Fun Music Company. Way back then! 30 years ago! I hadn’t even heard of the internet at that time. However, I saw the vision back then of a planned program that was filled with resources that I could just go to and teach with.

Something so complete that it would have everything required for teaching. That way, I could focus on the students!

It took me a great many years of teaching in all different situations. I taught preschool, primary and high school. I realised that the creation of a complete resource isn’t as easy as it seems! I did hold that passion in my mind from that very first day teaching!

I’ve made it my mission to understand music curriculum. I want to get this handled for teachers! That way, they can focus on the students and have the life they deserve.

Then the breakthrough moment came. We looked at every music curriculum in the world we could find. We found that there are four broad terms, or categories of activity in music. These represent the essence of every statement in the curriculum.

That became our four UNIT system. It is taking everything in the curriculum and bringing it down to simple steps. Steps that are clear and easy to understand for teachers and students.

Introducing … The Fun Music Company Music Curriculum v2.0

This is a complete elementary music curriculum program for general music classes.

It is designed to meet curriculum requirements. At the same time it makes lessons engaging and fun for children!

It does this by structuring activities around the four key areas. These are commonly found in every music curriculum in the world. SKILL DEVELOPMENT, SING & PLAY, COMPOSE and CONNECT.

In this program you will have everything you need. It is a fun, engaging and exciting elementary music curriculum!

It is a structured program with progression through the grades. It is also flexible and adaptable for mixed grade classes.

280 Lessons, ready for you to teach!

Each grade contains 40 lessons, set and ready to go!

All you need to do is click on the lesson, then click through the lesson content with the buttons at the bottom of the screen.

Songs ready to go, with play-along animations.

Each grade contains complete full arrangements, ready to SING & PLAY in the classroom.

Students will sing, play untuned and tuned percussion as they put together ensembles.

Interactive COMPOSE lessons make music learning fun!

At an age appropriate level, students will learn to create their own music!

Students will discover the elements of music through singing and playing their own creations.

They will work in groups and alone as they create their own music and perform it.

CONNECT Listening lessons share a world of music!

There is a world of amazing music to explore, and students will do so in this program!

Students will listen to everything from Mozart to Elvis!

They will also discover how music CONNECTS with them and their world.

The content of the Fun Music Company Music Curriculum

Music Curriculum Aural

SKILL Development is crucial in music lessons.  Statements like “Develop listening skills, and skills for singing and playing music” are found in just about any music curriculum document in the world. This unit completely covers all skills development requirements.

The students learn about elements of music such as rhythm, dynamics, tempo and timbre. They will have fun and learn through exposure.

In this program, students view skill development activities as a game! Normally placed at the start of a lesson, they are short warm up activities to get students into music in a very simple way.

Teachers who are feeling uneasy about presenting this material can use the pre-recorded tracks. Experienced teachers can extend the activity by using their own clapping and singing patterns.

Actual feedback from curriculum user:

“Having access to the Fun Music Company online lessons over the last couple of years has made the teaching and planning of my music lessons SO much easier.”

Music Curriculum Sing and Play

Each grade level includes a complete SING & PLAY unit. For Grades K-4, this includes a mix of folk song arrangements and modern songs which have been selected and arranged by teachers. These songs are an excellent solution to classes with different abilities. They cater for all levels within the one piece.

For grades 5 and 6, SING & PLAY includes engaging activities of BUCKET DRUMMING and MARIMBA BAND.

There are videos showing each step of the process. Singing, playing and then playing as a classroom ensemble.

Sheet music is not required. Everything is displayed on the classroom whiteboard!

The singing videos include light-up lyrics! The sheet music is always displayed along the bottom of the screen.

Actual feedback from curriculum user:

“I mostly use the ‘sing and play’ activities. The setup is great with the different instrument parts and vocals and the break down for learning each.”

Music Curriculum Compose

This program includes a complete composition unit. This is your solution to meeting the composition requirements of your curriculum. Students will have great fun while they create their own music.

Students will create their own material in an age-appropriate way. Students start with simple graphic notation scores and group activities in the younger grades. They then progress through structured improvisation and composition frameworks.

In the older grades students will begin using technology. Students can use whatever devices are available to them to create their own music.

Actual feedback from curriculum user:

“My students were all engaged and very excited about creating their own music compositions!”

Primary Music Curriculum Connect

CONNECT is a full listening program. This is your solution to getting students to listen to a variety of musical styles. This means you can expand their awareness and develop knowledgeable musicians.

Students will watch a short pre-frame video, and then watch or listen to the music via an embedded YouTube video.

Then they participate in a range of response activities.

They will start with a few factual fill-in-the-blanks questions. There are also classroom discussion questions to prompt a deeper level of knowledge.

Actual feedback from curriculum user:

“My classes love the variety in your listening activities. There is always something new to discover!”

Benefits of the Fun Music Company curriculum:

Designed to meet your music curriculum requirements

The Fun Music Company Curriculum has been designed to meet your curriculum requirements. It also provides a fun, engaging experience for your students.

Every part of the program was written to meet the curriculum requirements. It has been fully updated to meet the requirements of the Australian Curriculum v9 and its state-based equivalents.

The Australian curriculum has four content statements. The four UNITS of the Fun Music Company curriculum are designed to match them perfectly. They are SKILLS, SING & PLAY, COMPOSE and CONNECT.

We have included Scope and sequence documents showing exactly how each activity in the program matches the content statements of the curriculum.

We have also referenced the various state-based curricula. We have covered:

  • NSW creative arts syllabus.
  • The WA Curriculum.
  • The Queensland Curriculum.
  • Victorian Curriculum.

We have also included assessment templates and rubrics for every unit at every grade. This means you can show clear progress in each area of the curriculum.

Sample scope and sequence from grade 3:

The Fun Music Company Curriculum has been designed to meet your curriculum requirements. It also provides a fun, engaging experience for your students.

Every part of the Fun Music Company curriculum was written around the requirements of the US Common Core arts standard. If you choose this program you are truly meeting and exceeding the standards found in the Common Core.

There are four categories in the Common Core, and eleven anchor standards in those categories. The categories are Creating, which is fully covered in our COMPOSE unit. Performing/Presenting/Producing, which is covered in our SING & PLAY Unit. Responding and Connecting are both covered in our CONNECT unit.

We have drilled down in detail through the eleven anchor standards. We have developed descriptions for each grade to make sure that everything is covered.

If your state has not adopted the common core, or you use another state-based curriculum document you can still be confident that the Fun Music Company curriculum will cover what you need. We have analyzed curriculum documents from all around the world, and our materials cover 99% of the requirements we have seen.

Please download the following curriculum matching document:

Benefits of the Fun Music Company curriculum:

Step by Step Music Lessons

In this program, you can choose to program your own lessons, choosing content from the program.

Alternatively, you can use our pre-programmed lessons. If doing this, you simply click the lesson number from the menu, and click through the content of the lesson using the forward and back navigation at the bottom of the screen.

Click through a lesson from grade 3:

Actual feedback from curriculum user, Andrea:

“I’ve been teaching for 35 years and this program is a dream come true. Very easy to use”

Benefits of the Fun Music Company curriculum:

Video Tutorials … Use IF you need them!

Not sure of your skills in teaching music?

Not feeling confident to sing in front of students?

Do not worry. We have you covered.

The Fun Music Company curriculum program contains VIDEO TUTORIALS for anything that is remotely technical to do with music.

These are here if you need them. For experienced teachers and those who have been using the program for some time, we highly recommend skipping the tutorial video, and teaching the content live.

However, if you’re not 100% sure of how the song or activity goes, the tutorial is right there when you need it.

Example video tutorial – singing

Our singing introduction video introduces the background of the song, and has a performance of the song with a vocalist recorded.

Click to see sample from grade 2:

Example video tutorial – tuned percussion

For all songs from K-6 we provide a tutorial video showing how to play each of the parts.

Click to see sample from grade 4:

Margo, from a school who doesn’t have a music specialist, wrote:

“The Fun Music Company Program was a big success at our school. The feedback from the classes has been very positive, And the kids are actually getting music lessons for the first time in a long time!”

Benefits of the Fun Music Company curriculum:

Music Curriculum Lesson Plans Detail Every Step

Every grade includes step-by-step lesson plans in PDF form, which detail every step of the lesson, and provide alternatives for different ability levels in your class.

You can either download and print the entire PDF lesson plan guide for each grade, or you can access individual pages, as you need them from each lesson.

Music Lesson Plans from Primary Music Curriculum

Benefits of the Fun Music Company curriculum:

Play-along animations for all songs

Animated sheet music – singing

For singing, we have easy to read light-up lyrics on the screen.

We also have the sheet music embedded, so that students are continually exposed to the notation.

Click to see sample from grade 2:

Animated sheet music – untuned percussion

While students learn untuned percussion, they see the notation, along with a performance on the screen.

As they become more familiar with the music, you can switch off the instrument display and have them follow the notation only.

Click to see sample from grade 3:

Animated sheet music – tuned percussion

Students learn tuned percussion in a variety of methods in this program.

In Kindergarten and grade 1, coloured notes are used, and students play one or two notes at most.

Through grades 3 and 4 students learn repetitive patterns which they find easy to play.

Click to see sample from grade 4:

Animated sheet music – ensemble

As the students learn all the parts, they can put the singing, untuned and tuned percussion together as an ensemble.

Here, they are following the notation and the skills they have learned as they have gone through the songs.

Click to see sample from grade 4:

Benefits of the Fun Music Company curriculum:

Easy to use, with no extra software to install.

We provide an easy to use web-based interface with no software to install. All you need is a projector or video screen attached to a computer with internet access.

All you need to do is login to our members area, click on the grade level you wish to teach, and away you go!

Teacher using elementary music curriculum

Want to know more about the content of each grade, and how students progress through the program?

Please click the pictures for more information on the content of each grade.

Music curriculum for kindergarten

Kindergarten

Introducing music to children in the first year of schooling is critical! In this program we have fun, but non-threatening songs which give children the start they need. There are also fun composing lessons where students are introduced to the elements of music.

Grade 1

Students develop their listening skills, and take their first steps to composing and creating their own music. They also move to the music and play instruments along with classroom arrangements, exposing them to music notation.

music curriculum for grade one
music curriculum for grade 2

Grade 2

Songs in the program at this level aim to have the students learn to stay in time and in tune. The elements of music are introduced more explicitly, as students learn to sing and play music they have learned and composed.

Grade 3

At this level students focus more on the elements of music, understanding how they come together to form music. Students also work on their listening skills and compose and document their own music.

primary music curriculum for grade 3
Elementary music curriculum for grade 4

Grade 4

In grade four students have fun with their songs, while developing their ensemble skills performing with tuned and untuned percussion. Students also develop their listening skills through a wide variety of musical styles.

Grade 5

Students manipulate elements of music as they compose and document their own music. Students also begin using technology to create music along with traditional instruments. In the SING & PLAY section students will experience more engaging music with bucket drumming and marimba band.

music curriculum for grade 6

Grade 6

Students develop their understanding of music through composing their own music and performing in ensembles together. They understand of the elements of music and can describe and explain how they are used in the music they compose and perform.

NEW! Included in Grade 5 and 6:

Bucket Drumming Program

What can you do if students come into general music at grade 5 or 6 and don’t have much music experience?

The answer is simple: bucket drumming!

Click here for a sample from Grade 5:

Click here for a sample from Grade 6:

Animated content makes it easy!

This content features animations that show the students exactly when to play. Plus it has real music notation to help students with their musicianship.

PLUS NEW! Whole new SING & PLAY program for Grade 5 and 6:

Marimba Band

Q. How can you get students in grade 5 & 6 playing instruments and creating an ensemble?

Step 1: Call it something FUN.

Step 2: Play simple, effective, and FUN music!

Step 3: Make a performance something they can achieve.

Our MARIMBA BAND program in grade 5 and 6 does exactly that. It is based on simple pieces that use one or two notes. It uses simple marimbas or xylophones, which many schools have. As with all our other materials, complete tutorials are included on how to play and teach the pieces.

Every part is learned individually.

Students can learn by rote, as the pieces are made up from repeated patterns.

Animations on the screen will help the students find their notes.

A bass part from Grade 5:

An ensemble from grade 5:

Every piece uses a familiar pattern.

There are three parts: Bass, Harmony and Melody.

Each part is designed to fit within one octave of an instrument. This means that many students can share the marimbas you have. If you have a three octave marimba, three students can play it.

As with all our other materials, we provide complete tutorials for the students to learn the parts.

A grade 6 tutorial video:

A grade 6 ensemble:

Students develop through the pieces, and are able to learn quite complex parts after a while.

Here’s what you’re going to get with the Fun Music Company Curriculum System

Unlimited Access to the Online Music Curriculum ($1393 value)

$199 per grade if purchased individually. 

One school purchase entitles as many staff as necessary to access the program within within the one location.

PDF lesson plan guides for each grade ($350 Value)

$50 per grade if purchased individually.

Our PDF lesson plan guides are downloadable, printable and sharable with as many staff as necessary. These guides are the key to easy lesson preparation. Teachers simply flip through the guide for the lesson, and will instantly know the steps and outcomes of the lesson.

Assessments and rubrics for each grade.

Assessments are built in for each area of the curriculum.  This helps teachers meet reporting requirements in an easy and effective way. Then they can spend more time teaching and communicating with students, and less time marking and writing reports.

How about Ukulele? Is that included?

We know that some schools have ukuleles, and some schools don’t! Also some teachers like to do it in Grade 5 or 6, and some prefer using it with earlier grades. For this reason we have kept the core curriculum to percussion, and incorporated our comprehensive ukulele curriculum as a bonus.

Super Curriculum Bonus #1

Normally $199 on its own!

The Ukulele Curriculum System

Complete program with classroom presentations and lesson plans

This is an entire program for teaching ukulele in the classroom to cover the first full year of instruction (40 lessons). Includes animated video play-along-tracks and step-by-step lesson plans.

This program usually costs $199 / year on its own. For the first time this program is INCLUDED with any curriculum purchase!

What about the little people?

Often music teachers are called upon to teach a preschool program, either in the school or around the community. As well as this, we know that sometimes kindergarten classes need more materials to keep them busy and on track. For these reasons we include a complete Pre-K lesson plan curriculum with this program.

Super Curriculum Bonus #2

Sold on its own for $199

Preschool Music Program

Complete program with classroom presentations and lesson plans.

Do you also need to teach a pre-K class? If so you’ll find this program invaluable, with 20 step-by-step lesson plans and 60 songs with backing tracks which guide you through teaching the youngest preschool class. All you need is a music player and your pre-K class will be singing, dancing, playing instruments and learning through exposure as they have wonderful first experiences with music. You’ll be able to add this class to your schedule without any additional stress while you enjoy more preparation time for your other classes.

You want me to teach … MUSIC COMPOSITION ?

Every curriculum document in the world has music composition front and center. This encourages children to not only sing and play other people’s music, but to create their own. We understand that this can be daunting for teachers – no matter how much experience they have teaching music! For this reason we have included a special training program.

Super Curriculum Bonus #3

Value of $199

Composition Workshop Training

This seven part online workshop (14+ hours of training) walks teachers through the composition element of the curriculum, which can be one of the most challenging topics to teach. Every lesson is worked through and deconstructed for all grades from Kindergarten through to Grade 6.

Who this program is for:

This is for anyone teaching music in K-6, whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been teaching for a long time.

It’s also for non-specialists – classroom teachers who need to be able to cover music.

And its also for Curriculum co-coordinators. You can get this program for the whole school, and each grade has their music program covered.

Here’s everything you get today:

  • Access to the complete Fun Music Company Online Music Curriculum. ($1393 value)

  • Step-by-step PDF lesson plan guides for each grade. ($350 value)

  • Complete assessments and rubrics for each grade.

  • BONUS #1: Complete Fun Music Company Ukulele Curriculum. ($199 value)

  • BONUS #2: Complete Pre-K Program with 60+ extra songs ($199 value)

  • BONUS #3: Composition Workshop Training ($199 value)

Total value is well over $2000 worth
But today, you’re getting 12 months access to all of this …

 

Annual Membership

$799 / year

Monthly Membership

$87 / month

Any Questions?

Please check our frequently asked questions … or contact us if you have a specific question

How does it meet the requirements of my curriculum?2023-07-01T07:21:06+00:00

We have designed this program around the requirements of the Australian National Curriculum, the Common Core Curriculum from the USA, and the English National Curriculum. We have also looked at and analyzed every other curriculum document which users have told us they are required to use, and each one has remarkably similar requirements in the area of music. Please click below for a sample curriculum matching document, showing how our programs meet the requirements of the curriculum. If you have a different curriculum you are working with, please contact us and if possible we will provide a matching document for you showing how our program can be used to meet the needs of your curriculum.

We have designed this program around the requirements of the Common Core Curriculum, used in many US states. We have also looked at many of the state-based curriculum documents which our users have told us they are required to use, and each one has very similar requirements in the area of music.

Please click below for a sample curriculum matching document, showing how our programs meet the requirements of the Common Core Curriculum. If you have a different curriculum you are working with, please contact us and if possible we will provide a matching document for you showing how our program can be used to meet the needs of your curriculum.

We have designed this curriculum around the requirements of the Australian National Curriculum, and its state-based equivalents. Please click below for a sample curriculum matching document, showing how our programs meet the requirements of the curriculum. If you have a different curriculum you are working with, please contact us and if possible we will provide a matching document for you showing how our program can be used to meet the needs of your curriculum.

I don’t have much technology in my classroom. Can I still use this program?2020-10-09T13:41:01+00:00

We always get questions like: I don’t have an interactive whiteboard – can I still use this? and Can I use my iPad?.. and all those sort of technology-related questions.

Well … for this one … we are pleased to announce that the answer is yes!

Yes, you can use it, no matter what technology you happen to have in your classroom.

We’ve set this up as an online system. It is set up as a type of webpage that you access in the classroom. Its fully setup online, so there is nothing to download or install or anything for these programs, you simply login to our new members area, choose the module you want and away you go.

Its setup to work on any device, and yes, even iPads!

For this program, all you need is a screen, and some sort of device that can access the internet attached to it. A computer with any internet browser will do it or any sort of iPad or tablet device.

Why is there an annual subscription?2024-08-13T06:49:11+00:00

The Fun Music Company curriculum has two parts: the online screen presentations and the PDF guidebooks.

The on-screen presentation part of the Fun Music Company curriculum is delivered online – this means that no software ever has to be installed, and nothing has to be downloaded.

The flip-side of this benefit for you is that it must be a subscription service, because we as the service provider become responsible for keeping it running and updating it for all the technology changes that happen, making sure it works on every device that is used in schools.

I’m sure you’ll appreciate with such a large amount of video content in the program that potentially could be used by hundreds or even thousands of schools every day around the world, that the cost of delivering this service in the future could be very substantial, so therefore we can’t sell lifetime access to this – as we can’t guarantee that it can work well into the future.

However we are going further than that – we are committed to constantly reviewing, refining and improving the online content as we get feedback from users, so that the curriculum becomes better year after year. This is only possible because it is an online-delivered program. If it were a one-time purchase it would exist the way it does forever.

This is different from a program you might choose to use once or twice and put back on the shelf. We envisage that it would be used every single day in the classroom, with those sheet music videos being played over and over and over again, and in that context then our annual fees are not expensive at all.

Our vision for this curriculum is a program that is alive!, We expect that it is constantly getting better because people are using it every day, providing feedback and we are refining it, and this is only possible if we make it a subscription service.

We have created this program because we love music education: It is a life-long commitment for us to help music teachers all around the world make music lessons fun and fulfilling. If you choose to join us in our curriculum program we know that you and your students will benefit from this commitment and the input from all the experts who had input into the program, and all the other teachers using it as well.

How much music training or experience do I need to use this program?2020-10-09T13:43:56+00:00

We are confident that you’ll be able to use the program, no matter how much experience you have teaching music. The program includes hundreds of videos, designed to be step by step, so you can learn the parts along with your students. The lesson guides are designed to help you, and whether or not you get the printed version you’ll be able to access them whenever you need them.

We do this without removing the core important educational philosophies of music education, and music specialists can use this material as their base and expand on it, as the materials are designed with a solid base of Orff and Kodaly inspired approaches.

Can I purchase grade levels individually, and are other grade level packages available?2023-07-01T07:24:20+00:00

 

We can supply grade level packages in whatever configuration you need for your teaching. Please contact us via our helpdesk to work out a package and pricing that works for you.

You can also click here to purchase grade levels individually if you wish.

Try it out today with no risk …

If this doesn’t work for you for whatever reason, rest assured that you’re covered by our no-questions-asked 30 day money back guarantee.

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