It’s finally here!! After months of writing, editing and revising, Module two of our Whiteboard Music Lessons – “Music Jam” series is now available for everyone to use.

This level is much more comprehensive and detailed that we ever imagined it would be. The whole module contains over 280 interactive whiteboard slides broken down into 14 easy to navigate lessons of jam packed content for teaching a primary or elementary music curriculum.

There are some major reasons why our interactive whiteboard primary music curriculum is different to just about any other curriculum you’ll find:

We Research.

A year prior to writing the initial drafts on this resource, we started to research the major music curricula around the world including the National Standards for Music in the USA, the requirements of Key stage 2 in the UK and the draft National Curriculum in Australia. What we found was that all these major curricula had ten core essential characteristics that were common to all and we used this market research to develop the basis for our curriculum.

We Listen.

We never just write a new resource out of the experience of one author. Most importantly, we seek out the opinions and needs of the users of interactive whiteboards in the classrooms to seek out what they are looking for in interactive materials for the classroom. After running an extensive survey, we found that teachers wanted the choice of using the resources from any computer and on any interactive whiteboard. We also found that users wanted to use the pens and duster that come with the major brands of interactive whiteboard. For this reason we’ve come up with a system that enables all our users to access their resources whether they have a PC or a Mac and they are able to install the interactive resources on both the Promethean and Smart Board using the free software that is associated with both these brands. We also know that our product works with users just have a projector and a laptop as well.

We offer an Outstanding level of Choice.

We offer a choice of European terminology (Stave, crotchet) or American (staff, quarter note) language. This means that you can use the most relevant language to you in your regional area.

We are not aware of ANY other company in the world that offers this choice.

Most books or music programs of any kind use the language preference of the author. The language of ‘Staff’ vs ‘Stave’ might seem like a small thing… but we think it is BIG thing. Its REALLY IMPORTANT that the language in the program exactly matches your preference.

 

We’ve continued to make the navigation of the resource very easy – so that you have the choice of doing every activity in sequence or you can change it as you need. We also offer easy access to games and songs you may want to access more often.

We’ve also included a worksheet for each lesson that you can do individually and/or as a class. These worksheets can also be printed for students to use and keep in their own book.

 

Now Lets have a more detailed look at how the lessons work:

Lesson 1:
This lesson is a foundation to the entire module ahead. In this lesson students will have exposure to singing their first song for the term; learning to play their first note with backing tracks on a recorder or tuned percussion instrument; experience playing untuned percussion instruments and learn to read elementary rhythms, experience how to write the treble clef and write and place their first note played and will have the opportunity to play a variety of musical and listening games.

 

Lesson 2:
While revising and extending known concepts such as the treble clef, basic rhythm reading and playing and writing the note G learned in lesson 1, this lesson also adds new concepts such as hearing long and short sounds, improvising and putting together the next sequential steps to learning their first class ensemble piece.

 

Lesson 3:
Students are able to play two parts together as a class ensemble by this lesson and they’ll improving on their rhythm recognition and playing by working through some slides that set them up for success with it in steps. In this lesson students also have a short composition activity and will be able to extend their knowledge of instruments sounds and names through an aural puzzle activity and have the opportunity to play musical hangman to revise known concepts learned.

 

Lesson 4:
In this lesson students will have an opportunity to sing a jazz song, have exposure to learning the differences in sound with tuned percussion instruments, will have the chance to compose a short rhythmical piece, be able to hear the difference between different basic rhythm patterns and will complete their first class ensemble piece in three parts.

 

Lesson 5:
The new concept for students in this lesson is time signatures and what they mean. They will have practice playing music with different basic time signatures and will have the opportunity to play a time signature game. On the practical side, students will be able to extend their playing knowledge to three notes and learning the first steps to learning their second class ensemble piece.

 

Lesson 6:
Students will have fun adding variety to their jazz singing song in this lesson by adding kazoos and other instruments to it in the bridge to create variety. Other new concepts include identifying the sounds of wind instruments, playing rhythm in two parts, playing Hot Cross Buns on their tuned instruments and composing and playing a short melody piece based on three notes.

 

Lesson 7:
As the students continue to build their playing and rhythmic skills in this lesson by learning to read and play in various simple time signatures, they will also have exposure to learning about dynamics.

Lesson 8:
In this lesson, students extend their tuned playing to a five note range and learn about stem direction in addition to playing and reviewing other known concepts in a variety of new ways and activities.

Lesson 9:
By the end of this lesson, students will have their second class ensemble piece for the module ready to perform and will continue to write, read and place their 5 note range. They’ll have a lot of fun playing musical snakes and ladders in four teams at the end of the lesson as well.

Lesson 10:
By this stage in the course, students are able to distinguish aurally between four styles of music, will learn to play a more complex piece of music on their tuned percussion instruments that will get their hands moving quickly to play it and will be able to distinguish between three different notes aurally.

Lesson 11:
Students have exposure to playing “Ode to Joy” in this lesson. To lead up to this there are some activities on hearing and playing dotted rhythms to help them build up successfully. Students will also have fun creating a composition based on environmental sounds.

Lesson 12:
Students will improve their coordination in this lesson by playing a simple rhythm pattern with two hands which helps to extend their rhythm reading. Other new concepts include hearing up to three notes on a track and playing back what they hear on a tuned instrument and playing a game to hear the difference between two basic chord sounds in order to give their ears exposure to using and hearing this more in the future.

Lesson 13:
In this lesson students are learning about the concept of flats and sharps, learning to play a sharp and then learning about key signatures.

Lesson 14:
This lesson marks the end of module 1 and students will be able to revise known rhythm concepts, will be able to play and improvise on 7 notes and will have practice and exposure to identifying simple intervals for the first time.

This course is built with much more than just a term’s content. We’ve structured this beginning module with 14 lessons, so that if teachers feel they are moving quickly with their classes, there will still be enough content to fill a term and for those that find their classes are moving slower, it is easy to spread the content over a whole semester.

Please let us know what you think about these new resources by using the comment box below or alternatively, click here to leave your success story.