Set up by Kevin Hamel, a music support teacher with Cumbria LEA, Tuned-In is an online educational resource designed primarily for music teachers. The learning materials have a strong cross-curricular feel, with units embracing dance, art and literacy.
Thirteen years in teacher education led Kevin to the realisation that many primary teachers had little or no confidence when it came to teaching music. “I’d build their confidence through musical games and songs that would work in the classroom, but they wanted to go much further. Around 1998 I got interested in the idea of putting things on the internet.”
“Things” doesn’t begin to do justice to the site he created with web designer Peter Bolger; Underpinning the work of the Cumbria music learning support service, and shared by over twenty LEAs it promotes music making in the classroom and provides imaginative links to the wider curriculum.
Intended for Foundation to Key Stage 2 levels, the work units are meticulously prepared (QCA material, links to the National Curriculum and teachers notes in PDF or Word format), clearly presented, highly interactive and beautifully illustrated.
Music That Touched the Heart for example is a Key Stage 2 module that supports the Wider Opportunities initiative to encourage the learning of musical instruments.
Based on a poem by Margaret Hancock, a string teacher with Cumbria Music Services, the story of young Peter, “seized by a giant eagle, and held captive until the town band can play music to touch its stony heart” is accompanied by a series of stunning illustrations from students at the Khouli Art College in Moscow.
The VanBasco Karaoke player is one of a number of free resources that can be downloaded from Tuned-In. There are also downloadable articles on the use of ICT in education, how to adapt QCA Schemes and Dalcroze, a form of eurhythmics that can help musical learning.
One of the latest additions to the site, Pictures at an Exhibition, provides opportunities for children to learn about ways in which society, time and place can influence the composition of music with additional pieces on Mussorgsky and Victor Hartmann, whose paintings inspired the original music.
Tuned-In and the Cumbria Music Learning support service have also worked with musicians and dancers from Africa and India to develop innovative broadband and CD-based materials. Forthcoming attractions are interactive units include a virtual Magic Flute, and Establishing Rap in the classroom and and MusicBlog, where teachers can ask questions and receive advice on all matters music.
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Rhythm Rooms - using music to tackle exclusion
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