Teaching Notes - MTA Podcast

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 92, Patrick chats to Francesca Christmas and Toby Davies from Trinity College London about their Awards and Certificates in Musical Development, Digital Theory Exams, AI, and more; David Gray talks about his primary curriculum, his online resources, training for primary music specialists, and makes the case for ukuleles; And Dr Robin Harrison , director of Maestro Onlin...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of 2024, Patrick chats to Janet Fischer about the excellent work done by Live Music Now , bringing music to those without previous access. Dr Anna Mariguddi discusses her recent research into informal music learning in primary schools. And Keith Sykes from Lewisham Music chats about their award-winning project connecting music and young people’s mental health,...

Send us Fan Mail In the last episode of 2023, Patrick meets Zac Moxon , Winner of the 2023 Outstanding New Teacher of the Year at the Pearson National Teaching Awards. They chat about his department at Chiswick School, the curriculum, and the secret to putting on over 50 concerts per year! Plus, organist, composer and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, Sarah MacDonald , discusses Chri...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 89, Patrick chats to Dr Kirsty Devaney about her research into barriers faced by female composers, including young people’s perception of what it means to be a composer. And Mr Primary Music Education himself Jimmy Rotheram discusses all things primary, with guidance for non-specialist teachers, including dos and don’ts. Presented and produced by Patrick Johns. https://...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 88, Patrick meets Jason Poulston, the music teacher behind the fantastic resource Music Homework, which does exactly what it says on the tin! Sophia Allen from Britten-Pears Arts introduces their newly-commissioned songs as part of Friday Afternoons, and the Big Sing! And singer, author, educator and researcher Randye Jones discusses Spirituals: their origins, the use o...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 87, Patrick chats to conductor Paul McCreesh about the next Gabrieli Roar project, and about singing and repertoire for young people. James Manwaring previews the next Music Teacher Monday webinar, looking at teaching harmony at Key Stage 5. And composer Paul Clark introduces the Clod Ensemble 's massive composition resource, Ear Opener , designed to support teache...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 86, Patrick finds out what's in the new edition of the MTA's Ensemble magazine, with MTA president, Catherine Barker . He chats to Joe Hastings , from the charity Music Minds Matter , set up to provide a free 24/7 counselling service for musicians and music teachers; And Ali Bowen-Davies and Lincoln Abbotts from the ABRSM explain the process that leads to the...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 85, Patrick meets Dice Wood , author of the teaching blog Grab and Go Guides, and chats about how to say No to excess workload, how to reduce time spent marking homework, and the message that homework sends to students. Laura Hailstone from Music Mark introduces their annual conference, being held in November. And Paul Blaylock discusses his highly successful approach t...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 84, Patrick chats to Alex Aitken about his enormous new resource, Mastering A Level Music, focussing on the Edexcel course. Lauren Elliott from Music Monsters introduces the wonderful work they do with young musicians from the age of three upwards, using play to teach the piano and theory. And film and TV composer  George Fenton looks at this year's GCSE Film Music...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of the new academic year, Patrick chats to Rachel Shapey about her new book, co-authored with Nate Holder, Listen and Celebrate , written to help teachers to enrich and diversify music at Key Stage 3. Leanne Sedin and Adam Saunders tell Patrick all about their new project, The Music Teachers' Choir , set up to get music teachers together to sing, every mo...

Send us Fan Mail In the final episode of the academic year, Patrick chats to Rob Reich-Storer about his music resource website, Rhythmstix, and to Katy Thomson about Ground:Ed, which offers workshops to help teachers and students harness their creativity, build awareness and self-confidence. Finally, Patrick signs off the year by chatting to MTA President Catherine Barker , about the 2022-23 acade...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 82, Patrick talks to Niels Bastrup and Hans Jakobsen from aural training app Ear Master, about a new feature designed to help students with the aural tests in ABRSM exams and beyond; Mark Aitchison shares his planning for the next academic year, taken from a recent MTA ECT webinar; And Dr Rebecca Berkley, Associate Professor in Music Education, at the Institute of Educa...

Send us Fan Mail In episode 80, Patrick finds out about the Why Music Festival, curated by Nate Holder - a one-day online festival on 4th July 2023, aimed at pupils, and featuring a wide variety of speaker. (Link below.) Olivia Sparkhall tells Patrick all about her new book, “A Young Person's Guide to Vocal Health”, and talks about the importance of vocal health for young people, including th...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 79, Patrick chats to pianist and composer Melanie Spanswick about her graded anthology of piano books, Women Composers, exclusively featuring music by female composers. From the 2023 RiME conference, Cynthia Stephens-Himonides (Kingston University) and Meggie Young (Ohio State University) discuss their research into music teachers' self-identity when it comes to th...

Send us Fan Mail MTA CONFERENCE SPECIAL In Episode 78, Patrick reports from the 2023 MTA Conference, held in the Loughborough Schools Foundation. Greg Coughlin discusses non-traditional routes to GCSE Music, Lisa Coley introduces the range of microphones available from Sontronics ,  Rebecca Arnold chats about her experiences at her first MTA Conference, and Charles Price explains how to demystify...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 77, Patrick chats to Cynthia Stephens-Himonides and Maria Mendonça about incorporating Gamelan into curricula, particularly as a way of including disengaged young people. Looking ahead to the 2023 MTA Conference,  sneak previews of two of the sessions, with Mark Wilderspin ('How to take student compositions from good to great') and Lucinda Geoghegan ('The...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 76, Patrick chats to Vanessa Wilson-Best about current matters in music education, and she gives an overview of the forthcoming Great Escape Festival’s Music Education Conference. Composer-in-association with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Gavin Higgins , introduces the BBC’s Young Composer Competition. And Dr Anthony Anderson explores his recent RiME presentation...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 75, Patrick chats to Amelia Parker , co-producer of BBC Radio 4’s “Rethinking Music” series on music education, about the making of the series. Simon Toyne , Sophie Taylor-Denton and Caius Lee talk about the Rodolfus Foundation’s Choral Courses for young singers; And Dr Anna Mariguddi gives a preview of her RiME presentation, looking at Prof. Lucy Green’s model of infor...

Send us Fan Mail In episode 74, Patrick chats to Kwame Bakoji-Hume from African Activites, about West African Drumming, and misconceptions about the music; the Master of the King's Music Judith Weir CBE offers some compositional tips (with James Manwaring and Liz Dunbar, from  Music Teacher Mondays); and Mark Aitchison introduces his research project, looking at long-term changes to classroom...

Send us Fan Mail 2023 MUSIC AND DRAMA EXPO AND AWARDS SPECIAL In Episode 73, Patrick visits the 2023 Music and Drama Expo, and chats to two of the speakers: Jessica Yuen on 'Exploring the Pentatonic', and Jazz pianist Richard Michael on 'Ingenious improvisation and arrangement techniques'. Plus, Patrick speaks to Music Leader, Nathaniel Dye , about the music provision at Nelson...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 72, Patrick looks ahead to the Music and Drama Expo in February, chatting to two of the speakers about their forthcoming seminars: In "No Practice? No Problem!", violinist and teacher Georgina Leach discusses the initial importance of practising an instrument, questioning whether it is a form of exclusion, and looks at basic introduction to improvisation for n...

Send us Fan Mail In episode 71, Patrick talks to the Chief Exec of the ORA Singers , Matt Beale , and to the General Manager, Tom Rayner , about their annual Young Composers’ Scheme, encouraging students to send in their compositions for consideration. Michelle Buckman from the Musiq Group talks about their One Great Piano project, to get high-quality pianos into every school. And Dr Steven Berrym...

Send us Fan Mail In the first episode of 2023, Letty Stott and Rebecca Celebuski from Gender And the Large and Shiny Instruments ( GALSI ) talk about the imbalance of female and non-binary musicians performing brass and percussion instruments; Chris Hoban introduces a potential new national song, A Song of England; And Ross Garrod discusses the ‘Missing Myelination Link’, the effect of regular mus...

Send us Fan Mail In the final episode of 2022, Learning Director of Aurora Orchestra Rebecca Barnett tells Patrick about their new online resource for Early Years and KS1, The Magical Toy Box. Plus, composer Bob Chilcott chats about Christmas Carols, including composition tips about melody and structure. Presented and produced by Patrick Johns #CanDoMusic #GetPlaying  https://app.learning.auroraor...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 68, Patrick chats to Ollie Tunmer about Beat Goes On 's Body Percussion Scheme of Work for key stages 1–4; And to Suzzie Vango & Lucy Hollins about their new book, "How to Make Your Choir Sound Awesome", focusing on warm-ups. In the final interview, Patrick discusses the role of improvisation within the classroom, and the role that Jazz pedagogy can p...