Our Approach to

Covid-Safe Music

The complexities of the pandemic are becoming clearer by the day,
as is the potential role music can play in the mental health of staff and
children in Scottish Schools.
Here are our solutions to help bring music back into school life safely during
Covid restrictions, with some innovative ways to combine music with Literacy,
Numeracy and Health and Well-Being- hitting all 3 core subjects.
The options we are offering include...
  • Use of Body Percussion
  • Tin-Can Percussion
  • Virtual Instruments on PC, iPad/Tablet and Smartphone
  • Covid-Safe instrument Bags, Trolleys and Storage:
  • Home Learning- with Easy-to-set Home Assignments
  • Remote CPD Training and Support Programme
  • Literacy and Numeracy Through Music Programmes

 

Our Menu of Covid Solutions:

Body Percussion:

Body Percussion with ABC Creative Music is an ideal way of dealing with the challenges of COVID 
by keeping music, creativity, and fun happening - whilst focussing on the core subjects.

For Example: Body Percussion for Numeracy Activities:

• Are led by video and interactive multi-media so staff don't need to be confident with body percussion.
• Can be completed with a full range of vocal participation from: 'listen & say in your head' to quiet chanting to full choral counting. 
• Develop rhythm and music skills, are really great fun, and also develop and consolidate number knowledge 
• Work as a whole class and for creative activities in groups
• Cover a range of numeracy areas such as:
P1-3:
• Different numbers of sounds
• Call & Response using different numbers
• Same number on each hand
• 3 on each ghand counting on to 6 and 36
• 3 Times Table
Coming soon:
• Counting forward & backwards in 1-5’s
• Counting in Tens and Units
• Finger Counting
• Simple Addition and  Number Bonds to 10
P4-7:
• 6,7,8,9 Times Tables with Bdy Percussion
• Play with a wide range of funa nd funky backing grooves and tempos
• Differentiate the class with Lyric Writing and Creative music options
Coming Soon::
• Indian Finger Counting System and Konnokol
• Multiplying and Dividing Fractions with Konnokol
For example, here's a video from the 7 times table sequence for Upper Primary.

Tin-Can Percussion:

Easy-to-follow video instructions are available (see below), for parents or children in school
to make a Tin-Can Percussion mini drumkit, which allows children to perform all 5 untuned
percussion sounds used in ABC Resources from P2 upwards- Shake, Tap, Ting, Scrape and Boom!




Each child makes and just uses their own tin-can instrument, and it costs just a few pence-
an empty tin of baked beans, a balloon, some cardboard, a rubber band or tape, and a pencil.

Children decorate their own can, and if they can keep their tin-can in a draw, tray or pigeon hole,
they can retrieve and replace it for each music session, with no cross-contamination risk.

If not, we can advise on a variety of storage options, including having each tin-can instruments in a
drawstring bag, kept in boxes with lids, to meet any level of concern or protocols for COVID 19.

If P2 classes and upwards are using tin-can percussion kits, then the schools existing percussion instrument stock 
can be kept just for P1 classes, We have advice on how to use drawstring bags and percussion to furnish each
child with their own bag of instruments, again minimising any cross-contamination risk, and removing the need for
the cleaning of instruments between sessions.

Virtual Instruments on PC, iPad/Tablet and Smartphone:

Virtual Inst App Frsphic 2

Free ABC virtual instruments apps for tablets and smartphones and on PCs (search ABCInstruments on iOS App Store and Android Google Play) link to ABC resources and allow children to safely play:


  • untuned classroom percussion sounds- like tambourines, triangles and shakers

  • lower primary coloured virtual chime bars-
    which play a C major scale, with colours matching boomwhackers and combi bells.
and a rich range of

  • virtual chromatic chime bars - which produce a choice of instrumental sounds- marimba, chime bars, bass and piano,                    and link to the exciting Create With Pitch programme that can be followed in class, in an IT lab, or at home. 

For schools with 1:1 tablet provision - this is an ideal solution to COVID instrument issues, and vital for home learning in all schools.

For more info, and try the App for yourself, go here.
Covid-Safe instrument Bags, Trolleys and Storage:

trolley + bags
      • Instruments quarantine for 90 hours (Thursday 3pm- Mon 9 am- so no need to clean or disinfect
      • Each child has their own bag with 2, 3 or 4 instruments,
      • Bespoke trolleys and storage at 2 price points- mean the teacher just touches the trolley-                                                                        
        and children just touch their own bag and instruments.
      • One class uses the bags per week.

For more info go here.

 

Home Learning- Easy-to-set Home Assignments

We have installed new functionality to our main website to make it easy for teachers to set and track assignments
which have lesson plans designed for lower primary children to follow with support from parents, and midde and
upper primary children to follow on their own, Called Home Learning, it builds on our succesful Home School
(still available for parents), which we set up during lockdown.

Children and parents can self-assess with emojis, write comments, and upload compositions, audio or video recordings
or photos, all kept safe in the teacher's password-protected account.

This allows overstretched schools to set music activities as homework, and cope seamlessly with any change
to blended learning or a return to lockdown which the future might have in store.

 

 

Video Assessment

Designed to help non-specialist assessment, but ideal to help children document home learning, and to connect
classes that are socially distanced from each other- to reinforce your school’s sense of community.

 

Remote CPD Training and Support Programme

Our new progamme of remote training and support offers increased flexibility for teachers, allowing them to:

          • Attend one off CPDs remotely, 1-2 hour session in the evenings or during the school day- whatever suits them best?
          • Sign up for training and support courses- 60 mins every 3 weeks provides training and support as they move through the resources- so teachers can receive support during the school day- and  just need cover for on class per week! Or they can attend the courses as a twilight- whatever works best that particular week.

Go here for more info. 

Literacy and Numeracy Through Music Programmes

 Kill 4 birds with one stone-  Literacy, Numeracy, Health and Well-Being and Music!

We were excited about out Raising Attainment Through Music programme before the pandemic-
see here for more info- and feel it is if anything even more useful now.



Children improve their attainment in literacy and numeracy through smart multi-sensory activities
linking genuine numeracy and literacy processing to social-music making in class, and individual user music apps
on PC and Tablet that can happen at home or in school.

Individual player activities will soon be gameified, allowing a range of flexible teaching resources that link precisely to SEAL
and the major phonics schemes (Ative Literacy, Read Write Inc, Jolly Phonics), but offers a genuinely alternative and complementary approach to literacy and numeracy learning- great for staff and children alike.

          • close the attainment gap
          • improve health and well-being,
          • fit music onto your crowded schedule- while doing literacy and numearacy win/win/win.

 Exciting new gameified activities are coming on stream during this session,
which allow individual learning on smartphones, Tablets or on PCs in school or at home.

 

To find out more, please contact us on: