Get them singing, keep them singing: leading singing in primary schools

Thursday 30th November 2023

Twilight training sessions online for anyone working with young voices in primary schools

This brand new flexible course is designed to develop confidence, knowledge and skills for all teachers who lead young singers in primary schools, whether in a choir, in a classroom, or the whole school, whatever their experience level.

Each session lasts around 75 minutes, led by one of our specialist music education team.

All the live sessions were recorded and are now available to book - find out more about each session below.

Individual Sessions: £15 per session (non-member) or £10 per session (abcd member)

Full series: all six sessions can be bought for a bundle price of £75 (non-member) or £50 (abcd member).

Find out more about joining abcd and all the benefits it offers here

Session 1: A Voyage of Vocal Discovery with Charles MacDougall

In this session, participants will explore their voice, unlocking their skills and gaining tools for healthy, effective and confident vocal leadership. This session will be suitable for those totally new to leading singing, as well as more experienced vocalists looking to refresh their thinking!

Session 2: Vocal Health and Engaging Warm Up Ideas with Suzzie Vango

Join Suzzie Vango, conductor for the National Children's Choir of Great Britain and voice coach to the CBSO Youth Choruses, as she leads you through some fun, engaging and healthy vocal warm ups and songs aimed at younger singers. Be prepared to act your shoe size, not your age!

Session 3: Repertoire Ideas with Tom Leech and Shivani Rattan

Join us as we share and chat about our favourite repertoire to engage primary school-aged children, whether in whole-class singing or choirs. We'll be singing through a diverse range of songs for whole class singing and choirs and give you the tools needed to teach them in the most effective and fun way possible!

Session 4: The Teacher as Musical Leader with Amy Bebbington

This session shows how leading music can be realised through a variety of different skills. Amy covers strategies ranging from pitch scaffolding and solfa hand signs, to kinaesthetic gestures and simple beat patterns in order to equip teachers with a broad range of useful singing leadership skills. Come and be inspired and enlightened by the potential of your musical making in classrooms, school assemblies, performances and playgrounds.

Session 5: Using singing as a tool to deliver the curriculum with Rebecca Berkley

Dr Rebecca Berkley, University of Reading, leads a webinar on using singing as the basis for teaching classroom musicianship to children aged 5-11. This session investigates ways to build classroom music lessons from singing for children in year 1-6. Participants will explore how to teach musicianship skills by integrating singing with work on beat and rhythm, pitch awareness, movement and action, aural training and the beginning of reading and writing music, and analyse classroom songs to help pick age-appropriate repertoire for the classroom.

Session 6: Developing two part and ensemble singing with Jo McNally and Richard Jeffries

Join Richard Jeffries and Jo McNally as they take you through the twists and turns of the part-singing path. There'll be ideas, repertoire and a plan to help your singer to develop confidence, musicianship skills, and sing with joy as they progress from unison to part-singing, from adapting repertoire you may currently use, to exploring exciting newer materials - and where to find them! Join us for a practical, fun and fully interactive session!

Purchase recordings of the previous sessions through the link below (sessions are listed by date).

Leading Singing in Secondary Schools: Get them singing, keep them singing
Twilight training sessions online for anyone working with singers of secondary school age This brand new flexible course is designed to develop confidence, knowledge and skills for teachers, of all experience levels, who lead secondary-school age singers, whether that's in a choir or in a classroom. Each half term join us for a 75 m
Wed 15th Nov 2023 - Wed 31st Jul 2024>
Get them singing, keep them singing: leading singing in primary schools
Twilight training sessions online for anyone working with young voices in primary schools This brand new flexible course is designed to develop confidence, knowledge and skills for all teachers who lead young singers in primary schools, whether in a choir, in a classroom, or the whole school, whatever their experience level. Each se
Thu 30th Nov 2023 - Sun 31st Dec 2023>
Webinar Library
Browse our webinar library! Our webinars, recorded over the last two years, are a unique resource covering a huge range of topics. Each lasts about 1 hour 30 minutes. Non-members: each webinar is £5; you'll receive a link to the recording and access to any additional materials. abcd members can access webinars free of char
Fri 1st Dec 2023 - Sun 31st Dec 2023>