Music leaders across West Yorkshire have been bringing extra excitement and inspiration to classroom singing sessions thanks to free resources and training provided by hcmf//’s Learning & Participation strand. A pack featuring ideas for singing activities aimed at a wide range of school-age children has been received enthusiastically by educators, who have been using it to try out many of the same innovative performance techniques seen during hcmf// 2009’s Vocalise initiative.

Authored by composer and educator Kate Pearson, who has previously worked with Opera North, Royal Opera House, Northern Ballet Theatre and York-based Accessible Arts, the resource pack follows on from the hcmf// and Sing Up Continuing Professional Development programme for music leaders. The free programme ran between September and November 2009 and offered four sessions, each focusing upon a different aspect of vocal creativity and performance. These were open to secondary music teachers, primary music co-ordinators, community music workers and music students working with young people. The 77 participants learnt a wealth of new songs, games and techniques at the workshops, which were led by Pearson, Barry Russell, Anna Myatt and Phil Minton.

The Vocalise CPD pack has sections on word play, sound play and song play, each featuring a set of short ‘explorations’ to introduce different ideas and skills, as well as suggestions for extended projects. The structure of the pack makes it welcoming even to teachers who are unfamiliar with contemporary music, says Tom Waltham, who teaches music and arts at Overthorpe Junior, Infant and Nursery School in Dewsbury:

“One thing I did notice was that if you were new to using vocal techniques, the pack is brilliant as a guide, as it has the ideas and activities at the beginning and a step-by-step guide at the back,” he says. “If you’re not confident, then you have a bible, really.” He studied music at the University of Huddersfield before becoming a teacher, but still found the pack useful in many ways. “I’d never tried writing a list of words on a piece of paper and turning that into a song. The songwriting side of things was new to me because I was never really that confident with lyrics, but I am now, because I have that to help me,” he says.

With suggested activities such as cutting up and combining newspaper headlines to create interesting vocal textures, the Vocalise pack has obvious cross-curricular appeal. Waltham has found it useful in drama lessons, for improving literacy or even with art projects. “We’ve recently done some animation, so we’ve been creating soundscapes for that and we’ve used a lot of vocal techniques, using voices in different ways,” he says.

The activities in the pack were a hit with the school choir, who enjoyed exploring non-traditional vocal techniques. “With the choir, they absolutely love doing the landscape pieces, because it’s not singing as they normally would. They’re free to make mistakes and to play with it. There’s no right or wrong: you can just do what you want to do.”

This freedom also encouraged the more reluctant singers to shine: “We’re in quite a deprived area and some of the pupils find it difficult to put what they’re feeling into words. Something like this brings out the vocabulary and lets them express themselves in different ways. Having to use noise instead of words to express their feelings really makes them think and makes them come out of their shells. Some of the pupils who would usually blend into the background end up taking a lead role."

Click below to download the Vocalise CPD resource pack for free

Related attachments

• Vocalise resource pack by Kate Pearson

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