As I write this it is mid-May 2020 and the government have just announced the easing of lockdown restrictions.  Apparently it is now safe for some children to return to schools, although there is much debate about how that will be managed and whether education is...

This week I’m off to the Music and Drama Expo in London.  This is a huge event delivering tailored CPD to music and drama teachers for free!  You would have thought that this would be a no brainier for music teachers, with schools falling over themselves...

We've all had them in our classes, haven't we?

Those students who declare they don't need music, don't want to do it and it's all completely useless.  

What do you do when a student says this?  Well, after the initial weeping that anyone could consider your...

Instruments or computers?  CDs or Youtube?  Manuscript paper or DAW?  Music technology is something that has crept up on many music teachers, who are now expected to teach with it despite having had no training or real knowledge on how to use it...

The budget.  It's a worrying concept for most UK music teachers every year.  Whilst internationally music seems to be well funded and respected, the UK is having a crisis.  Each summer I hear tales from concerned heads of departments whose budgets have been...

It's coming up to Christmas break and everyone is on-the-floor-tired but simultaneously proud of all their students have achieved this term.  After a raft of concerts, carol services and celebration assemblies we all deserve a couple of weeks off don't...

We're almost there....the end of term is approaching fast.  This week I received an SLT email reminding me of 'end of term procedures', including ensuring that all desks are clear (not sure I've seen the actual wood of my desk for a little while now.....) and that...

So it's almost the end of the school year and with only a few weeks to go it's likely that your students are starting to become a little restless.  It's also likely that perhaps your patience isn't as great as it was in September, am I right?  And we all know...

Christmas Songs.  Love them or hate them, this is the season where you begin to hear them endlessly and everywhere.  Shops, lifts, in the street, at work.  There's no escaping them.  And writing a new Christmas song can be a fun and worthwhile lesson...

It's that time of year when we are not only expected to teach great lessons, keep up with meeting, duties and the gazillion emails every day, but also arrange a plethora of excellent musical experiences in order to impress upon anyone who happens to be passing by that we...