We are holding a ‘Song Share’ style event on Monday 18th March 7pm-8pm where we sing and play the programme resources for Ananse and the Monkeys, Little Fir Tree and Jack and the Beanstalk and invite you to sing along with us! We will also be sharing extra activities for you to do in your home or setting. Please note this event will NOT be recorded. ONLY £5! Click HERE for tickets
Tag: early years education
Early Years Music Conference
HUGE Announcement!
Tickets are now available for our Early Years Music Conference with NYMAZ! 1st March 2024 at Skipton Town Hall.
We have special early bird tickets on sale now – be quick as it’s only 3 months until the big day!!
Find out more information and grab your tickets here:
Planning an Inclusive Early Years Music Session
Our next Connecting Threads event will be on Tuesday 17th October 7pm-8pm. This session will look at planning for an inclusive Early Years music session. Topics for discussion could include: considerations for structuring a session; possible aims; sensory activities; communication aids and whatever else comes up! Book your FREE place today!
CPD 2022: What makes a music session in the Early Years?
Saturday 30th April 09.30-11.00
(online); £15
**please note change of date & time**
Vic Holmes shares the findings of her masters dissertation research and explores how these can be applied on a practical level.
This session will explore:
- Challenging expectations/concept of what an early years music session looks like
- Working in partnership with practitioners both in the sessions and in-between
- How to grow music beyond the ‘music session’
- Building confidence / passing on musical learning
- Networking – being involved in networking groups/events which discuss early years music/early years education.
What will you gain?
- Information and ideas on how the musician and practitioners can work in partnership effectively to enhance music within the setting both in sessions and in-between.
- Information on identifying music in child’s play and how this will help musicians and practitioners to develop music in the setting.
- Resources, ideas and links to networks.
Vic Holmes is an experienced musician who specialises in music within the early years age phase. She works across different settings to deliver music sessions to under 5s, as well as working with practitioners to encourage and improve music within their settings. Having trained as an early years educator within a nursery, Vic has a good understanding of early childhood development and the importance of offering a wide range of opportunities to children, especially in the early years. Vic has successfully completed her studies to receive an MA in Education (Early Years Music) with the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) and is a Director of Note Weavers CIC.
Developing resources with the BBC
Over the past few months Note Weavers Directors Sally-Anne Brown, Vic Holmes and Zoe Greenhalgh have greatly enjoyed working with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra’s Digital and Learning team to develop their Musical Story of the Gingerbread Man, a short film for children with a series of associated activities for early years and key stage 1 settings.
Recorded at the recently renovated Queen’s Park Bandstand in Heywood the film features the Orchestra’s Early Ears Trio and is narrated by Radio 5 Live’s Nihal Arthanayake, and is scheduled for broadcast by CBeebies on Saturday 5th March 2022. It is also available to view via the BBC iPlayer:
To accompany the film the Note Weavers team have devised and written a range of activities and downloadable resources to support music delivery in Early Years and Key Stage 1 settings which are freely available via the BBC website
We hope you find these resources useful and welcome your comments via our social media channels:
CPD 2022: Exploring Musical Development Matters with Nicola Burke
Tuesday 5 July
16:00 – 17.30 (online), £15
This session will explore Musical Development Matters, a free guidance that is available to download from Early Education. The course not only introduces participants to the guidance but also demonstrates how easily music can be incorporated into any early childhood setting without practitioners needing any previous musical knowledge or experience. Participants will also be introduced to the Tri-Music Together Self Evaluation Tool, a free interactive tool to support practitioners to develop their music practice and provision. This course will be delivered by Nicola Burke, author of Musical Development Matters, and will be workshop style, fun and interactive, exploring the role of music in all areas of learning and development.
Nicola Burke is an author, strategic leader, researcher and consultant based in the UK. She is currently the strategic leader of large workforce development projects taking place across London, Leicestershire and Birmingham, involving a range of arts and music organisations and Early Childhood services. She created the award-winning Tune into Listening free online resource and in 2018 wrote Musical Development Matters in the Early Years, a free downloadable resource to complement the EYFS guidance material, Development Matters in the EYFS. Nicola works nationally and internationally to strategically support organisations to develop their Early Childhood music programmes and initiatives. She is passionate about creating enabling, meaningful experiences for young children and works with others to develop worthwhile musical opportunities for children and families.
Songs, Rhymes & Storytimes
Ben Lawrence
Children’s Librarian & Early Childhood Music Specialist
Saturday 14 May 2022,
Online, 09.30-11.00 £15
Picture books are some of the most useful and powerful tools for engaging children in the Early Years. This highly practical session led by Children’s Librarian and Early Childhood Music Specialist, Ben Lawrence will explore ways to combine songs and rhymes with picture books to engage and inspire young children. Find out top tips and discover different ways to bring stories alive through music and song and enable a positive experience of key musical concepts.
In this session Ben will be exploring the magical world of picture books and sharing stories with young children:
- Strategies for sharing stories in different ways
- How using pictures books can help embed music learning within early years provision
During the session there will be an opportunity to work in small groups, so please bring along your favourite picture books to share.
This session is suitable for all Early Years practitioners, Early Years Music Practitioners & others who lead family story time sessions in libraries & community settings.
Ben is Children’s Librarian for Calderdale Libraries and an Early Childhood Music Specialist. He is an Early Years methodology tutor for the British Kodály Academy & regularly presents at conferences & delivers training on using songs and rhymes for Children Centre and Early Years staff as well as Children’s Library professionals. He has recorded songs and rhymes for the charity Booktrust, for their National Bookstart Week celebrations and, with his colleague Shelley Bullas, he co-authored the chapter Music and Rhyme Time Sessions for the Early Years in the book “Library Services from Birth to Five: Delivering the Best Start” edited Carolynn Rankin and Avril Brock.
Twigs, Tunes & Tyres: Making Music Outdoors
Tuesday 15 March 2022,
Online 17.00-18.30 £15
Sally-Anne Brown
Following her highly popular session last year, Sally-Anne Brown returns to explore ways of working musically in outdoor spaces.
This session will look at:
- some of the challenges of delivering music outside and how to overcome them
- resources and musical activities which can be used in the outdoor environment
- ways to support families beyond the music session in their own creative outdoor music making.
This session is suitable for all Early Years practitioners.
Sally Anne Brown has been a freelance Early Years music practitioner since 2005 following an increasing interest in very young children’s musical interactions and experiences which she witnessed during over 25 years as a woodwind teacher. Sally Anne’s experience includes delivering both ‘open to all’ music sessions in Children’s Centres and community groups and more tailored sessions in nurseries, preschools and schools in North Yorkshire and East Lancashire. She have also worked for several charities on music projects supporting families with young children with visual impairment, with physical disabilities and children for whom English is an additional language. She is also a mentor on the CME:Early Childhood based at CREC in Birmingham.
Funding opportunities: Bursaries for CME:EC course
Note Weavers is inviting expressions of interest from Early Years Practitioners and Early Years Music Practitioners in the North West region who are interested in studying for the Level 4 Certificate for Music Educators: Early Childhood (CME:EC) qualification at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood (CREC).
Funding from Youth Music means we are able offer successful applicants:
- a significant bursary for the CME:EC course
- experience of leading a series of 10 music sessions in an early years setting with additional mentoring from Note Weavers.
Information about entry requirements* for the course can be found on the CREC website here
Bursary details:
The bursary is £1125 against the full course fee of £1550 and will be paid directly to CREC. If accepted onto the course, students will need to provide the remaining £425 from the start of the course (CREC payment plans are available). It is anticipated that employers may contribute and invest in their early years music provision.
The early years music delivery will involve 10 half days between January and March. Self-employed practitioners will be paid £45 per half day up to a total of £450.
Timescales
The CME:EC course begins in October 2021 and includes 4 compulsory face to face core learning days in Birmingham (COVID permitting): 28/29th October 2021, 14th February & 11th April 2022
This is a student led, practice based, part-time course. Please see the CREC website for specific details.
The associated early years music sessions will take place in the Spring term (January to March) and offer successful applicants an opportunity to develop their practice with additional mentoring from Note Weavers to contribute to and support learning on the course. The settings will be arranged once the four practitioners have been accepted.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Midday Friday 23rd July 2021
Interviews will take place in the week commencing 6th September 2021
Want to ask a question? No problem, just contact Zoe Greenhalgh: zoe@noteweavers.org
*CME:EC course requirements include:
- GCSE English minimum Grade C (or equivalent)
- Prior musical experience
- DBS clearance (it is the student’s responsibility to obtain this before the start of the course)
