Music workshops

Part of Salford's Music and Performing Arts Service

Since 1993 instrumental and curriculum support teachers have combined to provide music workshop concerts for Primary Schools. At present MAPAS have five workshop teams, which offer workshops for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2; a final decision as to how the workshops will work for the 2011/2012 school year has yet to be made. Salford schools will be contacted with booking and current workshop details when they are finalised.

Details of the current workshops are below but may be subject to change.

Content of Key Stage 1 workshops

"The Musical Toybox"

The new KS1 Music Workshop, entitled 'The Musical Toybox', takes children from Nursery to year 2 on a musical exploration of traditional toys. During the workshop they sing action songs, play along with the band and explore beats, rhythms and musical timbres using a variety of instruments. The workshop is interactive with costumes and props for the children to use. Schools will be provided with a workshop pack, which includes a PowerPoint presentation of words and pictures, recordings of the songs and ideas for follow up sessions in class.

Schools receive a workshop pack with a PowerPoint presentation and idea for further listening and follow-up activities.

The theme of the workshop is changed each academic year; previous workshops have been based on Music Around the World, Barnaby Bear and The Bear Hunt.

Note: Schools need to do a small amount of preparation for each workshop. A support pack is sent to schools including a CD recording of songs to help the schools prepare.

Content of Key Stage 2 workshops

"What's on my iPod?"

The theme of this years Key Stage 2 music workshop is pop music. There will be opportunities during the workshop for all pupils to sing and listen to a wide range of popular music. Songs to be learnt include 1950's style pop song ‘You Stole my Heart' and the Amy Winehouse song ‘Valerie'. Pupils will also help develop new words for a blues song and learn a beat box accompaniment. Music to be performed will include ‘Billie Jean' and a medley of Abba songs. The workshop is suitable for Key Stage 2 children only.

Note: Schools need to do a small amount of preparation for each workshop. A support pack is sent to schools including a CD recording of songs to help the schools prepare.

Content of Brass workshops

"Wacky Brass do Kids TV" - An introduction to brass instruments.

This exciting interactive workshop introduces children young and old to their favourite TV theme tunes performed by the excellent MAPAS brass quintet. This introduces children to live performances of music from "Sesame Street to Doctor Who".

Content of Woodwind workshops

"Weather Around the World" - An introduction to woodwind instruments.

The Woodwind department will be delivering a new workshop, Weather Around the World. The workshop will link with the Key Stage 1 and 2 unit of work, Weather Around the World. Pupils will get the chance to listen to and explore music that depicts different types of weather from different places in the world such as America and the Antarctica. The workshop is interactive and pupils will be involved through visual and kinaesthetic activities. The whole audience will be involved in creating a Rain Choir performance and some pupils will get the chance to play instruments from the woodwind family. The workshop will also give pupils the opportunity to listen to and learn about the different instruments in the woodwind family.

Content of Strings workshops

"Good Vibrations!" - An introduction to string instruments.

An exploration of sound, vibrations and how they create music. Suitable for Key Stage 2 only, pupils will experience an exciting performance by excellent musicians on both acoustic and electric string instruments. There will be the opportunity to make simple musical instruments and to explore the wide ranging sound effects of acoustic and electric instruments. There will be violins for pupils to play, experiments in sound with videos and explanations and ideas for follow up work in class. There will be a chance for all pupils to be involved in creating a piece of music plus a performance of the Beach Boys song that the title suggests (all can join in)!

Future music workshops

MAPAS continues to expand the range of performance opportunities available to pupils. In line with the philosophy of "Maximising Potential" it is hoped to develop new performance based music workshops for schools. Possibilities for themes include 'Tuned Percussion', 'Samba' and 'World Music'.