What is Musical Futures?

Our mission is to improve the quality of music education in classrooms, whilst making sure that it is relevant and engaging for young people.

Our history

Musical Futures is a not-for-profit organisation, which first began in the UK in 2003 when the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, an independent grant-making foundation, instigated a Special Initiative to find new and meaningful ways of engaging all young people in music activities.

Since then we have been dedicated to supporting teachers with teaching music in a way that helps them to engage and enthuse their students.

In 2017 Musical Futures was selected by global education non-profit HundrED as one of 100 most innovative education projects across the world due to its unique pioneering status and ability to create a scalable impact. And in 2022 we won a Music & Drama Education Award for Musical Futures Online, our digital resource platform.

Learn more about our history ›

How Musical Futures started

500,000+

Young people benefit from Musical Futures every year

13,000+

Teachers and practitioners make up our international network

500+

Unique musical resources developed by our team, and counting!

Our approach

Music learning is most effective when young people are making music, and when their existing passion for music is reflected and built upon.

The Musical Futures approach is a tried-and-tested yet innovative way of teaching music learning. It is based on a pedagogy that is driven by the musical culture of the participants and brings real-world music learning processes into schools and other formal settings. It is an approach to learning, rather than a specific musical style genre, meaning that it is sustainable and transferable to a range of learning contexts, both within the UK and overseas.

Musical Futures is shaped around these core values:

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Inclusive

Everyone takes part at their own level

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Absorbing

Learning is practical and hands-on

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Relevant

Starts with music that learners engage and identify with

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Sociable

Starts with music that learners engage and identify with

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Informal

Led by learners with teachers/leaders modelling, guiding, supporting

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Varied

Learners perform, listen, compose, and improvise on a range of instruments and voices, use technology, explore a range of genres and styles

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Progressive

Music learning experiences are high quality, authentic where possible, and with clear progression routes

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Respectful

All learners, no matter what their ability or experience, are treated as musicians, and are supported to learn and develop

Real-world results

What others say

Easy to use, simple resources that engage students

I've been making good use of Musical Futures Online - my experience has been particularly positive when using the resources with our primary students, some of these sessions are delivered by non-specialists and it's great to have an easy to use, simple resource that staff can feel comfortable with.

Adam Bell, Springwell Adademy

The resources are invaluable

Yr9 are loving the resources for Three Little Birds! Lovely mixture of chair drumming, singing and chords on different instruments. The resources are invaluable!

Alex Parsons, Bullers Wood School for Girls

I am so proud to be associated with Musical Futures

When I was first trying out the pedagogy in a few schools, it was my wish that the teachers involved might adapt it and take it their own ways. What Musical Futures has done over 20 years, in their creative adaptation, expansion, and advancement of the approaches is beyond my wildest dreams.

Professor Lucy Green, Emerita Professor of Music Education at IOE

Get started with Musical Futures

Music learning is most effective when young people are making music, and when their existing passion for music is reflected and built upon.

Our training and professional development courses focus on developing and extending the skills of classroom and instrumental teachers to create sustainable music opportunities for students in schools.

Musical Futures Online is our digital resource platform with music education resources designed for the classroom, including playalongs and learning tools created to support teaching from ages 7 to 16 (Key Stage 2 – 4).