Teacher Blog: How Do We Get Students Feeling Like Musicians?

Before subscribing to MuFu, still thinking playing chords was a fundamental part of musicianship, I previously spent hours and hours making lead sheets and creating backing tracks for our KS3 students to rehearse with. Now I have hundreds of these instantly at my finger tips, but more importantly so do the students. Having a database of songs ready to go with teaching materials saves hours and allows me to focus on instruction and feedback.

I’ll explain about MuFu in more depth later but below is a video exhibiting their JustPlay:Playalong resources.

Example JustPlay resource:

Accessibility

1. Prior knowledge/experience Chords play a key role in most of the modern music that students will mostly listen to or associate with. Students are likely to engage more in learning music they have some prior knowledge or experience of. Prior knowledge is key for learning. There is absolutely a time and place for exposing students to music that they might not ever come across, and this is important. However, we want to get students making music as quickly as possible. It will be more accessible if they have heard it or music similar before. This is where MuFu excels as a resource, as there is an abundance of material to choose from within a wide range of genres. Music learnt can be tailored to the interests of the students, the genre/discipline you wish to teach and to help pivot from music students already know to pieces they do not. For example I can pivot from Haydn’s Symphony N. 101 to Gloria Gaynor’s I will Survive in a single lesson to help exemplify perfect cadences and the circle of fifths, with the use of MuFu’s database.
2. Contrasting forces MuFu also allows you to instruct students on how to play chords on the keyboard, ukulele, guitar and corresponding root notes on the bass guitar, as the resources include all of these. Again, it makes knowing how to play chords fluently accessible through providing different modes of interaction. The teacher or student can select the most appropriate performing force for the music based on suitability or interest.
3. MuFu’s interface Accessibility is further aided with use of MuFu in the following ways:

• Dual coding of the display; chords symbols and instrument diagrams
• Chords diagrams available for keyboard, guitar, ukulele and root notes for bass guitar
• Downloadable chord sheets (PDFs) which pair with the backing track
• Ability to slow the backing tracks down
• Ability to remove vocals and create instrumentals
• Ability to remove all recorded music and use the display with just a metronome
• Students receive a log in to MuFu and can access the same resources in school via a internet enabled device (if you are lucky enough to have tablets/laptops/desktops)

Practise

Mufu can help with students access music through its various scaffolds but how does it allow for practise? This is where we can use it to help sequence a music curriculum. As we know the forgetting curve is harsh and students must experience learning multiple times to truly master knowing how to do something. It is not enough for students to learn how to play an E chord on the guitar in one lesson (easily done) and then move on. It must be practised! Practised to the point where at the end of YR9 any student knows how to play an E chord on command in context of the music. This requires multiple and spaced out experiences of playing this chord. Again, this is something that MuFu can help teachers and students with.

1. It has an abundance of resources, which can be filtered by many parameters – instrument, genre, artist and chords used, and in respect of this article, chords! When previously teaching YR7 students how to play chords on the keyboard I would devote a whole six weeks to drilling the same four chords to the same song: C, G, Am, F. I would then feel perplexed when in YR8 we played chords again and most students could not even recall what a chord was, let alone knowing how to play one. With the use of MuFu I have taken a different approach. Now our curriculum uses this resource to plan the spaced out practice of skills. For example, now when teaching YR7 chords on the keyboard for the first time we play sections of songs using similar chords and build students’ fluency over the 6-10 weeks with increasing challenge. Below is a sample order of how with might do this.Lesson one: ‘Rumours’ – Fleetwood Mac (Chords: F, G, Am)
   Lesson two: ‘Next to me’ – Emile Sande (Chords: Am, G, C)
   Lesson three: ‘Stay with me’ – Sam Smith (Chords: Am, F, C)
   Lesson four: ‘Paradise’ – George Ezra (Chords: C, F, G)
   Lesson five-ten: ‘Stitches’ – Shawn Mendes/’Little Talks’ – Of Monsters and Men/’Riptide’ – Vance Joy (uses all four chords of Am, F, C, G)Across this series of lessons students incrementally encounter the same four chords in different contexts. This allows time and different avenues for practice. Furthermore, as the context they play the chords in changes (order, harmonic rhythm, tempo etc.), it also encourages me, as the teacher to focus on the instruction of knowing how to play chords.
2. MuFu comes with a student login. All of the resources, that I as a teacher have access to, are all equally available to students. With a bespoke login, students can readily access the backing tracks and lead sheet used in lessons. This means student can practise using the materials away from the classroom. Of course, many students do not have access to instruments at home but at the very least we can offer this support. I have had many conversations with parents who have emailed asking what keyboard or guitar to buy their child who wants to practise the music they are playing in class because now they can!

Final thoughts

Since using the resources from Musical Futures, and focusing on the pillars of accessibility and practice, I have noticed a keen shift in culture around music in my school. Students whose only experience of music has been in the classroom are choosing to study the subject at GCSE and A level.

I have also had students setting up bands and ensembles – independent of the music department – and using their MuFu logins to prepare and rehearse material. Again, because they can access the music and feel like musicians!

Finally, with MuFu constantly updating their resources with pieces old and new I can update my curriculum or pivot in a single lesson to be responsive, inclusive and challenging.