Musical Futures is a pedagogical approach, supported through the development of associated resources and training offers that is designed to be used in classrooms, by teachers, with whatever resources are available, in order to engage every child and young person in meaningful, sustainable music learning.
As it is a set of values, principles and practical teaching and learning strategies, rather than a fixed curriculum, it is proven to be transferable to a range of international contexts.
Our experience comes from over 15 years of designing, applying and adapting Musical Futures teaching and learning strategies in UK classrooms after a period of intensive action research supported by funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Training and Consultancy in the UK and Overseas
We offer training and consultancy predominantly in the UK and Europe and have links with schools and organisations in many other countries.
We welcome enquiries from schools and organisations from both the UK and from international schools and organisations interested in booking an overseas training event or hosting an open workshop for external delegates. Our offer includes presentations and taster sessions, training, student workshops and consultancy packages.
All our training and consultancy packages are bespoke and tailored to the local needs of the school or organisation that we work with – whether UK or overseas.
If you are interested in booking a keynote, consultancy, in-house training, or hosting an open workshop, then please contact fran.hannan@musicalfutures.org to find out what’s involved.
Musical Futures Workshops in Your International School
Over the last two years we have expanded our work to include Musical Futures workshops in schools. We have a range of workshops specifically designed to engage your learners in hands-on practical music-making (where you can earn alongside your students!)using Musical Futures approaches designed to develop key musical skills and foster enjoyment and achievement.
Musical Futures has delivered training and presented workshops for the following international schools and organisations:
- Learning Music Through Play International Seminal, University of Laval, Quebec – presentation
- British School in the Netherlands International Leadership Academy – two day intensive training for music teaching staff & instrumental tutors
- International School of Zug & Luzern – bespoke training for music teaching staff & instrumental tutors
- International School of Lausanne -bespoke training for music teaching staff & instrumental tutors
- International School of Basel -bespoke training for music teaching staff & instrumental tutors
- International School of Geneva – two day intensive training for staff
- Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, Ireland – bespoke training for music teaching staff & instrumental tutors
- European Association for Music in Schools conference – presentation
- Cyprus Music Education Association bespoke training for music teaching staff & instrumental tutors
- Music Teaching conference, part of the SPOT Festival – presentation
- Association of Popular Music Educators conference 2016 & 2018 – presentation
- International Society of Music Educators conference – presentation
Visits from Overseas Visitors to the UK
We welcome enquiries from international visitors who are visiting the UK and are interested in attending our UK training programme and seeing Musical Futures in action in schools.
In July 2020 we will be offering an extended programme of Musical Futures activity including a day long Musical Futures conference, 2 days of Musical Futures training and visits to see Musical Futures in action in our Champion Schools – dates TBC. Contact fran.hannan@musicalfutures.org for further details
Recent visitors include teachers, university tutors and education professionals from the USA, Denmark, China, Japan and Finland:
- Visits and programme co-ordination for the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Scholar programme – involving school visits and workshops to explore the work of Musical Futures over three month programme, between March – June 2018
- Programme of visits and workshops for students from Lebanon Valley College, Pennsylvania, USA to the UK to observe Musical Futures practice in schools.
- Teacher observations of informal learning in Musical Futures Champion Schools in the UK for teachers from Lolland Musikskole , Denmark (funded by the Danish Ministry of Culture) – 2018 & 2019
- Workshop and lecture on informal learning for Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester China Programme – Beijing Arts Teachers Programme
- Visiting Lecturer in Music Education from Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan to explore the current situation and contents of CPD and music teachers training in the UK (funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) 2018 & 2019
- Programme of observations in schools for Finnish music teacher as part of the EU’s Erasmus+ programme
Research and Reports
We are proud that our initial Musical Futures Pilot programme (2003-2008) has lead to Musical Futures being used by teachers and practitioners internationally to develop practice and inform music curricula across the globe:
- Moore, G., Musical Futures in Ireland: findings from a pilot study in primary and secondary schools
- Find Your Voice: Canada Education by music teacher Sandie Heckel
- Music Teacher UK interviews MF Australia Director Ken Owen
- Wright, R., et al (2012) Tuning into the Future: Sharing Initial Insights about the 2012 Musical Futures Pilot Project in Ontario. Canadian Music Educator. 53(4), 14–18
- Jeanneret, N., Mclennan, R., Stevens-Ballenger, J. (2011) Musical Futures: An Australian perspective. Findings from a Victorian Pilot Study
- O’Neill, Bespflug, K. (2011) Musical Futures Comes to Canada: Engaging Students in Real-World Music Learning. Canadian Music Educator. 53(2), 25–27
- Jeanneret, N., others (2010) Musical Futures in Victoria
- Downey, J. (2009) Informal Learning in Music in the Irish Secondary School Context. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education. 8(2), 46–59
To add to this list please send articles to info@musicalfutures.org