Our Approach
An overview of the key Musical Futures approaches to teaching and learning
What is Musical Futures?
At its heart has always been a commitment to finding ways to enabling all young people to experience practical music making, to understand the processes of music making and for music to contribute to their social educational and personal development.
The Musical Futures approach to teaching and learning initially looked at combining elements of both non-formal teaching and informal learning and bringing them into the more formal context of the music classroom. You can read more about how Musical Futures began and download a selection of our publications supporting these non-formal teaching and informal approaches here.
Over the last 20 years we have continued to make changes to respond to the needs of teachers and their students whilst retaining our core principles. Our recently developed online interactive resource platform – Musical Futures Online – continues to support the original tried and tested approaches of the Musical Futures ethos and pedagogy by offering an accessible and inclusive pathway to practical music making for all learners and those who work with them.
The best way to experience Musical Futures in action is to attend one of our online or in-person training events where you can find out more about our approaches and how to apply them in the classroom with your learners. Alternatively, you can email info@musicalfutures.org if you have a question or specific request regarding training.
Over the years, Musical Futures has been featured in a number of published reports. To view these, click here.
Our Learning Models
+
Musical Futures Online
Developing Musical Skills
Teacher as musical leader supported by interactive resources designed to build musical skills
+
Non-Formal Teaching
Modelling Musical Skills
Teacher as musical leader with music co-constructed by learners
+
Informal Learning
Developing Independent Learners
Teacher stands back, empathises with learner goals, acts as musical model and resource
Musical Futures Online
Musical Futures Online offers unique teaching resources designed to develop core musical skills and is an ideal way for teachers to engage students of all ages in fun, authentic, whole class music-making using readily available instruments with the emphasis on sound before symbol.
Through a range of engaging and interactive resources students learn to:
- Develop musical vocabulary using rhythm, beats and rests with either body actions, percussion instruments, even classroom chairs and follow simple graphic scores
- Build instrumental, musical and ensemble skills on a variety of popular classroom instruments including ukulele, guitar, keyboard, vocals, tuned and untuned percussion
- Combine instruments to perform as a whole class band – developing further skills starting with basic chords, chord changes and rhythmic patterns
- Perform repertoire from a wide range of musical genres, not just popular music but classical, folk, world, etc.
Non-Formal Teaching
Once students have developed a range of musical skills and knowledge – including on several instruments – we recommend that music learning continues in a practical, active way, done ‘with’ and ‘by’ students, not ‘to’ and ‘for’ them. This includes a range of teaching and learning strategies which encourage:
- Whole class, large group music making
- Inclusive of varying experience
- Creative, music making, integration of performing, composing, improvising and listening
- Tacit music learning acquired through immersion in music
- Aural/oral learning as the start point
- Music reflects interest of learners and teachers
A Guide to Classroom Workshopping from the Musical Futures 2nd Edition Teacher Pack introduces the process of large-group composition and gives instructions/guidance for attempting this approach with students and integrating and embedding it into classroom practice.
LearnToCompose, a resource found at Musical Futures Online, also offers an interactive sequence of resources using Libertango by Astor Piazzolla designed to give confidence and set you off on the right track.
Informal Learning
The informal learning model pioneered by Professor Lucy Green (Emerita Professor of Music Education at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society) is often how many people have been introduced to Musical Futures.
It is a model of self-directed learning that aims to enhance student motivation, enjoyment and skill-acquisition in music lessons by tapping into the real-life learning practices of popular musicians. It is designed particularly with the Year 9 (13-14) age group in mind, however the informal learning model has successfully been adapted for younger and older students.
Informal Learning Principles – Professor Lucy Green (IOE, UCL) 2006
Use musical content that is familiar, identified with, enjoyable – as opposed to being introduced to music which is often new and unfamiliar, and chosen by a teacher.
- Learn by listening and copying – as opposed to learning through notation or other written/verbal instructions
- Work alongside friends – instead of learning through instruction with continuous adult guidance
- Learn in a personalised way starting with whole ‘real world’ pieces of music – as opposed to following a designated progression from simple to complex, involving specially-composed music, a curriculum or a graded syllabus
- Integration of composing, improvising, performing, listening – as opposed to gradually specialising and differentiating between listening, performing, improvising and composing skills
You can explore Informal Learning in more detail in the following sections taken from from the Musical Futures 2nd Edition Teacher Pack.
Try Our Interactive Learning Resources
Our Free Resource Library, featured at Musical Futures Online, is available to all non-members and is part of a comprehensive collection of 1000+ interactive resources designed to support music learning.