What makes a successful Just Play teacher?

In addition to exploring the Just Play resources by, well just playing, our UK pilot schools met again to upick how they might use them with their classes.

One of the discussion points has been around what makes a successful Just Play teacher. If you remove any mention of musical skills and experience, are there some general qualities that teachers might need to develop in order to get to grips with the approach?

In Scotland, teachers identified

• being able to let go of the traditional teacher/pupil relationship
• enthusiasm
• confidence
• willingness to let children take ownership of learning
• ability to make it relevant

Just Play: London teachers added:

• perseverence
• be willing to give it a go
• knowing when to take a step back
• ability to improvise if things go a bit wrong!
• don’t be afraid to repeat things
• don’t worry that it stops and starts

As we dug deeper into these, some comparisons came up to how other subjects are taught and that with Just Play it’s possible to take a far more informal approach than teachers feel they can in literacy or maths. Some of the points raised were that:

• in other subjects teachers might feel the need to stop and reteach if they aren’t getting it, in music, sudents can just go with the flow. It’s ok if they don’t all get it straight away-they will pick it up eventually
• it’s a completely different way of learning
• teachers hadn’t really thought to teach in this way before
• there’s a lot of trust involved that you can just leave them to learn
• JP has given a new insight into more interesting ways of teaching
• you could use these approaches in other subject teaching
• it’s like ‘gameification’ in maths-the answer is there, they have to find it
• there is a pressure to teach a certain way in other subjects

We are really interested to see if any of these new approaches to teaching that come through from Just Play do spill over into other lessons and if so what the impact of this might be. Luckily we are working with some fantastic teachers who are open to trying new things in new ways and we look forward to following their Just Play journey!

Experiencing the Just Play professional development sessions

Last Friday, I accompanied my colleague Anna to Hackney New School to support her as she delivered some Just Play training to primary school teachers who would piloting the project in their schools. Not only is Just Play a fairly new project for Musical Futures – so am I! The day of the training was day five for me as a member of the Musical Futures staff, and I was eager to see not only how Just Play would work, but also to meet primary school teachers and to try out the Musical Futures approach myself. In all of these respects I wasn’t disappointed.

On arrival, Anna had set up with multiple guitars and keyboards, with a drum kit in the corner, so there was obviously going to be a practical element to the day. Now, I’m a musical person, having studied music at university and trained as a classical singer. But the prospect of playing a guitar or drum kit (which I’d never done) was a mildly terrifying, especially in front of other people! So the minute Anna asked us all to pick up a guitar, I felt very much in the same boat as these non-music specialist teachers attending the training. But by lunchtime every single person in the room was confidently playing along to a medley of songs either on guitar, bass guitar, keyboard or drums, keeping time and having fun. And by the end of the day we were able to perform a far more complex song and sing, altogether, in a way that all the attending teachers agreed they could do with their KS2 students.

As a new member of staff who has taken part practically in a training session, and following conversations with those teachers, I have found that the MF approach is all-encompassing, all engaging, inspirational and fun. If a group of slightly scared adults can learn and enjoy music in such an accessible and enjoyable way, then every child can. And I will definitely put my newfound guitar skills to use.

The Just Play Pedagogy and Principles

Posted by Anna-MF UK

Musical Futures is a tried-and-tested yet innovative approach to music learning, based on a pedagogy that is driven by the musical culture of the participants. It brings real-world music learning processes into schools and other formal settings, engaging and inspiring all and promoting inclusion and diversity.

Musical Futures is shaped around these core values:

• Inclusive – everyone takes part at their own level
• Absorbing – learning is practical and hands-on
• Relevant – starts with music that learners engage and identify with
• Sociable – it is collaborative and with friends
• Informal – led by learners with teachers/leaders modelling, guiding, supporting
• Varied – learners perform, listen, compose, improvise, work on a range of instruments and voices, use technology, explore a range of genres and styles
• Progressive – music learning experiences are high quality, authentic where possible, and with clear progression routes
• Respectful – all learners, no matter what their ability or experience, are treated as musicians, and are supported to learn and develop.

You can get an idea of what Musical Futures looks and sounds like in our introductory video:

When music is learnt in this way learners will:

• Enjoy learning music
• Increase confidence to make music
• Improve coordination
• Improve listening skills
• Increase their technical ability
• Work creatively
• Develop independent learning skills

With this in mind, we pulled together the Just Play Principles

These are modelled throughout the Professional Development workshops and although in the first instance, Just Play is more teacher led than some of the subsequent Musical Futures approaches, the learning is fully collaborative, with the teacher leanrning musically alongside the pupils.

“You’re going to learn together and I think sometimes as teachers you’re afraid to show your vunerabilities. If you can’t do something, flip the classroom, let them teach you” Just Play Scotland pilot session, Aug 2015

And here is what Just Play might look and sound like in your classroom!

Musical Futures: Just Play-the story so far

Posted by Anna-MF UK

Back in October 2014, Abi and Anna from MF UK and Ken from MF Australia visited New York to have a look at the work of Little Kids Rock, a non-profit organisation committed to opening up musical opportunities for primary aged children in schools through their Modern Band Programme.

Abi, Anna and Ken with pupils engaged in a little Kids Rock after school inititive, NYC Oct 2014

Following the visit, we looked at the overlaps between our approaches and in particular how running an intensive musical training workshop for teachers could help primary generalists to feel confident and competent to start to use Just Play with their classes.

“The teacher felt the critical thing was that she had gone through the process alongside the pupils, could see it through their eyes, understand what is difficult, embarrassing, made her nervous etc so she felt she could relate to them”-interview with class teacher, UK pre pilot Jan 2015

We considered how best to present the resource in a way that could be scaffolded for teachers who may not have had much experience with playing or delivering music, yet keeping these in line with our clear Musical Futures pedagogies that underpin all the work we do.

“Children made good progress from being muddled in the initial group jam to a much more skilled and co-ordinated performance by the end of the day”-independent evaluation, UK pre pilot Jan 2015

In January, Ken and Anna ran a small pre-pilot in 2 primary schools in Hackney, London UK. Working first with a year 4 class (aged 8-9) and then with a year 6 class (aged 8-11) they tested the materials and worked with an external evaluator to assess the impact and take on board suggestions for improvement.

Year 4 performing to parents, staff and the rest of the school in Hackney, January 2015

In April, Anna travelled to Australia to take part in the first JP professional development workshop working with Ken, Steve, Ian and Maddie from MF Australia. Teachers played a range of instruments and all took away the resources to use with their classes.

Steve from Musical Futures Australia leading Just Play workshops in Melbourne with teachers, April 2015

The process of refining and adapting the resources is ongoing. Working with UK Teacher Associate John and taking on board feedback from teachers, the UK pilots and rollout of the JP professional development are now under way and we intend this blog to be a place to share information and progress as we go along!

“I had this pre conception that you would have to be more musical and more knowledgeable. I can keep a beat and I can follow music, I just can’t play an instrument. But after today I think yes-I could do that” Primary teacher, Scotland, UK

Musical Futures: Just Play Scotland pilot launch, UK, August 2015