About ME
I am a qualified Music Teacher with a degree in Contemporary Musics based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. I have specialist experience in working with children and adults in both mainstream and special needs areas. There is music in everyone and I have the skills and resources to find the right path for you.
WORKSHOPS
DRUMMING
A drumming circle contains all the magic and wonder of the ethereal world of music.
You cannot see it but you can hear it and feel it.
What is important is that you understand you can create it.
How many sounds is it possible to make with one drum? How many rhythms can you learn? Can you create one yourself?
You can listen and copy or lead the group.
Or you can sit back and just enjoy joining in.
Explore how you can change music just by choosing what to do. How will we play the drum? High or low sounds? Quiet or loud sounds? When will we change the rhythm? Who will take a solo?
All these decisions can be yours to create your own unique experience and most of the time we are playing, no one will speak at all. Use non-verbal communication to make everything happen at the right time.
INSTRUMENTAL
How much fun can you make with glockenspiels, shakers, keyboards and whatever else you have in your music stock room?
Explore the different sounds these instruments make and how they can blend together to make wonderful effective soundscapes.
Learn how to play rhythms and mix them with others.
Learn how to create melodies, simple or complicated, and how to repeat them and develop them.
Learn how to structure an effective piece of music and prepare for a performance. You can even write down what is happening in a colourful musical score!!
Compose, create, structure, develop, rehearse and perform, all in one day.
SINGING
Get your school singing.
It’s easy with the right songs.
Sing them in the morning and the power of music will last with you all day.
Songs can be about nothing (A E I O U) or something (The Seasons) or about us (Where do you go when the sun goes down) or about our aspirations and desires to make a change (If I ruled the world).
Every song has a verse and a chorus, the rest of the song can be written by you. What do you want to say? What is your message you want to sing out loud? Think it, make it fit the melody, then rhyme it if you want. It’s ready to rehearse and perform.
Backing tracks are available for you to practice with as well as instructions to follow to make your lyrics scan and rhyme.
TEACHER TRAINING
Do you want to provide effective music provision in your schools delivered by your own teachers? If you understand how to use the elements of music, you can make music on the instruments you have in your school.
You do not need years of music training.
I will explain everything you need to know in one hour.
After my session, all your teachers will be empowered and confident to deliver 4 lessons of music that can culminate in a performance. So what are the elements of music? Tempo – fast/slow. Dynamics – loud/quiet. Pitch – high/low. Rhythm – patterns of sound. Timbre – the sound of the instrument. Texture – how many instruments are playing at once. Structure – what happens first, next, after that. Duration – long or short notes. Silence – where the music lives.
What else do you need to know?
How to teach your students to create short melodies and rhythms. How to manipulate the sounds you have created.
That’s it.
What you can expect
The way I work
I provide friendly, effective and fun workshops where the learning is easy and whatever you learn or experience stays with you.
I provide
A sense of belonging
Specific praise for participants
Improvisation in a supportive atmosphere
A bespoke approach to music making
Experimentation
Cross curricular links
Team working
Listening skills
An understanding of how music works
What people say
"Matt was brilliant in delivering group and one-to-one instruction. Fab!" Support Worker, Purple Patch, Leeds
"We learned new techniques. Everyone joined in and showed their ideas." Support Worker, Mind The Gap, Bradford
"Matthew always delivers top quality Music sessions and tailors the sessions to meet the individual needs of all our students. Always great fun and engaging." Head of Year, Fairfield School, Batley
Other projects
LLAMA
I am the co-writer of a project called LLAMA (Language Learning and Musical Activities), please see attached
flyer. It is 15 different teaching activities, which are linked to and use different music tracks to aid the language learning. It is aimed at students
(of any age) who are learning English as a second language but it can
also be very helpful for SEN students.
http://eltwell.com/language-learning-and-musical-activities-llama/
Language Learning and Musical Activities
The activities range from helping students spell using rhythms,
learning how to pronounce and effectively use different phonemes
(enhancing muscle memory and diction), ambient sound tracks to aid
listening skills and comprehension and also how to use different verb
forms successfully.
There are many more and the activities cover a wide range of language
skills. And no musical training is necessary, everything you need to
know is in the resources.