My work has always been cross-curricular!I don't wish to brag, but it's always seemed to me that the spin-offs from music and history were far too interesting to ignore. The Creative Curriculum is now a reality, (until next time somebody moves the goalposts again!) and is working out in different ways across the country.
Many schools retain topics they have already built expertise in, while adding new cross-curricular links;some others are totally re-writing what they do. Since 1993 I've been combining music, history, dance, dama, language, and more in my sessions, so I will continue to offer the workshops I have already developed. I am also happy to discuss any particular direction you may wish to emphasise, and I am quite willing to discuss any special session you may be interested in, such as:
EXTRA!!! Great news for Music Teachers and all music-inclined people in generalBBC Radio 4 "All in the Mind" has (mid November 2011) now re-researched the famous "Mozart Effect". It's a load of hype based on news-agencies mis-reporting research of some years ago, and wasn't at all what the study which started the whole thing off actually concluded. Listening to Mozart, or rock music, or a pencil tapping on a deck, all stimulate the mind for a while, but have no permanent effect whatsoever. So all those expensive "Develop your child's mind" products are a moslty waste of money. BUTLearning to PLAY an instrument does have a measurable and long lasting effect on the brain's abilities, apparently raising it by a sustained 3 to 4 percent points in various tests afterwards. So now you can tell all the purse-string holders and curriculum planners that there really is good science to show that playing music really does benefit children's abilities right across the curriculum, whether it's a National Curriculum, a Creative Curriculum, or even a Desperately Boring Curriculum! |