​What happens at one of our international 2 day training events?

To see the music staff and students so engaged absolutely proves how solid your methods are. We are already having conversations and planning our next steps on how to include MF across our curriculum" 
John, The British School, Jakarta.
Musical Futures teacher professional development focuses on supporting and extending the skills of classroom and instrumental teachers to create sustainable music opportunities for students in schools. 

It is underpinned by pedagogies developed from informal learning and non-formal teaching approaches to classroom music.

Delegates put themselves in the position of their learners and, above all, Musical Futures training reminds teachers of their musical roots and is always a fun, inspiring and creative day.

​"I tried it out on Monday morning with my Grade 9 class; they worked for all class time and into their lunch break on their accord (this has never happened before). I had never worked so fast on a piece of music before, they had worked out their parts so quickly. It is great that I can apply this so quickly into my classes"  
Chris, ISS International School, Singapore
​Welcome, introduction to Musical Futures: meet the key staff involved in the workshops and get an overview of Musical Futures, what it is, how it works and what the next 2 days have in store! During the event we will explore key components of the Musical Futures approach looking at how we learn to play by ear, what it's like to be thrown in at the deep end and reflecting on how the role of the teacher plays an essential part in the Musical Futures classroom.


​Across the 2 days we will explore Just Play, Informal Learning, Classroom workshopping, Find Your Voice and Songwriting.

There's plenty of time for networking, sharing ideas and making new friends!      

Just Play is our comprehensive, musical skills-building approach and you will experience Just Play from the position of your learners. In just a few hours we will play guitar, uke, keyboard, bass, vocals, drums and then perform together as a large ensemble.

Just Play isn't just about building instrumental skills though. It's about unpicking what students need to be able to do to take part in music making. from listening, counting, following, to understanding how to read TAB and find chords and notes, the learning takes place as everyone plays songs that many will know or recognise.

A real highlight is our chair drumming session where everyone can be a drummer learning several different beats and playing along to some great songs!

​Have a watch of our guide to the Just Play play-alongs that will help students play as a large group and introduce many of the essential holistic musical skills necessary to be part of a whole class ensemble.
​
​Informal Learning is where Musical Futures began. The informal learning model builds on individuals’ existing musical interests, involves learning instruments and vocals mainly by ear, alongside friends, and is authentic and progressive. To get us started is a practical workshop unpicking Lucy Green's Hear, Listen, Play research into how we learn to play by ear. Then into groups to do some informal learning in music and discuss how this works in practice in the classroom starting with the role of the teacher in supporting informal learning.   Read More ....

​Groove Your Classroom: models strategies for composing and improvising through classroom workshopping and shows how these can be delivered in practical ways that are both musical and theoretical. We will use classroom percussion to break down commonly used grooves and look at how this can become the basis for building a whole class workshop filled with ideas for modelling approaches to composing and improvising.

​The following video shows how a year 9 class at Doveton College, Australia used Groove Your Classroom as a start point for a student-led whole class workshop.
Threaded throughout the workshops will be some of our bite-size approaches for getting started with songwriting and highlights from our Find Your Voice unit with ideas to build teacher and student confidence with vocal work. 

With 8GB of resources to take away, there will be plenty to get you started no matter what age group you work with and during the 2 days, everyone plays everything including guitar, ukulele, keyboard, drums, and more!

Don't forget that all resources will be available free to take away and there will be plenty of social time to network and meet new people.

Meet some of our Champion Teachers!

Alan Crawford,  Head of Academic Music at Dubai College, hosted our  2 day MF Dubai workshop in November 2017

Steve Jackman, Head of Academic Music at Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok, hosted our 2 day MF Bangkok workshop in November 2017

Russell Lee Grant, Lead Music Teacher at Xiamen International School, China, host for our 2 day workshop in January 2018

Hadley Ronayne, Head of Music at Long Bay College, Auckland hosts our 2 day workshop in March 2018


​Meet our Workshop Leaders!

​Ken Owen is a Director of Musical Futures Australia where the rollout of Musical Futures has been supported by the Victorian Government and The Dept of Education and Training. 

Working with Musical Futures Australia and the Musical Futures International core teams of teachers and practitioners, he continues to provide teacher professional learning to Australian Educators as well as heading up the development of new approaches and resources for teachers across Australia and beyond.
​Anna Gower worked for over 18 years as a classroom music teacher, Advanced Skills Teacher, Head of Department and Head of Community Music linking primary and secondary students and teachers through music projects and events.  As a freelance music education consultant and in various roles for Musical Futures UK, Anna has delivered keynote presentations, workshops and supported the work of many organisations including Music Mark, ISME OMEA, SAME, Little Kids Rock and The BBC as well as working with Music Education Hubs across the UK.
​
Anna's most recent role before joining the team at Trinity College London, where she now works as Lead Academic-Music, Europe, was as Head of Training for Musical Futures UK.
​For any questions about our 2 day international workshops, email info@musicalfuturesinternational.org