What is Musical Futures?
Musical Futures is an approach to the teaching and learning of music that promotes innovation, inclusion, diversity and lots and lots of music-making which is driven by the musical culture of the participants, rather than being limited to a specific musical style or genre.
We provide teachers from primary schools to tertiary teacher education institutions with training, support, networks and resources to deliver practical, engaging, developmental, pedagogically-grounded music programs in the classroom.
Musical Futures is sustainable in that it empowers and supports music teachers and is transferable to a range of learning contexts, demonstrated in the way it has grown from a small pilot project with 14-year-olds in the UK to a worldwide, globally recognised approach to music learning and teaching.
We provide teachers from primary schools to tertiary teacher education institutions with training, support, networks and resources to deliver practical, engaging, developmental, pedagogically-grounded music programs in the classroom.
Musical Futures is sustainable in that it empowers and supports music teachers and is transferable to a range of learning contexts, demonstrated in the way it has grown from a small pilot project with 14-year-olds in the UK to a worldwide, globally recognised approach to music learning and teaching.
What does Musical Futures do?
Musical Futures brings informal learning and non formal teaching into the more formal setting of schools and instrumental learning environments. In doing this we work with a variety of partners including schools, tertiary teacher training institutions at both undergraduate and masters levels as well as local educational authorities.
Musical Futures makes use of the terms formal, informal and non-formal. We define these in a Musical Futures context as:
Musical Futures makes use of the terms formal, informal and non-formal. We define these in a Musical Futures context as:
Formal |
Taught by adults in schools, colleges etc, Content, approach and what happens when largely chosen and delivered from teacher to student |
Non-Formal |
Led by adults in community contexts, with an emphasis on participatory, large group music-making. Where possible, learning is crafted by the musical leader from what already exists within the group |
Informal |
Led by young people
|
The pedagogical roots of Informal Learning
Professor Lucy Green’s (University of London, Institute of Education) extensive research into How Popular Musicians Learn resulted in the development of the Informal Learning model, with Professor Green leading on the action research* in schools in the UK. In this video, she explains how her own musical experiences and her research became the basis for a different approach to teaching music in schools.
*Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series) 1 by Lucy Green (ISBN: 9780754665229)
*Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series) 1 by Lucy Green (ISBN: 9780754665229)
What we offer
We provide teachers around the world with training, support, networks and resources to deliver practical, engaging, developmental, pedagogically-grounded music programmes in the classroom.
The expansion of Musical Futures to more than 100 countries world-wide and the recent recognition for Musical Futures as one of the HundrEd global innovations in education has been largely down to the success of our extensive teacher professional development programme.
Our workshops allow teachers to experience Musical Futures as a learner and then unpick how they might translate that experience into their own practice in their own context. However, the development of a suite of resources, into which many of the key Musical Futures values and principles have been embedded, marks a new step for the organisation.
We provide all the teaching materials necessary to get started with Musical Futures in the very next lesson, whilst keeping in mind that the key to success with Musical Futures is in how the musical content is delivered and it's that aspect which is modelled by our team of experienced teachers and workshop leaders throughout all our workshops.
We provide everyone who attends our workshops with free and unlimited downloads of previous, current and future resources from our website.
The expansion of Musical Futures to more than 100 countries world-wide and the recent recognition for Musical Futures as one of the HundrEd global innovations in education has been largely down to the success of our extensive teacher professional development programme.
Our workshops allow teachers to experience Musical Futures as a learner and then unpick how they might translate that experience into their own practice in their own context. However, the development of a suite of resources, into which many of the key Musical Futures values and principles have been embedded, marks a new step for the organisation.
We provide all the teaching materials necessary to get started with Musical Futures in the very next lesson, whilst keeping in mind that the key to success with Musical Futures is in how the musical content is delivered and it's that aspect which is modelled by our team of experienced teachers and workshop leaders throughout all our workshops.
We provide everyone who attends our workshops with free and unlimited downloads of previous, current and future resources from our website.
Who we are
There are 2 organisations leading the development and sustainability of Musical Futures.
Musical Futures International was primarily established to support teachers working predominantly, but not exclusively in Australia, Asia, The Middle East and New Zealand. Under the Directorship of Ken Owen and Ian Harvey, Musical Futures International currently offers a series of 2 and 3 day open training events hosted by some of the best-known international schools in the world. In the last 2 years we have led open teacher workshops in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Auckland, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore, China and New Zealand and more! In 2018, Musical Futures International worked with over 3000 teachers and delivered more than 100 workshops across the world.
Ken and Ian and their team continue to lead and roll out Musical Futures in Australia including the Musical Futures Professional Learning Program that delivers training, resources and support to over 800 schools and more than 1,500 teachers in partnership with the Victorian Department of Education read more...
Musical Futures UK operates independently from Musical Futures International offering a range of workshops and resources to support teachers predominantly in the UK and Ireland. You can read more about their work and the history and legacy of Musical Futures in the UK by visiting the Musical Futures UK website.
Musical Futures International was primarily established to support teachers working predominantly, but not exclusively in Australia, Asia, The Middle East and New Zealand. Under the Directorship of Ken Owen and Ian Harvey, Musical Futures International currently offers a series of 2 and 3 day open training events hosted by some of the best-known international schools in the world. In the last 2 years we have led open teacher workshops in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Auckland, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore, China and New Zealand and more! In 2018, Musical Futures International worked with over 3000 teachers and delivered more than 100 workshops across the world.
Ken and Ian and their team continue to lead and roll out Musical Futures in Australia including the Musical Futures Professional Learning Program that delivers training, resources and support to over 800 schools and more than 1,500 teachers in partnership with the Victorian Department of Education read more...
Musical Futures UK operates independently from Musical Futures International offering a range of workshops and resources to support teachers predominantly in the UK and Ireland. You can read more about their work and the history and legacy of Musical Futures in the UK by visiting the Musical Futures UK website.
Working together
Musical Futures International also works with other organisations to deliver practical workshops, consultancy and teacher development for music educators including most recently for FOBISIA in Nepal and New Delhi, Little Kids Rock in America and the China Musical Instrument Association in Shanghai, Dalian and Bejing. Our work in Asia is kindly supported by The NAMM Foundation.
We have also worked with students and teachers in schools most recently at The British School Jakarta, Bromsgrove International School Thailand, GEMS World Academy, Singapore. and The Bavarian International School, Germany
Recent partnerships have included those with Trinity College London, Charanga, Ableton and Soundtrap. Working together we are developing new approaches and resources to engage our growing global networks of teachers across the world.
Our Musical Futures International global online teacher communities are led and curated by our champion teachers and offer educationalists the chance to share ideas and debate issues that arise from the desire to develop music programs that engage and enthuse students no matter where in the world they are working. They provide support and sustain relationships that start from teachers making music together at teacher workshops and then offer opportunities to share ideas, recordings, video, feedback and more as teachers start to embed and build upon the approaches.
Our news pages contain guest blogs and articles written by teachers and leading music educationalists to ensure that Musical Futures International remains at the forefront of pedagogical thinking by challenging teachers to think differently about how and why they teach music.
We have also worked with students and teachers in schools most recently at The British School Jakarta, Bromsgrove International School Thailand, GEMS World Academy, Singapore. and The Bavarian International School, Germany
Recent partnerships have included those with Trinity College London, Charanga, Ableton and Soundtrap. Working together we are developing new approaches and resources to engage our growing global networks of teachers across the world.
Our Musical Futures International global online teacher communities are led and curated by our champion teachers and offer educationalists the chance to share ideas and debate issues that arise from the desire to develop music programs that engage and enthuse students no matter where in the world they are working. They provide support and sustain relationships that start from teachers making music together at teacher workshops and then offer opportunities to share ideas, recordings, video, feedback and more as teachers start to embed and build upon the approaches.
Our news pages contain guest blogs and articles written by teachers and leading music educationalists to ensure that Musical Futures International remains at the forefront of pedagogical thinking by challenging teachers to think differently about how and why they teach music.
Join Us
You can sign up to join Musical Futures to receive our news, ideas and updates and we would love to see you at one of our workshops soon!
