How it works for you

Whatever your role in the education of children, Sefton Schools Music Service Interactive’s huge library of Music ICT resources will help you achieve your objectives.

Your role

How it works

Sefton Schools Music Service Interactive’s resources can be accessed online or downloaded and saved to a computer’s hard drive, a disk or a memory stick allowing for flexibility of use. The resources can be used in the lessons, and also left with the class teacher to revisit, and so consolidate learning during the week.

It’s a seamless interface, giving you everything you need for a complete eLearning system. Not only is the system comprehensive, it’s also specifically designed to interface with other eLearning systems and VLEs, meaning it’s quick and easy to integrate and start using straight away.

“The software is a tremendous resource for use in the primary classroom. It is simple to use and the activities engage all children, all of the time.”
Christine Hopkins - Chuter Ede Primary

The resource library is updated regularly with new content and teaching tools. We also value your feedback to identify areas where additional resources could be added.

Ready made lesson plans

Sefton Schools Music Service Interactive can provide a range of prebuilt lessons which link to Whole Class Instrumental / Vocal Tuition curriculum, National Curriculum and Schemes of Work. Instrument lessons include recorder, cello, trumpet, flute, violin and ukulele.

Our resources are designed from what teachers have told us they need, making them uniquely focused, innovative, adaptable and useful.

‘Lessons’ are banks of resources which support the learning objectives and activities in a lesson or a course of lessons.

Your school or music service may have prepared lessons and series of lessons which support their scheme of work or curriculum and saved these for you to access. Additionally you may prefer to use prepared lessons as a starting point if you are new to whole class instrumental/vocal tuition or to online technology.

However it is very simple to design your own lessons or series of lessons by simply previewing the resources, picking the ones you require and saving them. These individual lessons can be linked together to provide resources for a series of lessons or a half term’s work.

Create your own lessons

The resources cover a range of approaches so provide opportunity for a breadth of learning styles to encourage all learners to be involved and achieve success.

The wealth of resources provide endless opportunities to make links to other areas of the curriculum which enhances and supports project work, helping to embed music into the daily curriculum.

Search or browse the huge resource library and as you find things you like, simply add them to your shopping cart (don’t worry it’s just an easy way to collect resources - you’re not buying anything!). When you’ve finished exploring and have the resources you need, just add them to any of your existing lessons or create new lessons. Any resources you add will stay there until you decide what to do with them.

Once you’ve created your lessons you can use them online or download them on to your memory stick, laptop, or classroom PC.

Teaching notes

Many of the resources have ready prepared teaching notes which provide background information, suggested links and practical ideas to support teaching.

You may wish to add your own notes to your lesson plans to categorise the lessons and to record any comments, such as teaching tips or relevant activities which you feel will be helpful in the future.

Thousands of resources

Sefton Schools Music Service Interactive provide thousands of high quality interactive music resources, including:

Your workspace

“My Workspace” is your own special place on the website where you can create, manage and save your lessons. From here you can download your lessons to your computer hard drive, a disk or a memory stick to use anywhere. However they will still also remain in My Workspace so that you can edit or update them at any time in the future.

Supporting pupils between lessons

The new SMILE technology enables you to easily control the tempo whilst you rehearse and perform a piece of music at the relevant speed for the pupils you are working with.

The SMILE technology also allows you to change the mix of the backing track, for example there may be times when you want to mute the solo instrument or simply have the drum backing as the accompaniment.

Most of the pieces display an animated instrument showing the fingering or string used to play the particular note. This option is particularly useful for visual learners and can also act as a reminder when learning is not secure. At other times you may wish to encourage an aural approach so you can simply remove the animation.

Once you have chosen the appropriate setting you can save the mp3 file allowing pupils to access this as a rehearsal tool on an individual or class basis.

Everyone loves using Sefton Schools Music Service Interactive - but don’t take our word for it, why not read what teachers, pupils and Music Services have to say.

Access to these resources is normally by annual subscription to the Music Service. However, as part of our ongoing program of support for music education in Sefton  we are making this invaluable resource available to you until 31st March 2010 absolutely FREE of charge.

Contact us now to claim your free login.

"The visual and audio effects enable the children to learn and understand the many musical terms with enthusiasm. It combines education with fun - a very successful combination!"

Claire Hopkinson, Primary teacher, Ollerton Primary