Standard 3 states that teaches must foster and maintain pupil’s interest in the relevant subject area. Fostering pupil’s musical interests can be challenging due to children’s diverse cultural backgrounds and interests. Maintaining musical interests can be a challenge, because musical development requires a certain amount of repetition that primary-aged children find tedious. There is also a minority of children who feel that they are not musical and therefore quickly become disengaged in lessons.

In order to fight the tedium of musical development and the misconception of “non-musical” children, I use technology in many of my lessons. Technology opens an abundant field of opportunities for all children, whether they are gifted, EAL, SEN, or simply disengaged. iPads are possibly the most valuable resource for engaging and extending any child, as the range of applications provide visually and aurally stimulating activities. Children with poor motor skills find the iPads to be intuitively accessible; those with language difficulties can easily grasp the logic of using an iPad to create musical sounds. Children who feel unmusical are easily engaged by iPads, as they realize the simplicity of creating quality music on the devices. Another strategy of engagement is to use headphones with the iPads, so that that children can only hear his or her music. This encourages experimentation and creativity, while reducing the fear held by self-conscious pupils who don’t want to make mistakes in front of their friends.

For more information on how I maintain pupils’ interest in music, please visit the following site, which features my music portfolio of evidence:

https://starks-field-primary-school.j2bloggy.com/music