Differentiation is challenging to achieve in music lessons for a few reasons:

• Large classes and little support makes it difficult for me to direct attention toward different ability levels
• Teaching classes once per week adds to this challenge, as I have limited time to become acclimated with children’s particular needs in specific musical areas. Limited contact time makes it difficult for me to create ability groups and routines to support differentiation
• Music is unlike core subjects such as maths, where differentiation can be concrete (children add using one, two, or three digit numbers). Music includes a range of implicit factors (listening, aural skills), which are not easy to differentiate in a large group. Furthermore, while playing or singing in a large group, it is often easier for children to play the same music, rather than different parts. Playing in 2 or 3 parts would seem like differentiated learning, but it is actually a very advanced skill that would be inaccessible for most children at the primary level.

Despite the challenges, I have created strategies to allow greater differentiation in lessons:

• Using ICT allows children to work independently. Therefore, I can use specific programs for lower and higher ability children.
• I have begun to split classes roughly into ability groups. This works well in Year 5 (2014-15), where there is a large gap between higher and lower ability children. However, implementing ability groups has become challenging without a consistent parallel teacher for PPA lessons.
• In the violin club, I have a range of children in the same lesson. I often teach all children the same music, but I focus on different techniques for specific children. For example, some children might be advanced enough to use the bow, while others need to pluck without the bow. My higher ability violinists are also able to play different octaves (low E instead of high E), which requires greater technique and aural understanding to achieve. This has worked well, as the children are able to independently differentiate their learning based upon what they know they are able to achieve. This correlates with Standard 2, which asks teachers to promote pupils’ responsible and conscientious learning.