KS1/2 Music - Singing for Teachers: An INSET Workshop

Getting children to sing is not usually difficult, but helping them to improve can be a challenge for non-specialists. Teachers who lack confidence in their own singing find it hard to introduce and nurture key singing skills in the classroom.

Singing for Teachers, episode 1, centres on an INSET workshop with teachers and support staff at Cecil Road Primary School. Despite their anxieties, Kent Teacher Advisor, Helen MacGregor, takes them through a progression of warm-ups, chants and songs to help find and develop the voice and to explore range, character and pitch. To the surprise of some participants, the workshop culminates in part-singing and pleasing harmonies.

The activities shown in the teachers' workshop are all designed for the Key Stage 1 and 2 classroom and the second programme shows how some of the Cecil Road teachers then put them to use with their own pupils.