Dan Mee

@bobbyseagull.bsky.social new networks and new handles but you’ll be glad to know that Bobby Seagull-egg is still going strong on this year’s Easter tree. Happy Easter!

Very busy few weeks since show week in January.
Developing new strategies for teaching melody writing for year 7, very interested to hear thoughts and opinions on best way to do this

First rehearsal today with Shropshire Music Service Stage and Screen Orchestra. Pleasure to be joining this group and some well needed practise! Camera clipped to scroll to watch my bowing arm position as I got tired. Definitely need to work on stamina! #doublebass #musician #musicteacher

Starting composition unit with year 7 today. Retrieval task from September to create 4 bars of 4/4 using minims, crotchets, quavers and semi-quavers. Had to hide the semibreves after one clever student finished very quickly by only using 4 🙄 #uked #edusky #musiced #teachsky #teacher #musicteacher

Banging the drum for music education: the UK school run with an orchestra Shireland CBSO academy in West Bromwich has put music at centre of its teaching in effort to revive interest

Fantastic to see music being prioritised so passionately. I wonder if more music organisations could team up with schools like this? Happy to trial it at my school!
#musiced #edusky #uked
Banging the drum for music education: the UK school run with an orchestra www.theguardian.com/education/20...

I would suppose that presenting song without limitations could overwhelm an inexperienced student whereas focusing on on a short excerpt, with a specific instrument to listen for has more defined boundaries and more precise listening skills. At-home transcription then develops these skills further

Thank you, the kids absolutely smashed the performance, big proud teacher moment! Hoping I can build on their enthusiasm for next term, bigger and better next year!

Happy New Year folks, as I’m back in school on Monday, I’m looking for interesting choices for my new ‘Show Choir’, what are your favourite show tunes to sing as a group? #edusky #uked #musicteaching #music #choir #bandteaching #musicaltheatre

To finish off the year, Friday was our celebration assemblies for each year group. It was an absolute joy to lead the year 7 assembly, singing a round of 12 days of Christmas. 180 students, singing their heart out and loving every minute. Great way to finish the term! #musiced #uked #edusky #singing

Last night was 1st Christmas concert at my new school, in our new building, 1st Christmas concert in several years. Over 60 students on stage, sell out audience and many happy faces. Could not be more proud. Can’t wait for the next one! #uked #edusky #musiced #musicteacher #teacher #musicteaching

I think that would be when you directly prepare students saying you will call on them directly, or asking for students to show they have an answer and filtering who you ask from that selection rather than anyone in the class, for example only those with hands up

I can see why it would make some students feel anxious however allowing them properly preparation time and embedding as a solid routine seems to lessen the blow. I often use this for performance demonstrations, especially with my year 7 students

#teachlearnsky

Discussion this morning around embedding ‘cold calling’ into lessons more consistently across the curriculum. What are your experiences/expectations around using this (as a TLAC style strategy) in the music classroom? #musiced #uked #ukteach #edusky #tlac #coldcalling

After an incredibly busy week finishing off BTEC Component 2, the tree is up and we are finally starting to feel a bit more Christmasy. Carol concert on Wednesday and Christmas Karaoke on Friday then all finished for 2024, one more week, final push! #uked #edusky #musiced #musicteacher #teaching

#musiced music educators, what are your thoughts on Orff and Kodaly techniques in current music teaching? Over the last 2 years I have started to try and embed some kodaly ideas to support year 7, interested in others’ thoughts and opinions

This is great, as a teacher I have loads of students interested in this field, anyone have any advice for budding game composers?

Weekend project to finish a guitar clock. This was my first guitar, given to me Christmas present in about 1992, had a very good life as a playable instrument and has since been repurposed into some shelves and now a clock. Neck is yet to be converted, open to suggestions…
#guitar #musicclassroom

I’ve learnt that the prompt is so important for quality of lyrics. Bring really clear and specific, with a “act as a songwriter” type prefix, giving an example to refer to and a time period, even using a given structure

I have loved using AI as a stimulus for creating song lyrics. Opens up some interesting possibilities for melody writing. I will be using this to develop a knowledge of syllabic and melismatic vocal Melodie’s with my gcse class this week

Is there a similar list of schools who are showing improvement from last year? I would be very interested to see how schools are increasing their performance who aren’t necessarily on this type of list. What about schools who have improved from -1.5 to 0 or more? How can we celebrate these schools?

Or applied mathematics and physics being used in DT, one reason I love being a music teacher is that it naturally encapsulates almost every other subject in a beautifully symbiotic way.

The positive effects for student mental health and wellbeing seem to be immeasurable, I think the applied nature of the subjects can only reinforce the core subjects. What better way to show understanding of the English Literature poetry texts than performing them through drama

Interested to know the implications on curriculum time, especially for foundation subjects? Heading that putting more emphasis on subjects like music and art can have a massive impact on P8.

Good to remember how much goes into improvement, all the little gains! Never an overnight success and buy-in from all stakeholders!

Congrats on the improvement! It feels like people often forget that there can be big improvements lower down the scale, what do you think your key factors were in supporting this improvement?

What exercises do you use to alleviate this? Other than clapping along to music?

A couple years ago, I did a whole lesson focusing on properly using a tambourine for yr8, the kids loved it, was really good to see them experimenting but also using good established techniques and hearing how it is used in real music. #edusky #musiced #uked

One of my year 11s is doing work experience in my department this week, lovely to have an older student demoing for year 7 and helping them out acting as TA. Really helping to solidify his own knowledge even though he is not as confident as he should be. #uked #musiced #teacher #edusky #education

How does this break down by subject? I wonder what factors have led to this from ks3 and ks4