SoundCity:Connect
SoundCity: Connect is a professional network for anyone working in music with children and young people in Brighton & Hove.
See below for details on the upcoming Joint Practice Development Day for Arts & Cultural Education being held on 29 Jan 2018 at Varndean School. To book your free place please click here.
Do you want to share your wisdom and experience with other music practitioners? Do you want to hear national perspectives on music education from leaders across the sector? Do you want a safe but vibrant space in which to discuss challenges and generate practical solutions? Then SoundCity:Connect is for you.
Brighton & Hove Music & Arts has been awarded a grant from Youth Music for SoundCity:Connect to support networking and training for music leaders working with children and young people in the city. It’s free to join so sign up and get connected by contacting Abi Sharp.
If you would like to join the SoundCity:Connect mailing list, please enter your details below:
Music & Arts Joint Practice Development Day 2018
ISoundCity is pleased to be working in partnership with Our Future City, Brighton & Hove Music & Arts, Pavilion & Downs Teaching School Alliance and Varndean School to provide the 7th annual Joint Practice Development Day.
Date: Mon 29 Jan 2018
Time: 8.30am - 3.15pm
Venue: Varndean School, Balfour Road, Brighton, BN1 6NP
Tickets: Free but booking essential via JPDD Eventbrite page
The day will present a range of practical workshops, opportunities to network and the space to share ideas and practice with colleagues from Brighton & Hove, across music and arts subjects. This is a free event for local authority schools, academies, Our Future City and SoundCity partners, as well as anyone working in music/cultural education in Brighton and Hove.
A key theme for music will be presented by Glyndebourne Education and Brighton & Hove Music & Arts (BHMA) for all attending delegates: Creating a Vocal City in Brighton & Hove - help shape the new framework for vocal development from 2018 to 2022.
The day will include a networking and Teach Meet session, with opportunities to discuss current issues in music and arts education. Workshops and afternoon sessions will be spent in subject-specific activities led by Our Future City and BHMA partners and guest speakers.
Tea and coffee are provided but delegates are asked to bring their own lunch.
Sessions include:
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ISM Primary Music ToolKit - Dr Alison Daubney
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Performance Anxiety: A practical guide for music teachers - Gregory Daubney MSc MBPsS and Dr Alison Daubney
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Musical Progression Routes - Awards for Young Musicians
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Arts Mark and Arts Award workshop and surgery sessions - Artswork
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Large Group Ukulele workshop - Rock School
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Introduction to Rock Schools New Contemporary Instrument Syllabus - Rock School
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VIP Studio Sessions - Charanga
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Music School: A complete scheme to teach the national curriculum for music - Charanga
Plus, a twilight session from 3.15pm-4.45pm:
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Is Music in the curriculum facing extinction? A presentation and discussion of research into music curriculum provision - Dr Alison Daubney and Duncan Mackrill, Senior Lecturer in Education, University of Sussex
To reserve a place, please click here.
Additional sessions and workshops are in development and detailed descriptions of each, with timings for the day will be available in early January. We will contact you when they are available for booking so you can select your preferences for the day.
We look forward to seeing you there!
See below for highlights on previous years' Joint Practice Development Days
Joint Practice Development Day for Arts & Cultural Education 2018
SoundCity was please to work in partnership with Our Future City and Connected Schools to provide the 6th annual Joint Practice Development Day for Arts and Cultural Education at Portslade Aldridge Community Academy on 30 Jan 2017.
A wide range of colleagues from across the City and beyond attended the event, including Arts teachers from local authority schools (across Music, Drama and Visual Arts), academies, Our Future City and SoundCity partners, arts organisations, instrumental Higher Education representatives, freelancers, and other colleagues involved in arts and cultural education in Brighton and Hove.
Joint Practice Development Day for Music & Cultural Education 2016
The 5th annual Joint Practice Development Day for Music & Cultural Education was held on Monday 1 Feb at Brighton Aldridge Community Academy, Lewes Road, Brighton,
During the morning delegates spent time exploring Our Future City and the role of music and cultural education, facilitated by Marc Jaffrey OBE. They were then joined by Professor Julian Crampton, Chair of Our Future City and Laura Gander-Howe, Director, Children, Young People and Learning from Arts Council England,who brought a national perspective on developments in cultural education.
"Marc Jaffrey was an inspiring speaker – I’m definitely pro-Our Future City!"
The afternoon consisted of a range of practical workshops focusing on music progression.
Progression in music
Kellyjo Peters, Great Oaks Special School, Southampton
iPads enable students to develop musicality without the restriction of physical barriers. They are an effective tool for developing music transferable skills and teaching theoretical aspects of musicianship in fun ways.This session gave insight into suitable apps and activities that allow students to progress as musicians through performing, improvisation and composing.
Kellyjo Peters is a secondary school music teacher who has taught classroom music in a wide range of secondary schools, ranging from Bristol Cathedral School to Great
Oaks SEN School. Kellyjo is currently the music lead for 176 children with a complex range of learning difficulties. She has been teaching music using iPads for over four years and has explored over 400 apps, many of which have appeared in the iPad concerts she has hosted both in and out of her school. Kellyjo is currently the SEND teacher representative on the DfE Music Hubs Advisory Board.
Workshops/speakers included:
Just Play – Musical Futures (primary)
Anna Gower, Head of programmes, Musical Futures
Just Play is the new Musical Futures skills-building approach which builds on and enhances large group music making pedagogy through professional development and resources to get students playing and learning!
Anna has a strong commitment to classroom music and the development of sustainable and innovative approaches to classroom music in England and now overseas, working Canada, the USA and Australia to strengthen and support Musical Futures work as it expands internationally. As a former Musical Futures Champion Teacher, Advanced Skills teacher, Head of music and now as Head of Programmes for Musical Futures, she is committed to working to engage learners of all ages with school music. Her main passion is to drive the development of ideas and resources for supporting music provision for students both inside and outside of the classroom and ways that these can be shared and developed online by teachers wherever they are working.
"I am now exploring how to find that balance of taking the positive effects
of technology whilst remainging engaged in the 'now' within a creative workshop setting"
Music development, progression routes/frameworks based on needs of disabled CYP
Gary Day, Drake Music
This session looked at music development and progression routes and frameworks, based on the needs of disabled children and young people. Delegates focused on the Sounds of Intent framework and Drake Music's own accredited Introduction to Music course.
Gary is a highly experienced music workshop leader who has been working in the field of accessible and inclusive music making and education since 2001, with children & adults with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). He joined Drake Music in London as an Associate Musician and Trainer in January 2008, is a ‘Sounds of Intent’ enthusiast, and one the team’s leading trainers, facilitators and consultants.
Creating possibility - Unified Rhythm
Oliver MacDonald, RedZebra
Music is the universal language that everyone understands – we all know that.
So as a practitioner, how do we create a space to meet each of those individuals in their world and invite them to make their world bigger, whilst connecting them all to each other? For 'Creating Possibility', Oliver showcased Unified Rhythm, a mixed ability carnival music group that demonstrates how it is possible to create a band that everyone fits into. Delegates explored how to ignite the feeling of possibility, anticipation and empowerment in a group so that individuals feel inspired by who they are, what they can achieve and discover how they fitted into the group (and the world). Ollie MacDonald is co-founder and owner of RedZebra. Over the past 21 years, music has taken him and RedZebra to over 70 countries across 6 continents. RedZebra has used music to bring the most diverse groups together. From the United Nations in 2015 to Social integration in Soweto in 1998 and everything in between. Ollie continues to be awe struck by the power of music. Unified Rhythm is the project closest to his heart and has taught him a huge amount over the years.
"I really enjoyed the RedZebra session and I have already started
using some of the techniques/musical ideas in my lessons to good effect"
Inspiring young people through the arts and culture – Artsmark & Arts Award
Jane Dickson, Schools liaison manager, Artswork
Richard Beales, Strategic manager, Artswork
Delegates were informed of the benefits Artsmark and Arts Award can offer for their schools, pupils and their own practice and how working with Artswork to embed the benefits as part of school life through practical exercises with other schools.
Jane Dickson is Artswork’s Schools Liaison Manager in Brighton and Hove, Sussex and Surrey. Based in Brighton, she works with arts, heritage and library organisations in the area. Her role is very much about creating sustainable relationships between the sector and education in terms of both enriching a cross-curricular cultural offer in schools and skills development for both teachers and pupils. Jane has worked in various roles in the film, television and cultural sectors. She is an experienced developer and producer of innovative educational multimedia projects and resources, with particular reference to the moving image.
Artswork is committed to transforming the lives of children and young people through arts and cultural practice. Artswork is part of a national network of Arts Council England funded Bridge organisations. Our job is to ensure all children and young people experience the richness of the arts both in and outside of school.
"This day increased my confidence in feeling comfortable in
using different tools to engage the young people I work with"
Using the voice in whole-class music teaching
Katy Ambrose, Head of music, Sydney Russell School
For this workshop delegates explored the many ways in which they and their students could use the voice to aid musical development in the classroom. The workshop practiced on usual repertoire for whole-class singing, as well as offering ways to tackle reluctance and disengagement.
Katy Ambrose is Head of Music at The Sydney Russell School: a large comprehensive secondary school in Dagenham, East London. As of this academic year she also delivers the music teaching at a partner Primary school. Katy read Music at Cambridge, where she was a choral scholar, before completing her PGCE in Cambridge in 2010. As a Music educator, Katy is particularly interested in whole-class engagement and singing. She was a contributing author of Bloomsbury publication 'Masterclasses in Music Education' (Finney and Laurence, 2013) for which she wrote a chapter on whole-class engagement and Samba. She has also given presentations on using the voice for The University of Cambridge, Newcastle University and ABRSM.
Learn to live code music with Sonic Pi (Primary & Secondary)
Dr Samuel Aaron
Sonic Pi is an entirely new kind of musical instrument. Instead of strumming strings or whacking things with sticks - you write code to compose, perform and improvise. It's also free and runs on any computer - PC, Mac and even the Raspberry Pi!
Whilst this may all sound like complicated wizardry, it's simple enough for 8 year olds to pick up and powerful enough for artists to master. Sonic Pi not only gives you precise control of rhythm and pitch, but also over timbre, randomisation and counters, allowing you to easily weave sophisticated modelodies and beats out of a few simple lines of code.
'Learn to live code music with Sonic Pi' provided an introduction to the basics of Sonic Pi. No prior knowledge of code was needed. Delegares just needed an open mind and a playful attitude!
Samuel Aaron is a researcher, software architect and computational thinker with a deep fascination surrounding the notion of programming as a form of communication. His research focuses on the design of novel domain specific languages to explore liveness, conceptual efficiency and performance within programming languages. Samuel works as a Research Associate at University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, where he has created Sonic Pi, a powerful live coding environment for realtime sound synthesis targetted for education. Sonic Pi has been used successfully to teach programming and music within schools but also to live code music for people to dance to in nightclubs.
"It was incredibly inspiring and positive for a hub to have a large focus on
digital technology as I feel this is extremely relevant to the future of music education.
I hope these discussions continue to be an important focus for the hub"
Sound vocal practice for young voices
Mary King, Glyndebourne Education
This workshop involved:
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Best practice in vocal leadership
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Understanding and promoting vocal development
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Safeguarding vocal health
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Choosing the right repertoire for young voices
Mary King is Glyndebourne's Vocal Talent Consultant. Her career has
encompassed a wide range of roles, including that of performer, teacher, coach
and most recently broadcaster and writer. A popular and highly experienced mezzo soprano, Mary has worked with leading conductors and numerous orchestras across the world, and has made a particular feature of the contemporary classical repertoire. She has had a long involvement with outreach and teaching, working with all the major companies in the UK as well as running training programmes both at home and abroad. Mary is increasingly widely known through her work on television and radio, which includes Channel 4’s Operatunity and Musicality.
The Rhyme Engine – AudioActive (upper primary)
Jon Clark, AudioActive
An interactive session for educators working with children aged 10 - 12. This workshop focused on character, rhythm and crowd participation. Backed up by Jon Clark's newly developed rhyming technology, he demonstrated accessible lyric writing exercises to support children to explore themes of their own choosing.
A founding member of revered improvised 9 piece band The Spoken Herd, Jon Clark is a freestyler/rapper/producer who has been been working with AudioActive for 10 years. With his fun and playful style Jon has taught rap and lyric writing across a huge range of contexts including music education, literacy and artist development projects and within social justice interventions. Over the last 8 years Jon has been writing a rhyme dictionary and most recently he has been developing this resource into an app for IOS and android.
"My professional development priorities are about listening to the wishes of our
young people and hopefully then adapting my practise to suit their needs"
Secondary schools GCSE focus
Dr Alison Daubney, University of Sussex
Dr. Alison Daubney is a teaching fellow at the University of Sussex and also works as a freelance researcher, educator and
curriculum developer with local, national and international organisations. She is a member of the Sound City Board and has worked extensively with Brighton and Hove Music and Arts and partners on a range of education and community projects.
Joint Practice Development Day (JPDD) 2015
Over 120 music educators and practitioners recently came together to share practice and network with colleagues from across Brighton & Hove. There was a range of practical workshops including Songs of Hope and Deliverance; Vocal Music in the Classroom; Rhyme Control; Vocal Looping & Harmony and Music & Behaviour.

Joint Practice Development Day (JPDD) 2014
​Feb 2014 saw over 120 professionals taking part in a day involving a keynote speaker from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; workshops including Music Technology, iPads in the classroom, Fun with Folk Songs, Introduction to Figurenotes, Charanga, using ICT to support SEND. The afternoon session gave delegates a chance to group into targeted sectors to discuss relevant topics.
Joint Practice Development Day (JPDD) 2013
​On 4 Feb 2013, the partners of SoundCity: Brighton & Hove came together at Patcham High School for a day of planning, networking and workshop participation in preparation for the launch. Watch the video highlights of the day below!