It’s camels…with kings on their backs! If you pretend to be a camel and you’re a class of 5-6 year olds, then this is what it feels and looks like!

I often find it a delicate task to encourage youngsters to listen to what is considered by some, strenuous or exotic music. I like to lead them though this thorny endeavour with something that is perhaps more familiar to them. One such technique is the use of graphic scores.

Inspiration Cards: These are brightly-hued cards with some sort of brightly-hued swirl of an image intended to inspire brightly-hued, fantastical musical ideas to come flooding from their brains to the instruments they’re holding.

I developed a series of graphic scores to help youngsters, particularly in the upper primary/lower secondary years with the process and techniques of composing music, particularly with the structure of their pieces and the development of musical ideas.

I have frequently used a visual art technique/concept as inspiration, with the resulting art works being then interpreted through music, and becoming a Graphic Score as a subsidiary role.

It is an effective and wonderful way to help very young learners with their reading and writing skills using music as the learning medium.

Graphic Scores are a wonderfully useful and creative tool for use in composing activities with youngsters.

Here’s another Autumn/Harvest assembly-suitable poem I wrote with a Year 2 class once. They recited the poem and made up music to go with each line.

I’ve been asked a few times by colleagues and others to provide ideas for Harvest or Autumn assemblies. Here’s one of my favourites.