National Plan for Music Education

The Importance of Music for children in schools is emphasised in the new National Plan for Music Education and in proposals to keep Music as a Foundation Subject in the English National Curriculum for Years 1 to 8.

Ocarina Workshop is ready to work alongside schools, teachers and newly formed Music Hubs to facilitate high quality whole-class instrumental tuition, whole-school music making and teacher training: see details here.

The National Music Plan requires that a) every child aged 5-18 has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through whole-class ensemble teaching programmes for ideally a year of weekly tuition with b) opportunities to play in ensembles and to perform from an early stage and c) clear progression routes available and affordable to all young people (paragraph 18).

Ocarina Workshop instruments, books and teaching software have been helping teachers fulfill the above criteria for 30 years. Ocarina-playing is particularly successful with children aged 5 - 12 and ideal for ensuring that "every child should be able to experience enjoyment and success from the earliest stages" (paragraph 12).

Since 2006, Wider Opportunities programmes in Junior Schools have showcased children's rapid progress in ocarina-playing, from simple one-octave tunes, to more complex music and ensemble performances. These projects have lasted for as little as a term and up to 4 years in duration.

Ocarina-playing is affordable at less than £10 per ocarina and book. The Oc® is a robust, UK-made, plastic ocarina which is well-tuned and designed for use in the modern primary school classroom. Each ocarina and book can give years of service to many children. Class-teachers and peripatetic musicians are well resourced and supported by Ocarina Workshop to teach whole-class ocarina lessons to their own classes.

Playing the ocarina is even easier than singing. Early reading skills are encouraged through pictorial notation, which acts as a code to playing full-octave tunes immediately. No other instrument can match the ocarina's level of success and achievement with 5 to 7 year olds: both recorder and ukulele are too big and too complex to produce similar results. The simple dexterity developed through playing an ocarina transfers wonderfully to other instruments.

Staff notation can be purposefully taught in conjunction with playing melodies on the ocarina; playing in two- and three-part harmony and developing more advanced ocarina-performing techniques offers a challenge for Key Stage 2 and a platform for transition to Key Stage 3.

Playing tunes fluently allows enjoyment of music-making to be the focus of all ocarina lessons.

We look forward to hearing from you to discuss your requirements. Contact us directly for workshops and trainings, instruments and books / teaching resources.

David and Christa Liggins, Directors, Ocarina Workshop Limited

"every child should be able to experience enjoyment and success from the earliest stages of musical learning…well-planned and progressive experiences… will enable all pupils to succeed" (paragraph 12).

"Ensure that every child… has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument… through whole-class ensemble teaching programmes for ideally a year… of weekly tuition on the same instrument". (paragraph 16)

"Provide opportunities to play in ensembles and to perform from an early stage." (paragraph 16)

Date: 03/01/2012

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