Interview, Ann Bryant on Instant Primary Music Lessons

Inspired by her training in Dalcroze eurhythmics, Ann Bryant has published a fantastic new resource for classroom music teachers. Many of the activities involve experiencing music through action, movement, or body percussion, and each lesson begins with a piece of classical music and a story. The book is organised in a way that allows teachers to do the lessons in any order, and they can repeat, modify, and skip them as much as they like. Ann kindly took the time to answer my questions about Instant Primary Music Lessons. Read the full interview below.

Browse Ann Bryant's publications here

What makes ‘Instant Primary Music Lessons’ primary school specific? How does it support the national plan for music and the model curriculum?

In secondary schools, you have specialist teachers for just about everything, including music, something you haven’t got in primary schools. When I go into schools as a children’s author, I find people commenting, ‘Oh she’s playing the piano, it’s so lovely to hear that piano played’ – because nobody ever plays the piano! Specialist music teachers are thin on the ground in Primary Schools. That’s the reality!

The national plan for music is very aspirational and wants every child to be inspired and to have a wonderful music education at primary school. That is great, but it is an idealistic thing. The model music curriculum tries to help with this, and it gives a lot of guidance, but it is like another language for some primary school teachers. They can find it overwhelming and are not sure how to use it. I’ve always tried to champion their cause because often it is just a lack of confidence. It is a huge thing to learn a whole subject and then try to teach it and work out a balanced course.

With Instant Primary Music Lessons the teacher can be learning whilst on the job. They can just enjoy the lessons and feel themselves becoming more and more of a facilitator as time goes on. It is a big confidence raiser and validator. I like to think specialist music teachers will use the book as well, for inspiration and as a time saver.

What kind of activities are included in the lessons?

I was Dalcroze eurhythmics trained and I loved that method. There is quite a bit of movement in the book, movement and action and dance and so on. Children are featured in some of the videos (when more than a verbal explanation is needed), and their favourite things were those with the most action. Their very favourite piece was the Joseph Bologne Violin Concerto. I did a country dance with them, making different patterns, and they just loved doing that. After the filming when I asked them what their favourite piece of music was, they said the Violin Concerto. I asked if they were sure it wasn’t the accompanying activity that was their favourite thing, and they had to think about it for a bit, but they still said no. I think they’d come to love the music through doing the activity.

Can you tell me more about the video lessons accessible with the book? How can teachers use these in their lessons?

The videos are instant, so teachers can watch them in advance, or they can simply press play in the lesson and I’m there doing the lesson. They have always got the book as a backup. The book contextualises everything so they can see what resources are needed for each lesson. Every lesson has a 'lesson at a glance' section, so the teacher can look through it and see what resources, if any, they need, or if they need space for movement for example. The book is a support tool for the videos, and there is also a lot of information in there. But not too much! I didn’t want to blind the teacher with science so I’ve only included interesting facts along with good musicianship aiding material.

What music is covered in the lessons?

There are a huge variety of pieces in the book, working to develop musicianship subtly. Lessons are accessible, flexible and fun and a piece of classical music is included at the beginning of every lesson. The music ranges from big orchestral music to solo instrumental pieces. Familiar works like Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals are included, alongside much lesser-known pieces by composers like Lili Boulanger, and Francis Johnson. There are overtures, suites, waltzes, sonatas, and concertos, old and new, and from many different countries. I have tried to include a massive representation of music and not just stick to the pieces that are often done. The book is unique in that it is a music course for the whole of Key Stage 2 with many lessons also being appropriate for Key Stage 1. The lessons can be in any order, and they can be repeated.

Because I am an author, I love mixing music and words. Every single piece of classical music is introduced by a story that matches it. This means that something is going on all the way through the music; there is a picture on the screen, they can hear the music, and they can also hear my voice telling the story.

What happens at the end of the lessons?

At the end of every lesson, I have something called Music on Paper. Now the students have become more familiar with the music, they get the opportunity to listen to the music again with just a picture on the screen, and nothing else. I call it this because I want them to be able to create whatever they want on paper. I imagine the teacher could create a scrapbook for each child with their illustrations from each lesson.

I think that when children are listening to music the boredom can kick in. It is more difficult for them to listen to classical music; it hasn’t got the immediacy of pop music, it is longer, and it doesn’t necessarily have a discernible beat or a vocal line. So, when you don’t have the story, if you can have something to do at the same time as listening, that is very calming, putting you in the mood for listening. I only expect them to listen to a few minutes at a time – I think the longest piece included is the Bolero. Most of the pieces are about five minutes or less – so that is more palatable.

If you had to give one piece of advice to generalist teachers teaching music what would it be?

Try to create a background of silence on which to place your music lesson, as though you are entering a conspiracy with the children. Let them feel that this is something different, it isn’t geography or history. Just about every single music lesson is whole class, with few occasions when you split into groups. And if you can have that feeling of a conspiracy, the listening is heightened so much. Listening skills are at the very heart of everything. Get the silence ready before you start.

I would also say, do not be afraid to repeat and repeat and repeat. If you find one lesson you like, keep doing that, you will be developing your skills yourself, which in turn gives you confidence. Future lessons will begin to make much more sense. You will still be getting an awful lot out of it. Just don’t worry, whatever you do, it’s going to be great!

Browse Ann Bryant's publications here

 Find out more about Ann on her website.