Colleton Primary, Twyford - Notate Case Study

Thanks to Alison Rolls, Year 5 and 6 Teacher

Why did you choose Notate?

I had been a keen user of the original version of Notate on the old BBC Acorn computers and missed it when our school and (the world!) moved over to the PC Microsoft Windows environment.

Since that time, I had been searching for a similar program, and made enquiries at the annual BETT exhibition as to whether it would be published again in PC format. Therefore I was delighted to learn that Notate was available again, in a new and updated form, but with all the old features as well that made it such a useful program for the KS2 music curriculum.

Who is using Notate?

At present my Year 5 and Year 6 pupils use Notate, but there will also be an opportunity for Year 3 and 4 to begin to use it over the next academic year.

What curriculum areas and /or objectives does Notate support in your school/organisation?

Music, ICT and also any cross curricular use of music e.g. soundtracks, themed pieces etc.

In your opinion, does Notate support the development of learners’ higher order skills such as thinking and problem solving skills?

Yes, particularly when composing with aspects of music such as a specified time signature, scale or rhythmic or melodic pattern. Notate enables pupils to fit different parts together, whether melodic, rhythmic or textural which involves thinking creatively.

What do pupils think about Notate?

Most of my pupils have thoroughly enjoyed using Notate.

How has Notate supported your effective teaching?

It has enabled easy, visual and auditory demonstration of formal music notation, as well as aspects such as rhythm patterns – melodic and percussive. It has also enabled melodic composition in a large group using an interactive whiteboard.

How would you say Notate enhances learners’ experience?

It has enabled children who have no knowledge of formal notation to begin to use this as a tool to record their own compositions, and it has extended those who do have some knowledge, enabling them to progress further and faster than they would have in this area.

Pupils with no skill on an instrument have been able to try out musical ideas and develop their own compositions. Pupils have enjoyed combining many different instrument sounds that would not have been possible without Notate.

Major successes resulting from Notate

What the pupils did:

Pupils composed and performed 8 beat cyclic rhythm patterns using drums and percussion instruments, then wrote them on rhythm grids. Notate was introduced initially in the form of an exploratory 'play', and then an extension task was set to compose a second 8 beat cyclic rhythm pattern by combining single line percussion tracks. This was so popular that all pupils experienced the exploratory 'free play' and came up with some lovely compositions just from this, while more than half the group (60 Year 5 & 6) went on to complete the cyclic rhythm pattern task in pairs using the single line percussion tracks with some excellent results.

What you did?

• Used the example files for Kaherva – an 8 beat cyclic rhythm pattern.
• Demonstrated how to create and combine single line percussion tracks
• Demonstrated how to select different instruments, and discussed their effects when combined.
• Demonstrated how to copy and paste patterns to repeat, and how to 'loop' the patterns so that they became cyclic.
• Discussed how rests should be added to complete the bars where there were no beats.

What objectives were achieved and how were they assessed?

• About cyclic patterns, and about particular cyclic patterns
• How different patterns can fit together
• How to expand rhythmic ideas using timbre and duration and by rearranging rhythmic material
• To assess and appraise compositions using ICT
• Pupils’ Notate files were assessed using the following criteria:
• Is the pattern effective?
• Is the pattern cyclic?
• Is the effect interesting/pleasing?
• Do the instruments/beats work well together

(I was assisted in this assessment by a music student on work experience from Reading Boys School, who had actually used the original Notate software with me when he was 11!)

Future plans for using Notate:

• To explore melodic elements such as the pentatonic scale, ostinato and rounds.
• To use to create 'backing' tracks for further composition work with 'live' instruments.
• To use to explore chords and harmony, including major and minor scales.

Quotes:

“At last, Notate is back!”