Keith Wright, of Barford Primary School in Birmingham, found this program from Resource Education extremely useful for helping pupils develop an understanding of pitch, sequencing and composition. It is mainly controlled though the mouse and allows children to work independently with ease. He says it is an “excellent program to help the delivery of music within key stage 1”.

Price: pound;35Tel: 01509 672222 www.resourcekt.co.uk

Key stage 1 and 2 Tritone Music Series

An internet-based keyboardpiano music training system that introduces children to the fundamentals of music and performance through a set of integrated tools. Multimedia lessons guide them though the curriculum while Javatrax, an assessment sequencer, records performances, giving a graphical display of pitch, timing and expression. CourseWatch is a powerful database that records progress and saves performances. Students can also record a “virtual CD”. Price: Charges vary. Free trials available.

Tel: +1 604 273 5540 www.tritonemusic.com

Key stage 2 The Music Show

Introduces rhythm, melody, words and music to children through interactive activities to help them compose and perform music. Pauline Moss, of Cassiobury Junior School in Watford, praised the video and audio elements of the software as “the next best thing to having the artist in the classroom”.

Price: pound;29.99Tel: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.comlearning

MusicBox 2

A very visual piece of software that lets pupils explore sounds, pitch and rhythm. Lesley Studley of Wolsey House Primary in Leicester says it is a fun, relevant resource that “encourages creativity even in the most reluctant of musicians and is an invaluable resource to primary teachers who have little or no musical talent”.

Price: pound;44.95 Tel: 01326 377771 www.topologika.com Beetles

A fun, visual program for developing listening skills and introducing musical appreciation in children aged 4-8, it helps them explore sounds, and combinations of sounds, and select instruments for the “beetles” to play. The beetles can also be made to play the lead and backing parts of a tune separately, allowing pupils to learn how multi-part songs are constructed. Twenty instruments and many ready-made tunes are provided.

Price: pound;36 (single user, extra user pound;10) Tel: 0161 827 2927 www.granadalearning.co.uk Compose World Junior

Offers a music exploration program and supports the manipulating sound (3b) section of the QCA scheme of work. It helps children develop listening skills, explore musical styles and gain compositional skills. Sections of music are shown as pictures andor words. They are building blocks which can be sequenced in any order or combination. A “sequencer” is used to construct children’s compositions by trying out different orders and combinations of phrases.

Price: pound;25 for single user Tel: 0115 944 4140 www.espmusic.co.uk Key stage 2 and 3 Backtracks

Music is a vital element in films and TV programmes and the CD-Rom lets users change the music or use silence to induce fear, excitement, comedy or romance. Kevin Jones of St Mary Redcliffe Primary School in Bristol found Backtracks helps to teach some of the more difficult aspects of the music curriculum. “The ability to produce professional looking and sounding clips quickly is extremely motivating and the structure of the projects allows children to constantly challenge themselves,” he says. While it is hampered by not being designed to run on a network, it is “excellent” for pairs or small groups.

Price: pound;29.99 Tel: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.comlearning Key stage 3 ICT Activities for Music 11-14

The CD-Rom and booklet covers the national curriculum requirements for ICT as well as develops students’ understanding and skills in music. It includes a wide range of activities, sound files and an information bank with an easy-to-use glossary.

Price: pound;54.99 (single user) Tel: 01865 888 084 www.heinemann.co.uk Key stage 4 Sibelius 2

The new version of the world’s best-selling music notation program, created 14 years ago by Ben and Jonathan Finn, includes more than 200 new features. The software, which varies in price, allows users to write, play back or publish music, either on paper or electronically.

www.sibelius.comproductssibelius Tel: 0800 458 3111 For more information on these products visit TEEM (Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia) at www.teem.org.uk, and Becta Educational Software Database at http:besd.becta.org.uk Other websites worth checking www.muzantiks.com www.taglearning.co.uk www.r-e-m.co.uk www.fruityloops.com www.music-technology.co.uk 20 TES TEACHER - May 10 2002 May 10 2002 - TES TEACHER 21 joeL chant Music and ICT are natural partners for primary pupils and there is a range of affordable software available to help teachers make lessons more exciting and motivating. Here are some ways to use programs in the classroom: Manipulating sound Sound Recorder A built-in element of Windows that can be used to record sounds simply and easily via a microphone. Effects can then be applied and sounds can be cut up, reversed and the pitch increased or decreased.

Beetles A fun, visual music package that develops listening skills and introduces musical appreciation in children aged four to eight. Pupils can explore sounds and combinations of sounds, and select instruments for the beetles to play. They can also be made to play the lead and backing parts of a tune separately, allowing pupils to learn how multi-part songs are put together. Twenty instruments and many ready-made tunes are provided, and there are options for nursery and special needs students.

Price: pound;36 for a single user www.granadalearning.co.uk Dance ejay This software lets users record from a microphone, then edit and process the captured sounds. It allows downloaded Midi files of songs to be remixed by altering aspects such as the sounds, volume and tempo.

Price: from pound;12.99 www.ejay.co.uk Composition Compose World A versatile musical composition toolbox that allows for a number of tracks, containing music from sources such as Midi files, be created and played at the same time.

Price: pound;65, plus VAT for a single user www.espmusic.co.uk Dance ejay Arranges blocks of sound to create dance tracks (see above for details).

Cubasis Go A complete music studio in your PC. Its mixers, real-time effects and a virtual sound module lets users compose songs, edit music, print scores, produce videos and burn CDs.

Price: pound;24.99 www.amazon.co.uk These programs allow you to:

* use downloaded Midi files within a sequencer as a starting point for composing your own melody and as a backing track for performances;

* use edited sounds (from Windows, Sound Recorder) within a sequencer as audio and combine with Midi instruments to create a piece of music;

* download music files, such as drum loops, to use a starting point for your own compositions and to raise awareness of different styles of music.

Introduction to notation Download from the internet Midi files of well known songs (visit www.midifarm.com or go to a search engine such as www.google.com). Import the songs into a sequencer; edit the melody line to make obvious mistakes, then ask the pupils to look at the score. The errors can then be identified and corrected by dragging the notes into the correct position on the staff.

Real instruments Traditional instruments still have a role in ICT. They can be played along with Midi tracks, and keyboards can also be incorporated with more traditional instruments. Percussion sounds on a keyboard can be used as part of rhythm work so that pairs of pupils can work together at the same time.

Websites The BBC’s Onion Street - Music Room has world music samplers that let you remix the music via the numeric keypad. Visit www.bbc.co.ukschoolscommunitiesonionstreetmusicindex.shtml.

For hundreds of free samples go to Dance ejay at www.ejay.co.uk Mick Thomas is music education officer for Becta, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency. Visit www.becta.org.uk Soft options Insert under “key stage 3” Dance ejay It’s a generalisation, but just as “professional” word processors are for people who can already read and write, rather than learners, music sequencing software is usually for people who already have ideas about making music.

Dance Ejay 2 is a sequencing package with considerable “street” credibility and a significant number of fans of its educational use in school and the home. It is one of a number of programs distributed by Counterpoint.

One of the established sequencers, Cubase comes in many forms. Cubasis VST is the one attracting attention among schools as it comes with many of the functions of the parent program but at a budget price.

Ejay Studio Price: pound;35 Cubasis VST Price: pound;50 www.counterpoint-MTC.co.uk Tel: 01903 538844