Maker{Futures}, based in the School of Education, is a project that supports the development of makerspaces and creative practices for young people. As part of their work, the team offers free workshops and training for people working in early years settings, schools, libraries, museums and community spaces who want to develop their maker education provision.
In their recent workshop, the team joined forces with the Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation, to give educators from across Sheffield and beyond the opportunity to learn ways of teaching music and creative skills to six to twelve year olds.
They combined making with music making through the creation of musical instruments from recycled materials and craft supplies, the writing of recycling raps and the use of digital tools to compose music.
Inspired by 'junk orchestras', attendees worked on tin can drums, cardboard tube shakers and box guitars, with the aim of developing children's motor skills whilst teaching staples of music theory such as rhythm, timbre and pitch. The session also included writing and performing recycling themed raps, using minibeasts to understand music notation, and learning digital tools that allow young people to compose pieces of music incorporating all new the skills learnt.
The Sarah Nulty Power of Music Foundation aims to bring the transformative power of music to everyone, celebrating and supporting music and music education. The foundation was set up following the death of Sarah Nulty, one of the driving forces behind the Tramlines festival in Sheffield. They offer grants to support to workshops like this, as well as other projects which expand the reach of music and music education amongst young people.
The session aimed to empower educators to use these new tools to further enhance music education across their various settings.