Drake Music have created accessible singing resources that Sing Up member schools can download from the Sing Up Song Bank website. (For Sing Up membership details, click here.) These resources are designed to fully involve SEN/Disabled children in singing activities as part of the Foundation stage / KS1 / KS2 curriculum, including children with physical impairments, communication difficulties and other special needs. We are creating more accessible singing resources for the Song Bank, available later in 2012, including songs appropriate for young people at KS3 / KS4.
Drake Music also offers Accessible Singing training in using these resources to Sing Up member schools through Sing Up’s Drake Music Network. Below is a Youtube video showing our accessible singing resources in action.
The Sing Up tagline – Help Kids Find Their Voice – is particularly appropriate for disabled children. Whatever their voice, all children have the potential to be involved in singing. Some children sing in the ‘traditional’ sense, some children sign, some use an electronic communication aid such as a VOCA and some don’t verbalise but they do make sounds. Imagine all these children singing the same songs together, perhaps accompanied by other children, teachers and parents playing instruments!
What teachers say about Drake Music’s Accessible Singing Resources
“Easy to use – brilliant for including non-verbal pupils in singing”.
“The Drake Music resources have made singing accessible for all children regardless of the limitations in their communication or motor skills.”
“I like the independence that is felt by the children…they can initiate singing themselves.”
“We were able to use your resources to prevent people from singing ‘at’ children.”
Which songs have we created accessible singing resources for so far?
- Alice The Camel
- A Keelie
- Butterfly
- Dem Bones
- Four White Horses
- Grandma Rap
- Here Comes Sally
- Hey Mr Miller
- Hill an’ Gully Rider
- I Can See Clearly Now
- Little Green Frog
- Michael Finnigan
- Nanuma
- Old MacDonald
- Sailor Went to Sea
- Senwa Dedende
- Sing A Rainbow
- The Grand Old Duke Of York
- There’s A Spider On The Floor
- The Wheels On The Bus
- Three Little Birds
- Zip-a-dee-doo-dah
What are the accessible resources?
There are 2 kinds – information and ideas documents for whoever will be leading the singing sessions plus electronic communication aid resources for disabled children:
1. Information and ideas – pdf documents:
- ‘Introduction to Drake Music Accessible Singing Resources’ documents that are designed to give you general ideas for including a range of SEN/Disabled children in singing.
- Each song also comes with 2 short documents containing accessible singing ideas that relate directly to that particular song.
2. Electronic communication aid resources:
- Singing set-ups for Clicker software that can be ‘sung’ from a computer using a touch-screen, switches, a mouse, joystick or any other appropriate means of control
- Singing set-ups for a range of different ‘VOCAs’ (Voice Output Communication aids) includingDynavox, Mind Express / Tellus Mobi and The Grid 2. If you’re not sure what a VOCA is, think of the device that Dr. Stephen Hawking uses to communicate.
We’ve made Clicker & VOCA set-ups because, while we know how empowering communication aids can be for children with communication difficulties, we also understand that it’s often difficult to find time to make these kinds of electronic resources from scratch, so we’ve done nearly all the hard work for you!
What the National Plan says about accessible singing
Drake Music’s accessible singing work is highlighted in the Government’s National Plan for Music Education as an exemplary case study in using music technology to break down disabling barriers (p.51 of the National Plan). The National Plan is the Government’s vision for music education from 2012 onwards, and outlines clear requirements for Music Education Hubs and schools to deliver “high quality music provision… for all pupils, regardless of race; gender; where they live; their levels of musical talent; parental income; whether they have special educational needs or disabilities; and whether they are looked after children.”
How to download Drake Music’s Accessible Singing Resources from the Sing Up Song Bank
Useful things to know before you start:
- You’ll need to have registered for a Sing Up account. If you haven’t done this yet go towww.singup.org and click ‘Register’ in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
- Resources are downloaded per song, so you’ll need to go to each song that you want to sing and download the resources for that particular song. It’s not possible to download all the resources for all the songs in one go.
- On the Sing Up Song Bank website, the Drake Music Accessible Singing Resources are referred to as: ‘Clicker 5, VOCA, SEN singing ideas’.
To download the resources:
- Go to the ‘Songs & Teaching Resources’ section of the Sing Up website at www.singup.org/songbank
- If you haven’t done so already, Log in using the ‘Login’ button in the top right-hand corner of the screen.
- Click this link & the first page of songs for which Drake Music Resources have been created should be displayed: www.singup.org/songbank/song-bank/tags/182-drake-music-materials/page/1
- Click the ‘Accessibility / SEN’ button next to each song and the ‘additional resources’ page for that song will appear.
- Click on the line with the words ‘(Clicker 5, VOCA, SEN singing ideas)’ following the name of the song, for example ‘Senwa Dedende (Clicker 5, VOCA, SEN singing ideas)’. The resource folder should now download to your computer.
- The folder needs to be ‘unzipped’ before you can access the contents. If the computer you are using has the relevant software installed this may happen automatically. If not:
- On a PC you’ll need to use either Winzip http://www.winzip.com/ or 7-zip (free open source software)http://www.7-zip.org/ If you’re working in a school you might need help from your friendly IT technician.
- On a Mac, double click the folder you’ve downloaded and a new ‘unzipped’ version will be created in the same location.
Once you’ve downloaded the resources folder(s)…
Inside the resource folder for each song are 5 more folders, one of which is called ‘Helpful Documents’. Inside ‘Helpful Documents’ you will find:
- HOW TO INSTALL: information on how to install the electronic resources on your computers or communication aids.
- INTRO TO Drake resources: general information on what all the different resources are and how to use them.
- SINGING IDEAS…: singing session ideas for each song.
The other 4 folders contain set-ups for the software / communication aid to which the folder name refers:Clicker 5, Dynavox, Tellus Mobi, The Grid 2. These will need to be copied onto a USB stick and installed as per the relevant ‘HOW TO INSTALL’ instructions.
