Leading Singing in Secondary Schools: Get them singing, keep them singing

Saturday 25th January 2025

Twilight training sessions online for anyone working with singers of secondary school age

The recorded sessions of this new course for everyone leading singing in secondary schools are available for purchase. Each session includes 60 minutes of training plus 15 minutes discussion.

Individual Sessions: £15/session (£10 abcd members)

Full series: buy all seven sessions for £85 (£55 abcd members).

Links to the recorded sessions are sent out manually, along with any additional resources. Please allow 2-3 days after booking - we are a tiny team.

Find out more about joining abcd here.

Session 1: Building a whole-school singing culture with Don Gillthorpe

Having spent a career building singing programmes in two comprehensive secondary schools, Don brings a wealth of experience to support and encourage you to do the same. Amongst a host of contributing factors to the choral ecosystem in a school, this session explores the essential interplay between curricular and co-curricular music, adolescent vocal development, and how to work with school leadership teams to provide the best experiences for pupils.

Session 2: Adolescent Boys: You've got them singing, but how do you keep them singing? with Ian Crawford & Martin Ashley

Martin and Ian spell out the things you need to do, why you need to do them, and how.

Session 3: Harmonise and inspire: empowering Year 6 and 7 singers with Suzzie Vango

Suzzie introduces vocal techniques and repertoire to encourage and foster a love of singing for Y6 and Y7 children. Learn fun singing games, warm ups and pop-inspired songs written and arranged for this age group to arm you with an array of material to inspire and enhance your students' vocal skills and passion for singing.

Session 4: Exploring the voice change for females with Joanna Tomlinson

Discover the physiological changes that happen in the female teenage voice and how we can help our singers by having a good understanding of the challenges they may face. Jo explores warm-up ideas and approaches to rehearsing that can help nurture and develop the female changing voice as well as tips on choosing repertoire for this age group!

Session 5: Singing's most endangered species - Teenagers with Rachel Staunton

The Artistic Director and Co Founder of The London Youth Choirs shares her learning of engaging and retaining diverse teenagers. With advice on repertoire selection, a steer on warm ups that build skills, stamina and engagement across adolescents, and insight on embracing new ways of working, Rachel shares her experience from setting up 10 youth choirs in London.

Session 6: Conducting and musical leadership skills with Amy Bebbington

For teachers who want to learn more about useful choral leadership strategies. Amy covers how to lead useful and effective vocal exercises, the basics of conducting technique and simple beat patterns, and how to encourage and inspire your singers by being a confident musical role model.

Session 7 - 2 October: Repertoire, repertoire, repertoire! with Simon Toyne

Simon shares his favourite repertoire to engage secondary school-aged children, in whole-class singing or choirs. He explores a diverse range of songs and discusses the best way to approach, plan and deliver an engaging singing session. Simon has decades of experience building a singing culture in a range of secondary schools, including Tiffin School and state secondary schools across the DRET Academy Trust.

Session 8 - 10 September: Resources, techniques & methods to support singing at KS3 with Gemma King

Ex Cathedra's Education and Participation Manager shares behind the scenes material from their award winning ChoirMaker project. As a Secondary Music Teacher herself, Gemma has first-hand experience of delivering singing in schools. She explores warm-up ideas, new repertoire, conducting skills, inspiring further listening and linking to the NPME2.

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