Minute of Listening

Through the Minute of Listening project we want to help any primary school offer every child sixty seconds of creative listening each day of the year.

To make that easy we have developed a simple program teachers can download for their laptops, desktops or interactive whiteboards. 

Following successful pilots across England, Sound and Music are pleased to announce the finalised software will be made available for schools in September 2013.

To make sure your school benefits register interest at info@soundandmusic.org

The Development of Minute of Listening

Sound and Music has recently completed a large-scale pilot of the project involving over seventy primary schools around the UK in the regions of Cornwall, Oxfordshire, Norfolk and London. Almost 20,000 children and their teachers engaged in a Minute of Listening each day throughout the Spring term, followed by group discussions and sharing their responses to the sounds they heard.

The following film was made at four primary schools participating in the Minute of Listening pilot:

Minute of Listening uses a custom-built piece of software to deliver one minute of music or sound to school classrooms each day. The project introduces children and teachers to a wide variety of recordings across many genres and from all kinds of sources. In a typical week during the pilot, classes might hear Matthew Herbert's 'An Apple a Day', followed by a field recording of an East London Market from London Sound Survey, before an extract from Beethoven's Symphony no. 5 performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra. The recordings used in Minute of Listening are sometimes exciting, sometimes challenging, but always aimed at arousing the classes' curiosity and capturing their imaginations.

MOL has broadened the children's experience of sound and music. It has developed their interest and inspired dance and music-making activities. It has introduced many unfamiliar sounds and instruments. It has given them the opportunity to talk about the unfamiliar, share their views and ideas.

- Primary teacher involved in the Minute of Listening Pilot

Each day, teachers and their classes are encouraged to follow the Minute of Listening with a short conversation as a class, beginning with the simple question: When you listened, what did you hear?

My class looked forward to it every day and it really brought them
out of their shell (sometimes the more reserved children were the most
expressive) and it brought some great class discussions about the sounds
and their drawing responses. For me, seeing the children feel free to
express themselves through drawing, movement and language was great and
created a great atmosphere in the classroom.

- Primary teacher involved in the Minute of Listening Pilot

Minute of Listening provides a stimulus for imaginative class discussion, reflection and opinion forming, encouraging children to verbally explore what they hear, and supporting speaking and listening agendas. The project also presents an opportunity for children to let their imaginations run wild, and we welcome the idea that there is no right or wrong response when talking subjectively about their individual impressions of what they heard.

The sounds that are used in the project are accompanied by additional supporting resources and material for teachers to use with their classes in a variety of different ways. During the pilot many teachers encouraged children to create visual responses to the sounds they heard in their 'sound diaries'. Others moved to the music, or created poetry and other literacy-based work inspired by what they heard. Sound and Music were particuarly excited to work with the Pitt Rivers Museum and the British Library Sound Archive’s Wildlife Sounds to create two special collections of recordings and resources that were made available to schools from the February half term.

Minute of Listening hopes to demonstrate how daily listening activities can be used to introduce a culture of curious, engaged and reflective listening in the classroom. It also aims to explore how music and sound can be used as a stimulus for analytical thinking and conceptual exploration, and as the basis for open and imaginative class discussion that supports the development of speaking and listening skills.

It's been a wonderful experience which has enriched the lives of the children. Our school is very multi-cultural with many countries and languages represented. The experience has helped to celebrate the world as a whole and has helped us to develop listening skills and music appreciation with the minimum of planning and preparation. A wonderful resource.

- Primary teacher involved in the Minute of Listening Pilot

For more information about the project, to read the full evaluation report, or if you are a teacher interested in being involved in future phases of the project, please contact info@soundandmusic.org