The forward-thinking Earlyarts have been quick to catch onto Mr Mangle, seeing its potential as a creative, open-ended software resource (their words, honestly…..) and were kind enough to feature a blog about transforming teaching and learning with music technology from Mat Andasun.

Please take a moment to check them out and in particular, have a gander at their guide to Creative Teaching.  They wrote the guide to offer professionals a chance to build confidence in their own creativity as well as helping their children learn more effectively. Not all ten strategies will inspire you to shine, but I bet at least one of them will.

These strategies are also useful for parents and carers. If anything can reduce their stress and increase their confidence and engagement in life, then creativity can.

Apologies for the lengthy silence but we’ve been busy on the road!  So far the Factory Bus has taken us the length and breadth of the East Midlands (it’s rock n roll Jim but not as we know it) and into the virtual web-o-sphere via the lovely Earlyarts.  The Magical Music Factory has appeared at the East Midlands Arts Conference, at 3 seminars in Derby, Nottingham and Leicester where the wonderful Martha Toogood gave a sneak preview of her excellent report into our pilot project (which we’ll come to in a later post), and made a guest appearance at the Derbyhire Arts Subject Leaders network.  More gigs on their way!  Let’s hope they can all fit on the back of my satin tour jacket.