Claire Leathem Music

This is exactly the type of program I’m developing right now for Thornfield Special School and I’m having an absolute ball seeing how much it benefits the students. Block 1 done before Christmas, two more to go before Easter. Music is SOOO good for literacy development. 💪🏻🎵💪🏻🎵

Students who struggle with literacy might just need a little rhythm in their lives! 🧠 Research highlights that rhythm-based music education can help boost literacy skills, especially for those who need it most.

When students engage in rhythm activities—clapping, tapping, or drumming—they’re not just making music; they’re building pathways in the brain that support reading and language development. 🎵

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So inspiring 💖🎶

Pupils travel to NI Children's Hospice to perform specially created song in tribute to their work - Latest From ITV News Watch the latest from ITV News - Little Stars was written by a teacher from Ballywalter Primary School along with her brother.

I’m in the unusual position of having a couple of gaps in my flute teaching timetable on a Monday night in Ards! Please get in touch or pass on my details if this is useful information for you or someone you know 😊🎶

Never be the same again.

Wow! The physics of music never ceases to amaze me 😍

The Rubens Tube is a captivating physics experiment that uses fire to illustrate sound waves. By playing a note near the tube filled with propane, flames form patterns in response to the sound waves. This phenomenon, called "Cymatics," provides a unique insight into the nature of sound and physics. 🎺 Musician: Moises Alves

Honestly this is fantastic. Along with music, bilingualism is the best gift you can give a child from an early age in terms of development of literacy and communication skills

Beautiful day and setting to be kicking off this year’s run of summer scheme sessions!

Today’s plan for my age 5-7s:

Bounce and Catch circle game
Finger dancing (March of the Toreadors)
The Clap Clap Song
Scarf movement (Syncopation Clock)
Rhythm Impro with the big yellow drum
The Wellerman

Nicola Benedetti is my hero.

She was brilliant in the studio during the First Night of the Proms. Watching her interview with Laura Kuenssberg one of her comments reminded me of something both amusing and poignant (maybe the wrong word but I can’t think of the right one just now).

She was saying (I’m paraphrasing here) it’s so crucial for children to be exposed to the arts from a young age as this forms and shapes their attitude and in turn enriching their lives going forward.

When I lived in Newtownards and taught music to all classes in a Newtownards primary school, Iwould often walk past a play park that on weekend evenings would pump out classical music through speakers to deter loitering. On more than one occasion however, I would have seen a couple of kids on the swings, and they were always students or past students from my school 😂 I found it so funny that the only kids in the town who could tolerate the sound of classical music were those who had received weekly classroom music education from me from P1!

Nicola Benedetti is such a brilliant advocate for general music education in primary school and I feel so privileged that I have had, and continue to have, the first hand opportunity to bear witness to the incredible positive impact weekly general classroom music education has on children and we need to see it funded again properly and somehow rolled out as the norm across all primary schools.

Music is…

Music is...
inspiration, motivation, communication, connection and celebration,
all around the world it brings people together;
Music is emotional, spiritual, empowering and powerful,
it’s an eternal evolving movement and the beat goes on forever.


Inspired by the Music Therapy work of .

I agree whole heartedly with this blog, but even more so I advocate for regular whole class music education.

Music learning can change the educational life for disadvantaged students — Bigger Better Brains Music has been used as an intervention around the world to help students, and inevitably whole communities, who are living in challenging circumstances.

Glad to say my classroom music planning aims to incorporate all of this! (Although the youngest age I work with is 4)

Does all music learning enhance brain development? This is an important question as we examine the research around the impact of music learning on the brain. It is vital for music educators, leaders and parents that are making decisions about music learning to understand that not all music learning has the capacity to enhance brain development.

At this moment in time, how many of these factors can you tick off on in music programs or your own child’s experience? Better still, if you had to pick one which could be done better, which one would it be?

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