FIRST NOTES

First Notes is soundLINCS’ exciting new music resource app for use in Early Years settings or by parents and carers at home – especially those without any previous experience of music. It’s packed full of flexible exercises and activities designed to suit all ability levels and help with a child’s development in and outside of music. The App links directly with the areas of learning and development covered by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), allowing practitioners in EY settings to complete EYFS Profiles and build their own schemes of work. 

The activities can be used by anyone – most don’t require any musical instruments. Although instruments are referred to, they can usually be substituted with other objects or by making instruments from ‘found materials’. These objects or home-made materials are called Junk instruments. These can include a bin for a drum, a jar of rice for a shaker, a piece of metal tubing for a chime bar or a pan lid for a bell. All that these ideas and games require is a sense of fun, a ‘have a go’ spirit and they will soon spring into life!

Features:
Activity Categories
-	Categories of activities including Warm Ups, Pulse & Tempo, Pitch, Rhythm and many more!
-	Seamless navigation throughout the App using Category Menus

Instrument Demonstrations
-	Equipment list at the top of each activity to suggest useful instruments
-	Demo videos showing each instrument and how it’s played
-	Tutorials on creating your own ‘Junk’ instruments

Progressive Learning
-	Each activity contains exercises for beginners new to music, following on with hints and tips to make the activity more challenging once they’ve got the hang of it! 

Music Tracks
-	Many activities include music tracks playable at the touch of a button to demonstrate or accompany songs 
-	Versions with and without vocals are available for both learning and performance
-	Full list of tracks can be accessed through the Quick Menu for fast and easy selection

Inclusivity
-	The inclusivity section on each page provides you with useful suggestions to promote total inclusivity when carrying out any exercise
-	Adaptations for use with Hearing-Impaired and those with reduced mobility

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
-	Links to the Early Years Foundation Stage areas of Learning and Development
-	All pages have EYFS Circles that show which aspects can be covered by the activity
-	Activity are searchable based on the EYFS aspects they cover

My Activity List
-	Activities can be saved into Playlists that can be instantly accessed from the App’s Home Screen
-	‘Add to my Activity List’ button on each page for easy saving of activities

The resource was developed by soundLINCS in partnership with Lincolnshire Birth to Five Service and the National Foundation for Youth Music.