Music teaching that gives every student a clearer route to confidence, progress and musical success.
Great music teaching needs both structure and relationships.
Music Ready to Teach is a practical KS3 music approach that gives teachers the structure, confidence and breathing space to build them.
Through clear routines, purposeful music-making and classroom-ready resources, MRTT helps teachers create lessons where pupils know what to expect, feel able to take part and have meaningful opportunities to make music.
Teaching Music shouldn’t feel this hard
Across secondary schools, music is increasingly taught by non-specialists, cover staff, or early career teachers.
Planning can take hours. Practical lessons can feel hard to organise. And when teachers are focused on simply getting through the lesson. there is less space and time for the relationships that help pupils engage
Music Ready to Teach is being developed to change that.
MRTT is a practical KS3 music approach: a clear framework for delivering lessons, supported by classroom ready resources that the make the approach easy to use.
What the Music Ready to Teach approach gives teachers
A clear, repeatable structure for practical music lessons
Step by step teacher guidance that supports confident delivery
Classroom ready resources that make the framework easy to use
More headspace to notice pupils, respond well and build relationships
A flexible approach for specialists, non-specialists and cover teachers
Currently being piloted in a secondary school
Structure creates safety.
Safety makes trust possible.
MRTT is built around predictable, purposeful lesson routines.
When teachers and pupils know the rhythm of a lesson - how it starts, what happens next, how practical work is organised and how learning is captured- there is less unnecessary uncertainty.
That gives teachers more capacity to focus on the pupils in front of them: building trust, encouraging participation and helping every young person find a way into music.
This is not about more worksheets or a rigid script. It is making practical music happen consistently, while leaving room for responsive teaching and real relationships.
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Each lesson is built around a clear sequence: starter, new learning, main activity, play along, quiz, and plenary. This reduces uncertainty, supports behaviour, and allows lessons to run smoothly without constant explanation.
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MRTT makes the delivery approach visible. Teachers are guided through what to prepare, how to introduce the learning, how to organise practical work and how to capture it.
It builds confidence without assuming specialist subject knowledge.
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Music is learned through making it. Pupils play, create, listen, rehearse and reflect throughout the lesson.
Practical activity is not an add on; it is the route into musical knowledge and confidence.
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MRTT is designed for busy, mixed-confidence classrooms: limited planning time, practical equipment, different starting points and pupils who may need different ways into participation.
The framework provides consistency, while the resources remain flexible enough for teachers to adapt to the class in front of them.
More than resources. A way of delivering music.
MRTT resources are designed to carry the approach into everyday practice.
Each lesson gives teachers a clear route through the practical work: what to prepare, how to introduce the learning, how to organise pupils, how to model the task and how to capture meaningful evidence.
The goal is not to make every teacher teach in exactly the same way. It is to reduce the avoidable workload and uncertainty that can get in the way of great teaching.
Developing MRTT with schools
We are currently developing Music Ready to Teach with a small number of schools and settings.
Pilot partners help us test and refine the MRTT approach in real classrooms: exploring the lesson framework, using selected resources and sharing honest feedback from teachers and pupils.
Pilot partners can expect:
Early access to selected MRTT lesson materials
An introduction to the MRTT delivery framework
A chance to shape how the approach develops for different school contexts
A focus on practical KS3 music, teacher confidence and inclusive participation
A collaborative conversation about what works, what needs adapting and what evidence we should gather
Interested in shaping MRTT with us?
If you lead music, support curriculum development, work in alternative provision or specialist education, or are looking for a more structured way to deliver practical KS3 music, we would love to hear from you.