Maestro – the innovative three-year programme containing everything you need to teach Junior Cycle Music – has been revised and updated based on feedback, recent exam papers and the 2025 updated JC Music Specification and Assessment Guidelines. It continues to follow a spiral approach, enabling students to revisit Learning Outcomes throughout the three years and deepen their understanding and skills.
Key Features of Maestro
- Carefully selected Learning Outcomes, grouped together in chapters; chapters grouped into units of learning, reflecting the specification-recommended approach
- Content presented in a well-paced and structured sequence, using clear, simple language
- Prior learning, learning intentions and Prelude activities at the start of each chapter, prompting students to think about the chapter topic in an active way
- Key terms at the start of each chapter and clearly defined in the text, helping to develop Music literacy
- Listen, Perform, Compose and Explore activities in each chapter to help put learning into action, based on the three elements of Creating and Exploring, Participating and Music-Making, and Appraising and Responding
- Tracks and Links clearly marked to point students to the many pieces of music on the app or online
- Students introduced to body percussion, the voice, the recorder and the ukulele as performance tools
- End-of-chapter Face the Music questions, Finale activities, Self-assessment checklists and Learning Reflection questions, allowing students to monitor their progress and manage their learning
- End-of-unit Exam Focus sections featuring exam questions with annotated sample answers and exam-style practice questions, alongside a comprehensive Exam Guide and CBA advice, helping students prepare with confidence
Composition Portfolio and Music Skills Book
The fully revised and expanded Composition Portfolio and the new Music Skills Book are two essential write-in resources in one convenient back-to-back format. The Composition Portfolio guides students through the creation of compositions in preparation for Classroom-Based Assessment 1. The Music Skills Book reinforces learning through key terminology, exam-based activities and targeted revision.
Maestro app
The Maestro app is packed with over 250 musical examples from many genres for use in activities and to illustrate different aspects of music theory. It is available on- and offline across major operating systems.
