These resources are presented as a five-part Scheme of work to show the historical development of Reading Abbey, ideally used as a precursor to a school visit to the site. Many of the activities can be revisited and developed during a visit to the Abbey itself, allowing a deeper level of musical and historical understanding.
All of the tracks used to support this scheme of work can be found in the The Music of Reading Abbey playlist on Soundcloud.
You can also find a 3D model of Reading Abbey, as it was when it was built in 1121, on Sketchfab.
Explore what the Abbey looks like today on Street View.
Overview planning
Introduction
| 109.27 KB
Teacher timeline
| 195.81 KB
Music of Reading Abbey planning
| 454.77 KB
Abbey Lessons Presentation
| 1.9 MB
Lesson 1 Resources
Design your own Reading Abbey
| 110.39 KB
Gregorian monastic chanting
Lesson 2 Resources
Reading Abbey Sound Track
| 103.27 KB
Sumer is Icumen in - Information
| 103.19 KB
Cuckoo - Where are you? game instructions
| 112.08 KB
Monk cards
| 1.09 MB
Reading Abbey Map
| 944.48 KB
Sumer is icumen in (pitch names C)
| 67.98 KB
Full score (b flat) - Sumer is Icumen in
| 58.78 KB
Melody and lyrics - Sumer is Icumen in
| 69.8 KB
Cuckoo, where are you?
Sumer is Icumen in
Sumer is Icumen in
Sumer is Icumen in - spoken 1
Sumer is Icumen in - spoken 2
Sumer is Icumen in - spoken 3
Sumer is Icumen in - spoken 4
Sumer is Icumen in - spoken 5
Lesson 3 Resources
Rhythm Work Out
| 104.13 KB
Stick notation
| 27.16 KB
Rhythm cards
| 172.85 KB
Rhythm card instructions
| 146.74 KB
Reading Abbey Characters
| 109.45 KB
Reading Abbey Rap
| 99.49 KB
Backing beat for rhythm cards
Lesson 4 Resources
Civil War Story-board
| 114.02 KB
Medieval court music
Video game, medieval music
Baroque music
Lesson 5 Resources
Huntley & Palmers timeline
| 112.81 KB
Simmonds Beer
| 106.93 KB
Sutton Seeds
| 103 KB
Bells in the Steeple and Lucy Lockett
| 108.99 KB
High Low Chica and Cobbler Cobbler
| 88.24 KB
Lucy Lockett
Lucy Locket
High, low, chica, low
High, low, chica, low
Cobbler, cobbler
Cobbler, cobbler
Bells in the steeple
The bells in the steeple
Reading Abbey Song
Reading Abbey Lyrics
| 138.07 KB
Reading Abbey Piano Score
| 129.11 KB
Reading Abbey Song
Reading Abbey practise track with singers
Reading Abbey Song accompaniment with score
Reading Abbey fast backing track
Reading Abbey steady backing track
Suggested activities for Lesson 1
Suggested plan for Lesson 1
| 197.43 KB
Helpful mice songs
| 74.44 KB
Monk jobs
| 72.35 KB
Reading Abbey Sounds and Symbols
| 103.27 KB
Medieval sounds list
| 311.75 KB
Making sequences of symbols
| 184.36 KB
Washer woman character notes
| 96.13 KB
Washer woman dance
| 77.32 KB
