Music + Maths = Magic
Count Me In! is an exciting new digital adventure, created by conductor, composer and presenter Tim Redmond for the Leeds International Piano Competition. At the heart of the programme is a breathtaking performance of Grieg’s Piano Concerto, played by world-renowned pianist Alexandra Dariescu – and wrapped around it is a feast of singing, listening, maths and musical storytelling.
Let’s meet the performers:
What’s inside the Count Me In! Digital Resource?
Everything you need to bring the music and maths magic to life:
- 🎥 A Scheme of Work: Six weeks of Sing – Listen – Play activities, blending music and maths in imaginative ways
- 🎧 Resource Bank for Teachers: Includes teaching videos, song-learning tracks, performance and backing tracks, and extension materials
- 🎬 A high-quality film of the live show: Recorded at Leeds’ Carriageworks Theatre, with Tim and Alex leading hundreds of children through songs and stories, with incredible music woven throughout
This is not a sit-back-and-watch experience — it’s a sing-along, count-along, think-along celebration!
How to Use the Resources
To help the children you teach get the most out of Count Me In!:
- 🗓️ Work through the Scheme of Work before showing your class the film of the show. That way, the children will already know the songs, understand what a piano concerto is, and feel connected to the performers.
- 🎉 Make the film screening a special occasion. Many teachers gathered whole year groups or key stages together in the hall, to mirror the experience of the children in the live audience — it makes a real difference!
- 🧠 Use the Extension Materials for curious minds — children often want to know more about the music, the performers, and the piano itself.
Teacher Tips from Pilot Schools in Leeds and Boston, Mass.
This programme has been piloted by both music specialist and non-specialist teachers. Here’s what they told us:
- 🎼 “Miss Dariescu” is the trickiest song – and one of the most rewarding!
Don’t worry about getting it perfect. Your class will sing it along with the children in the theatre when they watch the film, not in front of an audience. One teacher told us:
“I found it really hard at first, and it ended up being the children’s favourite song!”
- 👏 Make a real occasion of the film screening – some schools rolled out a “red carpet” or made tickets.
- 🔍 Expect curiosity! Children wanted to know more and more as the project went on — about the performers, the composers, how a piano works…That’s why we created a library of Extension Materials, so you don’t have to search for the answers.
- One teacher told us that her class had become so intrigued about Alex and Tim as they followed the Scheme of Work, “By the time we watched the film, the children felt like they were meeting celebrities!”
Can We Count You In?
We hope that this project will be a launchpad for musical discovery, mathematical curiosity, and joyful learning that lasts long after the final note has died away. Please do photograph and send us your class’s Quiz Sheet answers – we’d love to hear what they think! If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].