This is such a great group. The participants are so musical and excited about the class. We started the class introducing ourselves, playing our own drum beat as we sang our name to the group.
We then had a drum circle in which everybody had a chance to lead the group with their own beat. We sang some chants in Portuguese and played our percussive instruments.
To end on a high note, we had a dance party and got to share our dance moves with the whole group.
Upon arrival for our music class today, I was welcomed by an excited group of kids who hugged me and promptly raised their hands when I asked “who’s ready for music?”. They were listening to Zoom Zoom and I had to make sure to include it on the set list!
They requested songs and we had a blast with Sleeping Bunnies and other requests. As it was a rainy day, we also sang Trees Need the Sun, in which we list all the things that help trees grow big, like the rain, the sun and the earth - and Thunder Pounding.
We ended on a high note with Zoom Zoom as our movement song and Twinkle Twinkle for the parachute time!
Today we had a smaller group, which ended up working out great because there were enough glockenspiels for each of the kids. We took the melody from one of their favourite songs, and after singing it on its own, we converted it to solfege, and then the kids took turns trying to find the melody on the glockenspiels. Once we had the melody, we had some exploration time on the instruments. Then we started learning about magic numbers in music: 1, 3, 5, and 8, to explain octaves and chord roots and harmony. The kids were genuinely curious in trying to solve the musical puzzles of finding the intervals above their chosen notes. It was amazing to see!
In our music class this week we learned about how important it is to keep love in mind, to share it, and to act with love in everything we do.
As usual, the kids were super excited for music class; we had a few new participants as well. One of the highlights of the class was the song Love Grows. We learned some sign language with the song and had a conversation about love itself.
Today I switched things up in the physical warm up, and brought back an old favourite game, where the kids walk or dance the length of the room like a runway and pose at the end of the room. It gave a great opportunity to hear some of the kids' favourite songs, and for some of the boys who are a bit shy with singing, they got a chance to come out of their shell and do some truly amazing group tableaus. One of the kids even launched into the splits! It was a lot of excitement to start, but for the second half of class we brought things into more of a listening zone, as I brought out my clarinet and droned with circular breathing to give the kids a consistent pitch to match their own voices against. I had never heard them sing in tune so well together! Then we tried making a collective drone with our eyes closed and the difference in musical quality was really apparent. The kids can really listen when you get them in a curious frame of mind!
Our five participants were very excited this week. Before our class started they said “Hi Zeca,” probably about 20 times between them. Even before I was ready to start, they were already sitting in a circle waiting for the fun to start.
We did lots of movement improvising actions for If You’re Happy and You Know It. A highlight was our jam to Bob Marley’s classic Three Little Birds.
When I arrived one of the kids asked if we could learn musical notes this class, which was perfect because I had already planned a rhythm exercise with doubling rhythm and adding triplets. The whiteboard in the school age program room came in handy, as I could use it to draw big musical notes and point to them to give the kids rhythmic cues for table drumming and vocal exploration. It also came in handy for our regular check-in of the kids' favourite songs. I think soon we'll have enough to compile a really great playlist! We finished off with vocals, bringing out the glockenspiel as a guide and working on sustaining notes so the kids could sing in three part harmony. The harmony didn't always stick, but I think we're moving in the right direction!
Today I wanted to emphasize that there are so many different ways to hear and express music. A bunch of the kids who are a bit shy with singing have already demonstrated the ways they connect with music in terms of beat and dance, so I wanted to spend a class emphasizing the physical aspect of music. We did a drawing exercise where the kids recommended songs and then with paper and pencils, we all drew out what we were hearing in the music. It was amazing how different the kids' interpretations were! To finish off, we played a musical freeze/go game, moving around the room and emphasizing the high, middle, and low voices of the music with dance moves at different heights. The kids got a kick out of the stop and start nature of the game, and they were engaged throughout! I'm particularly looking forward to doing the drawing exercise again, I think there's potential for the kids to make one big drawing or painting that they could hang in the program room!
Another great music class at Birkdale this week! The participants are always so excited to see me arriving with my guitar and getting ready to start.
On the list of songs, we had Listen to the Water. We had lots of fun doing all the actions for this song and making animal sounds based on the animals we saw by the water side.
This was a really special class. It was the first gorgeous day that really felt like spring, and when I arrived the kids were playing field games on the grass, and when they asked to do music outdoors, it was a no brainer. We made a big circle, and did a lot of rhythm games, as well as some call and response vocal explorations. With the bag of percussion instruments, we divided the circle into two halves and took turns with each side making beats on the 1 and 3 and 2 and 4, respectively. However, the speakers didn’t quite blast the guide music loud enough, so after some free play time with the instruments, we brought the circle in and did some close listening to one of the kids’ favourite songs, and they once again surprised me with the details they connected to in the song. Great ears!
Powered by Squarespace.
