Creative Energy in the Round

We had a slightly smaller group of mostly younger school agers this week. They all had a really great, positive energy from the minute we started. We did a bunch of circle games, passing rhythms around, then gradually adding more creative variations, until eventually the kids were doing some amazing combinations of clapping, stomping, dance moves, and vocalizations. We did some breathing and vocal warmups, and then did a listening exercise with the ting shaw bells. After the listening exercise we tried singing in tune with one another, and the kids did a pretty impressive job of pitch matching. One of the kids' favourite songs is Levitating by Dua Lipa, so we listened to the song and picked out some rhythmic and melodic elements to mimic. We divided the room into three, and the kids took turns mimicking each element of the song, followed by a great dance break. We finished off with our Runway game from last week, and the joviality was palpable. It's a really amazing group of kids.

Private Class!

It was a true "small but mighty" group at Yorktown this week, with one parent and child joining us (the staff member at Yorktown said that the bad weather kept some folks away this time). With a private class, it was great to pay extra attention to the little one and tune in to her favourite songs and favourite ways of engaging with the music. The highlight of the class was the private xylophone lesson, where we made up a counting song along with the notes of the scale, and I wasn't surprised to see how quickly it caught on! Even with such a small group, it still felt like a family bonding experience, and everyone was all smiles :)

A Warm Welcome Back!

It was so nice to return to Birkdale and see some familiar faces, along with some very eager new ones. I can't believe how much some of the kids have grown in such a short time! We started with some playlist creation (the kids seem to have a penchant for 80s music at the moment!), and then did our warmups, like the shake out, some stretching, and some breathing exercises. Then we did some rhythm matching and passing around the circle, and the kids did a great job adding some creative variations. Then we started singing, tuning our voices to one another and practicing listening. We did some circle games similar to the rhythm matching, but with creative vocal explorations. It was great to see how willing the kids were to explore right off the bat! Then we played "rhythm detective", and finished off with one of everyone's favourite activities from last session: the runway! To the tune of Beat It (suggested by one of the kids), everyone took turns walking to the music and posing at the end of the room. Some of the kids did it in group formations, and everyone was cheering each other on. I think that'll have to be a repeat occurrence. During our checkout, the kids overwhelmingly said they were exhausted, hyped, and happy. I can't wait to sing and make music with them next week!

New Room, Who This?

This session took place in a new playroom, different from the front room we normally use. It was quite spacious, and had lots of colourful mats for the kids to sit on. There were some toys in the room that did distract some kids, but they found there way to and from the circle in their own time, while their parents remained engaged and encouraging of their kids to participate without any fuss. This time, we had a nice balance of parents and kids, and all of the kids were in a similar age range. There was a very joyous energy in the room, and we had a fantastic jam where I could see parents light up as some of the youngest babies held and shook maracas for the first time. A delightful class!

Sharing is Caring

Some of the families were a bit late to our class this week, so things started off with a mini guitar lesson for the older siblings who arrived early. I showed the kids how to strum with a pick and some simple fretting patterns, and I have no doubt they'd like to learn more. Once the families arrived, there were a lot of babies who were still asleep, but the mom's sang to them regardless, as the lively babies took cues from their older siblings. For our Instrument of the Week we passed around the Vibraslap, which was a huge hit, but the bigger rewards were in how the kids passed it around among themselves without much fuss; they all just seemed happy to get to play with new instruments. The drum prowess of the older kids was very much present during our jam, and we ended off in a good mood as I said goodbye to this group for this part of the fall session. Many thanks to the staff at Robertson House for being so helpful!

On Our Feet!

This was a very lively class at Robertson House! There were an equal number of older siblings and young babies, and the older kids and parents were very engaged. I especially appreciated the enthusiasm of the siblings, as they recognized all of the classic songs that we warmed up with, especially If You're Happy and You Know It. The enthusiasm eventually spilled out into some running around the room, so we made an emergency stop with Shake Your Sillies Out, and focused on dance and movement songs to keep everyone in the circle. We jammed out with some clave sticks to the rhythm of 5 Little Monkeys, and finished off the jam with an amazing percussion section from the kids who were quite keen on the drums. Things were so lively that other families kept trickling in throughout the class!

A Lovely Intro!

I was warmly welcomed by the staff, parents, and kids for our first session. The little ones were all a similar age, so they played very well together. However, this did mean that a lot of exploration and running around was very much a part of the class. I tried to keep everyone on our feet as much as possible, but also bring things back to rhythm and clapping, which the grownups were very enthusiastic about. All of the grownups were engaged and interacting with their kids musically, which bodes well for this group in the coming weeks!

New Location!

We were in a different room today, which was a bit cozier but had more natural light and better acoustics. The same group was there, excited as ever to sing. The division of younger and older kids is working well with this group, and all of them regardless of age are excited for all the movement songs. After an exhausting day of rain and air quality warnings, it felt so relaxing to have some time to just sing as a group.

Magic Music

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!

A Family Affair

It was great to see the same familiar faces back at Yorktown this week, and the kids couldn't be more excited.  We were joined by a grandma and a dad today, and they both brought the energy despite being new to the class. The highlight of the class was dancing to Move on Up by Curtis Mayfield while we shook the parachute to the rhythm, with fast/slow and left/right variations.  It's a long song and normally I fade it out, but this time I kept it going longer than usual because the kids were having such a great time with it.  I'm sad to only have 1 more week with this group, they've been a delight!