In last night's class we had children aged ten and up, so along with music, I brought in some tween yoga to accommodate this age group. They loved the yoga and we all bonded and had a lovely time. We finished with the parachute and they requested we dance to All I Want For Christmas Is You.
After getting sick the previous week, I was so happy to return to the wonderful kids at Birkdale for one last music class of the year. After sharing some favourite songs of the week, we started off with a great vocal warmup and tuneup, and the kids sang the song that they had been practicing: Hold My Hand, by Michael Jackson and Akon. They sounded great, and after a bit more tuning and some gentle encouragement, they sounded even better. Then we incorporated some stepping and clapping and they sounded EVEN better. It's so great to see the kids get into the music via movement. We then did a rhythm passing circle, and finished off with some rhythm exercises on the castanets. These castanets (and some stickers that they were very excited about) were their end of session gifts, and I'm so glad I got to see the kids using them all together. Some of them were very adept at clicking the castanets with both hands in separate rhythms, and other kids were amazing at clicking them in unison incredibly fast. We left some time for the kids to fill out evaluations, and some of their comments nearly brought me to tears. Hope to sing with these kids again in the new year!
This was a nice, intimate, class at Arise, which allowed for lots of personal accommodations and requests from the little ones. One of my favourite thing about kids is that they never get tired of certain songs, which is why (by request) we sang Sleeping Bunnies four times in a row! Our staff person provided wonderful help in turning the lights on and off to add a bit more excitement to the song. For our instrument of the week, I showed the kids the jaw harp – I'm not the best player, but the kids were still enthralled by its wild, warbly, sound. For the jam, we sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and once again there were requests to repeat the song over and over. Then a different parent came in, just as we were finishing the jam, and said "Oh I love that song!", so we all sang it again. It was a fun and cozy class in between the two Christmas trees, and I could tell the kids were spent by the end.
I arrived early at Birkdale and saw the kids in the program reading books around their respective circles (older and younger kids); seeing them pay so much attention to each other as they were reading was so heartening. We checked in with more favourite songs for our playlist, and the kids shared a bit of a song they've been practicing together. They sounded great but needed a bit of tuning, so we did an extended vocal warmup and tried to tune into each other by moving slowly into solfege. The kids sounded noticeably better, and then we practiced some more singing and listening with the addition of glockenspiels! With all the kids at different tables, they took turns exploring different notes and combinations of notes on the glockenspiels and trying to sing them together. I was a bit concerned that sharing might have been an issue, or sound bleed between tables, but the kids stayed quite focused on the activity, and time flew by. We finished off with another runway to some Beyonce, as requested by one participant who was celebrating their birthday! At our checkout, the kids said they were feeling happy, and both tired and full of energy. I felt the same way.
Though not as many parents were able to join us at Robertson house today, the kids who showed up were all in for some music! They were clapping and dancing and singing along with little to no encouragement; they were just excited for any direction we would go! The older kids were more than capable of handling themselves in the circle, and the mom who did join was very attentive to getting her baby involved. Some other older kids showed up towards the end and were fascinated by the Vibraslap which was our instrument of the week. It was so heartwarming to see some of the kids helping the younger ones position their hands on the instrument to get the right sound out of it. We were also joined by a staff member, whose claps and positive energy lent a great vibe to the class. The more the merrier!
After the previous week with light attendance, it was nice to come back to a full room of eager kids and parents at Yorktown. Some of the kids were joined by both parents, and we were joined by our fabulous curriculum developer, who was shadowing the class, and her additional participation helped keep the class even more lively. The energy was high in the room and we did a lot of songs on our feet, and the kids did a wonderful job sharing the giro around the circle for instrument of the week. I normally play songs out of my speaker for the parachute, but didn't have it today, so we were all analog all day. Finishing the class with Twist and Shout, while the kids danced under the parachute, was the perfect way to cap things off.
Last week we met a new family to the shelter who had only just arrived that day. It was an honour to be able to welcome them in with music and laughter. The child in the family is thirteen, and though the songs were catered to a younger audience, she seemed happy to participate and support the younger children. Highlights included Sleeping Bunnies, trying out different rhythms with the rhythm sticks, and parachute.
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.
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 :)
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!
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