I brought a Chilean kid-sized rain stick to the Birkdale RSF class today. The rain stick really brought focus to the class and calmed everyone down. The kids took turns passing the rain stick around and listening to the beads inside slowly fall down and make the sound of raindrops.
Today was my first day teaching an RSF class at Birkdale, and it was a packed house! We had 18 kids and they were all full of enthusiasm and smiles! It was a pleasure to lead them through songs as they were all clapping and slapping and stomping to the beat.
After a bit of a hiatus, the children and parents at Robertson House were excited to have us back to finish off the session. As soon as we started singing the Hello song, participants eagerly joined in. It was especially nice to see some of the moms and kids working together to try and play our instrument of the week, the Balinese gong. Another successful session at Robertson House! I was so glad to be a part of it!
We were a small but mighty group today!! I brought the Rainbow rope for the first time, and the kids, moms and staff enjoyed making circular motions, rowing their boat, and going up and down with it. I also brought the Tingsha bells from Tibet, and they brought a certain peace to the room for the kids and moms.
For our final class of the year today we sang all our favourites, and to add some seasonal flare we rang the bells and sang Jingle Bells with lots of gusto! The kids were thrilled to receive the clappers at the end of the class (and the moms seemed thrilled to receive a CD!). All in all, a great semester with a great last day!
This was our final session at Redwood ahead of the winter holiday season, and we really made the most of it. We sang through some requests and had a lot of jumping and dancing - it's what this group does best! We made sure to leave enough time for extra parachute play this week, and everyone had lots of fun taking turns shaking it and going underneath!
Today I brought the Darabouka drum (otherwise known as the Dumbek). The kids and staff were fascinated by the different sounds that could be made. One older child was able to learn a very complicated Middle Eastern rhythm called Beladi, and he was able to keep it going for an entire jam song!
We have been singing about colours each week for a little while now, especially since most of our regular crew of participants are at the age when they are beginning to learn, recognise, and point out colours. We had a few much smaller participants this week, but singing about colours was still a great joy for us! The moms of our wee ones held up their babies if they were wearing the colours we sang about so that they were right in on the action, too! It was wonderful!
Our group had its normal exuberance today, but there was one small friend who had tried our class before but found it stressful to be in the room. Today, we discovered a way to include them: through a window! Our small friend discovered that they were able to hang out with mum just on the other side of the glass in another room and still bop and clap and actually enjoy music time. We were so happy to find a way to have them participate!
It was lovely to have the opportunity to step in to lead music at Rosalie Hall. The mothers who participated in the program were a bit shy with me at first, but after a few songs they relaxed more and we really got going. Lots of participation from the moms, including one who brought her week old baby out - never too young to develop a love of music, right?
Powered by Squarespace.
