This week's highlight was using the "rhythm sticks" as the instrument of the week. After we did some rhythm stick songs and activities as a group, each kid expressed their musical creativity by performing rhythm stick solos. They also enjoyed the song Two Little Songbirds, which we reprised from a couple weeks ago.
Today had the kind of classes that every teacher dreams of. One student was already playing the keyboard when I arrived, and is showing a clear knack for the piano. His energy can be a bit restless, so the class featured a bunch of breaks to jump around or freestyle on the keys, but when it came time to learning note and finger positions, he was picking things up as quickly as I've ever seen for a student his age. Our other student is just as talented, picking up strumming rhythms like second nature. We learned some new chords today, and when we were practicing switching between them, he remarked that it was hard, and I asked if he wanted to take a break with a different exercise, but he said that he wanted to stick with it, and sure enough he was changing between clean and bright sounding chords in no time.
The group was quite large today, with the addition of some new kids. It was a bit of a tricky class with that size, as well as some occasionally disruptive sibling dynamics, but the group as a whole seems quite gelled together, even when they're talking over each other (but we're working on that). At the suggestion of the Birkdale staff, I incorporated some games into the circle, starting with a pass the rhythm game, and then going into the improv game What are you doing?, which the kids loved so much that we played it three times. I had a bit of a harder time today getting kids to sustain notes together or sing in harmony, as the rowdiness spilled into some...creative vocal explorations. Fortunately the staff were there to support and help keep the kids from being too disruptive. We finished off in the circle again, passing around dance moves, which was the loudest part of the class, but the kids were pulling out some impressive moves!
This week we welcomed new students and a new skill to our classes! We started with a music colouring page so we could have some time to get to know each other, this also helps us to focus our energy together for our music class. Next we learned about the rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes, everyone took a turn reading rhythms and playing them with the lollipop drum! Next we played the guiro everyone took turns playing different rhythms!
We had several new faces this week, so we began with a demonstration detailing how to play each instrument. Group members were then invited to select an instrument and we warmed up by playing together as a group in a free improvisation. After the warm up, we moved into playing different sets of structured rhythms in a call and response pattern. The group leader would play a specific rhythm and then group members would repeat it back on their various instruments. We then practiced four specific rhythms that were assigned different numbers: 1, 2, 3, and 4. The group leader would call out a number and the group would respond with the rhythmic pattern. We then leveled the exercise up once more by going around the circle where each group member would call out a number and the group would then play the specified rhythm. We laughed as we tried to keep track of each rhythm requested by each group member. We then engaged in another free improvisation where group members were encouraged to explore the different rhythmic patterns we learned in the previous exercise. The music sounded happy, joyful and energetic as all of our instruments came together. Following the improvisation, a group member requested that we play Stand By Me, as we had in a previous group. The group was on board so we first listened to the track while following along with the lyrics. We then selected a collection of instruments and sang the song as a group. Group members sang out while playing an assortment of instruments. It was wonderful to hear all of our voices and musical contributions come together for the final song of the session.
This week we got to learn about rhythmic notation and practiced reading rhythm symbols on sheet music. We also did some exercises to identify written music notes. Piano students also practiced scales and chords. Ukulele students practiced new chords and changing between chords.
We are making a lot of progress as a group learning how to share and wait for our turn. This group is always so excited for RSF, that their energy if difficult for everyone to navigate. We have set up class rules and boundaries around sharing, playing instruments, and our bodies. With consistency, every week we are seeing a lot of new behaviour patterns in the class, and it means that everyone is enjoying more music together!
I was warned by the staff at the front desk that the kids were extremely high energy today, so I made sure to do a bunch of physical warmups to get the energy out. The kids love the shake out exercise, and we did a round of stretches where each kid got to show us a stretch which the rest of the group would repeat. This made for great breathing exercises and vocal warm ups, which certainly helped when we did solfege, which sounded better than it ever has. The kids were really getting into the hand signs of solfege, particularly when we started going up and down the scale in double-time. The last part of the class was focused on one of the songs that the kids mentioned was a current favourite, Bang Bang by Jessie J. We listened to the song and went around the circle sharing musical elements that resonated with us, and then we learned the chorus and sang it while doing body percussion. The kids were thrilled! By our ending check-out, almost everyone said they were feeling tired, but good.
Though our student was a bit late to get started because of the bad weather, he more than made up for it in his speed of learning. He remembered all of the strumming rhythms from the previous week, and had clearly been practicing. He was also much quicker at getting the ukulele in tune, and was intuitive about when things were sounding good. We focused on finger dexterity and strumming patterns around the C chord, and our student seemed eager to go off and practice while I was packing up.
My favourite thing to hear is "this is so much fun" as children leave our music classes! This
quote came from my oldest music student. My youngest student was crying when they left the class because they were sad that it was over!! It's always nice to get positive feedback.
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