Last week's class at Nellie's was small but sweet. We had two moms with their infant boys, and another mom who joined later on with her toddler. The babies loved shaking the maracas and the moms especially loved The Grand Old Duke of York, in which they lifted their babies up and down. When the toddler joined later on, I invited her to try out the Vibra Slap, a very cool instrument that sounds like teeth rattling. She was very intrigued!
Among some other delightful songs, this week we sang Rolly Polly and Listen to The Water. The first song is a great way to practice opposites, whereas the second is an awesome opportunity to remember all the cool animal sounds.
We helped Johnny to work with his hammers (Johnny Works With Hammers song) and had a blast with the actions!
I just can't believe our luck with this group! Every kid in this class adores music time, participates raptly in every song, and gives me multiple hugs when it's time for me to leave. This week was no different. Highlights this week included learning how to play the African and Latin instrument, the Vibraslap, and as always, the parachute!
I just can't believe our luck with this group! Every kid in this class adores music time, participates raptly in every song, and gives me multiple hugs when it's time for me to leave. This week was no different. Highlights this week included learning how to play the African and Latin instrument, the vibraslap, and as always, the parachute!
This session was an absolute treat, for the kids and the staff! John Mavro joined us for a songwriting workshop, which had the kids fully focused and engaged the whole time. We split up into four tables, and John led the kids in some rhyming exercises. Each table found their own rhymes for specific words, then they passed each other's papers around and collaborated on longer strings of lyrics using each others' rhymes. Then we put those lyrics to John's great guitar playing and the kids took turns singing. I saw so many of them sing in ways I haven't before! John was great with the kids; very comfortable and natural and built a rapport instantly. He's welcome with this group any time!
After a couple weeks of not seeing each other, it was nice to reunite and make music with the kids at Birkdale. This group loves to hop and dance, so I tried to get them up on their feet as much as possible. They also enjoyed Zoom Zoom Zoom, a song in which we pretend to go to the moon. It took some practice in learning how to walk in a circle as a group, but they eventually caught on. The parachute was also a rousing, fun time, as usual!
What a fun music class! Our singalong this week was full of movement and joy. We danced to Shake Our Sillies Out and warmed up on a chilly night. Highlight to all the giggles and laughter during our bicycle song, in which we stopped with the red light and kept going at the sight of the green light.
This week was one of the most fun classes we've had at Birkdale all year. After our regular warmups, I introduced a new activity inspired by the previous week's sharing of our favourite musicians. To the tune of Michael Jackson's Beat It, we cleared a runway and had the kids take turns striking poses to the song. As we repeated the exercise, we added new songs and new directives on how to step and pose to various rhythms in the song, also thinking about expressing a quality of movement that would go with the songs. When we put on AC/DC (one of the kids' favourite artists) we emphasized stepping in time with a tougher feel, and with Madonna's Vogue we emphasized a dancier quality to the rhythm. The kids showed great enthusiasm for each others' creativity, and a bunch of kids teamed up and showed their intricate dance routines! This class felt like a breakthrough because some of the ESL kids who were a bit more shy with singing exercises had a lot more freedom to express themselves, and the change in their demeanour really showed! I definitely want to keep the focus on movement with this group going forward.
The kids were in a bit of restless mood when I came in to join them for music on a cold Monday night. At first, some of the kids were more interested in drawing than participating, but I tried to keep the programming as varied as possible to keep up with the kids' rapidly shifting attentions (especially because there were a lot of toys to distract in the playroom, but fortunately they provided good fodder for animal songs). I know sometimes substituting can be a bit tricky as kids can take a while to warm up to a new instructor, but I felt like all the kids connected to the program at some point in various ways, and the most important thing is giving them a musical outlet to explore in their own unique ways.
We had a blast during our music class this week. To warm up on a cold evening, we did a lot of dancing and songs with movement and actions. We rolled our hands and practiced opposites with Roly Poly, and had a fun circle dance to Elephants Have Wrinkles.
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