More Glockenspiel

Today we bounced off of our songwriting workshop from last month with a group exercise using the glockenspiels.  The kids gave suggestions of words with different numbers of syllables, and all of the tables took turns creating strings of notes to practice melodies on the glockenspiel which the group could sing. We ended up with some pretty silly sounding lyrics, but the main part of the lesson was to think about our music vocabulary and general vocabulary in tandem, exploring the inherent musicality of words!

Listen & Recreate

Group members began by playing a melodic improvisation with two sections. The first section included a combination of two notes marked with stickers on different melodic instruments. The second section included all notes on each instrument and much more melodic freedom. Participants toggled between the two versions exploring structured and unstructured playing. We then listened to the popular song 3 Little Birds, by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Group members sang along with lyric sheets. We then sang the song as a group accompanying ourselves with a variety of instruments. Some group members ad-libbed on the lyrics and added additional melodies and phrases. We then moved into a suggestion from the previous week; group members had brought in a song of meaning for the group to listen to and recreate improvisationally. We listened to the song first and then discussed the message and meaning behind the lyrics. The music therapist wrote down key words shared within the song and created a big word map of descriptive words. The words included love, trust, gratitude, authenticity, hope, community, appreciation and choice. Together we improvised on these themes and group members sang out the words listed on the sheet. We recorded the improvisation and listened back. Group members shared how wonderful it was to hear their creation. We did the same thing again with additional songs suggested by group members. At the end of the session we discussed therapeutic uses of music and different ways to achieve mindfulness and presence.

Classic Songs and Movement!

Another music session at Birkdale, and once again a group of happy kids in the room. Right of the bat, we started up with some energetic songs to say ‘Hello’ and get our bodies moving.

With classics like If You’re Happy and You Know It and Wheels on the Bus, we kept the joy going and ended the circle on a high note by jamming to Three Little Birds by Bob Marley.

Freeze!

This weeks class was indeed a great way to spend our Friday evening. The kids were extra engaged and focused on learning and doing the actions for the songs, the call and response singing parts and dancing. A fun moment was playing freeze to the You Walk… And You Stop song.

Small Group, Big Fun!

Although there were only two participants this week, our music class was fantastic! We did some Hokey Pokey dance and marched with our big elephant steps while making sounds with our long trunks. We jammed to Here Comes the Sun, since it was a beautiful sunny day. Our movement songs was You Gotta Sing, and we did some “raise the roof”, spinning, dancing and hopping.

Sharing!

This past week at Arise was all about celebrating spring and the environment. We sang about the blooming flowers, the sun, April showers, and riding on bicycles. I brought the rain stick back and that was a hit as well. My favourite moment of the class however was when one child who normally isn't great at sharing, after some gentle coaxing and support, eventually shared her drum with another child who was crying for it. We told her how proud we were of her and it was a real victory!

Dream Team

Team work was the unintentional theme of our classes today. This group of amazing siblings and friends can together with all of their musical energy to make the toddler class a serious dance jam for one three-year-old! After the toddler class the school age kids were so excited to rock out on the ukuleles for the first time! Over the past four weeks we have been building a song to include our voices, the drums, the glockenspiel, and now the ukulele!

It's Raining Tacos!

We had a bit of a smaller group than usual today, probably because of the unprecedentedly nice weather, but the kids who were present for the program were ready to sing! After a hearty vocal warmup and solfege, we worked on a favourite song of the kids': It's Raining Tacos. One thing I've noticed is that the kids tend to fall apart on their rhythm during the second half of the song, so I used this as a teaching opportunity to get everyone clapping together on the 1, and sure enough, incorporating the rhythm helped the kids sing the song more consistently throughout without speeding up. We finished off with another favourite song of the kids: Believer, by Imagine Dragons, picking apart different rhythms in the song and playing them out together on different instruments in the instrument bag. I was surprised by how well the kids took direction on dynamics! 

Easter Beats & Sunshine Dance

The group began with an assortment of rhythmic activities where group members played a variety of drums and percussion instruments. Participants had the opportunity to play a short 'drum solo' one by one while the group supported on steady quarter note beats. Group members laughed as they tried different rhythms and tried to stay on beat within the complexity of each rhythmic pattern. After the different rhythmic exercises the group members were invited to select a melodic instrument. The options were a ukulele, kalimba, xylophone, piano, guitar, and tone bells. Once group members had their instrument of choosing, we all engaged in a group improvisation while recording the music on a device. After we finished playing, group members were asked how long they thought we had played for - guesses ranged from two to 15 minutes. We had been playing for about 4.5 minutes. We all discussed how engaging in music making can extend or reduce our sense of time because we are all so in the moment. After we listened to the recording, participants remarked on how they were able to pick up each person's musical parts. Group members discussed their emotional reactions when listening back. We then decided to create another improvisation and record it, this time with ideas shared ahead of time to describe the music created. The words shared were upbeat, energetic, momentum, pride, and dance. As we were listening back, group members were invited to give each song a title. The final titles were Easter Beats and Sunshine Dance. To close, group members were asked to share a word or idea that they wanted to carry with them throughout the day from the session. The words shared included energy, appreciation and togetherness. 

Walk...and Stop

Not so crowded, but definitely a fun class! It took some time for participants to show up for this class, so I just started playing some music for everybody at the shelter in the meantime. It was a good way to set the mood and to announce that music class was about to start. When the participants showed up, we had fun with lots of dancing and with the Walk and Stop freezing game.