Music at home 

From Mrs Burt 

It’s such a wonderful thing to receive work from students and to hear about what they’re doing in Music. While things are different at the moment, some children are absolutely blossoming as they work at home and it’s a real privilege to be able to see this happening.

REMOTE LEARNING HERO

Jake H (3/4P) is this week’s “Remote Learning Hero” in Music. Jake has been working particularly well as he’s learned to play the recorder. He produces a lovely sound and is using excellent technique already. 

Year Threes have only been learning recorder for three weeks but many of them have made very pleasing progress. There are some good things about learning at home. Children can hear themselves play and make changes to how they’re covering the holes or breathing air into the instrument so that it sounds as it should. They can also watch the screen to check that the holes are completely covered. 

It would be superb if all students could check in to the classes on Monday afternoons (with their grade) and Friday afternoons (all classes together), but there are many videos to work from if this is not possible.

THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

The next two weeks will see the Foundation to Year Two students take a trip to Venice, Italy, to listen to some of my favourite music. Maybe travel to Europe will be a welcome change from walking, riding or running outside, but you might be able to see some things as you exercise that you then hear in the music. I look forward to seeing work from these children once they’ve finished. 

Year Threes will be continuing to play the recorder and I’ll look forward to seeing them on Monday afternoon in their Webex sessions. The new videos will be out by the middle of next week because of Friday’s Curriculum Day, but do look out for them on Wednesday.

Years Four to Six have been working on some sound gesture and movement techniques. This is different from using instruments in the classroom but allows you to cover some of the same curriculum areas. The next two weeks will include looking at some ways to write down various movements based on the work of Rudolf von Laban, a Hungarian accountant/dancer. You’ll have a chance to create your own movement work and be given ways to write it down so that others can move in the patterns that you have created. How amazing would it be to all be doing one person’s moves during the Monday Webex session! Please send your work through once it’s done and we’ll see if we can make that happen. This work is quite involved and has been set for the next four weeks because I want it to be really polished so it can be used as an assessment piece. If you get “on a roll” you might choose to do it all at once, so that’s up to you. 

Have a lovely two weeks and enjoy all the Music activities. Don’t forget to send your work through to me – it’s great to see how clever you are even when you’re working at home!