Performing Arts Focus

News from the Performing Arts Room

What a busy term it has been... concerts, an Art For All performance, musical rehearsals, and more!

Foundation Students

Our Foundation students have been having a wonderful time learning about musical form, Solfege, reading rhythmic patterns and movement through the wonderful of folk dancing.

Folk dancing is truly one of my most favourite musical mediums. Children learn so many aspects of music while having so much fun. We learn by first humming the tune, or if the piece of music has words, we learn the words through call and response and feel for its metre, and identify rhythmic patterns. These patterns are then translated into playing on unpitched and pitched instruments. We later identify the form in the tune and learn the choreography which matches the tune! As I am writing this, I am very aware that my enthusiasm for folk dance is rather fanatic (die-hard really). However, I am convinced that folk dancing does not just tick all the boxes of the Performing Arts Curriculum, it extends to literacy by identifying rhyme, creating imagery, learning what verbs are and sometimes even iambic pentameter! I would say it covers numeracy too as we often have to divide the class into various groups, I often ask them questions like, “How many do we have in class today and how many groups of four would we have!” Isn’t it amazing that we can teach children division and grouping in such a contextualised fashion and quickly too as they want to get on with the dancing!

Folk dances also introduce children to different cultures, and a reverence for diversity. Perhaps my favourite aspect of teaching this unit is watching children use rhythm to regulate themselves and achieve self-efficacy when they work together as a team. Can I recommend folk-dancing for your next company’s team building session? The best thing as the weather warms up is that folk dancing can be taught without a screen! You just need a speaker or uke, a great attitude, and a space to be yourself. Of course, being co-ordinated is purely optional.

Grade 1&2 Students

Our youngest performers have recently staged a successful concert entitled “A Symphony of Stories”. How lucky were we to have a concert coincide with book week and also to have a theme we could work around.

While we have continuously staged three concerts every year for many years. This concert was a first in some ways. It was a first time that we could demonstrate our learning of music through the Orff method. The Orff method is a favourite method for many reasons. Firstly, it embodies all the aspects of the science of learning and the use of explicit teaching without and screens, or even any printed lyrics of music. It is also a very inclusive method which allows children to express themselves in a safe manner. Everyone can choose their own journey of learning within a safe and structured environment. When Paul asked me if I was happy with the result, I replied, “Well yes I love to see the children succeed.” Success comes in many forms and as I see the progress and contributions of the children in the weeks leading to the concert, I know they have all succeeded in some way or another even before they got on stage. The children who did not have the opportunity to perform for various reasons had already succeeded in the classroom as we arranged music together, come up with wacky ideas (should I say avant-garde) laughed at our arrangements and explored tonal harmonies and scales. After every concert, we have a special acknowledgement session where we sit in a circle and we speak about how they have overcome and succeeded, the children then take turns to acknowledge each other.

Here are some of the acknowledgments.

Sunday A to James F – I love the way you played the bass xylophone.
Freddie M to Rudy W – You are always a good friend and you said your line well because you are funny!

This show would not happen without the following parent support.

Claire Daly who brought the magic to the stage with the stage design and construction. You are so creative, talented, full of light and such a wonderful member of our community.
Kate and Romy Calati, thank you so much for clearing your schedule and driving so many cars around Melbourne to bring the magic to Kew and then taking it all back after the final bows!
Thanks Ed Tiplady and Mitali Bravo who despite all the cars we had at hand, had to whip back down the Chandler for a final delivery!
To students Dash G, Oscar H and Remy S and their families, thank you for being amazing leaders and helping with the concert! There is nothing more inspiring for the little ones, then to see young musicians like you become mentors and role-models they can rely on.
To all the parents who braved the bus and the chaos of the rehearsals, thank you so much!

Grade 3&4 Students

We are having term full of music-making! We are busy learning and extending our skills, so we can make whole class and small group bands next term.

So far, we have polished up our basic rock beat on the drum-kit, reviewed and extended our ukulele chord knowledge and applied our knowledge of how to read chord charts to playing modified guitar chords. In the coming weeks we will look at how to name notes on a keyboard, how to read and play melodies and how to build and play simple triad chords.

One of the central themes for this learning has been, ‘Is this the right challenge for me?’. Students have been encouraged to extend their learning when they are ready and pick up new challenges when they have mastered the previous one.

Grade 5&6 Students

The excitement is palpable with the Grade 5&6 students as we race towards our performances of The Wizard of Oz’, on the 20 and 21st of October. We have been learning songs, creating dances and designing costumes. Those students with speaking parts have been diligently learning lines, checking schedules and attending rehearsals. With so many students participating in so many ways, it’s going to be a spectacular not to be missed!

In the coming weeks, information will be sent home regarding costumes and tickets.

Band, Choir and Brass

Sean Nihil and the spectacular Thornbury High School Senior Brass band opened the stage for Art For All on Sunday! Sean has come in to give Brass lessons to our students for many years. Their annual Art For All performance is also a wonderful opportunity for all of us to see Fairfield Primary School alumni play and reflect on their progress as musicians. It was imperative for Fairfield Primary School’s Big Band and Choir to watch their seniors and aspire to play for Art For All with Sean and with their juniors watching them in awe!

Our set at Art For All was a hit and we thank many parents who had to fit the children in for the performance in between sporting commitments. We particularly loved our combined items of Viva La Vida and Eastern Rosellas. Thank you Marjie and the Art For All committee who have put in countless months meetings, physical work and creativity to let us share our talents with the wider community at Art For All.

Keri Spence & Olivia Li

Performing Arts Teachers