Music 

MUSIC NOTES

How wonderful it is to be back at school and able to work in the space outside the Music room for part of the lesson.  In spite of noisy birds or wind, students have been brilliantly creative at finding ways to "say" their names.  Some classes have added adjectives and verbs that start with the same sound as their names, and movement combined with different ways of using the voice has meant that all the elements of Music have been reviewed in some way.  Mrs Burt has been particularly pleased with some children who have found ways to do this that she's never seen before!  Well done those children.  

The other focus in Music has been preparing for the Music - Count Us In song for this year.  Among the challenges of being Covid safe is that we're not allowed to sing in Music at the moment.  The Boomwhackers have been out in force with lots of hand sanitiser and regular disinfection and children have learned to play a backing for the song on the Boomwhackers.  The Australian language for the deaf, Auslan, has also been learned.  While we can't sing with our voices, we can "sing" using Auslan.  I hesitate to suggest this, knowing that everyone has been through the period of remote learning, but if parents are interested, there are some excellent YouTube tutorials and clips that we've been learning from at school.  If you want to, type MCUI 2020 into a search engine and see what pops up.

The Signing Choir students from the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children Thomas Pattison School in Sydney must have had a lot of fun making this year's Auslan version of the song.  It's worth watching closely and enjoying the sight gags that are part of the presentation.  One of their teachers teaches the tutorials for learning the Auslan for the verses, chorus and pre-chorus.  

Most children have learned the chorus and pre-chorus at the time of writing and are not allowed to try to sign the verses yet.  Ask them to explain why and see how well they've listened in class!!  

I'd be interested to hear back from you.

Lynne Burt

Music Specialist Teacher