Music
Music Notes for the Newsletter
What an absolute joy it is to be back teaching the whole school Music!
So what’s been happening inside and outside the Music room? Lots of moving to music on the concrete and getting warm since it’s been so cold. Used to moving on the carpet, it’s been possible for the children to hone their, “keeping in time with the beat” skills by listening to their feet on the concrete. So much excellent creativity has been observed!
The Year 5&6 children have been mastering many aspects of playing the Boomwhackers using a variety of techniques. Finding different ways to play them, relay games, ordering the Boomwhackers in different ways to create several scales and creating short pieces of music has stretched brains and provided opportunities to work co-operatively with others. While working in groups to has been somewhat challenging when dodging raindrops, these students have demonstrated excellent resilience! These children have also begun to work with the “Giant Staff Mat” after Freddy the Frog visited and shared his alliterative story.
In Years 3&4 the focus has been on using the “Giant Staff Map” to sort out where to find notes on the staff (the five lines and four spaces on which traditional music notes are written). Aided by an alligator, a bear, a crab, a dolphin, an elephant, a frog and a giraffe, and remembering the importance of the treble or bass clef, learning has been happening. The Music alphabet song has been sung a few times – just like the ordinary alphabet song but it only uses the letters A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
The Foundation to Year 2 students have also been learning things to help with writing music. It would be fun at home to select different surfaces on which your child can perform “Keep the Beat”, and most children can maintain clapping the rhythm while saying the rhyme and stepping the beat. This week we’ve worked on using stick notation to convert the sounds we’ve heard into symbols. We’ve also just begun to learn the song “Aiken Drum”, so if, while eating dinner, your child begins to sing about strange foods being used for clothing you’ll know why!!
The Australian Girls Choir has an excellent reputation and normally a representative from the choir would have come to Bimbadeen to audition girls interested in singing. Current restrictions have meant this has not been possible this year but instead they’re holding Open Days on Saturday December 4 and Sunday December 5. The Open Day gives girls the opportunity to try a fun complimentary class, and for parents to attend an information session to find out more about the Australian Girls Choir.
In their own words: Look no further than the Australian Girls Choir (AGC) because we encourage, challenge and inspire girls as they learn to sing, dance and perform. School aged girls are invited to come along to our Open Days on Saturday December 4 and Sunday December 5 to try our fun and inclusive classes and learn more about being part of the AGC!
Please visit our website to register to attend our free Open Day: https://ausgirlschoir.com.au/joinagc
Lynne Burt
Specialist Music Teacher