Winning When You're Singing

So, San Francisco may now be coming an ever distant memory, but the ideas that were sown there are starting to show signs of growing.

Over the last half term I have been trying out ideas and adapting old lessons, some more successfully than others, and I must admit that it has changed a lot of the ways I look at teaching music.  For a start, games are becoming more important, especially when teaching rhythm work.  Once they are over their initial reservations the students seem to enjoy these, especially if there is an element of competition.

I have also noticed that I am more prone to start with singing - and are more confident in doing so - with instruments and movement then being used as accompaniments to this.  Indeed, having started the Year 3/4 choir off with four African songs, instead of the students just singing, we have stick games going on, xylophone accompaniments and now, at the suggestion of one of the kids, the dreaded ukuleles might be making an appearance. 😬

My Year 5's have really been drawn into the music of Ancient Greece, which I approached using some of the rhythmic games and through arranging music for the tuned percussion, while the Year 6's have enjoyed having the chance to accompany themselves singing using the tuned percussion and the cellos I am using in lieu of the Bass bars I would love to have.

With the older classes I am finding that having the tuned percussion already set up gives opportunities to break out into experimentation on ideas away from keyboards and guitars, which I have always found encouraged kids to play it safe - My Year 9 Blues classes thinking that when they are messing around instead of improvising they are getting away with it, but in all honesty the music they are producing is way better than that which they would have come up with on the keyboards.  My GCSE composition class has also used the instruments while experimenting with modal and pentatonic melodies, and have come up with some great group compositions.  How very C21st Competent!

The only real downsides have been that some of the classes missed out on music last year and so it has taken a while for them to get their confidence back, and some of the older students are finding it embarrassing - but this is changing!

My next challenge is to use the movement/body percussion/ vocal exercises in conjunction with a Suzuki style piano course as preparation for the Year 7's leading into their project on Baroque and Classical Music.  I am looking forward to it, but I wonder what the kids will make of it...