Music so far at Balmoral 2008

Hi one and all,
It has been a wonderful start to the year at Balmoral School in the music department. I have really enjoyed teaching all of the age groups at school.
The children are very enthusiastic, talented and creative.
This year is a new venture for the school having never had a music specialist. I am hoping to introduce some new things into the school programme in music this year.

One of the exciting things that has been introduced so far has been the KBB band. It is a great opportunity for children to learn a new instrument. Some of the students that have begun learning are in Year 3. This is a good age to start learning an instrument.

We have been studying and using the Music Room resource in Years 1-4. I have found it to be a very well suited resource for these levels. The first term in Y3&4 we concentrated on Rhythm and in term two the focus has been on Pitch and Melody. The Senior Primary and Intermediate kids had a similar focus but at a more advanced level.

The Intermediate children were very impressive with the range of creative ways they found to produce sounds from buckets. Some intermediate children were really taken with the Stomp video and the follow-up activities we did. There are some real dance hopefuls in the school!

In the term one holidays I attended a Marimba (big xylophone-like instruments) making course. This was an exciting chance for me to learn how to make these beautiful instruments. My intention is to eventually make a set of 4 or 5 of different pitch ranges for the school. The first one has been completed and we have been using it in the senior school in our arrangements of the song Wimoweh. The children have responded enthusiastically to the instrument and its characteristic sound. (We are playing an instrument that is somewhat different to the one you'll here on the link but it is essentially the same type of instrument)

Here's to future fun in music!