A highlight of the session was when Amelia introduced a keyboard and some bells. She selected one student to choose a movement and then each child followed the beat of the keyboard and began to play.
Students giggled as they moved around the room until they heard the jingling of bells which signaled them to freeze. This continued for a few rounds with various students selecting a different movement.
To finish off the session, students created a circle and grabbed onto some lycra. While singing the popular nursery rhyme Row, Row, Row Your Boat, students pulled and retracted the stretchy material to the beat.
“We have been consolidating all that we have explored this term; all things about the musical concept, beat. To know beat, to mimic beat and to demonstrate a steady beat is a child’s gateway into optimal music learning. We have explored beat in a multitude of ways, but this week we tapped the beat to a very funny poem, I Know A Man Called Mister Red,” said Amelia.
“The children giggled uncontrollably at the journey of Mister Red and his many colourful friends, unbeknownst to their amazing abilities to tap the poems’ pulse on all different parts of their bodies. To add some tone colour to the poem, the children also suggest what pitch or volume level they might like to portray Mister Red and his colourful friends. It is a wonderfully dramatic experience!”
Amelia said the lessons always end with a song story chosen by the students.
“Now, the children know many of the stories by heart and confidently sing along too,” she said.
“It is a true blessing to have the opportunity to work with the school’s youngest students exploring music in so many wonderful ways. I look forward to watching the rest of the year play out and continue to observe how the children thrive in the music space.”