I was delighted at how quickly the children were able to understand the concept of a simple notation for writing songs based on the two notes “soh” and “mi”, as used in the “Star Light” song.
Having learned to sing “Star Light”, I wrote it up on the board like this:
Star star first see to .
light, bright star I night
The children had no difficulty at all in understanding that the syllables above the line were the “higher” notes, and the ones below were lower. When I re-arranged the pitches, they were soon able to sing the new songs at sight: for example
Pizza, Fish and lovely .
Chips to night, what a sight
The children were full of ideas for songs, and suggested several improvements to the examples I offered. I am hoping that next week we will be able to sing and play some of their own compositions.