Tag Archives: ensemble

2017/8 More Music for Ensembles

I teach a couple of mixed-age, mixed ability keyboard ensembles. Finding suitable mixed-age, mixed-ability ensemble music is a perennial challenge. The BBC Ten Pieces resources includes several arrangements of classical music for ocarinas, and I have selected the Mozart Horn … Continue reading

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2017/7 Beethoven’s Fifth for Ocarinas

Last term I achieved a long-held ambition. When I stumbled across an arrangement of the themes from the first movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony for ocarinas I simply burst into laughter. Then I decided that it was something that HAD … Continue reading

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98/100 Lovely Evening – 3-part round

Here’s another round that I will be using with my beginner keyboard ensemble. It works on a similar principle to Nanuma except that the last line is even easier – just repeated Cs. That will be useful for when a new … Continue reading

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97/100 Nanuma – 4-part round

This is a traditional African round – you can find it in all sorts of places and song books. Here is one version – sometimes the top note is a B flat, sometimes it is a B natural. It is … Continue reading

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56/100 Those Mixed Keyboard Ensembles

This is my second year of teaching mixed ability, mixed age, mixed experience keyboard ensembles. There is a long history behind these groups, which is lost in the mists of time. The situation at the moment is that there are … Continue reading

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Issue 33: Pease Pudding and London Bridge

I have made a start on my lesson planning for Wider Opportunities programmes for the coming term. I shall be using these two tunes in my keyboard, clarinet and treble recorder classes, to revise the notes that they already know … Continue reading

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Issue 13: The Magic Hand of Silence

I have a lively year 5 and 6 recorder ensemble which meets in the lunchtime. There are about 15 or so children, playing descant, treble and tenor recorders at varying levels of ability and experience. The ensemble meets at lunchtime, … Continue reading

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