Tag Archives: rhythm

Issue 143: Grandma, Grandma – a complete samba lesson

The toughest class I teach at the moment is the very last one on a Friday afternoon. It doesn’t really matter which class, age group, instrument – I’m beginning to think that the problem lies in the words “Friday Afternoon”. … Continue reading

Posted in Samba | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Issue 126: More ideas for the Large Class – Rhythm cards

Teaching a noisy subject like music to a class of nearly 40 children crammed into a small classroom can be a complete nightmare. You can end up spending most of the lesson bellowing “I’m waiting for you to settle down … Continue reading

Posted in Class Teaching, Percussion, The organised teacher | Tagged , | Leave a comment

New Year Issue 117: Monkey Business

Lying in bed before the alarm went off this morning, I came up with this little body/vocal percussion number Monkey Business 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + Big Ba- boon (stamp) (click) Chimp-  -an zee (click)  (click) tan … Continue reading

Posted in Composition, Djembe, Percussion, Samba | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Issue 104: The “Deda Robot” Game, and the “Cyborg” game

On the whole I try and post about things that anyone can do without having bought expensive CDs and books. I’m wary of encouraging people to buy a particular resource, especially when it costs around £30. However the ACBlack “Developing Music … Continue reading

Posted in Class Teaching, Listening Music, The organised teacher | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Issue 60: Great Big House in New Orleans

This is a catchy traditional American song, using the pentatonic scale.  I have used it as a circle game; children take it in turns to choose the pie – banana, chocolate and mud being some of the more popular flavours, … Continue reading

Posted in Songs, Ukulele | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Issue 56: Pulse, Rhythm and the Bumble Bee

There is a little playground game song which goes like this;   Bee, Bee, Bum-ble Bee, stung a man up–on his knee, Stung a Pig up–on his snout, I say you’re out. I have coloured-coded the words by pitch as follows; … Continue reading

Posted in Songs, The organised teacher | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in Clarinets, Composition, Keyboards, Recorders, The organised teacher | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Issue 31: Morse Code Composing

Morse Code Composing Step 1 Children code up words using vocal sounds “dit” for dots and “dah” for dashes. Start with their own names; then play a game where you choose a category eg animals, and children code up an … Continue reading

Posted in Composition, Lessons that have happened, The organised teacher | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment