Tag Archives: silence

4/100 Counting to Silence

Posted on January 24, 2016 by

(If you are wondering why this post is numbered 4/100, it is because I have challenged myself to post at least 100 posts in 2016!) I’m a great believer in NOT adding any more energy into a situation which needs calming … Continue reading →

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Issue 120: Ten Seconds of Stillness

Posted on January 27, 2014 by

  Here’s another weird thing that is working well at the moment; challenging an extremely chatty, fidgety, distracted, noisy, class of year 3 and 4 children (aged 7 and 8 years old) to stand absolutely still for ten seconds. I didn’t … Continue reading →

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Issue 51: Edith Sitwell

Posted on August 10, 2012 by

“My personal hobbies are reading, listening to music, and silence.” ― Edith Sitwell ( http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/music?page=2) for more about Edith Sitwell, here’s the wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Sitwell and here’s a 1929 recording of Facade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAEFAU9P8Do The blurb reads as follows: “The British poet … Continue reading →

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Issue 24: Quotations in Praise of Silence

Posted on February 3, 2012 by

There have been a number of quotations come my way recently concerning silence, or being silent;   “The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent.” ~ pianist Aflred Brendel, KBE   (I never realised that before…. I don’t do … Continue reading →

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Issue 13: Focus; Concentration; Listening Skills

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

A decent silence is very hard to achieve in a music lesson. One temptation is to overpower the fidgeting and background chatter by winding up the volume – either of your voice, or of the sound system.  This will work, … Continue reading →

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Issue 13: The Magic Hand of Silence

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

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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Issue 5: Silence is Golden

Posted on September 17, 2011 by

I never knew about how effective Silent Practise was until I started teaching beginner recorders.  I hit upon the idea of fingering the notes while singing the words, and the letter names, and the fingering numbers, over and over again, … Continue reading →

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