A big part of our work as we establish this new class is to build safety and resilience for learning. The Kodaly approach becomes increasingly demanding, (in a good way), but always in an environment that is non competitive, where we absolutely believe everyone will get ‘there’ eventually. All musicians are always on a continuum between what they can already easily do, and what they are still working on. We want the children to embrace this journey of learning, but we are working against a tide where extrinsic reward is the fabric of much of many children’s school lives.

I was delighted this week to notice at least two children using their voices in a wider range, and thus singing the welcome song in tune. Animal friend puppets featured again this week to explore using our high squeaky voices and our low voices. In my work with adults who haven’t yet developed accurate pitch, often the person isn’t aware of the wide range we use for singing compared to our (mostly) narrow range for speaking, and I find children also really benefit from this work. Comparing using extreme high and low voices, through imaginative play is really helpful.

On My Toe There Is A Flea follows the diatonic scale up to the interval of an octave. It is a useful song for the steps up the scale, with a little surprise at the end.

Old Mr. Woodpecker is useful both because it is sung just on sol and mi, which are our starting notes (5 and 3 of the major scale), with a minor third interval that is so familiar to children, but the song is also great for beat keeping, and rhythmic exploration. I played patterns of increasing and decreasing difficultly that the children echoed, and this was an important assessment opportunity for me.

Up High, Down Low is a chance to assess how the children are hearing ‘high’ and ‘low’ at an interval of a fifth. This group is still not there yet, which is to be expected after only three sessions.

Cut the Cake is a delightful game/song I learned from Maree Henessey. We play lots of running games in music class, and this game is a chance to establish some basic concepts, which way to run, when to run, where to return to. It also has a lovely melody with a bit more extension for us to practice our in tune singing.

I had another activity planned, but I think we would have had some unhappy folks, if everyone hadn’t had a turn at cut the cake. Managing the ‘turns’ is actually one of my biggest challenges. At school our classes are much bigger and most of the children are getting used to the fact that not everyone will have a turn at every game. With only seven or eight children, it’s harder to justify that!

Feel free to get in touch if you need a reminder about any of the songs or games. The more you can sing with your children the better. Remember to sing in a higher range, like we do in music class. Try not to go below middle C.