Merton teachers choir - homework

We are are going to be learning Seasons of Love from the musical Rent. here is the Glee club version!

Music for life display at St Mary's Primary School, Merton

The power of twitter and @ukedchat

I am a big fan of twitter. It is a great way to gossip about the latest episode of the archers, keeps you up to date with breaking news and plugs you in to the most creative and inspiring teachers around the world. I am mercilessly mocked by many of many friends who regularly tell me they are "TOO BUSY" to spend time on twitter. They are missing out - big time. If you are a UK teacher I strongly recommend that you get yourself signed up and start following @ukedchat. This is an incredible forum that brings teachers together every Thursday evening to discuss, entertain and educate. I have learnt huge amounts from generous teachers who share their own resources and give advice and solutions. It has been particularly important to me this year as I have embarked on my own quest to become a primary school music teacher.

The Guardian have written a great article about it. Click here to read

And if you decide to give twitter a go be sure to say hi to @jackieschneider and join in the next #ukedchat on Thursday from 8 - 9pm!

Solfa handsigns

Soo has been using Solfa with the adult choir to help us with our pitch matching. Without making a fetish of it, I find the hand signs are very helpful in finding the next note. The presentation below is simply photos of the signs. Remember they should start at mid chest level and move up to the final doh.

I use this with year 3. I have laminated the photos and blue tak them to the board in tonesets that manages the song we are working on. Kids have learnt them without much effort.

Click on the presentation below to see all the signs.

Solfa hand signs

View more presentations from Jackie Schneider

Voices foundation - day 4

I had a great day today on the Voices Foundation 5 day training course. Today we looked at developing a whole school curriculum and distinguished between strategy and tactics. In addition we also spent time building up our own reportoire which if truth be told is probably the most important thing we do at each day's training.

I am really enjoying the Kodaly work. Without turning it into a fetish, I think it is the most amazing tool for teaching pitch. Have a listen to the sight reading exercise below.



They have just announced dates for the next training course but in addition they will also come to your school to train staff. I can highly recommend them especially if like me you are a non specialist but want to learn more. Click here for more details

Bodyworks! | Slideshow at imageloop.com

Found this free tool to really jazz up pictures. You can add captions to tell a story. does this help explain bodyworks to you?