Mood:
luckyTopic: Music Moves for Piano
Wow. Oh wow. My class went SO well tonight. This is the group of grade 4/5 boys that I've been struggling with... I don't want to drag things along, but I don't want to miss anything, either. I asked Marilyn for some advice, and, among other things, she reminded me to keep the pace quick. This 'forces' the kids to keep thinking about the music.
Guess what? It worked!!! They had a blast! For the first time, they willingly participated in the movement activities (and were actually quite creative when I gave them creative control of their movements!) They played SO well tonight!!
These boys have now completed Unit 4, but haven't yet done all of the duets from the previous levels. They did do the duet for Hide and Seek today, and did a fantastic job. I also taught them 'The Ghost' from Keyboard Games B, seeing as we're getting ready for the annual Halloween Piano Party, and I thought it would be fun if they had a 'spooky' piece to play.
In tonight's Exploration/Creativity/Improvisation, we used the suggestions for making a 'sound description' of an animal. I was expecting a typical 'boy' animal (cheetah, jaguar etc) from these boys. Instead, I was suprised by a burst of creativity! One boy selected a mythical creature from Star Wars (and promptly made a very accurate sound with his voice!) and the other invented his own imaginary animal. It was SO cool!!! They were SO into making sound descriptions tonight, I really could have spent the entire lesson on that activity alone!
I have to admit, up until tonight, I had been feeling a bit unsure if Music Moves was the right decision for these older boys. While I'm having wonderful success with the little kids, I really didn't know how well it was working with these older boys (10 year old boys are strange creatures!) After tonight, I am now feeling much more positive about my decision.
A side note about my own personal 'audiation' skills (full disclosure: I love to sight read. I sight read Bach Fugues for fun!). Tonight, while one boy was experimenting with a RP on one key, I wasn't sitting right at the piano, so I couldn't see what key he was playing. For some reason, I just knew he was playing an F. I've never had 'perfect pitch' before, and, quite frankly, really sucked big time with my ear training exams on my RCM tests (I actually failed grade 8 ear training!). But, I just knew it was an F. Weird. :)
