This term we are delighted to welcome Ellie, an early year’s music specialist from Bristol Beacon. She is joining us on Thursday mornings for musical exploration in both Oak and Willow rooms. We are learning new songs, playing instruments together and dancing in lots of different ways, as well as listening to live music being played on the flute, piano and ukulele.
The first week we learned about were moving and stopping, whilst singing ‘we walk and we walk and we walk and we stop, and then we dance around’. The children thought of different ways to move – dancing, flying, stomping and moving like different animals.
Ellie had something exciting in her bag. It was a ukulele! We learned that the ukulele has a head, a neck, and a body, just like us. We counted the 4 strings, each with different pitches. Everyone had a chance to carefully strum the strings and listen to the sounds they made. We had to be really gentle. Ellie played her ukulele and we accompanied her on the egg shakers.
Our final activity was conducting. Ellie showed us how to follow her visual instructions, playing when she held her thumbs up, then stopping when she held up both palms. We tried a few times with Ellie conducting, then the children had a turn too. We had to remember to watch the child’s hands all the time so we know when to stop.
