3:45 class - The first class was exceptional. This class is a group of six students that have lived Musikgarten since they were two and had an incredible year in MMAW so the singing circle was smooth. OF course, they knew all the songs. We did Cathy Mathia's rendition of Debka Hora with the accerando and the clap at the end. That was so much fun and they got engaged in the circle going in and out in a controlled fashion. No the circle wasn't perfect but I have a feeling they will be able to hold their own on this game without adults. That will be my aim. I spent more time on Stars Shining as an exercise warm up of the hands and arms and whole body. We then moved through the room as stars with our fingers leading the way. Listen for Bells turned into a two part ensemble with an ostinato of "ding Dong" on dotted quarter note pulse and a large side to side movement while the other group sang and moved to the macro beat. This was more successful in this group because they have had experience in two part. The later group, which is a new group of kids off the street could not keep the ostinato going. There I did the melody softly and moved in and out between them. The new Mouse Mouse set up is a thrilling success and it moves much faster and it is more participatory and much safer. No time for tears. See the Pony - I changed the sleep part at the end because I didn't like how the children were flopping on the floor in other classes so I made a smaller movement.
In Stars Shining I used more <"Look at how the hands are constructed" talk and kept bringing in different ways to move and relax the fingers. I notice the children have much tighter hands these days.
I brought a keyboard down to the floor to explore it and talk about the keys and the groupings. I then stayed there while they travelled to the keyboards to find the groups up and down and played the game. I had parents in the room so I could then make them keyboard centers and they could grab the cards from the floor, go to a parent, play their answer and come back for more cards. I have many cards from donations so they do this for a while.
Drumming started with exploration of a beat. I started a Du beat, divided it, did changes from du to Du day and back and then asked them for their beat. We copied and then moved to the dance. Better transition
At this point it was clear the groups were working in a group - no stand outs, no one demanding more attention than the others. Seamless.
Debka Hora - we danced it again, refining the in and out and then playing using the hands in Star Shining position as we tapped lightly and added the clap. We did the by ear discovery of the position on the piano and then added the position for each hand separately and together. The clap at the end stops the song in a satisfying way.
Parents came into the room and reviewed the above. They taught the parent the keyboard game and played and sang debka hora strongly, even the new class was singing. I did enough repeats.
I sent home a you tube for the parents of how to set up the home environment
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