What better way to start the day than to sail past your normal school, and enjoy the beautiful drive from Haddington to Gifford on a sunny morning? Senior moment? Wrong turning? In fact it was a Transition-based event featuring three S2 guitarists from Knox, returning to their old school to play for current Yester pupils.
They seemed delighted to be there, as was I – it’s a lovely, bright and welcoming school and it was clear from converstaions beforehand that Dorothy Hilsley, the Head Teacher, remembered not only these pupils well, but also their older siblings.
We played a selection of repertoire from lessons and finished with an ensemble piece - the three pupils involved were among the only five S2 pupils to take part in this year’s East Lothian Guitar Ensemble. The ensemble piece allowed us to demonstrate how pupils practise ensemble music at home using the Guitar Group Midis page. The class teacher, Mr Purves, was also very interested in this aspect as he is the technical brains behind Yester Primary’s very impressive blog.
In addition to having a fun hour out of school, we hoped that the audience will have a more vivid idea of what guitar instruction is all about when they arrive at Knox. The trio also racked up extra house points – a triple whammy as, by an amazing coincidence, all three are in Lammerlaw – as was I thirty-odd years ago.
New play-along midi files (for MGS Summer Concert - Thu 19 June) have been posted on the Guitar Group Midis page
Asked to cite an example of a situation where IT had made a radical contribution to learning and teaching, the temptation might be to conjure up visions of extreme hi-tech at the expense of the basics – specifically email.
Consider the logistical ingredients of this dilema:
- the final guitar lesson of the term on Monday 17th March
- some pupils unable to attend due to other fixtures
- the next lesson not due until Monday 14th April
- this to be followed by a concert 3 days later
- the 22 pupils in the ensemble form six 30-minute lesson groups, drawn from nine P5-P7 classes
- the pupils had not yet played as a large group
- the likelihood was that familiarity with the music, and how the various parts fit together, was going to diminish as the concert approached – particularly for those playing an accompanying part as opposed to the melody
An insoluble problem? Without the necessity of an unscheduled visit to the school between the quoted dates I was delighted to see all 22 pupils breeze into the hall first thing this morning, well prepared for a final rehearsal/recording session. Thanks to the endless cooperation of the admin, management and teaching staff of the school in question, the privileges afforded me through this eduBuzz blog and the school email system, things fell into place in a way which would have been inconceivable a few short years ago. All it took was:
- to create play-along midi files for pupil practice and post them on the blog
- to send an email with details of where to find and how to use the files, asking that it be distributed to the pupils concerned
- to ask, in a second email, for today’s normal lesson routine to be suspended in favour of a rehearsal of the full ensemble
Thanks to everyone concerned!
New play-along practice midi files have been posted for Campie Primary School’s Musical Evening * on the Guitar Group Midis page
* Thu 17 April at 7.30 in Musselburgh Grammar School
Midi files of Air (for Showcase Concert) have been replaced by ones without a click-track - to encourage you to feel the pulse by focussing on the other parts. You can access them here
The midi files of Córdoba have been replaced with ones where the click track stops after the count-in. The idea is to feel the (changing) pulse and not to have it hammered out. Access them here.
Those struggling to find time on the family computer can download the files (instructions on the page) and convert them in iTunes to mp3s. Then you can practise offline with you mp3 player.
