Christmas performances from Upper and Lower Phase Choirs.

Last Sunday saw a brilliant performance from both choirs at Dalston Christmas Market. Well done to everyone who made it down! If any parents have pictures or videos then please get in touch!

This coming Tuesday 10th December at around 4pm, Upper Phase Choir will be taking part in Hackney Council's carol singing, on the steps of Hackney Town Hall. Parents should pick up their children as usual and take them there ready to sing - it's outside of school hours, so it's not a school trip, and we don't have spare staff to look after everyone, sorry!

Dafydd and a few parents should be walking down from the Rushmore Road gate at around 3.40, you welcome to tag along.

Parents and friends are also very welcome to come and sing - we'll have lots of words printed out for everyone...

Here's some links to lyrics to the carols and Christmas songs we'll be singing:

http://www.carols.org.uk/ding_dong_merrily_on_high.htm
http://www.carols.org.uk/we_wish_you_a_merry_christmas.htm
http://www.carols.org.uk/hark_the_herald_angels_sing.htm
http://www.carols.org.uk/we_three_kings_of_orient_are.htm
http://www.carols.org.uk/away_in_a_manger.htm
http://www.carols.org.uk/jingle_bells.htm - just the famous bits, not the odd second verse!
http://www.carols.org.uk/silent_night.htm

Happy practising...

Wa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa-Pow - Upper Phase Singing

Upper Phase have been enjoying their singing assemblies this term (but then of course they always do). Here's what we've been doing so you can practise at home:



And then there's also:



Apparently, by the way, this is what the fox says: http://www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/sounds.html
Hope that helps clear things up.

Love Is Gonna Lift You Up - as sung by Rushmore School

Here's our brilliant video of our fantastic children, singing Love Is Gonna Lift You Up by Bobby Womack for our recent Black History Month celebrations...

Yes You Can!

Hello Upper Phase Choir! You can click on the video below to practise singing Yes You Can. Please learn your words in time for our Black History Evening performance on Thursday 24th October...

Class Music lessons this term

All Rushmore students will be getting Curriculum Letters in a few days, detailing what they'll be studying across all their subjects this for this term. Here's our plans for the term's music lessons...

All students will be working on music tying in with our Black History Month celebrations, followed by material linked with our Winter Concerts, alongside ongoing work in singing and playing music together, and developing music-reading skills.

Beyond this:

Reception will be singing together, exploring and discovering lots of different instruments, and learning about controlling music – taking turns to direct groups of players to start and stop, get louder and quieter, and looking at the different ways that music can be led and directed.

Year 1 will be working on action songs, and exploring pitch – differentiating between high and low sounds, understanding how they are made with instruments and the voice, and learning to control the pitch of their own singing.

Year 2 will be exploring sounds through different instruments, learning about the different way sounds are made, learning to group instruments into families (things you hit, things you shake, things you pluck, and so on), and choosing different instruments appropriately when composing music to fit a story.

Year 3 will be learning about story-telling songs – learning how music can be used to pass on traditions, and working towards making their own musical pieces based around story-telling. They will also be focusing on scores – ways of writing down and representing music on the page, learning to follow and interpret written music, and finding their own ways to write down musical instructions.

Year 4 will be exploring some different musical traditions from around the world, identifying differences and similarities with our own music, and making their own pieces based on music from different cultures.

Year 5 will learning about ostinatos – repeating music patterns such as riffs, loops and drumbeats, learning how musical pieces can be built out of them, and making their own pieces as a result, using voices and instruments.

Year 6 will be using the school’s new iPads to learn about music technology – building electronic music using drumbeats, loops and samples, and looking at various types of popular music styles before making their own pieces.

New school year? New music....

And we're back!

Steel Pans and Orchestra should be starting back up as after-school clubs this week. Choirs and other music groups will also be starting very soon - there'll be a letter home with all the details of all the music groups and music lessons available, including how to sign up for instrumental lessons on the saxophone, guitar, and now also recorder and (hopefully) violin. Watch this space!

In the meanwhile, here's a song that the whole school will be learning and singing as part of our Black History Month celebrations in October...

 

Summer Fair! ...and Waka Waka

Our Summer Fair is fast approaching - Friday 28th June, straight after school. It'll be a great chance to hear some of the music that's been going on at school this term, featuring:

Our fantastic Steel Pan band,
Our amazing saxophones,
And our brilliant and talented Upper Phase Choir and Lower Phase Choir.

If your child is in one of these groups, please try and make sure you can hang around for a little bit, so they can show off their skills. There'll be a full programme of performance times going out to parents of performers in a day or so.

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Finally, here's another video for you. Upper and Lower Phases have both been learning a whole song in Spanish in preparation for our Spanish Fiesta in Millfields Park on Friday July 5th. Here it is for you to practice your accent at home...

Tomorrow (Better You, Better Me)

Year 4, 5 and 6 have recently been enjoying singing Quincy Jones' brilliant song "Tomorrow (Better You, Better Me)". As promised, here's a link to a version if you want to sing along at home.


And here's a link to the lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/tomorrow-better-you-lyrics-quincy-jones.html

Here's our first update - the very talented 5 Hazel showing off their percussion skills recently.

listen to ‘Year 5 Hazel Class Salsa Patterns’ on Audioboo

Hello!

Hello, the Internet. Nice to see you.

This is going to be a page that helps the music-making that's going on in our school. Our children will be able to see the words for songs they are learning, and follow links to music and videos that build on the things they've been learning in class. What's more, their parents, carers, friends and families will be able to come here and listen to recordings of the great musical stuff that the children have been doing.

If you want to find out more about our school, have a look here: http://www.rushmore.hackney.sch.uk/