Posted on: July 10th 2020
In the face of some very challenging circumstances, we are so proud of how much all of our students have achieved since Easter. What excellent young musicians they are!
Peripatetic Lessons and Extra-curricular
Thanks to the children’s enthusiasm and parental support, our peripatetic lessons have continued to be hugely successful. The students and our tutors have adapted brilliantly to online tuition and the progress of the children has been phenomenal. Not only have we all had a lot of fun but progress towards achieving musical goals and grades has continued.
We are also very happy that many of our students are still accessing and engaging with the Ensemble and Choirs, through Google Classrooms. Practice resources have been shared and we have received some lovely videos of student performances and practice sessions, demonstrating their commitment to music at home.
The students have certainly been keeping one another entertained through the joys of music and we have all been inspired by their progress. Well done and thank you, everyone
As well as extra-curricular music continuing and peripatetic lessons continuing to be a huge success, we have been so pleased with how well the children have continued to engage with classroom music. We have been able to deliver specialist live and pre-recorded music lessons from Reception through to Form 6, and the children have shown ambition, resilience and an open-minded approach to learning.
Pre Prep
In Pre Prep, the children have completed some excellent work in response to our online activities. They have enjoyed learning new songs, composed melodies online using graphic notation, created thoughtful artwork in response to Einaudi’s ‘Le Onde’, developed their understanding of the musical elements and have recently shown excellent communication skills as music interviewers! We have also had a number of children compose and notate their own compositions, showing great enthusiasm and ambition. Well done, Pre Prep, you are doing incredibly well!
Junior Prep
Junior Prep have also engaged really well with their online music learning. The children have completed some very thoughtful pieces of performance, listening and composition work, and we have received so many videos of children making music at home in response to the tasks on Google classroom. We are currently working towards preparing a JP Music Showcase video, celebrating the diverse musical talents of all styles, genres and abilities across Forms 2 and 3. It has been wonderful to receive so many videos from children wanting to take part. We recently enjoyed a music quiz together, which challenged the children to think critically about music and exercise their musical ears. Many of the children also learnt a new song, called ‘Senwa Dedende’. This is something we look forward to being able to continue working on together, once we are able to sing as a choir again. Well done on your continued progress, Junior Prep!
Senior Prep
Senior Prep have been enjoying their live lessons throughout lockdown and we have been so pleased with the students’ enthusiasm and involvement. They have developed their understanding of the musical elements, engaged with music challenges, participated in quizzes and developed their music appraisal skills. The students have also benefited from regular peer performances in their live lessons. They have even had the opportunity to enjoy special guest masterclasses and perform to world class musicians, Natalie Williams and Rob Mullarkey.
The Form 6 students have declared ‘the show must go on’! They have been working hard with their teachers towards their production of Hercules and we have enjoyed working with them on the musical side of their performance. We have been very impressed with their resilience, determination and dedication.
We are incredibly proud of every single student and have been very impressed with the level of progress, enthusiasm and the clear love of music within Norfolk House. It is so rewarding to work with every single one of you. Thank you for all of the support and encouragement from home and well done to all of the children.
