PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MATTERS

This session is about moving in a way that informs your music making and helps students experience the syllabic and rhythmic patterns in the English language that are so important to developing speaking, reading and spelling skills. Primary and middle school class teachers as well as music specialists will find ideas in this dynamic session that they can apply in their classes.
Movement and music, the dance, and the song, are inseparable and singing together should be about connecting the body and the text. Making the body our metronome we will explore the rhythm of the words and discover the phonetic power of our own language… get the ‘sound’right and the meaning will follow. This workshop will focus on learning by ear and developing the memory. By using all our faculties and exploring all our different kinds of memory we can learn an astonishing amount of material in a very short time.
The aim is to do things in the right order. First connect the rhythm of the body with the rhythm of the lyric. Then once the words are secure (safely in our syllabic memory) we are ready for melody. Harmony must be the icing on the cake – only introduced once glorious rhythmic unison singing has been established.
So, come and prove you groove!