Inclusive Music - Blog Posts
May Day Music Sessions
May 2017
Hello! So having had a break from blogging and sharing of ideas, I decided that it is time to share again! My current sessions are based on the theme of May Day and I and sharing them with groups of adults with learning disabilities.
I have devised three session plans but each with the possibility of being repeated and extended upon. Thanks goes out as always to the people who probably have as much to do with these ideas and plans as I! So firstly to my colleague Emmie Ward - together we led joint sessions with a May Day theme around this time last year. Since then I have had 'Unite and unite, let us all unite!' on my mind! Emmie needs to get her own blog up and going :) Also credit to the English Folk Dance and Song Society - who have a fantastic online resource bank. (I really must add some more links to this website). For now just type in EFDSS Resource Bank and you'll find a plethora of resources including info on May Day. I used that as my main source of research in terms of the the things that take place on May day.
I found some rhymes in a lovely and very small old book that I have from my family and I have made up simple tunes to them. The Padstow May Song and Hal An Tow (A Helston song!) are both great and very catchy and with interactive possibilities. I couldn't really find a version to listen to of the Mayers Song, (despite googling to the best of my not always the best googler ability.) However, I like it as a rhyme too - as I first found it.
Looking at my plan below I can already see the elements that I have not actually carried out yet. Either because I decided to simply and repeat or to adapt to the different people in the group. I hope it is of some interest/help to you. I am still finding my way in the sessions I lead, especially when newer groups, however, this theme does make me happy :)
Extra songs/activities:
The Trees Grew All Around/We are Beating the Bounds
I can see clearly
Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World
Singing in the Rain/Raindrops keep falling on my head
Story/script ideas
Use a tone chime or similar – this time I used a triangle to set the tone/scene
Explain that the next few sessions are going to be on the theme of May Day and the May Day celebrations that have taken place since a long time ago!
Session 1
-Sing the hello song – allowing people to smell the scent of real blossom/flowers
-Say that it is the evening/morning and House name is getting ready for May Day.
-Say the individual names of people there who are getting ready.
-Introduce the soundscape and any related items.
-Then for session 1 for example, say persons name is collecting flowers/leaves for the May garland. Then go through everyone individually with different items to addand build hoop with them. Say that house name is trying to make the best garland in the whole of town name. (In an excited way!)
-Also prepare the horse with e.g. wooden clapping mouth and decorate with bells
Rhymes and Songs
A May Day Rhyme
{C} Good morning, Missus and Master,
I wish (up) you a happy {G} day;
{C} Please to smell my garland,
Be {G} cause it’s the {F} first of {C} May.
The Mayer’s Song
We’ve been a rambling all this night,
And sometime of this day;
And now returning back again,
We bring a branch of May.
The Mayer’s Song (Final Verse)
The moon shines bright, the stars give a light
A little before it is day,
So God bless you all, both great and small,
And send you a joyful May
The Cuckoo
The cuckoo’s a bonny bird, he whistles as he flies
He brings us good tidings, he tells us no lies;
He drinks the cold water to make his voice clear,
And when he sings cuckoo the summer is near;
Sings cuckoo in April, cuckoo in May;
Cuckoo in June, and then flies away.
May Gosling and ‘May Goslings past and gone. You’re the fool for making me one’!
Bonfire Night Session Plan
November 2016
Hello again,
I have been doing plenty of writing to describe the music sessions that I lead in L'Arche and so I thought it might be useful if I share the format that I use for them.
The sessions usually last about two hours with a twenty minute- half an hour tea break in the middle.
I am going to share the Bonfire Night session plan....
To continue from my previous blog entries... the session before the bonfire night one was about the rural work turning more to the towns and cities with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Elements included watching the Pandemonium section of the London Olympic Opening Ceremony. We beat on large metal and plastic flower pots and used glass nuggets to represent money in a noisy way....
I write the plan beforehand but then add any adaption I make (hence different tenses) - and there are often plenty of on the spot ideas!
As always I have many thanks to give to my fellow colleagues for taking part in the session.
Where you see the * and ** and *** you can see the ideas I learned from Emmie Ward. In particular her use of the Big Mack as a musical instrument and for recording voice. Emmie also has great techniques for the inclusion of people's vocalisations and interests into songs. I also learned the songs for this session from Emmie. I'll ask Emmie to share more about that at some point as she has lots of great techniques :)
Bonfire Night 3
rd
November 2016
Attention Grabber Activity: Firework App on IpadFirstly just me taking it around before the hello song... everyone else got a turn in the soundscape
Soundscape: Bonfire Night Ssss of a Fizzy drink being opened, crackling of popping candy with water, firework app on ipad, sliding whistle, (rain maker (firework falling sound), crackling paper, bang of the drum (we said 1, 2, 3, bang - everyone has the opportunity to hit drum on the word bang) peoples vocal sounds on Big Mack to play (integrate their interests) *
Activity: ‘We’re all walking along to the fire’ song – action: we poured salt through a flower pot into a small washing up bowl and said it was gunpowder for the gunpowder plot and listened to how it made a quiet sound and we needed to be quiet… can say shhh –
Activity (Contd.): I then said let’s listen to find out if the plan worked! – I asked: Will there be the sound of Big Ben chiming or the sound of an explosion? We counted down and then… heard... yes big ben chiming (iPad) so the plot failedName activity: (soundabout) beat X 4 then name three times and move on. (we did one name and then another) This sort of connected as if naming the names of the conspirators pouring gun powder. (could link this more to the plot or being part of something in future) **
Rhyme: Remember, remember, poem call and response (I actually did this later in storytelling)
Rhythm: Boom Whackers – continue ‘hit, rest, rest, rest’ activity, with everyone having a chance to play them. We stamp feel throughout to keep a beat and i renew the rhythm in-between every person, but anyone can play any pattern they like as it all fits... I play it on the low red one, but again anyone can do anything... The stamping and me doing it in-between seems to help people to create a connecting rhythm.
Vocal Warm Up:Included Do re mi.
Songs:
London’s Burning
Ring of Fire (after singing through we repeated burn burn bit and people took turns to move the fire poi) ***
Great Balls of Fire (added peoples own endings to ‘Goodness Gracious) ***
Weaving in Sounds
October 2016
Hello again! It's about time that I explained a bit more about what I have been doing on the theme of rural/work life past.
Connecting with the Autumn theme I begin sessions by creating a group soundscape of travel - train and time travel. Tibetan Chimes and other instruments such as tone chimes are useful to set the scene for going back in time. You can also add in appropriate rhythm rhymes and words. Have a google for some poems if you want something to get you started :)
We follow the soundscape by singing our 'We're All Walking' song (courtesy of Emmie Ward) - this time singing that each person is ' walking back in time'. Playing the chime again signifies this. We have continued to use the turn taking activities that I described previously. Activities have included having a bowl of water and a measuring jug - scooping and pouring water into the bowl, or ladling the water. Everyone gets a turn with the activity after we sing their name. I've also used popcorn instead of the water. Last week I used a short cardboard tube and everyone posted a small round piece of wood through it. (It could have been anything though - e.g. a conker or bead). Whereas the popcorn had been like grains of rural life/time, I said that posting the object through the cardboard tube was an indication of the industrial machinery that was to come. I know - I'm pushing it a bit!!!
I realised last week that soundscapes have started to take over the first half of the session. Following the turn taking activity we have moved into a second soundscape. At the moment this is a knitting/weaving soundscape. I start this section through playing a track by the band Capercaillie called M'loam. I find it creates a gentle contemplative atmosphere. To symbolise spinning wheels we roll and spin everyday objects on the floor - such as empty food containers, lids, cotton reels, wooden objects. You can roll the objects to someone or just randomly roll them, experiment and encourage others to do the same. I found a wool ball winder (from the Craft Workshop's weaving days) and we took turns spinning that around. It is a good visual object and makes a bit of a creak too.
This activity then led into a more active sound making soundscape, where we clicked knitting needles together, tapped wooden sticks and played thumb pianos. Last week my colleague and I found some tapestry forks with metal prongs and some metal loom winders. Together they make a good guiro style sound.
The soundscape led into singing 'Yan Tan Tethera'. It is a song I learned from Aimee Leonard that she developed as part of the Yan Tan Tethera project with the English Folk Dance and Song Society. Listen to Aimee singing it here on Soundcloud. There are more songs and information about the project at the Yan Tan Tethera project link above. Yan Tan Tethera is a sheep counting system traditionally used by shepherds in the north of England. Read more about it on wikipedia. I think it is also used for counting stitches.
I started the activity by singing the low part of Yan Tan Tethera and unwinding the wool from a ball of wool so that gradually everyone was holding onto it around in a circle. I added different voice parts gradually (taking turns with the parts myself) and people joined in with whichever part they wanted. I didn't ask anyone to sing anything in particular and it seemed to happen naturally that people took different parts. It was also really helpful that the support staff present joined in with different parts too.
It would be interesting to experiment with colours and weaving movements and sounds as with the Yan Tan Tethera project. There is no Weaving Workshop anymore, however there are still looms in the Craft Project , which are used occasionally.
I think that is probably enough for now! More about the other songs we have sung in a future post!