Windy Weather

Had great fun this week brewing up our musical storm. Hopefully you have all had time to work on whirling, twirling and rocking. Have a go at making a kite. A really simple kite can be made by cutting a diamond shape from a piece of A4 paper. If you fold the paper in half lengthwise you can cut a half diamond on the open edges of the shape. Open it up and "voilà". Decorate the shape with colours and/or stickers. Attach some streamers to the pointed long end. Poke 2 holes just to the right and left of the centre and thread some string through. Reinforce holes with a piece or sticky tape. Go fly!!!!!

Hello Weather week 7

How very topical to be singing and dancing in the wind and rain this week. I loved the rain hats, thanks for putting in the hard work to making them.

This week we are making a Where Box. Remember to stick your sticker on the page if you haven't already done so. Your where box could be any old cubed box. Or you could print off your own here http://www.mathsisfun.com/cube.html

You can make up new words to the Mulberry Bush song as you play with your Where Box. Have fun!

Enjoy more weather fun. Print off the Weather Bear on this page colour and dress appropriately. http://daniellesplace.com/HTML/paper_dolls.html

Remember to bring your Home Books next week.

Hello Weather Week 5

You have the whole of half term for this one. Your job is to make a rain shaker and bring it back to class next time. If any of you happen to be coming to mini-STOMP on Tuesday we will be making rain shakers there. If you can't make it this time you could try our version at home. Take a cardboard tube and push through a number of pipe cleaners right the way through. Cover your tube in paper leaving the end open. Pour rice, beans, beads or similar into the tune and secure the open end. Decorate as you feel inclined. Of course there are many other ways to make a rain-shaker, just use your imagination and let your child create something unique.

Hello Weather week 4

Today in class we made some fabulous sunflower masks. We started work on our movement montage where we take on the role of growing sunflowers and hopping bunnies. If you would like some more things to follow up on at home have a look at this link: Sunflower Book

Next week we are going to be exploring the role of the hopping bunnies. You might like to make a mask to bring to class next week or some bunny ears. Make your own or print a mask from here

If you didn't get round to it last week please have a look at activity 3 which asked you to make a puzzle piece which you can cut from the back of your home book, or make a new one. Draw on it your morning sound. Bring the puzzle piece back to class along with your morning sound, live or recorded.

This week have a look at Family activity 4, all about the rooster. There are some lovely suggestions in the home book for you to try playing with the rooster sounds. You may also like to find out about rooster sounds in other languages or try this craft: Rooster craft

We are STOMPING

Our popular STOMP workshops are back for the half term holidays.

STOMP is a combination of fitness and rhythm. Come and try your hand at creating rhythms with unconventional instruments such as buckets, basketballs, brooms and all sorts of junk. Then explore the rhythm of the rope as you skip with big ropes and single ropes and even try to learn the skill of double dutch.

There are lots of extras to such as; clapping games, parachute, junk instrument craft and movement activities.

STOMP is taking place on Tuesday 26th October at the Hythe Community Centre in Colchester. Mini Stomp for 4 - 7 year olds 10am - 12pm and STOMP for 7 - 14 year olds 1 - 5pm.

It costs just £8 for mini Stomp and £12 for STOMP.

If you would like to book a space contact info@musikate.co.uk

Hythe Community Choir

Our choir returns fortnightly at the Hythe Community Centre in Colchester.

We will be full steam ahead to our Charity Christmas concert 4th December. We are planning mince pies, mulled wine and a wonderful concert to invite family and friends along to.

As always there is no need to worry if you are scared of singing even if everyone around you has always been negative!!! THIS is the choir for YOU! We welcome everyone who enjoys singing or who desperately wants to sing.

The choir operates on a pay-as-you-go basis so you do not need to worry about committing up front.

The cost is £4 per person. Children attending with their own parent pay £2 only - this is as an incentive for families to come together. Unaccompanied children may attend from 7 yrs.

FAMILY MUSIC MORNING

our next family music morning - IN THE PARK is on Wednesday 18th August 10 am - 11.30 am at the Hythe Community Centre.

We meet for an hour and half of music and craft. All children between 0 and 7 years are welcome to join in.

Cost is £7.50 or £10 for two siblings. Babies under 1 pay £4. Concessions available for those on limited income.

STOMP and mini - STOMP

what a fabulous day we had yesterday. Our STOMP holiday sessions are becoming more and more popular with lots of children returning time after time.

STOMP is a combination of fitness and music. Our link is in the RHYTHM. Everything we do in STOMP has rhythm.

STOMP workshops consist of all sorts of things like skipping, percussion and much more.

Children who participated yesterday took home some tambourines they had made too.

Our next STOMP is at October half term. Let us know if you would like to come along.

Come and Join in the Fun!!!

28th July - Family Fun, Music and Craft - 10 - 11.30 am

Our first musical Wednesday is a themed session all about the seaside. Come and make a musical wave drum and then join in the music and movement activities. We will be singing, dancing and playing instruments.

The session is suitable for children aged 0 - 7 years.

Cost: £7.50 or £10 for two siblings. Babies under one pay £4

Winding Down......

we are winding down for the summer here at Musikate this week. Our regular classes and nursery sessions are coming to an end.

Don't worry though, there are lots of things on over the summer holidays to keep you musically active.

Tomorrow there is a free baby session being held at the William Loveless Hall in Wivenhoe for all new Mums. I will be at the hall from 1.30pm for a short musical sharing time.

Throughout the summer holidays we have a host of musical Wednesdays. Check back here for more info. or email us.

Ingleborough 24 mile Hike

Untitled by katepavey at Garmin Connect - Details

...details of our 8 mile walk. A group of us are training to do a 24 mile hack in the Yorkshire Dales to raise money for the NSPCC. This was our first training walk.

Mini Musicians

Musikate Mini-Musicians
A New Class for 4 – 7 year olds

Our mini-musicians course is a specially designed course for children who are in Reception or Year one. Formal lessons at this age can easily stunt musical growth. Learning to read music, can often become a chore and it can be quite difficult to combine learning to play an instrument and reading musical notation at such a young age.

In our sessions we use fun games to enable children to understand how music is written down. They will become familiar with the piano keyboard and begin to learn to use their ear to play familiar tunes. They will continue to develop singing skills and become familiar with the sol – fa system of sight singing. As mini conductors they will learn to beat time to music in different time signatures. They will also learn to recognise major and minor scales and sounds.
Parents or carers are encouraged to attend the sessions with their children so that games may be continued at home.

The classes will be run in blocks of 10 termly sessions at a cost of £10 per session. A pack of course materials and games will also need to be purchased, price will be dependent on what is needed for the term. Classes will consist of no more than 5 children.

Each course will be arranged at a time suitable for the participants. Please let us know if you would like to reserve a space on a course.

Imagine That Week 12

Just to remind you all to bring your soft toy animals to class this week. They will be joining in the session with us on Monday.

See you then x

Stomp and mini Stomp

Following on from our successful workshop at Easter Musikate is once again joining forces with Fun with Fitness during half term.

Both workshops will be held on 3rd June. Mini Stomp 10am - 12pm for 4-7 yr olds £8 and Stomp 1 - 5pm for 7 - 14 yr olds £12.

The workshops are a mixture of Stomp percussion using junk instruments such as buckets, brooms and balls and fun musical fitness using skipping ropes and elastic.

Email for a registration form.

Awarded Maestro Status

Musikate have just been awarded Maestro status by Kindermusik International. Maestro status is awarded to the top 5% of programmes worldwide.

Of course we are very proud of the great achievement but we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us!

Toys Week 7

What a lovely time we had in class today! After building our imaginary boats we set sail in a big blue boat and thought about all the different things we could do on board. Making up new verses to songs is a wonderful way to stimulate the children's imagination and there was much hilarity in the process. The funniest thing was when I jumbled the words accidently and instead of singing "big blue boat" out came "blig boo boat". Children of this age love the silliness in word play and this play encourages and strengthens their vocal and literacy development in many ways. Not only that, but I noticed that soon everyone was singing trying to copy the silly words. Singing and giggling, what a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Our voyage took us to a little island where we found a place to camp and watch the stars. I wanted to record the singing and after we had all sang Twinkle Twinkle together some of the children wanted to sing solos. It always amazes me that so many of them are happy to sing out on their own. They all have such delicious little voices and I hope to have captured them on my less than adequate recording equipment.

So this week at home!!! If you look at the relevant pages in your book you will see that the task is to make some binoculars. In class we sing "Out here on the sea" and then sing about the things we see in the sea. There are many ideas and all of them are welcome. The children seem to think the idea of an elephant or crocodile in the sea as perfectly normal and who am I to dissuade their wonderful imaginations. Why not see where the binoculars take your imagination at home this week.

Also for next week - please being a torch with you to class. We are going to do a very special torchlight dance.

Thanks to everyone for sharing today.

Choir But Not As We Know It!

The Hythe Community choir is going well with a core group of attendees who have been meeting once every 3 weeks to enjoy a fun evening of singing.

The choir was originally started to raise money for charity. Those who came requested that it continue.

I realise that even the word choir might make some people tremble and immediately judge their ability. Lots of us have had unfortunate musical experiences and have come away thinking that we can't sing or are just not musical. If you feel like that then this is the choir for you! There are no prejuducies and with a firm belief that everyone is musical we accept all.

The only thing that will improve singing is singing!!! Like any other skill we have to do it to get good at it. Singing with others is a great way to learn to sing in tune and aquire rhythm and an understanding of how music works.

The choir is now meeting fortnightly in order to prepare for a singing spot at the Newtown Funday in June.

If you would like to come along simply turn up. The next meeting is on the 26th March and costs just £4.

Imagine That week 3

We had a great time in class this week visiting our special toy shop. Thank you to everyone who remembered to bring a drum they were all great!

This week at home remember to create a special instrument of your choice. It can be anything. We looked at instruments that we could shake or jingle and those we hit with our hands or a mallet.

Your instrument can be as original as you like. Be sure to decorate it too.

You will also be pleased to know that the packs have arrived at long last. This week look forward to taking home your very own drum and Toys home pack.

See you on Monday!!!

If you miss a week be sure to catch up with the blog

STOMP

Musikate and Fun With Fitness are teaming together for a joint project in the Easter Holidays.

STOMP music and Fitness workshop will take place on the 14th and 15th April, from 10 am until 2pm. There will be a short display at the end of the 2nd day which parents and carers will be invited to attend.

STOMP is a way of making music using the rhythmic quality of everyday objects such as brooms, dustbins and baseballs. Our active sessions will include rhythmic fitness routines to music, STOMP routines using all sorts of objects, rhythm games and Jump Rope!

Places are limited so book now to avoid disappointment. Cost for 2 day course £40.

Hythe Community Choir

Back for the second time this week our choir returns to Magdalen Hall Wimpole Road in Colchester. The choir was set up with inspiring those who have perhaps never dared to sing. Many of us are scared of using our voices. This choir is unique be prepared to move and play clapping games. Regular singing will help you sing in tune and tips about breathing properly will help you produce a better sound and protect your voice from strain. So come along friday and sing with us.

Young Child Lesson 40

Land of the Silver Birch has to be one of my favourite songs from my childhood. I remember singing it at brownies and guides and it really stimulated my imagination. I think I would have really loved to have been transported to the magical landscape the song words conjured up in my mind.

What excites me about this class is how readily the children learn new musical concepts. Talking about beat and meter might seem a complicated affair but the children were eagerly composing their own two bar 4 beat rhythms without even thinking about it. In the next lesson we will move on to 3 beat rhythms and compare.

Remember to bring your glockenspiel there will be a special sticker for anyone who can play some or all of Land of the Silver Birch :)

Imagine That

What a wonderful time we had in class last Monday! The children really engaged in our story-telling and we had a wonderful time on our imaginary picnic. We sang a simple song about the food we were packing and each child added an item to our basket. I was amazed at how each child sang their own bit of the song. It is lovely to see the way their singing voices are developing.

Singing is a learnt skill - we develop our abilities in singing at a young age and singing in tune just like speaking another language is a skill that we can learn. Young children have a natural ability to acquire accurate pitch since they are still absorbing all the nuances of language. Speech and singing are synonymous. Singing really helps with language skills (and actually so much more!). If there is one activity we should all be doing with our young children it is singing.

This weeks' home activity is to cut out the picnic cards and sing our picnic song together. Why not extend the activity by thinking of your own favourtie picnic ingredients.

Above all sing sing sing!!!

Hythe Community Choir

The Hythe Community Choir was formed to raise money for Christian Aid's Big Christmas Sing. Due to it's enormous success and the fun enjoyed by all we have decided to continue the choir. The first rehearsal will be on 29th January at 8pm - simply turn up and sing!

Please do not worry if you have never sung before or you are scared that your voice is going to sound awful! The only way to learn and become more confident is to come along. We welcome all!

Kate will help you with breathing and voice control and even teach you to sight sing real music!!!! You will find that regular singing will help you sing in tune too!

This month we will be learning to doh re mi, working out our brains with some singing and movement games and singing some fun popular music. There will be some exciting extras too!

So ditch the nintendo and come and experience some real brain training instead!

Cost £4 per person all welcome 7 - 110 yrs

Bad Weather News

Hi all,

after a week of cancelled classes and lessons we aim to be back to normal regardless of the weather as of next week. Most main routes are being kept open and public transport is operating quite well. Most people seem to want to get out and back to some normality. Older siblings are welcome to tag along to any class if nursery or school is closed.

Piano and singing lessons will be returning to normal next week too!

Kate

Family Time

Family Time classes start this saturday - come along for a free taster! 10am Hythe Community Centre Colchester. Children aged 0 - 7 years welcome - older siblings also welcome to help out :)