Rhythm Circle

Rhythm Circle families with little ones - this is one for you. Go along to Cotteridge Park this weekend for a top-notch musical event created by our fabulous colleagues at B'Opera. Highly recommended!

"The rustling paper sounds like shopping bags."

Another child demonstrated how the sound of pinecones crunched up sounded like footsteps on crunchy leaves. Another likened the sound of metal washer clinking together to the sounds made by a cash register at shops. Pebbles tapped together sounded like a woodpecker. If you scrape the surface of corrugated cardboard, it sounds like a zipper being done up on a coat.

Words, words and more words came pouring out this morning to describe timbres on the Play House project "Does Birmingham Belong to Me?". I brought along this little collection of loose parts to help students at Montgomery Primary Academy verbalise their ideas about sounds as we explored soundscapes. Something tangible to touch, see and manipulate helped open the floodgates and made it easier for young students to talk about sound ideas.

The tinfoil pie dish was a big favourite. After being folded, rattled and drummed on the previously smooth surface became crinkly and lent itself to further creation of scrape-y sounds.

Tomorrow we are starting our First Songs - free music workshops for children age 0-4 with 'Opera! The sessions are free and there is no need to book in advance - just come and join us with your little one at 10.30am to 12pm. They will be based under cover outside, so please come dressed for the weather.

Our friends at B'Opera have been bringing their First Songs sessions outdoors to Caldmore Community Gardens in Walsall on Fridays. Don't miss this chance to bring your little one to a fantastic free concert at this beautiful and friendly venue.

Build-A-Chord

For the last two weeks at RC Music Club, we have been learning about chords the multi-sensory way.

With the help of some re-purposed Jenga blocks, our students had fun creating stacks of musical notes and playing them on the piano. This was a really enjoyable way for beginners to work on keyboard geography - locating first a B , then an F which had to be higher than the B and then an A that was higher than the F.

When they learnt that they could choose any 3 notes to form a chord, one student came up with a creative (and entertaining) way to randomise his choices: he balanced random blocks in an elaborately-designed tower and took the top 3 blocks off. Those 3 then formed his chord tower. To create another chord, he started the whole process again.

Sensory musical play - tongue drums for SEN sessions.

Recently on a holiday to Asia, I was able to buy a larger 12" tongue drum (woohoo!!). It has been an immediate hit with the children and a staple in RC workshops for the last month. They really came into their own during the Sound Play workshops for the Inclusive Youth Arts Programme. Read more about how they were used here: https://rhythmcircleblog.azurewebsites.net/index.php/2024/05/01/tongue-drums-sound-play-workshops/

A thumping good time was had by children and their grown-ups at our African Drumming workshop yesterday. Sarah from Primal Sound UK taught us Djolé drumming patterns on the djembes. My skin tingled from the vibrations made by the drums and I felt bonelessly relaxed after the session.

We've have been absolutely inundated with requests for more drumming sessions - hang tight, Sarah and I are now looking into setting up monthly ones. So keep an eye out for future drumming dates.

Thanks to everyone who came along and to Sarah for guiding us through our first RC drum circle. "Rhythm Circle Drum Circle" does not trip off the tongue easily, so I need to find another name for this group! Any ideas??

How do you make a good drum? At today's African Drumming Workshop, we explored different materials to find out which membranes made the best drums. Cloth, rubbery therabands, clingfilm, and cardboard were put to the test and assembled into drums in different ways. Some children layered on multiple materials to create a denser membrane. Others made a be**er to go with the drum and also closed off both ends of the drum frame in an attempt to 'trap the vibrations'. We discovered that drums placed directly on the floors and lifted into the air made a different sounds.

Many thanks to Sarah Westwood (Primal Sound UK) who kicked off the workshop with an exciting drumming session. And a big well done to all our younger students who attentively listened and learned how to drum quietly and loudly, how to follow a conductor and to also take the lead.

Leicestershire-based families with special needs: have you come across the Inclusive Youth Arts Programme run by the fabulous Attenborough Arts Centre (AAC)?

Rhythm Circle's 'Sound Play' music workshops will be running at the AAC on 3rd March and 28th April and we would love to see you there.

The workshops are free to attend as long as you are registered with the Inclusive Youth Arts Programme. Each workshop has space for 6 children / young people with complex needs and disabilities. Up to 2 siblings can accompany. A responsible adult / carer / guardian needs to be with all children / young people at all times. For further information contact [email protected]

The AAC has been supporting families with special needs for over 20 years and has an amazing year-round programme of events.

www.rhythmcircle.co.uk

"It's a triangle and circle. And waves!"

The physical shapes of our instruments play form an important part in our musical experiences.

C. , a 4 year old little boy at my workshops was curious about the carvings on my djembe. We had a lovely time tracing the shapes and lines with our fingers and talking about them. We were told that he did not speak much but the tactile nature of physical musically instruments seem to prompt C to communicate and share his thoughts verbally.

Sound explorers…… take note! These little beauties are John Walker blued-steel tuning forks and they make a gorgeous sound. Sourced for some exciting Rhythm Circle sound exploration workshops coming up later in the year.

Building a collection of these can be expensive, so I was very pleased to get these pre-loved (do not underestimate the power of eBay). These were made in Sheffield, so keeping up with the effort to buy British.

Rhythm Circle sessions are the musical equivalent of the slow-food movement.

We like to allow musical thoughts to simmer away slowly in the background, taking time to test out and add 'musical ingredients' (pulse, rhythm, dynamics, timbre, etc), make up our own musical recipes, and to share our ideas using conventional and graphic scores.