Just setting up WordPress so I can blog from my phone. The only news is I am posting off a box of boomwhackers to a theatre group in Taunton

Posted by John Walter from WordPress for Android

Running a drumcircle each day at 4.00 in a yurt.

Should be very relaxing and fun.

Come and find us.

Its called Wild week and includes trips to Living Coasts and all sorts of activities in and around the Zoo.

Our mission is to allow everyone to experience what it is like to be a musician.

Evelyn Glennie expresses brilliantly the listening part of this in this video:

I am now in the middle of a Latin American arts project with yr 8s where they are also getting Salsa dance, steel pan playing, drama and arts activities.

Each of my workshops is 100% hands on and for the latin american theme I have focussed on establishing a strong foundation  with surdo and shakers then creating a strong agogo bell melody and backing it all up with hand drum support rhythms. We are building up to a performance tomorrow with a few children from each class.

2 weeks ago I was teaching 11 to 13 yr olds to sing shosholoza in 4 part harmony 175 at a time.  A great challenge. Particular success with getting boys to sing the bass line, helped by an enthusiastic male teacher.

In between I have humped 200 boomwhackers around for massed events, facilitated a fabulous 100 person community drumcircle for Quest Festival and visited several primary schools.

As July comes to a close I look forward to a restful August with the occasional visit to the local Zoo to keep my hand in.

John

www.drumcrazy.co.uk

I was running an assembly with 200 children with boomwhackers. As the children came in I realised that they were going to be a bit chattery and excited. There was a lot of noise generated simply in getting them all to sit in a semi circle.

Just as I started I noticed some of the teachers leaving. Now we hadn’t agreed on them leaving so I started focusing on discipline techniques while being a little cross that it was not going quite as planned.

I got into my stride but for some reason the chattering and excitement were getting worse. I scanned around the hall and noticed that not only had the teachers left but all the TA’s had left as well. I was completely alone with 200 undisciplined children and they had this  crazy man they didn’t know trying to get them focused on whacking plastic tubes.

My anger at being abandoned and my determination to create discipline drove me on but blinded me to what was really going on in the room.

The full reality was finally brought to my attention when one of my yr6 helpers tugged me on my sleeve and said.

“You are walking in the wee!”

“I’m what?!”

“You are walking in the wee!”

Suddenly it all came clear. I saw my wet footprints trailing back to a pool of urine. Two TAs burst back into the hall with mops bucket and paper towels. I realised all the disturbance had been caused by children watching the drama unfold out of my sightline,. TAs dragging out one of the younger ones to change their clothes and then watching me splash about in a pool of urine unaware of what I was doing.

I can’t say things improved much after that but at least I was smiling.

I am very excited about this and rehearsing like crazy. Tell all your friends.

Details are still being finalised but we are talking about Mid October and two separate weekends in Dorset and Scotland

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Here’s a taster