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Jenny Ferris
Feb 34 min read
How to Teach Sight Reading
Sight reading is a valuable skill for any musician and is part of developing any well-rounded musician. Therefore, it's important that we...
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Jenny Ferris
Jun 5, 20232 min read
Hey Presto!
I recently attended a workshop on the PRESTO (Practices & Resources for Equipping Schools to Teach music Online) initiative developed by...
108 views0 comments
Jenny Ferris
May 24, 20234 min read
Teaching Form through Folk Dance
There is an increasing amount of research that suggests an important link between movement and cognitive growth ie. kinaesthetic...
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Jenny Ferris
May 24, 20234 min read
Stravinsky's Firebird: a listening lesson reborn
I might be biased, speaking as a horn player, but I think the finale to Stravinsky's The Firebird is absolutely sublime. It has to be...
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Jenny Ferris
May 24, 20233 min read
Let's Dance
I love using folk dances to teach musical aspects such as form, metre, steady beat and melodic contour. Some great dances you would have...
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Jenny Ferris
Oct 23, 20227 min read
Even more rhythm practice ideas!
So you've just presented a new rhythm, your students now know that the funky 4-sounds-on-one-beat thing is called tika-tika and they've...
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Jenny Ferris
Oct 19, 20222 min read
Story Time
Here are two picture story books that I have been enjoying using in my teaching lately. Mortimer "Mortimer" by Robert Munsch tells the...
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Jenny Ferris
Oct 8, 20223 min read
Vocalisation ideas
As anyone following a Kodaly-inspired program knows, the voice should be the first instrument students learn music through and should...
222 views0 comments
Jenny Ferris
Oct 2, 20222 min read
Moses Supposes
Let's take a look at a fun little tongue-twister that I love using when first introducing my students to compound rhythms! Moses supposes...
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Jenny Ferris
Sep 25, 20223 min read
The Kodaly Institute, Kecskemet
This year I have the absolute pleasure of attending the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary to complete a Diploma of Kodály Studies....
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Jenny Ferris
Sep 17, 20224 min read
...and the caterpillar turned into a beautiful butterfly!
I have written before about a puppet I absolutely adore, which is this gorgeous caterpillar creation by Folkmanis He's such a tactile,...
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Jenny Ferris
Sep 10, 20222 min read
The characteristics of a good musician....
One of my favourite quotes from Zoltan Kodaly is as follows: This was delivered to a group of conservatory students whose abilities...
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Jenny Ferris
Aug 28, 20211 min read
Blob Opera
One of the highlights of remote learning for me has been discovering (sometimes by necessity) all of the amazing music technology...
419 views0 comments
Jenny Ferris
Aug 28, 20212 min read
Brain Breaks
If you are lucky enough to be back in the classroom after a prolonged absence (ie. covid lockdowns) then you may be noticing a decrease...
280 views0 comments
Jenny Ferris
Aug 28, 20212 min read
Simple vs. Compound Time
Following on from my recent posts about metre, today I'd like to talk about simple and compound time and how to teach the difference...
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Jenny Ferris
Jun 1, 20212 min read
A Mix of Metres
Last week, I wrote about preparing, presenting and practising the concept of 2 metre Today, I'd like to share with you some of my...
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Jenny Ferris
Jun 1, 20214 min read
2 Metre
Let's talk about metre. Metre is the feeling of strong & weak beats that groups our music into sections called bars. It can sometimes...
529 views0 comments
Jenny Ferris
Apr 18, 20213 min read
What Shall We Do With A Drunken Sailor?
A few of my classes are currently practising ti-tika and so I thought - what with the wave of popularity that Sea Shanties are currently...
1,469 views2 comments
Jenny Ferris
Mar 12, 20212 min read
Move It!
The wonderful John Feierabend has a series of DVDs called Move It! which - if you haven't already heard of them - you should definitely...
324 views0 comments
Jenny Ferris
Mar 5, 20212 min read
Ministry of Silly Walks
One of my favourite clips from the wonderful Monty Python is the "Ministry of Silly Walks". It is just delightfully absurd and even after...
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