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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...

Jenny Ferris

Feb 44 min read

Hey Presto!

I recently attended a workshop on the PRESTO (Practices & Resources for Equipping Schools to Teach music Online) initiative developed by...

Jenny Ferris

Jun 5, 20232 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...

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...

Jenny Ferris

May 24, 20234 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...

Jenny Ferris

May 24, 20233 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...

Jenny Ferris

Oct 24, 20227 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...

Jenny Ferris

Oct 19, 20222 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...

Jenny Ferris

Oct 9, 20223 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...

Jenny Ferris

Oct 2, 20222 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....

Jenny Ferris

Sep 25, 20223 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,...

Jenny Ferris

Sep 17, 20224 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...

Jenny Ferris

Sep 11, 20222 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...

Jenny Ferris

Aug 28, 20211 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...

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...

Jenny Ferris

Aug 28, 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...

Jenny Ferris

Jun 1, 20212 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...

Jenny Ferris

Jun 1, 20214 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...

Jenny Ferris

Apr 18, 20213 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...

Jenny Ferris

Mar 12, 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...

Jenny Ferris

Mar 6, 20212 min read