So whilst the shops are already starting to stock mince pies and play Christmas albums (no joke, I heard Winter Wonderland the other day!) there's another cultural holiday coming up a little sooner that I always get excited about. Halloween can be a controversial topic in Australian classrooms as it is not traditionally celebrated in Australia and some see the rise in Trick or Treat-ing as a sign of American influence and commercialisation. However, I think that it be acknowl

Hello there, fellow Kodalyphiles! Today you're in for a mega blog that has been a long time coming. I have been looking a lot recently at doing themed lessons (having a central idea that links together several different songs and activities into one cohesive lesson - great for smooth transitions!) and as I was going through my song lists looking for possible themes I realised just how many great songs there are out there about chickens! Now my chicken puppets are some of my f

Prep music lessons can be a magical time - the children are young, with a vivid imagination and a thirst for knowledge. They haven't yet learned to be cynical about school or self-conscious in front of others. I therefore try to make the most of this golden window of opportunity and have them perform in front of their classmates and in front of me as often as possible so that they get used to it and it's no big deal later on. This means lots of solo-singing games - one of my

We work a lot on singing voice and solo singing opportunities with younger students (at least I know I do, it's a big focus of my Foundation curriculum) but I do find myself neglecting this with older students. It can be especially difficult if they are older beginners - if you are in your first few years at a school which is new to the Kodaly approach meaning the older students are not so keen on being asked to sing by themselves in front of everyone. (I wrote about this in

I'm sure that, unless your ears are lactose intolerant, you are familiar with the chant that goes: This chant is a well-known one, but an activity that goes with it comes from the incomparable Lucinda Geoghegan, director of NYCoS and all-round Kodaly games wizard. You can check out her publications of wonderful games here. The activity is a kind of rhythm-passing game where all students stand in a circle and must say the chant one syllable per person. If a person speaks out o