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Well. Our first half term has been a great success. We started with 52 children and finished with 45, plus 4 parents, 5 teaching staff and 7 tutors! Hopefully everyone will want to come back next half term and learn some Christmas music to perform in School and elsewhere.

We didn’t achieve everything we set out to do, but that’s a reflection of our enthusiasm and ambition rather than any lacking in ability or application of the children. In fact, the progress has been excellent. In only 6 weeks we can see and hear how well they are producing a good sound, learning how to play notes and pitch them.

And the tutors have learnt a lot as well. With a certain amount of trial and error we’ve found what works and what doesn’t. For example, after struggling to help some children pitch notes lower or higher, we discovered that going to back the the different types of buzzing with a “duck face” or “blowing a straw” worked magic! We’ve also found that “listen and copy” exercises work very well – once we get them going, we can build up to quite complicated phrases with different rhythms and notes.

We have worked on 5 key parts of playing: buzzing to produce a sound; breathing deep into the tummy to have plenty of air; tonguing a “te” or “de” sound to start a note; changing the mouth and lip shape to pitch notes higher or lower; and most importantly of all, listening!

We’ve learnt how to play 6 notes: C, D, E, F, G and A (although the young trombone players cannot play D as it too far for them to reach yet) and we’ve used these notes to play our 2 performance pieces “Get On Up, Get On Down” and “Freres Jacques”. These will need more work before we can perform them, but we’ll come back to them in January.

We can’t wait to get started again in 2 weeks time!

 

 

Photos from Burradon Community Primary School.

Week 4 was a consolidation week, where we started learning “Get on Up, Get on Down” using just C, E and G.

Some children (and adults) find it easier to play lower notes (e.g. C instead of G or A instead of E) and one or two can play higher notes more easily. We’re not too concerned about getting the right note at this stage as the control required to do this will develop with practice. The important thing is that the children listen, take a good breath, try to copy  and produce a nice sound!

In week 5 we moved things on a bit and learnt 2 new notes F and D. This is a big help to those learning the cornet because moving up from C, D, E, F to G is easier than jumping from C to G directly. However, for the young trombone players D is not yet playable as it is in 6th position and their arms are not long enough! We had quite a few brave attempts to reach that far and still play the instrument but it involved twisting the face to try and play sideways – a bit comical and not to be encouraged otherwise we’ll have stiff necks and bad habits! Not to worry though because we have alternative notes for the trombone players, and their arms will grow soon enough.

We’ve also introduced tonguing with a “te” or “de” (or “ta” or “da”) and this helped note production. We now have 3 things to think about: listening, breathing and tonguing – it’s getting more complicated but practice makes it easier again!

During the listening break, we played Freres Jacques, starting in unison then twice as a round and finally in unison again, and we talked about harmony. Then everyone started to learn the first 2 phrases – C, D, E, C and E, F, G, except that the trombones will play F instead of D i.e. C, F, E, C.

We must mention Steve’s brilliant performance of an arrangement of “My Grandfather’s Clock” at all the schools in week 4. Could anyone see his fingers move as the valves went up and down at phenomenal speed? A real wow factor, and hopefully some inspiration for the children. Steve started playing cornet at age 13, moved onto tenor horn and now plays euphonium. He’s 21 now, but he could play that well by age 18, so that’s only 5 years progress.

 

Fantastic progress this week, and we’ve moved from making a noise (an achievement in itself) to making music! The children and adult learners have now learnt C, E and G and can have a go at playing them in combination in a variety of rhythms. By the end of the session, everyone was listening to one of the tutors play a simple rhythm on these notes, and then playing them back as a group. It took a few goes to get the hang of it, but soon everyone was listening and responding together to produce some music! We’ll do more on this next week and make sure everyone can confidently play the 3 notes – then we’ll be ready to start learning our first performance piece!

We started the sessions with a breathing exercise. Breathing is the second most important thing about playing a brass instrument after listening! Who knows how to breathe? Answer: everybody! But who thinks about breathing? Answer: no one, not all the time anyway! Ok then, let’s think about breathing: stand up and relax; lift your arms slowly above your head while taking in a deep breath, as much as you can squeeze in, then bring your arms slowly down and let the air out through your mouth while making a loose buzzing noise “brrrr”, and keep blowing out until you have no air left. Repeat a few times. Stop for a rest if you feel dizzy – sit down and breathe normally until you feel ok.

Now put your hand on your tummy, and breathe in as much as before. Suck that air right down into your tummy and feel it expand outwards pushing your hand out. That’s your diaphragm working – a muscle in your tummy that pulls downwards to suck the air into your lungs. Now breathe out, all the way like before and feel your tummy contract back in. Push all the air out until you have none left, and relax! Now you’re breathing like a brass musician!

During the half-time rest with a juice, we listened to “When the Saints Come Marching In”, played slowly, smoothly (“legato”) and quietly at first, then faster, louder and punchy (“staccato”) through the chorus. After a brief discussion on what we’d heard, everyone stood up and we started marching on the spot, stamping our feet to create a steady 1, 2, 1, 2 beat (left, right, left right) while Gavin played the chorus again in time to the rhythm.

It was also great to meet some of the parents from Balliol at their MacMillan Coffee Morning on Thursday, and we persuaded a few to like our Facebook page so they will see our updates! It’s really important that the children get encouragement at home, especially when we send them home with an instrument! Don’t worry, we’ll give them dusters to stuff in the end to dampen the noise!

 

Our second week went very well, and we are delighted to have Alex Lewis helping out at Burradon Community Primary. Alex is a very experienced professional music tutor and is helping and mentoring our volunteers as part of his contract with North Tyneside Music Education Hub. He’s already given us a few good ideas which we have used successfully at the other schools.

This week the children and adults learnt about the notes C and G and how to shape the mouth and lips to play low or high. Not everyone can do it yet, but this will come with practice. The easiest note to play seems to be a low C, and everyone can play one or the other. Next week we’ll introduce E and then it might be easier to go up from E to G and down from E to C?

Everyone had a go at conducting to a beat of 4 – we found clapping and shouting the numbers 1, 2, 3 , 4 worked best, but very impressively some of our children were able to keep time even when the conductor stopped – they were counting in their head just like a musician should!

To make sure we can give each learner some individual attention, we’re breaking into smaller groups depending on the number of tutors we have. We’ve also done exercises where the children can pair up or get into 3s and take turns at the exercises.

We’ve also found it helps to have a sit-down rest and a drink half way through while listening to a short performance by the tutors. We then have a discussion about what was played and what people heard e.g. was it slow or fast, loud or quiet, high or low, how did it make you feel, what’s the difference between a cornet and a trombone?

A total 49 children attended, 5 parents, 5 teachers and 6 tutors.

 

Our first week got the Brass in Schools project off to a great start.

The children wrote their name badges and we introduced ourselves. They will be learning to play either the cornet or trombone. We revised “buzzing” and had a go with the cornet mouthpieces, learnt how to hold a cornet correctly and started to play. Then everyone did the same with the trombones, and finally chose which instrument they wanted to learn. We also agreed some rules like “listen”; “don’t run or mess about”; “take care of the instruments”; “always ask when you don’t understand or are finding it hard, or have a question” and we agreed how to get everyone to quieten down, stop and listen.

At Burradon Community Primary on Tuesday, Gavin and Nicola led a session with 13 children, 2 parents and a teacher.

At Balliol Primary on Wednesday, Gavin and Karen got 14 children, 2 parents and 2 teachers (including the Head) started on their cornets and trombones.

And at Backworth Park Primary, Nicola, Karen, Leah and Gavin took 24 children, a teacher and a teaching assistant – quite a challenge. We also had a parent, but she is a fine brass player and is going to be another of our volunteer tutors when her DBS checks are completed!

So, if our maths is correct, that’s 51 children, 4 parents, 5 school staff, 4 music tutors and 1 parent/tutor…

We’re going to need more instruments!

Our planning workshop put the finishing touches to arrangements for next week’s big launch of our 3 after-school brass groups at Backworth Park, Balliol and Burradon Community Primary Schools.

With head teachers and designated teachers from all 3 schools, Julie Dorr from North Tyneside Music Education Hub and 4 of our volunteer music tutors, we had a great discussion, reviewed the plans and made sure we had the practical issues sorted.

We have taken delivery of 24 Tromba cornets (12 gold and 12 silver) and 12 Tromba trombones (6 red and 6 black) plus 25 music stands.

We’re now ready and very excited to make a start and welcome the children who, we hope, will be beginning a big adventure in music.

 

With the returns in from Burradon Community Primary, we now have a fantastic total of 44 children signed up for the after-school Brass Groups. We’ll be reminding children and sending further letters home in the first week of term, then starting the groups in the second week of term from end of the school day (about 3:20) until about 4:20-4:30:

Tuesday 13th September – Burradon Community Primary School (13 children signed up)

Wednesday 14th September – Balliol Primary School (8 children signed up)

Thursday 15th September – Backworth Park Primary School (23 children signed up)

Further to the previous post here are some photos from the demos at Burradon Community Primary School on Monday 4th July.

Another great afternoon of demos, this time to years 3, 4 and 5 at Burradon Community Primary School on Monday 4th July. Once again all the children who had a go (which is nearly all of them) managed to produce a note out of at least one of the instruments.

Nicola joined Gavin for the first time in running the demos. Nicola was able to tell the children that she had been a pupil at Burradon Primary. Of course, it was in the old school a few years before the wonderful new Community School was built!

Burradon has a proud heritage as an ex-pit village. The Burradon Colliery Band sadly folded a few years after the pit closed in 1975. The Burradon and Weetslade Colliery banner is in the process of being restored and will hang in the School Hall from September. A replica banner will be paraded at this year’s Durham Miners Gala on 9th July. We hope to rekindle the tradition of brass playing in Burradon, and you never know, maybe there will be a brass band in Burradon again soon!

 

North Tyneside Brass in Schools became on official organisation on Thursday 23rd June, when we met to finalise and agree the Aims and Objectives, Policies, Management structure and guidelines that form the main parts of our Governing Document.

We have elected a Management Committee consisting of:

Julie Dorr representing North Tyneside Music Education Hub, will act as Chairperson

Gavin Dudley representing Backworth Colliery Band, will act as Administrator and Treasurer

Carol Crerar, Head of Backworth Park Primary, representing the participating Schools

We also agreed to register as a Charitable Unincorporated Association.