Break time Brouhaha

 Brouhaha (noun), a word meaning a loud outcry or public commotion. I first heard this word as part of A'Level History. My teacher, Mr Plumbe, would come out with these words I'd never heard before that I loved the meaning of. I kept a glossary or some of them and whilst some of them, I never use in common parlance (nominal vassal, anyone?), this one cropped up as the word of the week for The Toy Press last week.   Funnily enough, I immediately thought of children all crowding around and causing a brouhaha and it brought me to mind of something that happened at school last week...

I was really sad about this as two weeks ago, what looked like the same slug had made an appearance outside the music room. I pointed him out to my children (Year 2 I think) and told everyone to be careful of him/her/it/ as they went past. I got paranoid about him getting stepped on so I placed a chair over where he was as a sort of warning.  The slug stayed generally put and was the cause of much discussion.  Later, when I had got a chance, fearing for the stampede of lunchtime, I decided to relocate the slug out of danger. Job well done.

When I saw what looked like the same slug on Monday last week, I told everyone in Year 4 to mind the slug and they were all very excited about it.  Sadly, I got distracted and forgot to put protection for the slug and when I came out at lunchtime, the slug was mashed into the ground, no doubt trodden all over.

Thus, I felt it needed to be immortalised in a slightly embellished version of the story.

For the record, slugs are usually my bitter enemies due to their fondness for the contents of my veg bed but in this case, no vegetables were at threat, so I feel much more benevolent towards my slimy friends.

On the subject of poems, I had another piece of joyous poetry-related news. I had another poem accepted for a print literary magazine called Little Thoughts Press in America.  I've made three previously unsuccessful submissions to this magazine so I am really happy they have accepted the poem I wrote for their Rituals and Traditions issue.  This poem was one I wrote last Summer which I am actually going to be using for a school performance in July as it is Performance Poetry, designed to be spoken aloud.

Hope you are having a great week.  I had an irritating day as we had a polling day at school for the local elections so we were given training to do from home which would have been fine except that the internet would not work on both my laptops and I spent about 2 hours trying to troubleshoot and make alternative devices work.  Our service providers have a lot to answer for making us swap to fibre cables from our old copper ones which worked perfectly well.

xx

The competition and some outfits!

 Greetings friends!

I hope that all is well with you.

Two years ago, I wrote blog post about my experience with my school choir at the Primary Choir of the Year final.  This year, I hoped, upon hope that we might get a placing.  I spent the last week being extremely worried about the announced strikes when I heard about them. I contacted the organisers of the festival who also didn't know about them.  They investigated changing the date and postponing but all decided to go ahead. I spent the week checking and rechecking the tube website to try and get definite information.  We investigated coaches but it was going to cost £350 ONE WAY for a journey that was fewer than 10 miles. Isn't that crazy!!?!?!? I have been thinking about little else for a week!  However, Tuesday morning after a stressful morning of Year 1's and Peter and the Wolf (they just keep talking!!!!) , the status update on TFL seemed to suggest that there was going to be Central line tubes past Stratford so I decided to go ahead with our planned Liz line and Central Line route.  Amazingly all the children had remembered their packed dinner and we set out to the train station happily.  I introduced some of the girls to Qwirkle on the train and when we got to Stratford, the train we needed was due in 6 minutes.  After a walk from the station, we arrived to the venue over an hour early but this was great! Happily, we were given absolutely the best dressing room which had loads of space and sofas and were right next to the loo with drinking water AND we could practice to our heart's content without anyone hearing us!  We went and did our practice on stage which went well and then we took the children out to play on the grass outside.

We interrupt this blog post for an outfit update!

Here's an outfit update from the holiday.  I wore a Clara jacket (Vinted) over the top of a charity-shopped Chianti and Parker stripy top plus my denim blue corduroy trousers. Cords and a stripy top are a standard for me!

Back to the report.  

We had a walk through with all the schools and it was dinner time.  I took the children up to their room. It was SO much nicer to have our own contained space with enough room. I felt so much more relaxed and happy than 2 years ago when we had a communal space and my kids were very annoying!

The concert began. 

The first school were really sweet. They sang two songs with cute actions. Although their didn't sing in harmony, they sang very nicely in tune. They sang Skimbleshanks and Anything you can do.  I thought they were really lovely but I thought that perhaps our programme was a bit more challenging

The second school sang a mashup of Viva La Vida plus a song called Dumba and were visually very impressive with some harmonies and great dynamics and some really lovely storytelling. Occasionally, they went a little sharp but I thought they were superb! I thought they were a cert for 2nd prize.

The third school were super sassy with a song I didn't know and then ABC. They were really confident and super fun but were a little out of tune. They didn't have lots of harmonies.

The fourth school started Somewhere only we go with the most gorgeous quiet blended sound and excellent dynamic contrast .  Their second song was also Anything you can do". It was super funny although a little bit out of tune.  They didn't have many/any harmonies but the song was very wordy and a lot to remember which they did very, very well.

At this point, we had to go back stage as it was time for us!  I was really sad not to be able to watch this school as they came second last time and they were singing 3 part harmony songs, Rise up singing and Jamie Mama.  I knew they would have a great chance of winning! They were my favourite for 1st prize.

Luckily, my kids were really well behaved so I opened the stage door so we could listen in on them and just as expected, they were excellent in all aspects of their singing.

It was our turn.

Myself and D, walked onto the stage. D to play drum and myself to conduct.

My children walked on singing 'Viva La Musica' a Renaissance 3-part round.  They sang confidently, walked into their places without any mistakes and watched me well.

We launched into the most risky song of the performance, a 3 and a half minute arrangement I had done of Congolese folk song, Si si Si Dolada.  It was risky because it was completely unaccompanied, they had to stay in tune and in time without any piano support and they constantly changed what they had to do.  They sang antiphonal drones with clapping, alternating between the melody and drone.  They then returned to unison, sang in a 3 part round, then sang in unison and split into 3 teams with a melody and counter melody then ended together.  I was SO proud of them as they stayed perfectly in time, didn't go out of tune and remembered everything.

Next, we sang Morning Song by Philip Godfrey.   They sang delicately and beautifully, followed all my dynamic leading and their harmonies were balanced really nicely.

Finally, we ended with a song by Peter Jenkyns, a story telling song with actions about a Wizard in a picture book.   They dynamic changes were excellent.

I was so proud of them and really felt we had a chance at 3rd prize with the contrasts and the challenge of being the only choir to sing unaccompanied.

Alas, it was not to be.  The judges gave feedback and I did feel a little patronized by their feedback, with the opening gambit being "This choir has potential". You know when you are the only ones to hear that, that you are not in with a shot. But perhaps they wanted 2 longer songs, not 4 shorter ones. I felt really deflated because honestly, I did think we deserved 3rd place but apparently, showing the skill of totally singing unsupported and the changes wasn't enough.

The two schools I thought would get 2nd and 1st did indeed get that- well deserved.

I was surprised by the 3rd place school. They DID do gorgeously quiet singing but I didn't feel they showed any skill of harmony singing and were a little shouty but I am not a judge and it's perhaps hard for me to feel impartial (though two years ago, I judged it perfectly!)

The end of the concert was lovely with hearing one of my past pupils who is now in Year 7 singing in the Youth Choir. They sang superbly! She came and gave me a massive hug and acted like a total celebrity to all my choir who used to really look up to her. I am SO pleased she chose to continue with her singing at a higher level! I do hope some of my children continue to do this when they leave me.

When we came down the stairs, our parents were all waiting and they burst into applause. It was so sweet! It made my feeling of sadness abate somewhat.  It was an amazing experience for all my children! The organiser came up to me at the end and she said to me, "Don't be sad, I adore your choir. They were superb and they were the only ones to make me cry." She thought we had a chance at placing. She was very sweet and told me that the head of the music service would consider funding me on a conducting course which was kind.

I got home around 10.30pm

I continued to feel sad all the way home and did shed a few tears. I'm not sure why I was so affected this time. The organiser sent me another lovely couple of texts and the next day, my Headteacher told me she agreed with my judgement too and though we deserved 3rd too. Ah well.

The girls in one class were adorable and all 4 came up to me in front of the whole class and told me they were proud of me and thank you so much for all my hard work. It was such a touching moment!

I am pleased to say that I had a superb day of lessons at school. I taught the year 5's about chord sequences and had such positive outcomes and my Year 6's did some great performances too!

We end this blog post with another holiday outfit. I was SO chuffed to find this gorgeous embroidered cotton muslin dress in a charity shop for £4 over the holiday. I love it!

Hope you have a lovely week!

Try January

Ang was talking about her word for the year of 2026. She has a word she tries to make the focus of her year. I've not really done one before but as I read her post, I had a feeling that mine should be either be Gentle Gratitude or Reconnection.  Funnily enough, I saw the word reconnect in several contexts that day. 

Later on, I was talking to my Headteacher and Assistant head in the staff meeting on Wednesday about an assembly they did where they talked about not having resolutions but having something called Try January where they said you could try something new in January but it didn't necessarily have to stick or be permanent although you might find something that DOES stick.  (Hilariously, one of the teachers thought they were talking about Dry January to the children, which caused some consternation!).  I mentioned that I have been thinking about gratitude and saying I had decided to try and write a minimum of 5 things or small moments, most days, in a notebook so I could try and focus on positives which then gave me something to read back on when I wanted to. They liked this idea.  As I took the train home, having left my phone at home and not having my book, I decided to write a poem with some ideas for the children.

I hope you enjoy Try January and perhaps you might get inspiration from it, even if perhaps tying shoelaces isn't a new thing for you!

Try January

 

In January, I always find I fail at resolutions

They pile the pressure, hard to maintain, too much expectation.

This year, I think, I’d rather choose to ‘Try January’ instead.

Try something new for a short while, perhaps this attempt might spread?

Doesn’t have to be a forever thing, be open to giving it a go.

If you fail, don’t have to tell, no one has to know.

A gratitude diary for example, write 5 small wins each day.

Caught your bus, yummy wrap for lunch, scored a goal at play.

Try reading 10 pages most days, or talking to someone new.

Sign up for choir, learn to love peas, try a new hair do.

Try wearing yellow, draw a horse, learn times-tables, 5’s and 2’s

Try chess, go swimming, bake a cake, aim to tie my shoes.

Phone an old friend, reconnect, ACTUALLY practice the piano.

Learn to write calligraphy, choose a plant to grow.

Try meditation for quelling anger, attempt to sew a button on.

Visit the library, write a poem, learn the lyrics of that song.

Speak positively rather than moan, put my hand up if I’m shy.

The aim is not perfection BUT the aim’s just try, try, try!

If the new thing doesn’t stick, that’s fine, you knew it was only temporary.

But you might just be at the start of something great, if you just TRY January!

The last week

 The past week has been fun in some ways and had some lovely moments. I made it home eventually on Tuesday after missing my train stop when writing my last blog post. I was very tired the next morning and the Elizabeth Line decided to play nasty so I arrived at school with only about 5 minutes before I was due to leave for the church with 50 children to rehearse for our Christmas carol service.  Luckily, I had absolutely everything ready so we were able to leave pretty much on time.

The rehearsal in the morning went well and we had worked most things around, the kids behaved and we got back to school in time.  When we came back, I had to spend most of lunchtime chasing children out of the hall who had not listened to the message, "You need to come up the hall when I come outside and play a drum very loudly!"  They get so ridiculously hyper before a trip. All sense goes out of the window! It's sweet but exhausting! Usually, they ask about a million superfluous and ill-timed questions so when I did my usual pre-trip safety and rules talk, I prewarned them that questions really weren't urgent and in a joky way told them that I would be patient for a certain number of questions but they should really try to think about what questions they might ask as I might bite their head off at question number 11 and it would be nothing personal but getting everything set up is stressful. I said it in a humorous way but they understood what I was saying and it worked as I barely had any questions!  The two Ukrainian girls walking behind me gleefully counted the 6 superfluous questions that one of the boys behind them asked and I asked him, "Is this really urgent!" and he then realised he was just flapping and refrained! It was really funny.  The rehearsals went well for the younger children too and we got back to school in time.  After our staff meeting, I went to CBC's school concert to watch. It was nice to see it and I was glad to be there for him.

Thursday, I spent most of the day teaching Year 5 about Hildegard Von Bingen and starting work on the Baroque with Year 6 as well as a Singing Practice with all of Year 5-6.  

After school, I had a choir rehearsal.  Usually, I get the children a chocolate Santa lolly at Christmas but we're not supposed to give edible treats to kids now.  A while back, I had gone through my jewellery collection and collected a whole load of pin badges, mini pendants and a few other bits to potentially sell at the School fair to raise funds for music projects but I just decided to give them to the kids as gifts. I told them that the gift was second-hand and I really believe in eco-presents, that you don't need to give something brand new. I told them that everything belonged to me and I would like to share.  I couldn't believe how excited and happy they were to own something of mine- they loved the fact that every single one was unique.  It made me feel really happy that I had given them to the children! It was a lovely feeling.

I came home and CBC and I watched a really fun mini series with Rowan Atkinson called Man versus Baby! It was touching and funny!

On Friday, I had two final practices with the children as well as my Year 6 lessons and then it was the school fair after school.  I was on the raffle stall which was a good one to be on.  My colleague ended up swapping to come and sit with me and we had a really, really good chat, talking to each other about things.  She told me something she hasn't told anyone which made me incredibly sad (what it was about) but so touched and happy that she trusted me.  

I had a quick look in the grotto. It was truly magical. My Headteacher's partner is a genius.  The design is planned all year and the library is transformed into something so magical! I will try to share a video and some pics so you can see how breathtaking it is!!!

When I got back, CBC was home and we somehow cobbled together some noodles and CBC and my sister's boyfriend worked out some crazy last minute plan to go out on Saturday.

Saturday, I spent most of the morning tidying and cleaning and then C and our friend T and I went to a new cafe in our town for a cup of tea and cake. I visited the local charity shop.  I ended up buying a few of their new goods for some presents for people as well as thinking I was buying CBC a nice shirt- it turned out to be a women's shirt when I get home! At that point, my sister and her boyfriend arrived. We had a cup of tea back home and then we headed out to Westcliff in Southend for a Thai meal and then went to watch the Cinderella Pantomime at the Cliffs Pavillion.   I've never been there before for a show. It was fun but I felt like Rylan (who was the fairy godfather) and (Ross King as Buttons) had a lot of stage time and there wasn't so much emphasis on the story and Cinderella.  It was fun and it was a great production but I just felt there was less of a balance on characters.

The next morning, I set my alarm for 7.45am and then got the train to my old church who were celebrating their 60th anniversary! I was playing flute for the worship band. It was so nice to see everyone and it was a lovely service.  We had a wonderful dinner afterwards.  The Bishop of Bradwell came later and amazingly remembered who I was, even though we'd only met briefly at my own church 3 weeks ago. He told me later, that he remembered who I was when I saw my blue Brompton as I'd met him first whilst wheeling my bike into church!

I got the train home and then CBC and I went to get some shopping for his college sharing lunch tomorrow. He's currently making chaos in the kitchen (which was, SOB, tidy and cleaned by me yesterday!) cooking a potato sharing platter.  I'm watching a film on Netflix and trying not to worry about the carol services at school tomorrow!  I am sure they will go really well but it's just nerves!  

Year 3-4 in the morning, Year 5-6 in the afternoon- 180 children each time. 

Then CBC's carol service rehearsal after school. I'm very glad it's just the rehearsal and not the actual carol service- three in one day would be a bit much!

xx

Happy things

As I have often discussed (and I know I am preaching to the converted here!) that to count ones blessings, joys, small victories, happy moments, frissons of the day is to make one's self happier and more contented.So here are a few recent ones...(some of these were written a few weeks ago so the timing may sound odd)

• I was really nervous about my school appraisal.  I was going to have to meet with my Headteacher to go through it and he's notorious for being quite particular with it. I sent through my filled out review and appendices of evidence.  His opening repartee was, "Out of all the appraisals I have read and gone through in the past two days, yours is the most succinct and to the point" and he ticked my targets off with no further comments and gave me some lovely praise on the things I'd done. We also talked about targets for this year which sound quite cool and linked to our school development plan. I was so happy. My colleague had told me that they had done theirs on Chat GPT.  I told him how mine had gone and jokily said, "Screw you, Chat GPT!" to which they roared with laughter!
• We held our second session of Orchestra today and I took all the glockenspiels, metallophones, harp players, timpani and untuned percussion players to work with them alone whilst the conductor took the flutes, violins, celli, recorders, clarinets and piano. I was so pleased because what I did really benefitted them and they all felt really pleased and proud of themselves with what they had achieved.  This made me feel good.
• I am taking some kids from school to watch the LSO in November and so I held the first if 2 workshops to prepare them for Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz.  I invited 48 children.  Suddenly realised that we would not all fit in the music room so was on standby to see if we had to cart instruments over to the hall.  Well, 32 students replied and so I had the perfect number.  One child, who I was absolutely certain would not be allowed to come for reasons, was able to come! The euphoria on her face when she told me that her mum had said YES was an utter joy for me, as much as it was for her!  
• I held the first workshop on Wednesday and we had a really good session- the children were super positive about it, you could tell they were delighted to be working with children who were of a similar level of competence who wanted to be there and get on with it- we all had a lovely time and time flew!
• We are trying to work on diversifying our curriculum, representation of our communities in books, activities etc and I was put on the perfect team for - racial literacy- the book side of it.  We have a Barnado's charity shop near us that often gets donations of brand new books from bookshops and often they have a sale on them. I went in and they had a flash sale where ALLbooks were reduced to 50p and I managed to find 12 books, 10 of which were ALL written by writers of diverse backgrounds or featuring characters from diverse backgrounds, 3 of which were signed by the author!  I also found a few others in the charity shop- it was great I was there JUST when these books were!
• Last Wednesday, I had a rehearsal with Orchestra of the City- I had forgotten my stand- I texted the fixer- he said he'd bring me a spare. I realised I'd forgotten my piccolo too!  Luckily, I have a spare one at school- the one I had since I was 11. It turned out that, even though it is not such good quality- it was perfectly in tune on the really quiet high notes at the end of Also Sprach Zarathustra which we were playing.  The next Wednesday, I'd also forgotten my stand.  The fixer brought one as he had a feeling I might forget!
• The concert for this was last night- film music and Also Sprach and it was AMAZING! It went so well. We also played the Slipper and the Rose waltz which is an absolute childhood favourite!!!! I wasn't supposed to play in this one but because it had alto flute in it, I ended up playing it as the lovely 2nd flautist doesn't have one and asked me to play instead!  Also Sprach went SO well and the scary, scary chords that are so hard to tune at the end were amazing! My piccolo was in tune and my lip didn't shake!!!
• My choir numbers have gone up. I now have 18 in Year 3-4 choir and 23 in Year 5-6 choir. We are loving it so far and I've thought up some new fun games and activities to do at the end which they are really enjoying. Drumming club is still only 8 though...
• Shouldn't be buying anything but I have been wanting this t-shirt from Hello Dodo for ages that has 'Meangulls'- on it- I love homophone puns.  It was in their Super Seconds sale last Saturday in my size! It arrived today and I love it!
• Lovely Supply Teacher was in on Monday and we were singing the Aurora orchestra's Bright Eyes which is based on the theme from Shepherd Song from Beethoven's Pastoral symphony and she loved it so much and was singing along. I shared the resource link with her and we had a lovely chat. It's so nice to meet lovely people!
• I'm really enjoying BBC Radio 3 this morning!
• Did I say that I got to meet my blog friend from back in the 2010's, Sarah Ziman.  She used to blog at Lakota, Faith, Hope and Charity shopping.  She came to do poetry workshops at my school. We went for a drink after and it was so nice to meet her!
• I was in a hurry on Wednesday night and had no time to divert to get some dinner and also didn't want to spend any/much money. I was cycling to the station and I was passing a Costa. I don't like chain coffee branches but I suddenly remembered a child had given me a £20 Costa voucher for a present and it was in my purse. I ran in and found their toasties were 50% off so I got dinner for £2.50 and I didn't have to spend money!
• I have Kensington Chamber Orchestra's concert tonight and my BiL and his partner are coming to watch (fingers crossed no plans change!)
• In Orchestra, I have a very musical girl who I asked to join on clarinet but she was very reluctant to come.  She left her clarinet at school on Thursday so it was here for orchestra. I promised her I'd bring my own clarinet to play with her.  On Friday, we went through it- I was pretty terrible but she seemed to perk up and we went through the clarinet part with the 2 clarinets and it felt really positive!
• I've got 2 Year 4 boys on the case with scrap paper saving- they are recycling bin monitors and now, whenever they find any paper which is in good condition with one blank side, they bring it to me and put it in my box so I have a massive supply of paper to print all my worksheets onto- so I am reusing old paper!  This is making my life easier!
• Read a LOVELY Children's book called Song of the Far Isles by Nicholas Barling which was all about music and really enjoyed it! I've read a few good books with a musical link/theme recently! May do a post on them!

Right, better get on with getting ready for Kensington Concert!

xx

The rainbow dress strikes back!

Hello there!

Before I start waffling, here's some music for you to listen to. I've not heard this piece by the English Composer, Gustav Holst (he of the Planets!) before but I was delighted by the opening music between viola and flute.

The term has ended and the last week went well.

The school concert went really well without too many mishaps and most of the children and their parents turned up. We started 15minutes late so it overran but I was really proud of how well the children performed.   

One delightful thing that occurred was that I applied for a scholarship for one of my year 5 boys who we have been partly funding for flute lessons this year. He has really taken to it and worked hard and I wanted to ensure that he would be able to carry on after he left me so I applied to the London Music Fund and to my delight, he was selected to receive funding for lessons for 4 years.  Such an opportunity for him!

I bought the children involved in the concert choc-ices (the only ice-cream/lolly product which comes in no plastic packaging!)  to say thank you for their hard work and I was delighted with the serendipity that I had bought just enough for everyone AND enough to give one also to the children who had helped out and done extra jobs like putting away my singing assembly things each week and for tidying up the music room.

At the weekend, CBC and I went to camp in Snowdonia for the weekend.  I had a stinking cold but had a gorgeous time and will share some photos soon.

I bade a sad goodbye to CBC this evening as he drove off to Portsmouth to catch the overnight ferry to France.  We are to be parted for 2 weeks as we do different things - he is a checkpoint monitor for the Transcontinental Cycling Race and I am to go to music camp.

Enough waffling, I found some photos from last Summer (on my lost camera which turned up- it was in the walking rucksack!!!) of when I styled the Madras check dress in yet another way.

Let's have a look:

I wore the dress with its V-beck crossover side which I rarely wear as I prefer the straight one but I wore it the other way round here.

I added my pink Peri top underneath with a matching pink rose in my hair and a pink belt.

I added my red polka dot skirt underneath to give an extra layer of pattern to the dress

I decided to hoik up the hem of the dress on one side to see if that gave another dimension to this.

I am not 100% sure I liked this outfit totally but certainly it was different from how I've worn it on other occasions!

Plus my George @Asda blue and gold velvet pumps!

I've been practicing for our flute recital on Friday

Very excited as we've practised lots! I HOPE people come to watch especially as my friend Tony is coming from Kent as we are performing his beautiful arrangement of Debussy Petite suite for two flutes and piano for the first time.

x

 

Eyes on you

CBC was away at DoE Silver Expedition from Saturday to Monday. I was awoken around 5am by him frantically scouring the house for his belongings to pack and as he kissed me goodbye at 6.50am, I asked him if he'd made himself lunch. He hadn't so there I was at 6.51am, running downstairs in my nightie to make him sandwiches and salad.

I then spent the next few hours until 3pm tidying and cleaning our very messy house and doing washing.  At 3pm, having quickly packed, I walked to the station and made my way to Kent to stay at my Dad's house.  He picked me up from Ebbsfleet and I discovered my sister had sent him along with a cup of tea in an insulated cup to drink on the journey back to their home.  What a nice surprise! Dad and I ate some crisps in the car and made our way over there.   After some chat, we had a lovely Dine in Meal from the Three Sisters restaurant at Chart Farm which was amazing!  After dinner, my sister and I played a game of Qwirkle.  We got to a very exciting moment where we realised someone could score 31 points in one go and annoyingly, I had 2 of the three pieces needed for this when she got the piece I needed!  Luckily, we both like a visually pleasing Qwirkle board so we agreed to a few movements to make it look pleasing!

We went off to bed and woke around 9am. 

My little sister has a real way with describing garments.  As in, she makes them sound hideous. I am always really sceptical when she describes a new item she has bought to me and when I finally see it, it's usually very nice!  So, when I was describing to her what I was going to wear for the birthday barbecue, I asked her if I should try and describe it to her in her style. She was highly amused and told me to go ahead. 

"Well, it's a jumpsuit that kind of has really baggy legs.  It's coloured in bright coloured splotches all over it and it's also got weird eyes and suns on it."

Here's what I wore for the family barbecue.  I have loved this jumpsuit from Emily and Fin for ages and when Emily and Fin recently stopped trading, I was really sad as I really like their clothes so when I saw this on Vinted for £14, I grabbed it whilst I could.  My sister was wearing a cardigan that day that really matched it, so I stole it to wear!

This is the cardie I was really wearing!

My older sister, husband and my niece joined us around 12am and we ate lots of delicious food. Of course, we had a game of Qwirkle.  It was a really pleasing game with everyone playing nicely and aiming for fat chunks of tiles! There were numerous Qwirkles.  There was a hilarious moment where there were two positions to get double Qwirkles in one go.  My younger sister got one and then, everyone was waiting for the Yellow cross tile to complete the other one. 

It was hilarious because my sister's boyfriend placed his tile and got it to the utter frustration of my niece and older sister whose turns were next WHO HAD ALSO PICKED OUT A YELLOW CROSS!  It was hilarious! I came second place by 4 points!

My sister drove me back and I ended up finishing the cleaning by washing the tiled floors!  

Monday, I had a good day at school and had a lovely surprise when I went back to the music room with my Drumming Club as 3 of my old Sad Frog crew, T, T and A were waiting there to see me!  Hilariously, A wrote a message on my board like she used to.

Today, school was also a good day teaching the Year 3's about Reggae.

After school, I came back to the Music room and there were my girls again.  I had no club and they weren't in a hurry so they stayed for 20minutes for a chat before going home! It was so, so lovely to see them and they filled me in on all the gossip from Secondary School.  I feel so honoured that they still want to come and see me this time of year. Usually, they become too school for school!

I had my hair cut in Hexham in the half term and the hairdresser had styled it really nicely and my younger sister kindly styled it for me again!  She always used to love doing my hair from a young age and she still likes doing it!

Here's a picture of my Great, Great Grandfather which my dad discovered and showed me when I was over there! He's from the English side of the family.  We had some interesting chats about my paternal family.  

For instance, I may have mentioned that my Grandmother was Greek.  What I now understand is that the family lived in Turkey in Istanbul when she was young but because of difficulties over Greek people being in Turkey at that time, essentially, they were sort of refugees who ended up in Egypt.  My Great Grandfather was a very respected Civil Engineer in Turkey before he left so he got work very easily in Egypt as did the rest of the family who all were scientists of sorts. I need to talk to my dad more about his family past as I found it very interesting!  Then lots of that side of the family moved to South America which I had no idea about!

I have an orchestra rehearsal tomorrow with Orchestra of the City who I haven't played with since last July (apart from covering a few rehearsals last October).

Hope you are well!

xx

VE day outfits

On VE day, we were invited to come to school dressed in either 1940's inspired outfits or the coluors of the Union flag.

I decided to go with the latter option

I started with the white blouse. It is one I charity shopped a year ago or so. I really like it but I don't know where it originally came from.

Next, I added the red skirt which is my Romana cosplay one- it was second hand.

Next was the blue Monsoon cardigan which I've had for a long time and my Clarks Funny Dream shoes from Vinted.

Add my red beret (Primark charity shopped) and this Collectif nautical necklace (which I ended up lending to our Assistant Head as she was wearing nautical trousers with star fish and lobsters on in these colours!) .

I loved the combo.

At playtime, I was on duty and ended up chatting to M, a lovely, quirky, individual.  I looked at her outfit and admired it.  I then looked at it again and said, "Actually, I HAVE this outfit at home! I could totally come to school tomorrow wearing this outfit!"

And so the next day, I came to school dressed in the outfit (the outfit above!).  I walked past her classroom on my way to the Staff room and the door was open. I hissed her name as her teacher did the register. She looked at me quizzically and I pointed at my outfit.  She looked puzzled at first and suddenly sheer delight and incredulity spread over her face. I waved and carried on with my journey.

At playtime later, I saw her and said, "What do you think!".  She was so sweet and said, "I AM HONOURED!!!"  Haha, it was funny to do this and I think it made her smile!

On the actual VE day, we had an all school, outdoor assembly with poetry reading and sang 3 songs I'd taught.  Of course, despite all my best laid plans, technology failed us and the boombox stalled on the backing tracks I had prepared.  Ah well, we persevered without them!

Hope all is well with you!

x

Trumpeting for joy!

 It's been a good day! 

I woke up early, ahead of my alarm-clock (although on that subject, I MISS sleeping through the night- whhhy, can't I sleep?!?!) and managed to phone my Doctor's to get an appointment for today.  I then left early and made it into Lidl before school to get some breakfast and also picked up a Good-to-Go £1.50 veg/fruit box which I haven't seen in a while.   It wasn't hugely full but it had Broccoli (which alone is around £1 recently), lettuce, a few oranges, satsumas, plums and a few potatoes.

I got to school and took Singing assembly for Reception, Year 1 and 2 and then it was time for the rescheduled lesson which was being filmed by Anglia Ruskin university for their BEd in Primary Teaching course.  I am pleased to say that the children were absolutely fantastic and they were really enthusiastic and worked really hard.  I would be proud for people to watch that lesson. I was teaching the children about The Baroque Sonata and Domenico Scarlatti.

We started with a recap of their feedback from their Chiaccona performances last week and then I introduced them to Domenico Scarlatti.  Fun facts for you: He was born in the same year as J.S Bach and G.F. Handel  and was the son of a composer, Alessandro Scarlatti.  He was born in Italy but moved to Spain with his patron later in life.  He took part in a contest with Georg Handel to find out who was the better keyboard player. Whilst Handel was declared the master of the organ, Domenico was acclaimed as being as equally good at the Harpsichord as Handel.  He was a real virtuoso!

I introduced them to the structure of the Sonata and then we listened to this one and answered some questions about it. After that, we composed a piece of music in Binary form as a class, which we performed and they did a superb performance which they were really proud of.  M, the lecturer from AR was really impressed and couldn't believe what my Year 6's achieved in the lesson.   I may also go to the University next year to teach a lesson to the undergraduate students which is exciting!

After that, I had my second class who also produced a great piece. This made me happy as the 3rd class, who I have on Thursday afternoons, were very apathetic and disengaged, though their performance was ok.

At lunch, orchestra had a good rehearsal and then I ate a delicious combination of Hummus and pomegranate seeds on toast (another staff member didn't want her large pot of seeds- I am the staff room dustbin) .

In the afternoon, after some PPA time, I collected my Guided Reading group who are always excited to see me and we had our session outside.  We had a great session. Just one moment where I went into spasmodic coughing and the children were sitting there, saying, "Are you ok?  Oooh, you're really red! You have tears running down your face!" I had to go and get water. As they said how worried they were, I made some macabre joke about how it wouldn't have been fun if their music teacher had died in front of them. One of them said, "Hmmmm, that would make a good story..." and later, another one said she was going to write said story! I am happy to be writing inspiration, no matter how dark!

After my group, I headed homeward for my appointment and came home.  

Now had to do some work tidying my house as my younger sister and her boyfriend are coming over tomorrow.  It's lovely because I saw my older sister last night as she came over because my niece goes to a trampolining session in my town!

I had some really exciting (for me!) news two days ago which I'm not allowed to share yet but I hope to soon!

Here to finish is my poem for the week.  The brief word was 'Trumpet'.  I actually used this word the other week but I came up with the standard use of the word. Not my favourite poem I've ever written but I suppose it will do!

Trumpet

I love to play the trumpet,

Yes, it’s great ‘cause it’s so loud!

Doesn’t matter if I’m shy,

My sound is justly proud!

I love it ‘cause I get to make,

A silly raspberry sound,

I’ll buzz my lips in the mouthpiece,

And all sounds will be drowned!

They’re played for royal fanfares

That will introduce a king,

By soldiers in smart uniforms,

Attention they will bring.

It plays in Jazz and Classical,

In Reggae and in Pop.

You only have 3 valves to press,

That’s really not a lot,

It’s shiny, golden, not too heavy,

Though tubing’s metres long,

Its sound comes from a shiny bell

Though doesn’t play ‘Ding-dong’.

You get to use these things called mutes,

That modify your sound,

You can be heard above a band

For miles and miles around.

I might go rather red in face,

When playing without rests,

But I will say forever more,

That Trumpets are the best!

@KezzieSquirrel

Hope all is well with you!

xx

This week

Hi there,

Hope all is well with you.

I'm pleased to say that Tuesday was without Vomiting.   Or any other accidents.  The concert went well and the children enjoyed it.  I was a bit stressed about timings and things but the parents and children had a great time.  I have to say that the children behaved really well and they were really patient considering lots of things overran.  We didn't get back to school until 11.10pm but we were incredibly lucky as we were one of the first schools to be called to go and we were really close to all the exits. I marched the kids straight out of the Albert Hall without any toilet trips (it was a bit of a gamble, I'll be honest! But it paid off) and our coach driver had found a prime position parking spot and we were off immediately.  My friend's school's coach didn't get till 11.50pm.  My assistant Head dropped me off at my interchange station and I JUST made the train at 00.08.  I got home just before 1am!

The next day, my Head teacher kindly said I could come in for second lesson and I spent the rest of the day teaching year 4 which was probably the best day to have on such a late night as I felt like I had a hangover! Dehydration I think.  Spent the day teaching year 4 Rocky Mountain.

We had to go to another school for our INSET training and as it is close to my Godmother's house, that's when I saw her after it.

Today was nearly all Year 5 composing sea shanties. I think I've finally perfected that lesson after 15 years of teaching it!

Here's my poem this week for the Toy Press' word of the week:  Pet. I'm also writing another one which is more memories.

My Mum and older sister didn't like it or get it.  My niece and old work colleague enjoyed it. 

My different pets

 

My cat who always farts.

TRUMPET?

My budgie who eats messily.

CRUMPET?

My guinea-pig who loves journeys in the Porsche.

CARPET? 

My dog who will never grow up.

PUPPET? 

My bunny who has no energy.

LIMPET? 

My hamster who enjoys sky-diving.

PARAPET?

  This weekend, we have a 90th birthday party for a lovely friend from Music Camp! I've not been there this time of year before! I  am looking forward to it!

Hope all is well with you.

xx

Marching into Christmas song

It's time for my Annual song sharing!

I don't know if there is any one new out there reading this blog but in case you are new, I have a Christmas tradition that every year, I compose a new Christmas song for my school Christmas carol service.  I made a list of all the songs I have written this year and there are 19! So next year will be my big 20th special! I need some new inspiration for lyrics and subject matter as I have got many aspects of the Christmas story covered but I'm not worried. Something always comes to mind!

This year, I decided I wanted to write a song for the younger children. Out of the carols/songs I have written, only 3 of them have been written for the younger children (FYI, these songs are: 5 little snowflakes for Foundation Stage, Christmas, Christmas for Year 1-2 and Caesar wants a census for Year 3-4.  This year, I decided to pen a piece for Years 3-4 choir.  Last year, we sang a very simple song called See the Star of Bethlehem which is a very simple round.  I got the children to march from the back of the church to the front and they loved it.  So, I decided I wanted a Marching song.  Immediately, I decided that it would be called Marching into Christmas and would introduce all those who travelled to Bethlehem for the nativity- Mary and Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men and also include the prophets who foretold Bethlehem.  In the end, rather than doing anything particularly clever, noteworthy or interesting with the structure, it is a simple Verse-chorus structure  with a very simple coda added.  It needed to have a strong beat, be in simple 2/4 time and the children would march to the chorus.

I came up with the first 2 lines on holiday in Belgium

I then got stuck for a while and worked out the first verse the 2nd week back

The third week, I worked out the other lyrics and the piano part for the chorus and at the last minute, wrote the verses.

When we first taught it to the kids, they seemed to like the chorus but the words seemed a bit tricky for them.

However, they returned a week later full of enthusiasm and seemed to get it. The children who struggled with reading (I had 2 SEND 1:1 children in choir and a few who struggle with reading) and they really engaged with the chorus and marching so I was glad to have made the chorus the way it was.

Here they are singing it. It's a little bit rough and ready but I hope you can hear the enthusiasm!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

Searching for the new King promised long ago,

Let us join them boldly, joyful in our hearts,

Anyone is welcome, evermore!

1. Prophecies were made first, they foresaw Bethlehem,

Teaching the Messiah was born in Bethlehem,

The birthplace of King David, the place where he'd be found,

Come along and seek him, come and seek that king!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

2. Mary then and Joseph, seeking Bethlehem, 

Made their way so humbly on from Nazareth,

Travelling for the census at the time of birth,

Everyone was searching, searching for that place!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

3.  Shepherds from the fields were sent by heavenly hosts

They obeyed the summons, to greet the new born King,

Bringing gifts of lambs, they hurried on their way.

Everyone was welcome, welcome in that place!

Refrain: Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

4. Wise men next they journeyed, following a star,

travelling from the East, they travelled from afar

First they sought King Herod, his scribes they told the way,

Everyone was welcome, welcome, come and see!

Marching into Christmas seeking Bethlehem,

Searching for the new King promised long ago,

Let us join them boldly, joyful in our hearts,

Anyone is welcome, 

EVERYONE is welcome, 

You are all most welcome,

Evermore!

Bonus for anyone who plays the piano or fancies a sing along, here's a little play along video of it

Here are songs from previous years:

Star in the Sky

Sing a song of Celebration

Joy

Hope this Christmas

Love is all you need

Mary 

Feel the Christmas beat

Join in our story

Ring out the bells

Shepherds Swing

The innkeepers rant

This year, we also resang 2 songs which have never appeared on blog before, From the East  and Caesar wants a census so let me know if you fancy me sharing those?

xx

Snail-smoocher

 On Friday, I ended up on afternoon playground duty with Year 1 and 2.  One cheerful little boy came up to me and informed me he had done something most unusual.

In honour of this bizarre and hilarious moment, I wrote a triolet poem

Snail-smoocher

Noel told me he’d kissed a snail

He told me ooh so proudly!

Did he peck its head or smooch its tail?

Noel told me he’d kissed a snail.

I wondered if it left a trail?

Did it protest at the affection loudly?

Noel told me he’d kissed a snail

He told me ooh so proudly!

K.Allin-Garner 

October 2024

The Delightful Tale of Sad Frog

 One of the sweetest and loveliest elements of this year at school was the lovely rapport I had with some of my girls in one particular year 6 class. This class were really enthusiastic musically. They worked well in teams, were dedicated to achieving their best in music, practically all could sing in tune, at least half were part of music clubs and they were cohesive as a class.  There were a few girls in particular, who were especially loyal. Many was the day where I'd be sitting at my computer at lunchtime when one of them would appear at the door saying, "THERE YOU ARE! Mrs P I've been looking for you everywhere!"  On other occasions, I would walk into my room and find one of them standing on the step looking at my book collection in the dark (I have a personal library which certain kids borrow from- I say certain- there were about 30 of them borrowing...).  She'd laugh as I jumped! I'd find notes on my desk asking me if I could be their walking partner on a school trip; at the end of my music lessons, they'd stay behind and hang out.

One thing they all loved is my little shelf of cute items.  I had cow bells, music box mechanisms, A-Z of music instruments, toilet roll bunny and mostly importantly, Sad Frog.

Sad Frog was a birthday present from my friend Lara last year.   Lara sells her crochet toys on Etsy and in order to be compliant with safety, legally, for selling to children, you need to do certain tests on certain products.  This is called CE testing and you can read about it here.  The main two tests are hanging weights, up to 10kg on eyes to ensure a child could not bite them off and setting fire to the wool.  Lara posted Sad Frog on Insta after she'd tested him. I asked what would happen to him and she said, she couldn't sell him.  I said I'd give him a home and he came to be on my Birthday with a bow round his neck. Her retail models have happy faces but Sad Frog, the first of his kind, has a sad face because of his mistreatment.

When I decided to take him to school to keep there, as I had my music room back, often children would pick him up and ask why he was sad. I would always explain about CE testing to them. They've all met Lara, as she came to school to play the piano for us last year, so they all liked the link.

When we started going on trips with choir/drumming, the girls asked if they could bring him on the trip and he could be our choir mascot.  I thought this was sweet so I agreed and subsequently, he's been on every trip, watched every concert and performance.  Three children in particular, always pick him up every time they are in the music room.

Around about 12 weeks ago, when I decided to retake the Drumming Club photo, I noticed a photo bomb....

As we've got nearer to the end of term, my girls kept fretting about leaving and not wanting to go.

In their DT lessons, they were asked to design and make an embroidery which would be an important memory of their time in school.

I delightedly found out, that Sad Frog made it into TWO embroideries:

How sweet are their write ups!!!

The next adorable thing was that one of them decided to write Sad Frog's story!  I unfolded her book (I haven't copied the front cover as it has her name on it but it's very cute:

One point, I should mention is that the 7 girls who spent a lot of time with me, had been extremely helpful and loyal. 2 of them were orchestra managers- they organised the orchestra set up, chased missing children, took the register, filed the music, gave out music to those who had forgotten, kept me up to date on what needed more photocopying.  In addition, they all, on quite a few occasions, helped me tidy and move things and also acted as TAs in my Year 1 and 2 music lessons during their lunch breaks on many occasions (one of them, the one who wrote the story book, stayed all afternoon with me last week to teach the same lesson 3 times.  She genuinely acted as a teacher, giving feedback, explaining and the suchlike.)  At this point, I knew that I had to give them something special as a thank you.

I contacted Lara and asked her if I could commission her to make me 7 miniature Sad Frogs.  She was delighted to, having been kept abreast of Sad Frog's popularity.

Last Sunday, we met for lunch and I met Sad Frog's children:

Behold, the line of Misery!

I decided, as a tribute to N____, to write a story to accompany Sad Frog's children.

I printed it onto paper and folded it with a front cover and back cover featuring Sad Frog and then his children:

Sad Frog had had a hard start in life, in fact, some might say his early existence was veiled in trauma. This was  due to his mistreatment for the cause of ensuring his progeny were safe for young children to handle. His luck changed, as chronicled in the book by esteemed author, N___ R_____, when he received a new and safer home in the hands of a music teacher, Mrs P_____. He observed day after day, week after week of music lessons with the children of ____ school and slowly his fear and post-traumatic stress subsided. It was, however, thanks to the tender care and friendship of some particular children, that he experienced the true joy of life and the euphoria of friendship. Some particular young girls seemed to spend more time than others in that room of sound and music and spent their time cheering up their teacher and helping younger children in their lessons. The tall and gentle T___; the generous and kindhearted T____ with the infectious laughter; the witty and efficient (but tiny!) I____, the loyal and dedicated S_____.  But most of all, his bestest of friends were those who showered him with love and attention and encouraged him to see the world, to travel on trains to world famous orchestras, to party to samba music, to watch shows about sailors, ships and treasure, to take part in concerts and his rescuers from kidnap. They were the cheeky, charming and utterly hilarious D_____, the astute and bright-eyed A_____ and the gentle and imaginative N____. Sad Frog knew his days of friendship were drawing to a close as his closest confidants moved onto pastures new and great adventures. His heart grew full as he reflected on his halcyon days and his eyes gleamed with tears at the thought of their loss. And his heart overflowed with droplets of joy and those tiny droplets of joyous memories became something wondrous. For from those crystal droplets, grew several tiny new froglets. They bloomed and blossomed and became Sad Frog's children. Sad Frog's heart swelled with joy for he knew that part of his heart would travel with his friends and accompany them forever and show his gratitude for their help in bringing him happiness. He bade them farewell and told them to seek new adventures and to always protect their new owners and ensure that they always sang from their hearts and found the joy in life even when times were hard. Sad Frog and his children may have sad faces but their hearts are glad

I've been gleefully waiting for moment when I could give them.

On the last day, I called my girls to come to my room, sat them in a line and asked them to shut their eyes. I laid out a frog and book in front of each of them.

When they opened their eyes, they SCREAMED!!!!  The comments of joy and glee were a delight to behold (I recorded them!) and when they sat and read the story and realised it was about them, their faces were utter joy!

They then decided to line up the frogs and sit them with Sad Frog.  We then had a selfie with all the frogs!

One more lovely element was the two gifts I got from two of Sad Frog's biggest fans:

One of them got me an apple to be Sad Frog's friend and the other, got her mum to make me a crocheted duck to accompany Sad Frog.

The children, plus many more, spent their playtime AND part of their lunch in my room improvising music as I attempted to tidy up and there were many tears.

I don't think I've ever had such a group before and I will sorely miss them.  But, we will ever forget each other because of Sad Frog.

xx