Hi everyone, 
Well it has been far too long since I last posted. So much has happened and unfortunately had to leave blogging for a while - the biggest change in Hey Presto world is that half way through last year, I changed jobs. I did very much underestimate the impact this would have on my own life, this fun side business of mine and my teaching. In the summer I also attended my very first Summer School and so have been spending a lot of time practising my 3-part sing and plays! The good news is that I am back, armed and ready with lots of fun teaching ideas that I really would like to share with you all. 
I also have more time to dedicate to the 'business side' of things and I am working hard to get some fantastic new technology resources ready for you to implement in your classrooms and onto your interactive whiteboards in lessons.

Hi Everyone... Welcome to 2017! Hopefully this year will bring a record amount of blog posts utilising technology, curriculum ideas and a variety of activities that you will be excited to implement in your own classes.
I recently had the opportunity to attend Dr John Feierabend's 'First Steps in Music Preschool and Beyond' Accreditation Course hosted by the Bluebird Foundation and Deakin University - Geelong. The course was very inspirational and really opened my mind to the life changing effect music has on everyone's lives and the importance of creating as many opportunities for young children to connect to music as possible. 2017 marks my 10th year of teaching primary school music and it is always nice to be reminded of the importance that we play in young people's lives. This year will be the first time I have taught students from their first year at primary school through to Grade 6. It really has been amazing to see their overall development from such a young age.

To finish my Sight Singing blog series for the month of Feb I thought I would review a series of hard copy resources that you might be interested in to develop your sight singing. Sometimes it's nice just sitting down with a nice cup of tea and a hard copy book! Check out my other sight singing posts for this month including two great web resources and an iPhone/iPad App.

I was first introduced to this book when I completed my Lvl 1 Kodaly training here in Melbourne. It really is a fantastic resource for beginning teachers and is a great teaching resources for when you need some exercises for your own classes - using both stick notation and solfa and matching exercises on the music stave. 

Similar to the resource above this is a great little resource for covering the pentatonic scale and extended pentatonic scale. This contains stick notation and solfa and matching exercises on the music stave. 
Boosey and Hawkes have also published Kodaly's: 15 2-part exercises if you want some extension and looking at developing your harmony and reading in 2-parts.

If you own a copy of Kodaly Today these are a great resource to have by your side as Tacka and Houlahan list the exact exercise which matches the rhythmic or melodic strategy you are working on in lessons. If you don't have time to reinvent the wheel this is a really easy reference with straightforward activities to implement straight away in lessons.


​Volume 1 - great Primary School resource
Rhythmic Elements contain: taa, ti-ti, saa, tika-tika, ti-tika and tika-ti, tam-ti, and upbeats
Melodic Elements contain: full extended pentatonic scale (do and la based minor) in stick and staff notation 

Volume 2 - Secondary School and beyond
More complex pentatonic melodies, re pentatonic and Dorian mode, so pentaonic and mixolydian mode, la pentatonic and Aeolian mode, Natural/Harmonic/Melodic minor scale. 
Also includes rounds and canons, Early Music and Classical repertoire.

I have only recently come across these books and just managed to buy the whole set via eBay (for quite a good deal!) They are still in print and you can easily purchase them online. I am not entirely sure why I haven't come across these before as they seem to be a very popular resource. They contain a multitude of short folk songs from countries all around the world. (They feel more like a shaped melody rather than a melodic exercise.) They are all written out on the music stave. I will write more on these once I have used them more. The only negative I have read online is that each book is quite small and so it is difficult to read the stave notation.

Are you up for a challenge? This book is really for when you are ready for some extension solfa sight-singing! The book contains 230 canons to sing by yourself but ideally in a group! This really is a great teacher reference book or useful for those students with advance musicianship skills.

On the weekend I had the pleasure of presenting at the joint VOSA and KMEIA (Vic) 'Back to School Day' held at St Kevin's College. Overall I had a lot of fun presenting and I learn't a lot but I also wanted to share with you my opening activity inspired by a new all time favourite children storybook of mine!

As you can tell from the title of the workshop I filled my session with a heap of activities that would be useful starting a new school year that are suitable for Early Years students to around Grade 4. After spending part of my Christmas holiday in Paris I immediately wanted to share this book with all my students when I returned. I always like to find picture story books that have a sense of wonder about them - and this picture storybook does not disappoint. 

The story tells of the Eiffel Tower's journey through Paris, passing all the major landmarks of the city. What makes this book so delicious and appealing is the lasercut images inside. I honestly have never seen a book like it before! It certainly was a magical moment reading the story and whilst the book contains a very simple storyline all the words came alive with the intricate detail within each of the pages. 

Of course I needed a song to accompany the story and so I decided to open my lesson with 'Bonjour Mes Amis' which is a lovely French greeting song that my Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students all enjoyed performing. (I even taught more complicated versions of the dance to the older year levels who also enjoyed the activity). In Australia this song can be found in the 1999 ABC Singbook or otherwise it can be found in the following handout or online at Singing Games for Children (this is contains a huge collection of song material, including multi-cultural music - Polish, French and Spanish (you really need a holiday or long weekend to get through this website!)
Here is the song below:

There are so many ways you can choose to perform the accompanying dance with your students: 

Version 1 – Single circle facing partner

1. Shake right hand with partner - first 3 beats plus the pick up
2. Shake left hand with partner
3. 1st ‘Bonjour mes amis’ shake right hand, 2nd ‘Bonjour Mes Amis’ shake left hand with partner
4. Slow turn around so that you are facing a new partner

 
Version 2 – double circle facing partner

1. Shake right hand
2. Shake left hand
3. Join hands complete full turn with your partner, returning to original spot
4. Slow step to the left, waving goodbye to your partner and facing a new partner.

 
Version 3 – double circle facing partner

1. Clap right hands
2. Clap left hands
3. Shake right hand, keep holding
4. Shake left hand, keep holding
5. Move around each other (holding cross hands)
6. On last word move to face a new partner

• Different verses in the song:Comment ça va, mes amis…, How do you do? - shake hands with partner

Ça va bien, mes amis… I am fine - shake hands
Allons danser, mes amis… Let’s dance – circle dance
Allons chanter, mes amis… Let’s sing - four steps in, four steps out
Au revoir, mes amis, adieu… Goodbye, my friends, farewell - partners take hands and dance around circle 

When reading to the Prep students I was able to make a connection to the song 'Rain, Rain' - see the pictures below:                         

Whilst the students at my school do not learn French - we are an International Baccalaureate school which implements the Primary Years Program. So I was able to make a connection to developing students international mindedness and understanding of different cultures. I taught the song at the start of the lesson and then asked the students to guess where I wen't on my holidays. It did take them a while to work out where I went!

You can purchase the storybook on Book Depository which is available in English and a French edition - Paris s'envole.

Happy reading!

~ Lisa

P.S If you want to read more from John Feierabend ​​ the article where the quote at the start of this blog post is really fantastic.

The Practice Room consists of over 1030 examples consisting of rhythm reading, sight singing, two part reading, interval drills, minor keys and music examples consisting of: hymns, Bach chorales, motets and madrigals. For a free trial of each of these activities, click here 

Each example (see below) is set out in a similar format where you can choose to display the moveable do system of solfa (solfege) or the exampe with no solfa written. You have the option of listening to the full scale the example is set in and a metronome example. There is even a video lesson which you can view how to learn each example.

For the choral educator you will be able to add individual students into the database and track their progress. There are companion workbooks which you can download for free and students can access online to practice independently. There are quizzes for each student to complete for every level in the curriculum and even certificates of achievement after a students has completed each level.

The program is extremely thorough and even provides a dictation area where students can listen to each example and dictate their answers into their workbooks. The added extra of complex music examples is a great way for students to apply their knowledge in a real music setting. Given all the areas for students to work on I would suggest that it is a program that is tailored for the older beginner or secondary student.

Individual membership costs $59.95 USD while school and choir memberships cost $149.95 USD. Click here to view the features between the Individual and School/Choir accounts. ​

~ Lisa

The program is catered for anyone who wants to develop their aural skills - basically anyone teaching and or learning music! 

The program recommends using the moveable do system of sol-fa as it is the best way to learn sight singing. (For those of you who have been brought up with sing by numbers or the fixed do approach feel free to try and explain to me how those system work but I can assure you that you won't be able to convince me that they are better than moveable do!!)

Each exercise is set out with the same format and has a menu at the top of each example. As you can see below you can hear the example in full, set how fast each example should be sung, listen to the tonic note or the note set (in the example below there are 5 notes in the key of G that are used), read the example with the solfa and letter names. 

The program doesn't actually test or grade your ability to sing each sight singing example. This is definitely serves as a BIG advantage due to the fact that many times I have used an app or website that claims to be able to record and anaylse your attempt but actually cannot accurately compute what you have sung at all!! The easiest way to check your answer is to click the hear button after you have sung and listen to any mistakes you made or any notes that were out of tune. It is also a way to develop your musical ear by learning to reflect and self-assess your attempts. For school students it may be beneficial to run tests at school, or whole group analysis of tasks or even better get them to record their response via any electronic device and email it to you so you can give feedback. 

A personal account only costs $30AUD per year and you simply login to your internet browser on any device and you will be able to track your progress through the various 400 exercises that you need to complete! Don't be put off by the number of sight singing examples they are divided into four parts, starting with only 2 notes and continues through modes and chromatic notes in Part D. (Click the slideshow below to see the melodic and rhythmic elements covered in each section - this can be found on the FAQ page)

I am always on the lookout for new music teaching apps that are easy to use, have a good interface and work consistently without crashing. These holidays I have stumbled across a sight singing app that works on your iPhone and iPad. It is called 'Sight Singing' by Satoru Fukushima. It simply turns your idevice into a portable sight singing trainer! You can download a free version which gives you a chance to play around with the app. Check it out here 

To use this app:
1. Press the 'tonic' button to hear the starting pitch of the music. On the iphone version you can scroll through the whole score to inner hear the music if you wish.
2. Press the start button and begin singing along with the score. 

It really is that easy! The aim of the sight singing game is to sing all the notes in-tune which will change the note colour to green. When you are singing the pitch incorrectly the colour of the note will change to red. The app even records your attempts so you have the opportunity to hear which notes you have sung incorrectly.

If you like the app, you can pay to upgrade it (I paid $7.99 which I think is worth the money!) and you can benefit from all the features, which include:

• Fixed or moveable do button which displays the solfa syllables of each example. In a minor key you can choose between la-based minor, or do-based minor.
• 4 and 8 beat sight reading examples in easy, moderate, difficult levels. There is even a custom mode if you want to practice pentatonic only.
• All major and minor keys in 2, 3 or 4 metre.
• Changing the tempo. 
• Selecting treble or bass clef.
• Scale practice mode - warm up to the scale and hear it. 
• Report section to record your score and keep your sight singing on track.

If you are new to sight singing, a school student and anyone who wants to improve their musicianship - this app is definitely for you! Check out the website here 

~ Lisa

Hi everyone, well I can't believe it is 2016 already! Welcome back to the teaching year (well for us Aussie's anyway!) So far I have received really positive feedback regarding the Hey Presto Productions blog entries and I am looking forward to creating a lot more posts this year! (Even when I am busy preparing the Prep - Year 6 school musical and balancing a full time teaching load!) I really do appreciate all your support and encouragement last year. One thing that has been tricky is figuring out a way to let all my followers know when I have posted a blog entry. I have just come across a fantastic and really easy way to do this. If you fill in the form located on my Contact page and say that you are interested in receiving newsletters - I will add your email to a subscription list. When you receive a newsletter your email address remains entirely confidential. So if you really enjoy reading my posts... go ahead and add your email. If you would like me to blog about a specific topic or you have any comments and/ suggestions please don't hesitate to get in touch! Alternately you can follow my Facebook page.
I am also hoping to continue presenting at Music events locally and around Australia so please check out the Events page on this website to keep in touch with what is happening.
Hope you have a wonderful year teaching and continue to inspire your students love of Music. 
​~ Lisa

As part of my schools Book Week celebrations I decided to read to the students: 'The Remarkable Farkle McBride' by famous actor John Lithgow (all the 'millenials' out there may not remember the legendary actor from the TV show: '3rd Rock from the Sun'!) The theme of Book Week for 2015 is: 'Books Light Up Our World' and The Remarkable Farkle McBride certainly lights up the world of music for students everywhere!

I was overjoyed to learn that John has embraced the Children's Literature scene and when I found out that I could make a direct connection to my music program with his first every Children's book - I just had to buy it! I purchased mine as an ebook through Kindle and I also found the movie on Vimeo. I like the video from Vimeo as it has John reading the book and also showcases the sounds of different instruments playing for that extra auditory stimulation!

About the book:
Young Farkle McBride is a musical genius: He plays the violin, the flute, the trombone, and the drums with incredible skill. But he's never satisfied: Something is missing. The audience is introduced to a memorable character, a fickle yet loveable child prodigy who brings the sounds and rhythms of an orchestra to sprawling visual life. Who knew that the Remarkable Farkle's musical tastes would be satisfied by musicians all playing together! 

Whilst the book is targeted to students ages 4-8 years old, the rhyming text, hilarious illustrations by C.F Payne make the story interesting for younger students and adults alike!

Music classroom connections: 

• 2 metre and conducting: I use this book to introduce students to the concept of conducting.
• Classroom discussion about the sounds that different instruments make. Farkle's world was lit up by the sounds of an orchestra all playing together - what sounds do you like to listen to? Perfect segue into listening to different instruments of the orchestra and the comparison between single instruments, families of instruments, and the whole orchestra playing at once.
  
• Instruments of the Orchestra - discussion with students about the different families of the orchestra. Class discussion about the instruments that Farkle played and what family of the orchestra they belong to.

Happy Book Week everyone! 
~Lisa