Blog Archives - Downs Junior School Music

Music at Home

23/3/2020

Hello everyone. Miss Rusbatch here. I wanted to highlight a few specific activities, web pages and links that you will hopefully find useful and fun whilst you are online at home:

This link will lead you to our vocal warm up games and songs, including demo videos. Maybe you could teach some of the games and songs you already know to the rest of your family.

Click here to to follow a playlist of brilliant videos to assist with the learning and practice of reading and performing rhythm and pulse notation using the Kodaly approach.

Chrome Music Lab
Explore the different musical 'experiments' on this website. We often use Song Maker in class, to explore rhythm, pulse, pitch and composition of simple melodic motifs.

Explore more musical website recommendations from Miss Rusbatch on the Music Technology 'WEBSITES' web page

Ollie Tunmer is a former STOMP performer and the founder of Beat Goes On. He delivers brilliant body percussion and samba workshops all over the world.

Ollie is currently providing FREE body percussion sessions every day, live-streamed on YouTube at 11:00.

Here's his YouTube channel - clap, pat, click and stamp your way through his fun videos - fun for all the family!

Ollie recently published an amazing book, filled with exciting and brain-building rhythms, games and activities. The book is accompanied by demonstration videos. You can buy the book here.

Learn more about how body percussion has been taught at Downs Junior School on the Body Percussion page.

Click on the logo above to learn a new song every day with
the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

pBuzz - BLOWING the BLUES AWAY

19/3/2020

Today, Music Jam were low on numbers (attendance) so they left their instruments in their cases and decided to jam on a pBuzz instead. Here are the results of 10 minutes learning and rehearsing a simple melodic motif. Well done for blowing and blasting the blues away!

Blue Peter Badge Winner

19/3/2020

Here's our most recent recipient of the Blue Peter Music Badge - congratulations Leon (Year 3)

Battle of the Bands - The Final

17/3/2020

The final for this year's Battle of the Bands has been postponed until further notice.
Apologies for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.

JUDGES

17/3/2020

Here's a list of this year's judges for Battle of the Bands

Monty Oxymoron (keyboardist for The Damned)
Bryony October (Sound Engineer - worked with Coldplay)
Jez Cunningham (Bassist for The Levellers)
Ally Daubney (Senior Lecturer in Music Education)
Ollie Tunmer (STOMP performer / Beat Goes On)
Donna Edmead (Banyan Tree Theatre Group / Singer)

Battle of the Bands - AUDITION RESULTS

4/3/2020

The Top 12 (2020)
File Size:	477 kb
File Type:	pdf

The standard of performance and song-writing for this year's auditions for Battle of the Bands 2020 was sky-high. Deciding which bands proceed to the final was incredibly difficult.

Thank you and well done to everyone involved in this year's Battle journey so far. Thank you for taking the time write your own songs, get together to rehearse and, in some cases, design and make your own band t-shirts and percussion instruments!
(The Phoenixes Y3, The Founders Y3 and MR DAFT Y5).

Every band received feedback from Miss Rusbatch immediately after their audition. The feedback included positive praise and recognition of the hard work and creative talent in the band, and highlighted specific strengths of the song and individual performances. Miss Rusbatch also shared constructive feedback and suggested ways in which the song and/or the performance could be improved.

It is always hugely encouraging to see the same children return each year with more confidence, greater performance skills and with songs with improved arrangements, structure and, sometimes, vocal harmonies. Miss Rusbatch is inspired by the resilience, determination and creative development of these children.

This year's finalists will receive information about the final from Miss Rusbatch next week. This year's Top 12 bands, who will be performing in the final on Tuesday 24th March, are (in no particular order):

Blue Melody (6T)
Five Friends (6J)
Explosive (6S)
Sleepless Night (6B/6T)
Pineapple (6S)
S.E.T. List (6J/6B)
[Insert Text Here] (6T)
Affect (5M)
Detention Kids (5BR)
The Hazels (6B/6S)
Duet Duet (5H)
The ECOs (4K/4MC/6B)

AUDITIONS ARE OVER

3/3/2020

That's it. Auditions for this year's Battle of the Bands are DONE. Phew !

The standard of song-writing and performance has been consistently high this year. Thank you to each and every band member and manager. Thank you also to the families involved for supporting rehearsal opportunities and, in some cases, for designing and creating t-shirts and homemade instruments: Fiveways is brimming with innovative and creative minds !

The top 12 will be revealed tomorrow (Wednesday). The top 12 bands have demonstrated evidence of rehearsal, cohesiveness, confidence, good song structure with varied musical content. accurate vocal pitch, harmonies, interesting arrangements and catchy rhythms.

Visit the
Battle of the Bands 2020
web page tomorrow to find out who has made it through to this year's final...

Here are the Y5 band MR DAFT wearing their customised band t-shirts during their audition.

Band Auditions

2/3/2020

The auditions for this year's Battle of the Bands are now in full flow. Well done and thank you to all of the bands who have auditioned so far. There have also been some fantastic band outfits. Check the Battle of the Bands 2020 page for updates. The Top 12 bands will be revealed on Wednesday.

The Phoenixes (Y3) during their audition today in their flaming band outfits!

Day 2 - Updated Audition Slots

BOTB Auditions Day 2 (updated)
File Size:	447 kb
File Type:	pdf

The Founders (Y3) during their audition today. They even made their own drum and band t-shirts!

09:10 – 09:20       Five Friends - 6J
09:20 – 09:30       S.E.T. List - 6J / 6B
09:30 – 09:40       Help Them - 6B
09:40 – 09:50       Sisterellas - 6S / 3W
09:50 – 10:00       The Aliens from Jupiter – 6S
10:00 – 10:10       ICEON – 6S / 5F / 3P
10:10 – 10:20       Explosive – 6S
10:20 – 10:30       The Unwanted – 6S / 6B
10:30 – 10:40       The ECOs – 4K / 4MC / 6B

10:50 – 11:00       The Hazels – 6B / 6S
11:00 – 11:10       Pineapple – 6S
11:10 – 11:20       The Hollow Triangle – 6T
11:20 – 11:30       Blue Melody – 6T
11:30 – 11:40       Squid Squad – 6T
11:40 – 11:50       Insert Text Here – 6T
11:50 – 12:00       Original Two – 6T
12:00 – 12:10       Sleepless Night – 6B / 6T

13:20 – 13:30       The Lost and Found – 6T
13:30 – 13:40       Where’s the WiFi? – 5H
13:40 – 13:50       Detention Kids – 5BR
13:50 – 14:00       Girls Vs Boys – 5BR
14:00 – 14:10       Coco Cousins – 5BR / 5F
14:10 – 14:20       MR DAFT – 5F
14:20 – 14:30       One World – 5F
14:30 – 14:40       Infinity Stars – 5F
14:40 – 14:50       War Wolves – 5H
14:50 – 15:00       Sun & Moon – 5H
15:00 – 15:10       The Girls of the World – 4A / 4K