Pate's - music morning and French

[Bemily]

Hi, do you think the music morning on the 4th of September is the only activity for that morning, or are there going to be other activities for those who don't want to do music? And another question - are you planning to send your child to the French morning? It says in the welcome pack it's for those who have had less than one year of French, but looking at all the areas they intend to cover I'm not sure if dd has learnt as much as she should have in her three years!

[thisandthat3]

Bemily, I do understand your concerns regarding your child but I do hope that these French intro classes are kept for those kids who genuinely have not done French before. My DS has only had 2 lessons in his life. I suspect that if the school gets wise to kids going who have really got quite a bit of French experience they will just give up doing the lessons in future. That would be a shame. Having done 3 years I'm sure your child is much more familiar with the language compared with real beginners than you imagine.

[aargh]

I find this one puzzling. At the open day we were told the music morning was something they all took part in as a bonding exercise, that by the end of the morning even the musically unaware would at least be using a triangle. Now the form seems to indicate the need to already be studying an instrument. Does this mean my musically interested DD cannot take part?

I can see the idea behind the French mornings, but not much is going to be achieved that could not be achieved in the first week of term. They are going to make up for 3 year's lack of French in 2 mornings?
DD says their French lessons in KS2 started with lots of enthusiasm but the lessons sort of petered out and vanished after a couple of weeks. She knows virtually none.
Unfortunately, I cannot take time off work to take and collect DD anyway. It will only work if DH has a client in that direction at the time.

[thisandthat3]

You're right aargh -Not a chance they are going to learn a lot in these intro classes, but I hope (not sure if I think) it will give them a positive first impression and a bit of confidence to 'have a go'. That's really all I can ask.
No idea about the music thing. Sorry.

[Pushkin]

Hi. DS did the music morning a couple of years ago. He tells me they were split into their instrument groups and then went off to practise for a couple of hours. The sessions were taken by older pupils. All the groups then came together as 1 orchestra at the end of the day for a 10 min performance to parents.They played about 4 songs. Not much chance for bonding as there was alot to get through in a couple of hours.

[Glos_Mum]

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[capers123]

... that by the end of the morning even the musically unaware would at least be using a triangle.

So why would the musically unaware be any better on a triangle than any other instrument? There are techniques to playing even a triangle well or properly, and they can be heard over the top of any orchestra. Playing a triangle badly can be just as off-putting as an oboe or souzaphone.

Give 'em a comb & paper. Or kazoo.

Capers (a percussionist & proud).

[stroudydad]

There are techniques to playing even a triangle well or properly, and they can be heard over the top of any orchestra.

Capers (a percussionist & proud).

That is so true

[Amber]

Give 'em a comb & paper. Or kazoo. .

There is something mildly amusing about the image of all these bright young things struggling through coaching and highly competitive exams...and then being issued with combs and kazoos (or those clippy cloppy hoofy coconut thingies) on their first day at a superselective grammar school.

[capers123]

I made a mistake. Sorry. Kazoo's and Comb & Paper still produce a sound. What they need are headless practice tambourines (with no jingles).

It is entirely possible for a bright young thing to have no musical aptitude whatsoever, in the same way that some children will not show any aptitude for sports. It's also possible to have no interest in music (or sport) despite having an aptitude for it.

On the other hand, of course, some children may not have been exposed to the chance of learning an instrument. In the future this is likely to become more of a problem as the County Music Service has just sacked all its instrumental teachers (apart from the ones in management positions), so schools will have to find and hire their own teachers - assuming the school has an interest in music.

When I was at grammar, oh so long ago, we had an afternoon where all the 1st years (aka Y7) were taken to the hall and given quite inspirational demos by the instrumental teachers - essentially a marketing exercise.