Three workshops in two days. Three primary schools, two grades, lots of kids. That pretty much sums up most of my travelling purposes for yesterday and today. I signed up for RCM's lunchtime concert workshop where we (4 students including myself) had to teach a class of primary school kids what they'll be hearing when they come to the Royal College of Music next Thursday - Respighi's Pines of Rome and a few other pieces, including a participatory song, Green Garden by Laura Mvula. Day 1 - Thursday 1 May Left early in the morning at 8am. Bad weather - rainy and cold. Ugh. It also doesn't help that there's tube strike. Took the 94 bus to Shepherd's Bush (7 stops), then changed to 228 to Elgin Avenue Chippenham Road (16 stops). Arrived at St Peter's C of E Primary School at approx 8.50am for 9.30am start. Waited on the couch you see through the glass door of the main office and saw lots of kids running in and out - asking for the register, mentioning their doctor's appointment, smiling cheerfully when they saw their friends first thing in the morning...reminded me of the good old days. For someone (*cough*, me really) to have to walk for more than 30 minutes was definitely enough for me. Yet never have I ever walked so much. The distance between the two schools was much further than I expected. We arrived at St Charles RC Primary School at 11.45ish. All of us were starving, so we dropped down our instruments in the school's reception and went to buy some lunch. *More (long distance) walking* The first school didn't provide any instruments, so we had to get the kids to do some of the composition activities with their hands and feet. Glad St Charles had a lovely music director who gave us plenty of instruments for us to choose and use. Made things a bit more interesting. Successful second workshop with Melissa, Pablo and Phil. Day 2 - Friday 2 May Took 94 bus again to Shepherd's Bush (6 stops) then changed to 49 to Cheyne Walk (21 stops). Left at 12pm hoping to arrive at the school by 1pm. Unfortunately, miscalculated the time and arrived at 1.20pm. At least I still had 10 minutes before the kids came into the hall! After a long walk of searching, I finally found Ashburnham Primary School. The noisy kids at lunch hour led me to them. All instruments prepared. Yesterday we taught Year 3's in the morning, then Year 5's in the afternoon. Today we taught Year 3's AND 5's at the same time. Big group, twice as many kids. Overall I loved the experience. Here were some funny/cute delightful moments I recall in dot point form.
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