‘Are we all ready?’ ‘Yeah!!’ ‘Are we all ready?’ ‘Yeah!!’ ‘Are we all ready?’ ‘Yeah, yeah yeah YEAH!!!!’… and the Preps are pumped and drumming! It’s been a terrific couple of weeks of drumming energy, joy and release, but also one of focus and great team work. Skill expectations that were tricky 2 weeks ago are already locking in with confidence. As the students’ competency increases, they are understanding that through achieving a fluency of technique, the ability to make music can really start to happen because now they can focus on listening! Please read on via the link…

We are as ‘excited as jelly beans’ about the Drumming concerts next week on Thursday August 10th at 1pm and 2:30, and hope that as many members of our community who can, will come and experience the sheer power of African Drumming. Please join in and celebrate what your fabulous children can achieve. Each concert will feature the drumming routines from across the school: the balafon (African xylophone) grooves over which Bassidi riffs with virtuosity, dancing and singing, and the fabulous flying kites! The concerts will be live streamed too and the students are really delighted that this technology is possible. They understand that parents and carers can’t always be available to come to school for special events, and for the younger children especially, there is great reassurance in knowing that they can share these exciting experiences with their families via the Live Stream: it helps them to relax, have fun, and maintain their levels of excitement too. Please do take the time to replay our school’s live streamed concerts and assemblies, and enjoy them together… with the added bonus of your child’s live commentary, and, after the Drumming Concert next week, you’ll find out why your child has been walking around the house saying ‘Yum, yum, yum. Pickles in a jar!’ Families are sent a link to these school events via Compass.

Every time Kofi visits PHPS to conduct workshops he invites the Preps to ‘fly like kites’ as it was one of his most favourite things to play when he was their age back in his home village in Ghana. All the children wear hand-block printed fabrics from Ghana and run into the breeze. It’s a gorgeous sight, especially on a sunny day.

The 4/5s and 5/6s have really locked in together with their percussion routines on the xylophones/balafon and boomwhackers. They have all mastered a ‘call and response’ ostinato (a continually repeated rhythmic melody), which Bassidi improvises over. The students have been fascinated by the construction of the balafon. These instruments are hand crafted, and take hours and hours to make. The instruments have keys carved from flame dried Kosso rosewood. Wood is shaved from the underside of the middle of each key to lower the pitch, or from under the end of a key to sharpen it. Resonating chambers made from dried calabash, a type of gourd grown for food, and for the usefulness of their dried skins which are used as containers. To create the characteristic buzzing sound of a balafon, traditionally, a filament of a spider’s egg sac was placed over a small hole made in the resonating chamber. These days, a cigarette paper or fine piece of plastic does the trick! The balafon dates back to 12th Century Mali, and there are many variations of this instrument from all over the continent of Africa which have been played since ancient times.

We love Kofi for many reasons, and one of them is his skill as a multi instrumentalist. Kofi says that all his instruments are his toys, and he LOVES new toys! This year’s new toy is a hand pan. Tuned to a minor pentatonic scale and with it’s softly ringing mellow tones, it certainly wafted the Preps into an instant relaxation orbit… unless Kofi sat down and played beside them! Kofi loves to tell stories as he plays his Kalimba, and we all remember him playing a Kora, the traditional African harp, with Appiah 2 years ago. Kofi also knows how to ‘live it up’ on bass guitar and has been seen playing in different bands around town, but we are yet to experience his Jazz Fusion side!

The school choir has been embracing the the great feeling of preparing songs from Africa to perform at the Drumming Concerts. There is an ever growing available repertoire of short catchy songs, in language and with close harmony arrangements, that are perfect for developing confidence in holding down harmony parts against a main melody. I can’t thank Emily Hayes enough for her energy, and her terrific catalogue of songs which are fun, quick to learn, and very rewarding. What a great way to build our singing skills! Thanks Emily, and thank you choir members.

We are also delighted to remind everyone of the recently rescheduled Instrumental Music Concert which will be on the evening of Friday August 18th at 7pm. Performing IM students from Years 3 – 6 should please arrive at school at 6:30pm to meet with their IM teachers. There will also be an IM Assembly at 3pm on this same Friday 18th. Everyone is warmly invited to attend these events.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful couple of weeks. Keep to the beat, and listen out for all the different rhythms that are part of our everyday. Lucy and 1/2 Ngh1 have been, and they have compiled quite a list! Take care and cheerio, Deb.