June 7, 2018
Some children in The Brilliant Banging Blues have drawn amazing pictures to go with our joint schools song - The Real and The Imaginary.
The pictures show the lyrics of the song brilliantly. Look and listen out for 'waking up on the DLR', 'candy floss clouds', 'people riding dinosaurs and unicorns'. What would you do if the world was imaginary?
February 15, 2018
This week we joined Yellow Class* in an experiment.
We wondered what would happen if we made art and music together at the same time.
Children from The Brilliant Banging Blues joined the band to make different sounds and textures with lots of different instruments. We had a very large gong, an ocean drum, a rain stick, bass bars, the piano, djembes, gato drums, xylophones, metallophones and much more.
At the same time the...
February 1, 2018
We have been making sandwich music. Yes sandwich music!
You know ...
first you take the bread (rhythm on drums)
then you add the filling (harmony on xylophones and keyboards)
then you place the other piece of bread on top (melody on glockenspiel)
Oh and don't forget the sauce! - A syncopated hand percussion rhythm should do nicely.
After playing this music, we thought it sounded like a walk in the woods, or a mystery - not sandwich...
January 18, 2018
It is time to vote for our official band name!
The options were:
The Blue City School*
The BCS Band
Blue Band
Brilliant Blues
The Blue City Rock Stars
Banging Blues
It was very close! We even had to have a second vote...
AND OUR BAND NAME IS ...
The Brilliant Banging Blues!
Brilliant Blues and Banging Blues got exactly the same number of votes, so we decided to combine them. :)
*The Blue City School is a pseudonym
January 11, 2018
This week we are thinking about a name for our band.
Some of our ideas include:
The Blue City School*
The BCS Band
Blue Band
Brilliant Blues
The Blue City Rock Stars
Banging Blues
Which band name do you prefer?
* The Blue City School is a pseudonym
December 14, 2017
Blue Class* have written a rap all about the power of yet! You can see the lyrics below - we look forward to recording it soon so you can listen too.
Try our best
Learn from our mistakes
If we find something hard
We use the power of yet!
If you can't do this yet,
I'll give you a bet,
Never give up - you'll go to the top
Just give it a shot
Use your growth mindset!
* pseudonym
November 2, 2017
Blue Class* have been working in small groups to make their own rhythmic patterns. Each group chose the instruments that they would like to play.
This group used call and response for their repeating rhythmic pattern.
This group also used call and repsonse and have created a pattern that sounds almost like fireworks! Try closing your eyes as you listen. Can you imagine loud explosive fireworks high in the sky?
This group have cre...
October 5, 2017
This week we used the brilliant lyrics below to make a great rap section for our piece.
Written by 3 songwriters from Blue Class* - we loved the focus on The Power of Yet - and we think Year 6 teacher Penny Williams* will do too!
*class and teacher names are pseudonyms
July 13, 2017
This week Blue Class* began to structure their song in the music studio. They thought carefully about:
- what group should play first?
- should any groups play at the same time?
- should the piece begin loudly or quietly?
- how the piece should end?
At the end of the session Blue Class* performed their new structure to some children from Yellow Class*.
*pseudonym
July 6, 2017
Blue Class* are making some great music! They have spilt into 3 percussion groups, an instrumental group with keyboard, guitar, ukulele and harmonica, a singing group and a rap group with pen tappers.
You can listen to the rap and pen tapping group here:
*pseudonym