Tune on Tuesday
Spring 2023 - caring for other people
This term we consider our responsibilities to ourselves, our own characters, our enjoyment of life. learning and success. Choosing Tuesday's tune is one of Ms S's more joyful jobs!
MARCH
Spring is Springing
March is the last month of our focus in school being thinking about how we care for other people. A big part of caring for others is perhaps not doing anything at all but rather about thinking. Perhaps the most important step in really caring for others is in how we think of them: as people. People like us.
28th March
People all around the world celebrating Beethoven's 9th Symphony
The ninth is one of Beethoven's most loved pieces of Music. Beethoven believed in the brotherhood of all people and that a better, kinder world was possible and is something we should all aim for. This music is among the most hopeful and uplifting of classical pieces.
You can hear it here on the piano and here it was recorded by The Clangers for children and here it is by a full orchestra and choir at the BBC Prom concerts.
21st March
Today is New Year and the first day of Spring for many people around the world
Nowruz is the ancient Persian new year and is celebrated in Iran and by Iranian people across the world: from Turkey to Albania, Canada to Uzbekistan and by people of Iranian heritage right here in the UK. Nowruz means 'New Day' and as well as celebrating a new year, looks forward to better days.
Thinking of a happier future is especially important for Iranians this year. In Iran, women and girls don't have the equal rights we do in the UK. There have been protests in Iran where women and men, boys and girls have joined together in asking their government for equal rights for all Iranians. Sadly many of the protesters have been put in prison and hurt. This makes Nowruz hopes for new, better days are even more special this year. Nowruz is celebrated by some Muslims, B'hai and Zoroastrian believers, Its origins are ancient and it brings together people of different faiths with a shared heritage.
Nowruz, as the first day of Spring, includes flowers for decorations. You can also see and hear some unusual instruments. Well, they may be unusual to us but to some of those celebrating Nowruz today it is pianos, violins, clarinets and trumpets that would look and sound strange!
14th March
Aaron Copland
This concert was played in London at the Royal Festival Hall in 2021. The conductor is Finnish; the Philharmonia orchestra is an English ensemble; the composer, Aaron Copland, was American. Copland was born in 1900 the son of immigrants who had left their home in Lithuania for a new life in a new country, the United States. Copland died in 1990 but in this concert he is communicating with musicians in another century!
Music brings people together from different places and even different times. It asks to think about looking up and out, beyond what is familiar, known already and understood. What we do and make together, in spite of all our differences can be all the more beautiful and interesting because of our differences.
7th March
A SONG FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's DAy
Tomorrow it's International Women's Day where people across the world think about how whether we are male or female, boy or girl, a man or a woman, everybody can do enjoy the same things and achieve as well as each other. The song uses the word everybody a lot, just as a lot of men join in International Women's Day.
Sister Sledge were real sisters from the US city of Philidelphia. But some women do call one another sister, whether they're related or not. And some men call one another brother whether or not they're related. It's thinking about ourselves in one human family with other people being like our brothers and sisters.
There's one verse where we are reminded that men and women haven't always been thought of as equal. And it's sad to say that even today, in many families and places across the world, women and girls still have fewer opportunities than their male relatives.
Living life is fun and we've just begun
To gain our share of the world's delights
Our high hopes we had for the future
And our goal's in sight.
We hope everybody - unlimited - experiences fun and has high hopes for their future. We invite everybody to wish the first woman or girl they see tomorrow a 'Happy International Women's Day!'
February
Show the Love
The ancient Greeks had many words for love. This February we are thinking about some of the different types of love. But one thing all loves in common is a deep feeling - whatever it's for.
28th February
we love reading
This Thursday it's World Book Day when we come together, hopefully at home and in school, to share our love of books and reading. This song shares a love of reading and the massive excitement of actually meeting an author. Mrs Buzzard has been sharing online author visits in school and some older children might remember meeting Michael Rosen at Storyhouse in Chester.
I'm writing 'bout the book I read
I have to sing about the book I read
I'm embarrassed to admit it hit the soft spot in my heart
When I found out you wrote the book I read.
Have you got a book you read that makes you want to write, talk, even sing about it? Do you wonder which books your parents and carers enjoyed when they were your age? This month's blog shares thinking about reading with parents and carers and we hope they're ready for questions about their own childhood reading. This week, with World Book Day on Thursday, would be a great day to find out and share the books that touch or have touched soft spots in your hearts.
14th February
#ShowTheLove
Ella Fitzgerald is one of the greatest voices in Jazz; her silky smooth and very beautiful voice is why she has stood the test of time and why she was called 'The First Lady of Song' and 'The Queen of Jazz.' In this song she sings about someone she loves.
This video includes the words and the words are why this music was chosen for today. Because this song tells us something important about real love.
Why does the song call the person a 'funny' Valentine?
What does 'You make me smile with my heart.'
What does she mean when she sings that her Valentine's looks are 'unphotographical'?
This Valentine is certainly not the best looker. Ella doesn't want them to change a thing for her. What does this tell you about love? Does it tell you anything about the love between friends?
What makes a loveable friend?
Do what someone looks like or the clothes they wear matter as much as someone who makes you smile?
7th February
Philia - The ancient greek word for the love between friends
Burt Bacharach and Carol Sager wrote this song about friendship and in this clip it's sung by Gloria Gaynor, Elton John, Dionne Warwick and Stevie Wonder.
This song is about those very special friends who you love just as they are and who love you back, just as you are. Some of you may have a special friend you love already but for many people their lifelong friends will be people they meet later in life. Meanwhile, the best way to find those really special friends? Perhaps it's as simple as being one yourself.
Keep smilin', keep shinin'
Friends want you to be happy.
Good friends want you to shine; they don't compete with you or put you down.
Knowing you can always count on me for sure
They are reliable and want the best for you.
That's what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I'll be on your side forever more
Good friends are reliable and want the best for you.
That's what friends are for
JaNUARY
A month for resolutions, thinking a-fresh and seeing the world through new eyes
31st January
Young artist Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha sings this most famous love aria (love song) fron the opera La Wally. In tis film Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha is singing in the Royal Opera House in London.
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha is a young musician from Limpopo in South Africa. You can hear more of her remarkable voice here: https://masabanececiliarangwanasha.com/
With today's music we bid farewell to January and look forward to February when we'll be thinking about ... Well, what else in February with Valentines Day coming up? Love of course!
24th January
Or woman of course - in this piece 'man' means 'mankind' or 'humankind'. Much classical music was written for or about powerful people, people like Kings, Queens and Emperors. American composer Aaron Copland is celebrating different people in this fanfare. He is celebrating common or ordinary people. Whether driving a bus or train, putting out a fire, treating an illness, teaching people new things or caring for children we would miss the ordinary people and the contribution they make to our lives much sooner than we would the powerful ones.
This piece has been chosen as we are thinking in school about kindness and respect being unlimited. We have thought about how we are all entitled to respect for the fact we're a human being. Then there's the respect we have for people of different ages. We don't hold children to adult standards; children who may get into a fight are expected to make amends and learn better ways but they don't end up in court! We also expect children to have respect for their elders and especially those elders who have a role in caring for them - like our own midday assistants.
Copland uses brass instruments and although he's American this is interesting for British listeners. Brass instruments are loud and do very well played outside; coal mines and workplaces often have Brass Bands - Roberts Bakery in Northwich still does. Brass bands have been places where working families and their children would learn an instrument. We have been thinking about caring for everybody. People may have different roles, they may have different responsibilities and power. But whatever we do, we are all entitled to equality in how we are spoken to and listened to. So thank you to all our midday assistants for caring for us so nicely over lunch time; this piece is for you!
17th January
Brahms', a German composer, was interested in the folk music of Eastern Europe. You can hear the sounds of Eastern Europe in his Hungarian Dance - a piece full of life that makes you want to get up a dance. This video has been chosen for Chinese New Year (the Year of the Rabbit) as it is played by Chinese pianist Lang Lang here in a duet with his wife Gina Alice. Lang Lang and Gina Alice will be celebrating the Year of the Rabbit this weekend. Watching the two pianists in this roller coaster of a piece shows how much they care for each other through their shared love of Music. Happy Chinese New Year.
10th January 2022
sea interludes
In this short film, a violinist from the National Youth Orchestra shares her thoughts about Benjamin Britten's Sea Interludes. This is music about the sea but what can it teach us about caring about other people? The Sea Interludes come from Peter Grimes, an opera by Benjamin Britten. Britten's Sea interludes are about the sea but also about the people in his opera Peter Grimes. The music describes happiness, jolliness and hope but also sadness, turmoil and angst - and of course as humans, we will experience all of these feelings in our own lives and will see them in the lives of others. Peter Grimes is not liked in his small fishing community. He is looked down on, talked about, treated like an outsider by his neighbours. The music in the sea interludes is a metaphor for our human natures and our human experience.
I chose the NYO film because on Sunday it was wonderful to see four of our children in the audience of the concert I was at. And not only in the audience - another pupil from Kingsmead, one now up at Leftwich High was in the orchestra and introduced the second half with a very long, very low note on the contra bassoon.
A useful way to not feel like an outsider is to meet new people by participating and joining in with stuff. Whether you're in a sports team, band, orchestra, sports team, Brownies or Scouts, joining in groups outside of your immediate family or friendship group brings you into contact with new friends you would not otherwise have met. Other people quickly become people like us when we are alongside them in a shared activity.
Older children might want to hear the whole piece here.
3rd January
WELCOME TO 2023 - happy new year
Today we are welcoming the arrival of a New Year with another arrival
Handel is known as a German British composer because, while a German born in Germany, he came over to Britain as the court composer when a German from Hanover became Kings and Queens of Great Britain. This music is exhuberant and lively. It recounts the legend of the Queen of Sheba (modern Ethiopia) coming to the court of King Solomon in Jerusalem. She arrives in great splendour and is quite different from the usual guests King Solomon receives.
This term we are shifting our thinking from caring for ourselves to caring for other people. Before we think about caring for others it might be worth considering how we think about 'others'. Sometimes, when we meet people (or experiences) that are new or unfamiliar, we can find them strange. When things are strange different people think differently.
Some of us might feel afraid or anxious.
Some of us might feel curious and interested.
Some of us might feel they are just people, people like us.
None of these are good or bad; people can't help how they feel. The good news is that, after feeling something, we can choose how we go on to think about it.
What do you think is a useful and kind way to think about new people or experiences who are different to what you are used to?