Marimbas for New Zealand Schools
1036 Brighton Road,
Dunedin,
New Zealand
Ph: +64 3 4811963
Email: kwljb@clear.net.nz
Teaching with marimbas.
Teaching marimbas is simple. The teacher does not need to teach music reading. A good recorder programme does that. The marimba songs come in a book with a CD.(Order from www.vosa.org)
Large group rehearsal in dining hall, Marimba Convention, Rotorua, September 1999.
If you are not confident with reading then play the CD a few times to see where the tune is going.Get a parent or a pupil to write the note names beneath the notes.
Tell the children the notes they are expected to play and listen to the CD to hear how they should be played.
Choose simple tunes to start with and explore them with the children. In a short time your children will be playing confidently.
Jon Madin's song," Boris the Bassman" is a good one to start with.
Performances
It is important to organise performances to get the children really enthusiastic to play and practice. School assemblies are very good for doing this. And it is extra good to get the children to lead the performance. Then they feel they have achieved the success on their own which makes them very proud of themselves and of course lets the teacher off the hook when it comes to "conducting".Daily Practice
Five minute practice daily is probably enough to produce impressive results. One big lesson a week will not be as effective. Have the marimbas available to children at break. They will be well used and this may be all that's needed for daily practice.Busking
Once you have a few tunes up your sleeve, go busking to raise money for a contra bass marimba.Other Instruments
It is advisable to have plenty of untuned percussion instruments on hand as they are often called upon to accompany marimba songs which they do very effectively.Tuned Instruments
There will be opportunities to include recorders, violins, flutes which some children in your school are learning privately. We use recorders and violins in a tune called "Irish Polka". The children picked up the melody quickly and they play it by heart. It sounds great.School Band
Some schools have marimba bands. They take their bands to retirement villages, fairs, galas, etc and are always warmly received.
As you can see the beauty about marimba playing is that you don't have to be expert musicians to join in - children and adults can all play together in harmony. Write for more details if you are interested.