What was DS's music teacher thinking???

[cottonwoolbrain]

This is not a teacher bashing thread.. its really not.

DS's music teacher is fantastic. DS isn't very good at music but he loves the lessons and was really missing them.

They were all sent home with recorders at the start of lockdown... fair enough I thought until today when his lovely music teacher who usually just records a video took it into his head to set up a zoom music lesson... 15, 7 year olds all playing the recorder mainly badly.. at once.. out of synch.. through Zoom. It was one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

The poor man sounded quite broken by the end of it, but I think the DCs all had great fun. What was he thinking!!

[Stuckforthefourthtime]

Yabu he's a lockdown hero, sacrificing his own sanity to entertain other people's children.

[BeingATwatItsABingThing]

The recorder is the worst instrument to give a child! I did a recorder lesson with 15 of my Y5s (9-10yos) against my will. They all thought I was some kind of recorder expert. No! I’m just not blowing into the recorder with a hurricane force wind!

[Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese]

Bless him!! Probably fancied an interactive lesson as I can imagine teachers are starting to get cabin feverish too.

[cottonwoolbrain]

Whoops thought this was chat... living up to my user name sorry

[onemouseplace]

That's hilarious!

They moved the assembly times at our school so more parents could attend, but they now clash with the Year 3 class recorder lesson in the music studio next to the hall. I have NO idea how any teacher comes out of that class without needing a stiff drink and a lie down!

[Grumpylockeddownwoman]

Hahaha was it London’s Burning? That always seems to be the go to for recorder playing

[creaturcomforts]

My daughter's head set a task to photo something that was beautiful that you never appreciated before lockdown, to photograph it and send with why you chose it. Daughter send a photo of our roses, I thought that was a lovely and easy idea!

[MitziK]

Hahaha was it London’s Burning?

Far too advanced (it requires surprising amounts of breath control and remembering lots of fingerings - Three Blind Mice is even more sophisticated).

Bet it was

B-A-G
B-A-G
GA-BA-G
GA-BA-G
B-A-G
B-A-G


At least he didn't have access to a bunch of old violins that had been languishing at the back of the music room cupboard for 15-20 years or so.

[sideorderofchips]

I see recorders and raise a violin.

[twoshedsjackson]

When I was on packed lunch duty, I would take anyone who hadn't finished their lunch into my classroom when 12:30 struck; they were welcome to finish eating, properly supervised, while I launched into whatever lunchtime music group was on the timetable that day.
Then I realised that if I let it be known that it was beginner recorders, it was amazing to see dawdlers and gossipers suddenly desperate to cram the remaining food down.
I speak as a recorder player who loves the instrument played properly, but beginner anything can be truly grim.

[cottonwoolbrain]

Mitzik - yes I think it was something like that now you come to mention it.

I like to think music teacher is currently lounging in a very quiet, cool room with a very large glass of wine. He deserves it

[CrazyTimesAreOccurring]

Oh poor man, but a true hero

[MoreHippoThanPenguin]

That is so funny cotton. In my youngest DD’s class, they also got a recorder sent home just before lockdown and told “to practice”. I thought it was a revenge from the music department for any bad things the parents have done over the years . (Joking if any teacher is reading this).

To put this into context, my youngest DD does play the recorder (abrsm grade 1) and has a private group zoom lesson on Saturdays with three pupils. The teacher always looks pained and keeps telling DD to “play softly, NO NO, you need to practice this, I will mute you for a while”. When I told her about the class recorders, she just hid her face in her hands 😂😂😂

[Blackbear19]

Brilliant. Well done to him for trying.

[Notverygrownup]

But surely one of the joys of Zoom is that you can mute individuals or mute all. So all he had to do was to say "Go" then smile beatifically as they all tooted their way through Three Blind Mice. Unmute at the end and congratulate everyone!

[fuckinghellthisshit]

What. A. Legend.

[Witchend]

Bet it was
B-A-G
B-A-G
GA-BA-G
GA-BA-G
B-A-G
B-A-G

Ours used to do one worse. It was called something like "The B Blues" it went B B Beeeeeeeeeee B B Beeeeeeeeeeeeee B B BB Beeeeeeeeeee
Repeat.
They used to start every concert with it.

[19lottie82]

I’m sure there’s some reason why playing instruments together over zoom doesn’t work....... but I forget what it is!

[MrAlyhakinsMassiveYacht]

One day I asked DD what she'd learnt at school and she said "that Miss isn't very good at playing the recorder"
They were both much improved by the end of the term

[Effinell]

My DDs teacher sent home a glockenspiel Thanks for that...

[xyzandabc]

Teacher needs to learn about the mute button!
We have group drum lessons via zoom here, a tad noisy!

[lotusbell]

That's great! I work for a music service and a lot of kids are missing their lessons!

[cottonwoolbrain]

Oh no he clearly didn't mute them because at the end of the first incredible rendition he picked them up on their mistakes even managing to pick out individuals for specific corrections..... how .. just how does he do that... and then he counted them in and they played it all again... and he played along too.

The man deserves a flipping medal. Every week he produces a school sing along video - he sits at his piano and sings and plays some of their favourites so they can sing along at their leisure. he's made lockdown learning a lot easier to bear

[MoreHippoThanPenguin]

Effinel

[Comefromaway]

Ds is a singing teacher. Ensemble doesn’t work over zoom because of the delay. He muted everyone then unmutes individuals to hear particular things