by Dancing Wombat | Apr 12, 2019 | Achievements, Blog, Learning Through Performance, Sensory Issues
Ok, I admit it. In the very early days of having kids, I sometimes fantasised about raising my own little von Trapp family of musicians. I grew up in a musical family myself. My siblings and I all played instruments, my sister and I sang, and my parents were musical....
by Dancing Wombat | Sep 14, 2018 | Achievements, Blog, Learning Through Performance
Every instrument, including the wildly underappreciated recorder, has its own charms. When it comes to instrument playing in the younger years – especially in a specialist/special needs setting, where I teach – the recorder is a prime example of how...
by Dancing Wombat | Nov 30, 2016 | Blog, Learning Through Performance, Life Skills, Sensory Issues, Socialisation
Shopping at the supermarket is a pretty basic life skill, which many kids pick up automatically, from immersion and casual observation. Other children benefit from more deliberate modelling. However, some – like Dancing Wombat – need frequent, purposeful and...
by Dancing Wombat | Nov 16, 2016 | Achievements, Blog, Learning Through Performance
Students – the gift that keeps on giving! And what a cliffhanger I left everyone on last time! My goodness – would Jennie choose Option 1, 2 or 3 for her problematic group song for the end of year concert? I had all but dismissed Option 1. I really didn’t want to axe...
by Dancing Wombat | Nov 10, 2016 | Achievements, Blog, Learning Through Performance
I’ve been ‘gifted’ four new students for the final school term. What happens when the class you teach grows an extra fifty percent in the final term? I am beset by conflicting emotions. Pleasure for the enrolments, concern about settling in new...
by Dancing Wombat | Jun 16, 2016 | Blog, Learning Through Performance
“Do you like my butterfly?” I asked my junior Music class this week. Lying on the floor, in the middle of the circle, was a 1.2 metre soft, stuffed crocodile with a rather fetching grin. One of my latest op shop acquisitions. I hadn’t planned to start the class this...
