Wednesday 22nd April

Good day to you all. Aren’t we lucky with all of this beautiful weather? I bet it rains as soon as we return to school. Yesterday the blog was all about happiness and research tells us that sunlight may lift your mood, it is all to do with those chemicals in the brain. My advice to you would be to enjoy the sunshine whilst it lasts.

Many of the staff mentioned how listening to music is one of the ways that help them to feel happy. Music is a sound that has been organised by using rhythm, melody or harmony. If someone bangs saucepans while cooking, it makes a noise. If a person bangs saucepans or pots in a rhythmic way, they are making a simple type of music. The earliest music is thought to have involved singing and clapping, and then early humans probably began drumming by using sticks or other things found in nature. Perhaps you could try to recreate the earliest music using things that you find in nature.

Did you know that some of the earliest instruments were flutes carved out of bones, like bear and woolly mammoth bones. In ancient history some civilizations began inventing many instruments. They made wind instruments like flute and reed instruments out of wood, and string instruments like harps and lyres. The first known song was written in 2000BC; but me and you wouldn’t be able to understand what was written as different symbols for writing were used during that time.

Music has changed a lot throughout history, as have the instruments used and the type of songs that have been written. Today, we use a lot of technology to produce music - this allows for different sound effects and the layering of different instruments. Music is used a lot to convey mood - next time you are watching a film pay particular attention to the music that is being played in the background. How does it change? What sort of music is used to convey the different emotions?

Just like books and writing, there are different styles of music. For example: jazz, country, dance, blues, gospel, classical, pop, reggae and rock. Have you heard of any of these types of music? Find out more by clicking on the link: types of music.

Do you have a favourite type of music? I do, I love dance music - it is what I listen to most often, especially when I am making long journeys in my car. Not everyone appreciates my taste in music and they change the radio station (I find this really annoying). We know from yesterday’s blog that Mrs Stonehouse likes reggae music, but I also found out that Miss Richardson’s parrot - Mojo - likes to dance to reggae. How cool is that! Mrs Dudley and Miss Thacker like Motown and soul. Mrs Shinner likes lots of different types of music, but Latin pop reminds her of being on holiday. Mrs Birch likes pop music - she is a huge Take That fan (have you heard of them? I bet your parents have). Mrs Higgins feels she is a country music girl at heart; Mr Brady likes a bit of 90s indie music; Mrs Marriott loves the musicals and Disney (I bet you can name a few Disney songs?) and Mrs Parker likes R&B. Miss Macaskill, Mr Priest, Mrs Waters and Mrs Carpenter listed quite a few styles, as did Mr Holder, Mrs Hamblett and Miss Clarke including: music from different decades, ska, trance and rock. Miss Homer (Y6) just loves music! Mrs Waldron and Miss Richardson will listen to anything.

Mrs White caused mayhem in our group today when she said she liked pop music, the kind you can sing and dance along with. Her favourite is cheesy 90s and 00s. Miss Jenkins, Miss Best, Miss Grice and Miss Raphael all agreed with her. This then meant that everyone went off topic and started talking about the places in Birmingham where you can go and listen to pop music (we do sometimes go out and have fun). Mrs White is now arranging for a big staff night out when the government lift all the restrictions that are currently in place - we could be waiting for a while.

I am sure you’d agree with me that your school grown-ups deserve a fun time, they are working really hard with your online learning, their own continuing professional development and lots of other things that need to be done. I am really proud of them. Not only do we have amazing children at Olive Hill, we also have pretty awesome staff and they always put you first. I think your home grown-ups deserve some fun as well, they have had lots of changes and they are doing a really great job of entertaining you whilst you are at home. I hope you are all having lots of fun. We are already thinking about how we will celebrate being back together.

Stay safe.