Audio File
Northern School Of Music (NSM)
2019

Dorothy Ardern relays a very useful tip for manipulating children's movements in teaching music.

Dorothy: There was one school, I think it was in Cheadle, that I went to and there was a lady taking music and movement with some small children and I was watching what she did and approving it, it was very good what she was doing. She didn’t know, I never actually got the chance to mention it to her at all, but she had this knack. When you’ve got a lot of children in a big space, you’ve got to find a way to get them to come to you, when necessary, and she used to say, and I picked up the tip, ‘when you want the children to spread out, do a big arpeggio and spread the notes and they’ll go, and it teaches them to listen to the music. They’ll spread out. When you want them to come back to you, just play a scale, da, da da da da da da da… booom! [descending] and they’ll come running back to you’. Saves you talking, saves your voice, you see. So those are little tips that I’ve… and it worked every time. I often think of that lady because it was a very useful tip and I used it all the time with young children and I found it very, very useful.

Part of the #NSM2020 project "A 20/20 Legacy: the centenary of the Northern School of Music" supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.