October activity arrives in time for Melbourne Cup!

October has come late - The October activity that is.
Just in time for the Melbourne Cup.
Our facebook friends were the first to get access - and now it's your turn.
(Why not like us on facebook - check the link below). If you can't do this at school, forward the link, or our email, to yourself at home.

The activity is from one of our Cool Cats Recorder Ensembles - The piece we have chosen for you is 'THREE MINOR MICE'.
It is an arrangement of a tune the students all know ('Three Blind Mice'). HOWEVER - this arrangement is in a MINOR key (E minor).
Your students will love hearing how the mood and feel of a tune can be altered by a shift in tonality from major to minor.
The tune is also 'swung' - given a jazz syncopation.

You will find the activity by following this link


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Special Offer - up to 40% off some Music Room and Dance Room titles.

Not available on our website.
You can find the offer on our Facebook page.


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Sneak Peek at what's in store in 2011

Take a look at what's coming up next year.

• The Interactive Musicroom Book 2
• Great Southern Songbook revisited
• Take 2 Drama Resources
• Music Room Book 7

Click here to find out more.






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September 2010 Activity available - Big and Little from Songs to Grow With

This month's activity is from Songs to Grow With Volume 1

It is called "Big and Little".

Although big and little are maths concepts, this song also provides other teaching opportunities. It combines both structured and creative movement, and the extension of vocabulary through the creatures that each verse introduces.

The child's experiences are expanded from their immediate environs to include, and perhaps introduce, the worlds of whales, elephants, fleas and birds.

There are words and an MP3 track ready for you to download.


You will find the activity by following the link from here


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August 2010 Activity available - Voice Exploration from Start Singing

This month's activity is from Start Singing with the Cool Cats Kids .

It is from the 'Voice Exploration' section.
Students use voice to imitate cymbals, electric bass and trumpet.

There is a music score and an MP3 track ready for you to download.
Your students will be instantly engaged and we guarantee they'll have a lot of fun (as well as learn a thing or two).

You will find the activity here






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July 2010 Activity available - Off on a Holiday from Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures level 3

This month's activity is from
the Recreation and Leisure unit
of Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures level 3

This program integrates music, dance, drama, media and visual art in thematic units.

It is a piece of really EASY choreography for the song ‘Off on a Holiday’. Your students will LOVE the song and have a ball putting the simple dance steps together.

Find out more about Cool Cats Cross Arts Adventures here.



We are giving you part of the level 3 unit 'Recreation and Leisure'. We have a CD track and a PDF for a great song, 'Off in a holiday', including lyrics and movement and dance activities.

Another great activity to have fun with!
You will find here.


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More news on Seventh National Interactive Teaching and Learning Conference

Kev O'Mara will be doing a presentation of The Interactive Musicroom at the Seventh National Interactive Teaching and Learning Conference on the Gold Coast.

The Conference is being held from 12th-14th August
Kev will be presenting on Friday 13 August 11.25 - 12.15

Abstract

Who is this presentation for?
Primary All Levels of Expertise

The Interactive Music Room - Book 1 (beginning primary)

This product is the first of a 7 level classroom interactive music program that will cover the primary years. The second level will be available early next year. Inspired by the popular Music Room series, this new interactive software has been adapted and designed by South Australian teacher and accredited Easiteach® presenter Cheryl Burgemeister. The Interactive Music Room contains 30 Easiteach® lessons (up to 5 activities each), audio ans video files embedded in the lessons, Easiteach® Player software (with software licence), a music player with pause and search functions, visual images, animations, large lyrics, BLMs for assessment, worked solutions and examples, teacher notes, a teacher manual and an instructional DVD.

Students can touch the screen to animate characters, touch and reveal, drag and drop, start and stop music, play virtual sounds and music, write and draw on-screen with finger or pen.

This is the first interactive developmental music program in the world. It is physically and mentally interactive, engaging aural and visual areas of the brain (brain-based learning). If you haven’t seen this program in action, come and touch the screen at Kevin’s demonstration.

Bushfire Press will also have a display in the Trade Exhibition where the product will be available for purchase. In the meantime, go to their website, bushfirepress.com for a sneak preview. There you can see a video demonstration with creator, Cheryl Burgemeister, and her students. You can download a free activity to play around with either on an IWB or on your computer.

You can download a conference brochure here

For further information about the Conference and to register go to:
www.iwb.net.au/conferences/australian10/

all the best
Steve Vermont
Bushfire Press

The June Activity is now available

The Interactive Musicroom Book 1

We have another activity for you this month from the Interactive Musicroom.

You don't actually need to have an Interactive White Board (IWB) to see how this activity works. You can try it out on your computer with a free copy of Easiteach Reader - or you can watch the demo video and download the accompanying resource material we have for you.


You will find the activity here
Enjoy!


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Seventh National Interactive Teaching and Learning Conference

Kev O'Mara will be doing a presentation of The Interactive Musicroom at the Seventh National Interactive Teaching and Learning Conference on the Gold Coast.

The Conference is being held from 12th-14th August and Kev will be presenting on the Friday or Saturday - we'll keep you posted.

You can download a conference brochure here

For further information about the Conference and to register go to:
www.iwb.net.au/conferences/australian10/

all the best
Steve Vermont
Bushfire Press

Interactive Whiteboard workshops

Hi All

Kevin O’Mara (on the computer in the picture) and I have just completed a very rewarding series of workshops for iJam. We went to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, workshopping Music Room, Dance Room and The Interactive Music Room. It is always important to us to get out there and work with teachers and we are always excited to hear what they are doing in their schools. Australia is certainly blessed with enthusiastic and creative music teachers. We made many friends, renewed a few old acquaintances and have brought back a swag of ideas and suggestions. Thank you Drew and Jasmine of iJam and a huge thanks to all the teachers.

And here I must send our special thanks to the people and companies that provided Interactive Whiteboards for the workshops.

In Sydney – Patrick McComish of Command Integration (www.commandintegration.com.au);
in Brisbane – Glenn Searle of Envisage Training (www.envisagetraining.com.au);
in Perth – Allan Bowes (pictured) of Tecsound (www.tecsound.com.au).

These guys have all your Interactive Whiteboard questions covered and are well worth a call. They’ll certainly look after you.

See you next time

From the crowded desk of Mark Leehy,
Publisher at Bushfire Press

P.S. More about Interactive Music Room here

Music Room Interactive - Errata

IMPORTANT ERROR IN 'THE INTERACTIVE MUSIC ROOM BOOK 1
We have been alerted to an error in the teachers book for 'The Interactive
Music Room book 1'.
On p 41, the BLM is incorrect - it refers to tempo and should refer to
dynamics.
Follow the links in "Support Material" on this page for a copy of the correct BLM

May Activity from Music Room Book 6

MUSIC ROOM book 6
(upper primary)

We have had a great response to Music Room Book 6 - the first of the upper school levels. Exciting new features have been added, such as full-length (over 60 min) DVD of musicians from the different musical genres in the book, an exciting music quiz game for the class (MusikWizz) and extended background and links on our website.

The new Music Room has 7 modules, covering reggae, Celtic, Pacific Island, latin, blues, jazz, gospel and MusikWizz to finish the year!

If you don't have it yet, why not try out a couple of the activities from the book.
We have a new one this month ...

WHAT EXCUSE WOULD YOU USE FOR BEING LATE FOR SCHOOL?

This month's activity has the best excuse ever - your students will love it!

It's a crazy, wonderful song called 'Late for School Blues' and it comes from the 'BLUES CHANGES' module of the book. This song is built on the famous 'Bo Diddley beat', a rhythm developed by African American blues legend, Bo Diddley.

You can find out more about Bo - and about the blues -
at the web support pages for Music Room 6

The vocal track and projectable lyrics chart are available with this activity.
We have a PDF chart from the Music Room Book 6 Data CD-ROM with the words - print it or project it and an MP3 of the audio track.

And of course we have the "REGGAE RHYTHMS" activity from a couple of months ago.

You will find links to both activities at www.bushfirepress.com/musicroom



Enjoy!

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THE INTERACTIVE MUSIC ROOM - MAC VERSION

The Interactive Musicroom Book 1
Some teachers have been requesting a MAC version and we are working hard on
right now. Watch this space! If you purchased the PC version and have a MAC
system, we'll exchange it for you as soon as the MAC disk is ready.
We are also in production with BOOK 2 (lower primary) and this will be
available for both PC and MAC. We sincerely thank our MAC customers for
their patience.

April activity from HMS Pinafore

HMS Pinafore
This month's free activity is a song from our new musical HMS PINAFORE

Officially sanctioned by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company of London. Now also published in the USA!

Faithful adaptation of Gilbert and Sullivan for younger performers (middle primary to middle high school years). Instrumental backings adapted from Sir Arthur Sullivan's original orchestral score.

It's our third Gilbert and Sullivan adaptation and, like The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado it has been adapted for primary school performers, with SINGABLE keys and manageable dialogue.

The story follows Able Seaman Ralph Rackstraw, who is love-struck with a lass above his station - the Captain's daughter. But the Captain has promised her hand to The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter, KCB (1st Lord of the Admiralty - followed everywhere by his sisters and his cousins and his aunts). A Common Person can hardly expect to compete with a High Born person - but are Ralph and the Captain really from different Classes? Poor Little Buttercup, the bumboat lady has a secret - Who will end up with whom?

It's a wonderful romp and an excellent introduction to comic opera.
The orchestrations on the backing CD are faithful adaptations of Sir Arthur Sullivans original score and have been done with the cooperation and support of London's D'Oily Carte Opera Company (Gilbert and Sullivan's original publishers).

The results you can hear on the MP3 tracks in this month's free activity.

Everything you need to give your students a wonderful theatrical experience with the most enduring music theatre team of all time!

This month's activity includes the vocals, backing and lyrics to "Ruler of the Queen's Navee" - enough resources to have great fun putting on a little piece of the operetta yourself! You can download the full activity here
Enjoy!


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Cheryl’s 2 new babies

Cheryl Burgemeister’s 2 new babies.
Natalia Faith Burgemeister arrived on Saturday 27th February.
A couple of weeks later, Cheryl’s next baby, The Interactive Music Room book 1, arrived.
Here they both are at Cheryl’s workshop on interactive whiteboards at Klemzig Primary School last Saturday.
Natalia is already working with Mum (and sleeping though the night).

Congratulations on both your babies Cheryl!

Interactive Music Room - Now available!

The Interactive Musicroom Book 1

Technical glitches sorted - Interactive Music Room is now available for delivery.
If you haven't ordered your copy yet - now is the time to do so!

Did you pick up the free activity in March? Check back in the blog for details.
More activities for you to try shortly.

March activity from The Interactive Music Room

The Interactive Musicroom Book 1

The Interactive Musicroom Book 1 is due to be released in the next couple of weeks and we have a free activity for you to try out.

You don't actually need to have an Interactive White Board (IWB) to see how this activity works. You can try it out on your computer with a free copy of Easiteach Reader - or you can watch the demo video and download the accompanying resource material we have for you.


You will find the activity here
Enjoy!


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