Bumper Activity from Musicroom 7 - rap and hip hop

Music Room Book 7 is now available - and to celebrate, we are offering the first lesson IN FULL for you to try.
The lesson is Rap Rhythm
and we have

Full lesson plan

2 audio tracks - vocals and backing

6 video clips

2 charts
Mal Webb shows you how to Beat Box
Jacqui Yuan shows you how to dance Hip Hop
Rob and Mark demonstrate Rap Rhythms.

This is exciting stuff and and your students will love it!
And it's all there ready for you at ...
www.bushfirepress.com/musicroom

You can order your copy of Musicroom Book 7 here.


Find us on Facebook!
Like our page to keep up to date with news from Bushfire Press.

www.bushfirepress.com

Music Room 7 is ready!

Music Room 7 has just come back from the printers and is ready to send out to you!

We are really pleased that it has all come together so well. A massive amount of work but all well worth it.

If you know and love Music Room we are sure you will get straight in and order. You can do that here.

If you are new to Music Room and want to find out what all the fuss is about, order a perusal copy today. You will see what fantastic value it is for a full year's upper primary music course!

Check out the videos we have already posted in this blog and look out for a free sample activity from Unit 1 Lesson 1. This will be posted in a couple of days.

Intro to Music Room 7 DVD

MUSIC ROOM - Book 7

Not long now!
We just can't wait.

We have posted the introduction to the MR7 DVD. This will give you an idea what you'll be getting with Music Room Book 7 - Upper Primary.

We will also be sending out your free activity later in the week - so look out for it. It is from Unit 1 Lesson 1. You can get a sneak preview in an earlier post in this blog.

You can also pre-order your copy of Musicroom Book 7, or find out more about it, here.




You can order your copy of Musicroom Book 7 here.


Find us on Facebook!
Like our page to keep up to date with news from Bushfire Press.

www.bushfirepress.com

Putin' it Out There from Musicroom Book 7

MUSIC ROOM - Book 7

Just getting the next free activity together.
It will be from the new Music Room Book 7. Unit 1 Lesson 1 - "Puttin' it Out There"

We have a Youtube version of the song from the lesson here for you. When we release the activity, it will include vocal and backing tracks, the lesson, and charts for the activity as well as a bonus classroom version of this video with lyrics projected over the backing track. So look out for it. Like us in facebook so that we can let you know as soon as it is available.



You can pre-order your copy of Musicroom Book 7 here.


Find us on Facebook!
Like our page to keep up to date with news from Bushfire Press.

www.bushfirepress.com

Making the video for MR7

MUSIC ROOM - Book 7

We have had fun making the video tracks for Music Room 7. Just a few little "moments" captured.

It won't be long now - looks like mid June for the launch. The final proof of the book has been passed and it is in the hands of the printers. Post production of the audio and video tracks is coming on well.





Find us on Facebook!
Like our page to keep up to date with news from Bushfire Press.

www.bushfirepress.com

The New Cover for MR7

MUSIC ROOM - Book 7
And here is the finished cover art!

What do you think?
Click on the image to get a better view.

Login with your Google account and leave a comment!
or let us know on facebook.


Find us on Facebook!
Like our page to keep up to date with news from Bushfire Press.

www.bushfirepress.com

MR7 Cover Design

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

Music Room book 7 (upper primary) is in the last stages of post-production and on track for a mid-year release. Among other things, we have been finalising the cover. This is pretty important because, apart from needing to be fun and inviting, it needs to tell the user what to expect inside!

Over the years, the covers of Music Room have been a music room door with a window showing a group of students in their music lesson. The students get older as the years progress. They also progress in their musical explorations – from simple circle work to making music on classroom instruments and found & made objects, to exploring genres & styles. We also had a note pinned to the door on each cover: EVERYONE WELCOME! COME ON EVERYBODY! LET’S GO! LET’S GET THE FEELING! LET’S MAKE A NOISE! LET’S PUT IT TOGETHER! These slogans addressed the general ‘feel’ of each level.

What to do for book 7 … ?
Our artist, Bradfield Dumpleton, was keen to ‘open the classroom door’ and let the kids out. Which is pretty much how all of us had been thinking. And – as the slogan for this level was LET’S PUT IT OUT THERE! it seemed the perfect idea. Now all we had to do was get the actual look right – to give a hint as to the contents.

Here’s Bradfield’s first pencil rough. You can click on it to see it in more detail. Not quite there. Let’s see … hip hop and rhyming techniques are covered in this book … and students are encouraged to bring guitars and keyboards into their work … and the program ends with a musical party …

Here’s the second pencil rough.

Much better. Again, click on the image to see it in more detail.

Stay tuned for the final pic – we’ll blog it as soon as it’s got the green light.



Mark Leehy
Publisher, Bushfire Press

The Last Music Room

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

Hi All

It sure has been a busy term 1 for us here at Bushfire Press. We have been recording and filming material for Music Room book 7 – upper primary. This is the final instalment in the series and has been the hardest but most rewarding level of the program. It was so important to keep up the standard and to keep up the level of student engagement – which, as you know, is trickier with senior primary students. So we retained the services of some wonderful and outstanding experts. The result is a fabulous set of units:

Rhythm & Rhyme - rap & hip hop rhythms & rhyming loops, turnarounds, chords,

Body & Beat - rhythm, movement & choreography, body percussion, found objects

Words & Music - generating lyrics, making melodies, using tempo, creating songs, grooves & colours

Fun ‘n’ Games - a cracker of an ending to the program, with musical puzzles, musical art, listening & singing games, moving games, musical parlour games, battle of the bands … and a class party!

As usual there are 4 audio CDs of music (one per unit) and over an hour of DVD footage – including a premier hip hop crew, an introduction to gumleaf and didgeridu from Gunnai Man (and recent ‘Spicks & Specks’ guest) Wayne Thorpe, the art of beatboxing demystified by vocal gymnast Mal Webb … and a host of dance steps, theory and playing techniques.

We'll keep you posted as we get into production.

See you next time

Mark Leehy
Publisher, Bushfire Press

The Interactive Music Room at the National Orff Conference

The Interactive Music Room book 1 (beginning primary) made its first public appearance at Creating New Blends, the National Orff Conference in Adelaide Jan 3-8.

We have some pics of author and South Australian teacher, Cheryl Burgemeister, presenting her workshop. The delegates were as excited as us about this stunning new way of combining classroom music education and technology and The Interactive Music Room was certainly one of the big buzzes of the conference. A big thank you to Glennys Gysbers & the team for having us there and to Richard Gysbers for wonderful tech support.



We’ll also be demonstrating it in Brisbane (May), Sydney (May), Perth (June) and Melbourne (May & Aug). Interactive whiteboards are amazing teaching tools and enormous fun (at least, that’s how we’ve approached the Music Room software). Come along to one of the PDs and have a play with it. Check here for details.

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

Know colleagues who may be interested? Tweet this!

Booklists for 2010 for Primary and Lower Secondary

It’s booklisting time for many teachers – so here are some thoughts:

Are you looking for a music theory book that will complement your already successful practical classroom music program?
Do you want to ensure that written work in music is as fun and engaging as your practical work?

The Cool Cats series of music theory books is for you!
The series ensures plenty of reinforcement of concepts for young learners and will complement any specialist music program.
The series could be started as early as Year 2.
Books 3 and 4 in the series can be used to prepare students for the AMEB Preliminary Music Craft exam and so are suitable for upper primary or lower secondary students. Alternatively, they can be used to purely complement your own classroom program.
Please find attached a list of my books, with their prices for your information. Please contact Bushfire Press if you would like a perusal copy or go ahead and booklist now.

FREE sample activities for ALL books can be found on line at: www.bushfirepress.com
Books 3 & 4 have FREE teacher notes and worked solutions also available.
Get ready for 2010 now with something new for your students!

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