Term 1 is KICKING OFFFFFFF!!!!!!

I don't think I have ever had a crazier start to a Term 1. All good crazy of course but never the less crazy!!! One of my favourite parts of the school year is the start! I love catching up with all the teenagers after the big summer holiday and seeing all of my new classes. This year I have three awesome senior music classes. They are all super keen, eager musos and are full of enthusiasm! Long may it last!! I have three junior classes, one yr 9 and two yr 10 classes. This year Hornby changed the way we were offering junior courses. Instead of making everything a compulsory taster session in yr 9, students are now able to choose their passion subjects to do all year if they wish! Similarly in year 10, students can now change options mid year and not be committed to a full year of the same courses! Now..... this is a wonderful idea. Why make students take something they are never going to be into??? So, because we have a strong performing culture here I decided to be bold and make my junior courses a Performing Arts course where students would learn many aspects of the performing arts not just music. BUT you have to perform..... That is the part that often doesn't register in the wonderful minds of the mini humans! I have one of my year 10 classes that are going with it and have happily soaked up the wonderful world of Mime, Comedy, Salsa dancing and Musical Theatre. They have been pushed out of their comfort zones and have almost totally embraced it! The other two classes, not so much..... Initially I took it quite personally thinking "Why have I created this awesome performance course that covers all these wonderful art forms and they don't want to do it??????" Well, I realised after I got over myself that they are all awesome enthusiastic music students who are simply not ready to perform.... Yet! So, we have gone back a wee bit and are revisiting some essential Keyboard, Guitar and singing skills. Here they get to learn and play music without the pressure of the big performance. I have realised that with taking risks and trying new things, there are always going to be detours in the road and that's ok!