Here at Stave House, we feel strongly that even with the restrictions facing schools, music should not be allowed to fall down the priorities list. It’s positive impact on mental health and wellbeing is more important now than ever. However, we also recognise the difficulties schools face with restrictions on group singing, gatherings and how often classes can use various materials etc.
Keen to support music teachers, (and with the help of Stave House Ambassador Stacey Minshall), we have created a series of signed tutorials that teach children basic signs to accompany Stave House songs. Whilst most of these songs are aimed at schools already using the Stave House programme, we have released one tutorial – The Bee Song (all about bee-ing yourself) that can be used by any school!
Founder, Ruth Travers says “Teaching can be exhausting right now, cleaning equipment, carrying stuff from place to place, trying to teach via zoom. We hope that the signed songs will help teachers relax a little and have fun whilst knowing that they are delivering quality music sessions. We want to support the continued learning of musical notation and equipping children with skills, not cutting corners or compromising on our mission to give every child the right to a musical education.”
Children can still enjoy Stave House songs, but are taught how to express them through sign language rather than singing out loud. This goes hand in hand with our ethos of music being accessible to all and by all accounts, the children are loving it.
The tutorials can be streamed into classrooms or homes and are all led by Stacey, so teachers can simply join in.
You can purchase and download the Bee Song, or the Sign Stave House series from our website now by visiting https://stavehouse.co.uk/product-category/downloads/signed-songs/