Tuesday, March 31, 2020 by Kerry Anderson | Uncategorized

Well hello again,

What a crazy old time this is! It's not all bad for those of us who are not suffering symptoms, or indeed worrying about loved ones needing intensive care.  

Just on the phone to a friend who runs a tennis school and he admits, with paint brush in hand, that he'd have never gotten the time to do the maintenance he's pushing out in the Wicklow sunshine!

So to business.  The online classes are going very well in view of the sudden shift.  WhatsApp has been fabulous for my piano students, and Skype is the best for voice students.  I am delighted to see the practise zone for pianists at home, as many seats needed adjustment.  They are often too high, or low or close to the keys.  PARENTS HAVE BEEN AWESOME, with all the needed support.   A big thank you!

Musical theatre virtual classes begin this Friday, April 3rd with Crowdcast.  Students will get a URL and password via an email invitation.

Here is the assignment for this week's session:

At the moment we aim to get the children up and performing again ...this time on a short 3 minute video that you make at home and can send to the school.
We shall watch beforehand and discuss and watch the performances on Friday during the Crowdcast class online- you will be sent an email inviting you to attend ! We hope to also run some drama exercises and games and sing some songs in class too.
These are strange times and we are all having to adapt!
For the video: We thought that the children might enjoy playing different characters so they now have the choice to prepare a song and some lines from ANY CHARACTER in the Sound of Music .
Things to do:
*Decide which character you would like to be- if you could be anyone at all in the play!
*Find that characters song on the backing track
*Find their lines in the script
* put the lines and song together for your video
*find costumes at home (scarves/hats/dress/suit ) to wear in video
*Decide and practice the movement -
/dance for that character
Please note this is a fun experimental exercise, don’t get too worried about costume but do try to think about expressing the characters feelings through their dance/movement.
*Remember your hands and face are the most expressive parts of your body when acting
* practice in a mirror in costume before filming
* laugh and have fun !!

Monday, March 16, 2020 by Kerry Anderson | Uncategorized

Why not play a tune as well?♫

Friday, March 13, 2020 by Kerry Anderson | Uncategorized

Gotta love the Italians!

This is indeed a strange time, and I want to thank all students/parents for their cooperation and kindness while we sort a strategy for maintaining our flow!

 The  following options are available to you, should you wish to choose them, subject to the tutor's resources and preferences.

Skype/Whatsapp Lessons.  These are being offered by Keith Pogue, Kerry Anderson, and Maura Flynn and will be offered with specific guidelines and protocol.  See attached.  There can be benefits, not only for travel, fuel but also in the learning process where momentum is crucial to learning outcomes, especially for those on an exam curriculum.  Understandably there may be some 'bugs' to tackle, but where some lesson time may be lost, these are offset by savings in time and petrol.

Lesson reschedule which may mean lesson dates into the month of June and/or July, and a change of venue.  Please note that the terms and conditions attached to your application form are applicable in these circumstances.  These are attached for your convenience.

Musical Theatre

My thanks to parents sharing information about the contagion within groups of children as 'vectors, not victims'. Therefore we will not run a class on March 20.

I am proposing that the show dates move from Easter break to the weekend of June 13 and 14 in hopes that the virus will be contained and indeed eliminated by that time.

Therefore the rehearsal schedule in place for the lead up to Easter, will now be moved to the period before June 13 and 14.  As we do not have free days, the additional rehearsals will take place in the evenings from 5:00pm to 7:00pm in NPC.

While this may be a peculiar thing to express, I believe these events can bring growth.  Together, we can create an even better show.  Caroline, Clare and I are excited by the propect of a summer event and hope to bring an even more festive dynamic to rehearsals and our show.

With very best wishes to you and yours, go make some music from your windows!

from Kerry Anderson

School Director.