I like music. In fact, I love music. I love music so much that I want to tell the world about all about it. But I don’t just want to tell the world about music. I want the world to hear music too—live music—that is, music played by real people on real instruments for a real audience.
My name is Malcolm Pullan. I am a father of two girls who go to a primary school in the UK. It is an ordinary local school with ordinary local children. Over the last two years I have played the piano at my daughters’ school assembly on a Monday morning. At first I simply played what was asked of me—songs for the children to sing to. But then I thought… what a great chance to introduce kids to all sorts of music! So I began playing music when the children came in and out of assembly…
My ‘Mozart’ poster
Well, to cut a long story short, the school now has a ‘composer’ or ‘theme’ of the week. This is displayed on a poster at the back of the piano during assembly. I also give a short talk about the week’s topic as well. Over the last two years the kids have had composers from J.S. Bach to Dave Brubeck, and themes from festivals to fireworks.
It’s been a lot of hard work! I have had to learn to play lots of new music. But then sometimes I will get a surprise and know it’s worth the effort. I’ll never forget the kids listening in wonder to a Bach fugue. And I’ll also never forget their response to the terror in the music of Shostakovich.
My ‘Fireworks’ poster
But if ‘Bach’, ‘fugue’ and ‘Shostakovich’ mean nothing to you, don’t worry! You can read all about it here over the coming months. I have decided to write about my talk each week. I also plan to note down any little music ideas I may have and point you to other music information on the internet. These things will appear on the News page. So do keep coming back for more! Maybe the News page will even have a comment or two in the future from those who matter most—the kids I play for (kids, don’t forget to make sure you check with your parents or teacher before writing a comment!).
Happy reading! 🙂
P.S. If you go to my daughters’ school you will know me as Dr Pullan. But don’t worry about that. I don’t mind people using my first name!
Picture credits:
- This is what I look like!. This is my own picture.
- My ‘Mozart’ poster. This is my own picture.
- My ‘Fireworks’ poster. This is my own picture.
great website. the only improvement I can think of is maybe having a games link.
Thanks for telling my mum about it !!!!!
alice!!??!!
Thanks for the comment Alice. That’s an idea I never thought of. Do you have any suggestions for games?
My suggestion for games is:
virtual instuments,
opening a instument to find out how the sound is made.
Thank you Amadea for that suggestion. It’s a great idea! Unfortunately that would be very complicated to do. I’m not sure I would be able to do a good job of it. I will search the internet sometime and see if there are some useful links to virtual instruments.
I play the piano and teach a LOT of students, all ages…. really like your website and plan to put your web address on the study sheet I give the parents at the beginning of the year so they can go over it with their children. I play mostly jazz & love your section about jazz for kids — And Bill Evans was my idol…I heard him live many times at the Village Vanguard in NYC where I live. Really nice site…
Just wanted to say this is a great site. Just stumbled upon it when googling baroque classical music and then found your jazz section. I love your passion for music and sharing music.
Cheers from Canada.
hey mr. pullan, do u make ur own music?
and by the way thanks great website
ps… u should make a section on rap :]
I’m afraid I don’t. I wish I did, but I just don’t seem to be very good at it! 🙂
I could have split the information on popular music into lots of different parts like I did for classical music and jazz. However I don’t know much about the different types of popular music, including rap. I decided that most children would know far more about it than I do, so I decided to leave it!
Hello, found your website, very interesting, I have a class of italian children age 11 yrs, who need to do some work in their music lesson in English. I would be interested in more information .
Thank you, eileen smith
Thank you so much for the time you have taken to put this wonderful website together. My boys and I are so enjoying it. Blessings to you and your family. : )
Thank you Sarah. That’s lovely! 🙂
that is so good