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| Moon rising above hedge Quink and coloured pencils (from 2019 10 notebook) |
These past few days I have been enjoying watching the moon in the afternoon, at bedtime, and in the morning.
It has been huge and wonderful and gleaming with a kind of benevolent face upon this grey and messy time that we are in - at ground level the politics are frankly depressing, with the kind of behaviour and language that we would never tolerate in the classroom or on the playground at any of the primary schools I have ever taught in.
In the morning, to the West, the moon glows in the dawn twilight, slowly heading for the bar branches of the huge oak tree at the bottom of the garden. (Today I spotted three small birds in the top of the tree, flitting to and fro, four magpies bounding along the middle layer, and a crow perched motionless on the lower branch ignoring the lively bustle and chatter all around).
In the afternoon the moon rises in the South, chalky white, enormous against the roofs of the houses, refusing to be entangled by television aerials and chimney pots. (Small children without coats race ahead of their mothers, apparently impervious to cold, galloping, hopping, bouncing along. Their mothers follow in their wake, pushing a buggy laden with coats and school bags, a cold toddler wailing gently from the depths of a cocoon fleecy blankets).
In the evening dark the moon glows brilliantly due East, like a protector against the night hours, keeping watch, eyes always open, mouth in a slight smile. (I stand at the window and look at the lighted windows of the houses all around; strips of gold patterning the dark like jewels. There's a conservatory in a garden several streets away, lit up like an exotic oriental pavilion, and I imagine people sitting in comfortable cushioned wicker chairs, sipping wine as they reflect on the day).
I used to teach this little lullaby to the youngest children;
"I see the moon, and the moon sees me,
God bless the moon, and God bless me"
Now the moon is waning... it will make it easier to see the stars...
"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight,
wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight"
I love your moon painting- it is beautiful and so evocative of the mood of the moon you so poetically described.
ReplyDeleteI like the words of that last song- what is the melody? I know the last 2 lines as a minor 3rd song G to E but wondered if there is another version?
I learned it from a 'Voiceworks' book as a 'so-mi' song. when I was teaching, I taught recorders to play it using A and C, and then showed them how they could switch the notes around to compose their own tune. Notation was simple - a single line with C above and B below. Rhythm work was also good with this . Then I would get them to compose their own words, notate pitch, and maybe rhythm... half a term goes by in a cacophony, but at least the notes blend...
ReplyDeleteThe Moon song from the same voiceworks uses
So...mi do So...mi do So So So;
So.... mi do So.... mi so do do
Other verses have stars, sun, my friends.... etc
do